10th January,2009.

No bird news I'm afraid as still well out of things and indulging in operating in male wimp mode, of which more later!!!

May I correct something I published yesterday and apologise to all concerned? Despite his best endeavours Jim Dickson must have been suitably confused to see the confirmation of Lesser Scaup having been gained by a Mr Jim Dixon, likewise the latter must be worried about memory loss given his not being able to remember even being on Islay,never mind seeing Lesser Scaup ( a double whammy as I'm not sure he has!! ). Sorry,guys!

Now, for any lady readers , I have some revelatory comments about the male, when ill! Now I know you all believe we overegg the pudding and are stricken low by the simplest of ailments. I can now reveal, without any shadow of doubt, that such behaviour emanates from a genuine reaction to our sypmtoms and circumstances. Even when the male lives on his own (me) it seems necessary to utter the odd groan, sniff, cough, grimace regularly and wear "the look" whilst generally letting the world know of the wretched condition we find ourselves in. With no one there to impress all this must be genuine behaviour, communicating the severity of our condition. I can well see though why man is drawn to marriage as it does mean the surety and presence of a resident nurse! I'm sure this has been of help and you all now better understand the predicament. It is difficult being a man.........

And after all that you'll be relieved to know , after an ample dose of manly medicine ( watching football on television!) things are improving. My old Mum, long deoarted, would have commented, " If you're begining to think like that then there's not much wrong with you"!.

Well, after that burst on the banjo, let's get back to serious birdy matters. The most recent Clements updates relating to the World List are a bit of a shock with Green-winged Teal being lumped with Eurasian Teal, in a sense where we started from previously. Gull species are affected too and I can well see there'll be some contentious debate following the original changes, all of which have been incorporated into books, lists etc now, in effect being reversed. In the end it might actually result in a better understanding of such complex issues as there must now be a call for both explanation and justification of such abrupt changes. Not everyone will accept them, of course, which muddies the pool even further!!!