OSSETT TOWN     V     1874 NORTHWICH

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3rd 

Competition: FA Cup, Qualifying Round Three Replay

Ticket price: £8

Programme: £2

Attendance: 342

Half time score: 0-0

Full time score: 0-0 (Ossett win 5-4 on penalties)

Bird species: 47

Mileage: 359.5

Trip music: BBC Radio 6; Lovely Creatures by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

BACKGROUND - Monday October 2nd

My mission for Tuesdays seems to be to bag as many lifers for Lowlister Tottenham Tim as possible. His only payback is to have to endure a non-league football match somewhere in exchange for new birds. Ideally, I get some new birds as well and icing on the cake is added if I get a new ground ticked off.

Planning for such days out is conducted with almost military precision: where are the best birds; where's the nearest unvisited ground to those birds? A fair part of Monday is spent monitoring bird news and checking websites for confirmation of kick-off times and directions to possible football venues!

TT's life list will be greatly boosted by a trip to Spurn tomorrow, a site I am very fond of. I might end up with a few yearticks but definitely no new grounds. I was hoping that the Scops Owl would stay until our given day out but it seems to have done a bunk at the weekend. As regards football, the best I can do is a revisit in Yorkshire, though it is some time since I visited several of the clubs playing on the route home, so I don't mind too much. This paucity of choice is what comes with having seen approximately 480 species of birds in Britain and visited over 1,200 football grounds!

THE BIRDS

I drop off Perfect Wife at work and then pick up Tottenham Tim. I announce the venue for today and he seems rather pleased: Yellow-browed Warbler, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Red-backed Shrike and Pied Flycatcher all beckon him to East Yorkshire with a juvenile Rose-coloured Starling as a 'Learning bird' thrown in for good measure (he's already seen an adult this year but it would be rude not to pay a visit to this scarcity while in the vicinity).

As we head north on the M1, TT is checking bird news. Before we've gone far, TT announces that the Scops Owl is showing again in County Durham. After a very brief discussion, it is decided that we dump Spurn and head for the owl. On previous days, once this bird has been found, it shows all day. I explain to TT that Scops is a much 'better' bird to get on his list than the four potential new scarce species at Spurn, which he can tick off almost at any time. He doesn't need much convincing!

Ninety minutes later, we park up in Ryhope Village. It is quite worrying that there are no other birders' cars here. We follow pager directions and find a small crowd huddled in one spot looking into a valley covered with vegetation. I immediately pick out a small brown blob in the Elder and relax; our target bird is still showing well.

Spot the owl!

For the next hour or so, the dozing Scops Owl poses nicely for all-comers. It seems the unexpected re-finding of this bird has caught twitchers on the hop. People who hadn't been able to make it during its stay, or who had dipped it on previous occasions, arrive constantly, seemingly in a flap about whether it is still showing. They needn't worry: this sleepy Scops isn't going anywhere today!

While we are there, Scopsy wakes up once, has a quick scratch and then goes back to sleep again. Unlike last week's frantic goings on at Burnham Overy, this is a beautifully relaxed twitch for a very showy bird. The only hassle is trying to get in a position where one can see the whole bird!

There it is! "Take your time, I'm not going anywhere"

 

While Tottenham Tim is having a 'scopeful, I scan the valley for other birds. There's only a few Goldfinches and Linnets around to distract from the main attraction. There's definitely no sign of the weekend's Barred Warbler, or indeed any other warbler.

A nice, friendly, gentle twitch at Ryhope

The valley runs to the North Sea; a perfect magnet for tired migrants

Thick vegetation: ideal for a roosting Scops Owl!

The view at the end of the path just a short stroll from the owl

The view one hour later: "I told you, don't rush; I'm not going anywhere!"

 With the cute owl firmly in the bag, it is time to decide what to do next. With the meticulously planned itinerary out of the window - Spurn is now 150 miles away - it's back to the drawing board. A timely intervention by the pager sees us heading further north to Whitburn Country Park, just eight miles away, for another attempt at an Arctic Warbler.

When we arrive a short while later, it is obvious we are to be thwarted by this species once again. Several bored-looking locals are peering into thick bushes more out of duty than out of optimism. It seems the Arctic was a 'heard only' find this morning and the flock of migrating warblers it was with has long since departed.

To show willing, I join in the half-hearted search and find many Goldcrests and a few Chiffchaffs to scan through. Even they seem to move on, as do all the other birders. Its time to explore the park further. A skein of Pink-footed Geese flying inland gladdens the heart.

  

Another Arctic Warbler does a flit!

We follow a trail to the coast and are rewarded with a scenic view, unspoiled by birds. The track leads through thick Sea Buckthorn bushes, far too dense to see any lurking birds within. I can hear plenty of Goldcrests but nothing else is noted.

We eventually come across a sturdy hide and find a guy stretching his legs outside the entrance. He beckons us in and we find it is a seawatching hide, definitely built to withstand storms, hurricanes and quite possibly a nuclear war. Until the orange-skinned madman is out of The White House, I am keeping Whitburn's postcode handy in Jane SatNav!!

For the next ninety minutes, we scan the sea for birds and chat with our new friend. Locally, he is known as Pink Floyd and is logging all passing birds from the hide today. He even provides us with a crab sandwich snack, though pleas to open up a cocktail bar in the hide fall on deaf ears.

Time flies by as we note large numbers of Pink-footed Geese going through (bizarrely, mostly heading north!), a distant Arctic Skua - a lifer for TT but he fails to pick it out as it hassles Black-headed Gulls on the horizon - Common Scoters, Red-breasted Mergansers, Meadow Pipits, Shelduck and Oystercatchers. The biggest surprise comes when a Ruddy Shelduck flies close past the hide heading south. Where the heck has that come from?!!

Seawatching hide/nuclear bunker at Whitburn

Pink Floyd needs to go home, so we have to leave the hide because he has to lock it behind him. In casual conversation, I mention that TT, bizarrely, has seen Scops Owl before Little Owl! PF has a knowing look on his face and proclaims: "follow me!"

We give Pink Floyd a lift to Trow Quarry, his local patch, a place I know all too well from a depressing twitch a few years ago. Britain's first ever Eastern Crowned Warbler was admired by thousands of birders for a couple of days while I was fog-bound on Scilly. After finally getting off, I travelled up with friends overnight only to find the bird had flown leaving an empty quarry and 300+ desperately disappointed birders on a dull, damp Sunday morning. 

"You won't need your 'scopes, the owls show very well". It sounds like TT is going to end the day with another lifer after all!

Oh no he isn't! It seems the owls are hunkered in one of the numerous holes in the cliff face, sensibly ducking out of the very strong wind. Our "guaranteed" Little Owls are nowhere to be seen despite a nail-biting, thorough scan of the rocks.

We bid a final farewell to Pink Floyd and pack away all the birding gear in readiness for the football. All we have to show for our short walk are a few Meadow Pipits and a Carrion Crow.  Another one for another day, TT!

 THE FOOTBALL

The unexpected change in the day's itinerary again comes into play. All my researched matches are in Yorkshire. I know there is nothing to aim for here in the north east, so we agree to head south so as not to be too far from home after the match. Ossett Town are my preferred option being as I cannot remember anything about the ground and it is quite a while since I last visited (and I love the name!). Tonight they are at home in an FA Cup replay against 1874 Northwich.

Just over 100 miles later, down a mercifully traffic-lite A1M, we are on the outskirts of Ossett. I am following Jane SatNav, who fortuitously takes us past a decent-looking chippie just a mile from the ground. It turns out it is more than decent: the seaside-like fish and chips are truly delicious!

Later, while I am filling up with petrol,  TT jumps out of the car and bends the ear of a match steward about parking (TT has his uses sometimes!). It's not good news: there's no parking at the ground and most people usually park in the small public car park opposite. I am one of these miserable sods who begrudge paying for parking but I needn't have worried: it is free after 5.00pm!

The welcome at Ingfield is a warm one. The stewards are very friendly and helpful. I pay £8 at the gate and another £2 for the programme. I know I am quite critical of some football programmes but I must hereby put on record how grateful I am to editors who spend the time putting one together at all. Just remember that Ossett's editor had no idea this fixture was taking place until about 4.45pm on Saturday afternoon. And now, here at 6.45pm on Tuesday evening, no doubt after a disrupted weekend, is The Ingfielder; a reassuringly chunky feel to it in my sweaty palm. 

I next head for the tea hut behind the main stand where I am reliably informed a teamsheet will be waiting for all-comers. With that in the bag, and a cup of tea in hand, I survey the food on offer. Despite the fish and chip supper being gorgeous, I am almost sorry I didn't plump for one of the locally-produced pies or pasties in the ground instead. Everyone in the hut is raving about them!

Most people in the stadium at this point seem to be away fans. They pack the bar, too, and I have a feeling there's going to be a lively atmosphere for tonight's replay.
I am not too surprised at how few Ossett fans there are. The Town only has a population of 19,000 and there are two Ossett teams. Remarkably, Albion are also playing at home tonight!

My final task before settling down for the game is my customary walk around the ground. As I progress, the sky becomes more and more stunning and by the time I complete the circuit, people are pouring out of the clubhouse just to admire the scene.

The Ingfield Sradium appeals to my ramshackle-charm loving brain. There's a large stand with seats behind the goal adjacent to the main road. All facilities can be found along one touchline; the side where spectators enter the ground. There's a covered terrace along this side, as well as a larger open terrace and the clubhouse (which is set back from the terraces). There's more cover along the other side, while the area behind the opposite goal is open.. This is my sort of football venue: you can forget about the new homologous 'breeze-block-and-tin-bowls' they are building these days!

Open terrace

Seats behind the goal; main road behind that wall.

Behind the dugouts

Clubhouse

Ossett Town play in the Evo-Stik North League while 1874 Northwich compete in the North West Counties League. The visitors were formed as recently as 2012, with fans forming a club as a protest at the abysmal goings on at their beloved Northwich Victoria. They are a well-supported team and their fans probably outnumber the home supporters by 4:1 tonight.

I was right about it being a rowdy night. Both sets of fans are very vocal, even in the face of having nothing to be vocal about! After Ossett miss a couple of sitters within five minutes of the start, the  game ominously settles into a pattern of many goalless games I have seen over the years. Tottenham Tim is bracing himself for another late night of extra time and penalties after just a few minutes of kick-off and I phone Perfect Wife to tell her I will be late picking her up from her Mum's just after the half time break!

With alarming prescience, mine and TT's predictions become reality, as neither side manages to shake the dew from the nets this evening. Extra time fails to alter the situation, though Northwich really go for it, urged on by their partisan followers. In all honesty, these sides could be playing a month later and still not troubling the score keepers. I should have known: the first tie was a Desmond (two-two)!! 

An undisturbed towel in the back of the net. It's probably still there!

And so to penalties! It's 4-4 after 10 penalties, so we enter sudden death. TT proclaims that we will still be here for breakfast tomorrow! I fear he may be right as the very next three spot kicks are missed. At last, Ossett's Seon Ripley puts us out of our misery by firing in the decider and we can finally all go home!

This was a frustrating day in many ways: another Arctic Warbler dip; 'Nailed on' Little Owls that weren't that 'nailed on' after all; an abomination that is called a 0-0 after extra time. On the other hand, we had a showy Scops Owl, met Pink Floyd at Whitburn and visited a lovely old football stadium. It could have been worse: I could have been at work!!