17 March, 2024

Waxwings Are Pretty Good, Too


Filthily twitched after work on Friday, and in defiance of rain and more rain, behold;


Waxwing!!

Strike a pose, dahlink



Though it has to be said,

Soggy Starling
for the win


THAT is how you pose for the camera, birdies.





And that is how you hit 150 species, birders.




Be Seeing You...


15 March, 2024

I Like Little Buntings


News was released on Monday of a Little Bunting with the Cirl and Reed varieties at Broadsands.


Tuesday saw me fighting my way over after work, defying wind and dizzle. Despite over-keen 'togs and loose dogs, eventually this glorious little beauty showed quite nicely,


Little Bunting

Much prettier than the Autumn variety.

Reed
[much brighter ones present,
but less obliging]

Cirl

Little, showing bright bold head
colours, including crown stripe.


If it had been sunnier and calmer, much better pics would have resulted, but hey, them's the breaks.




149.





Be Seeing You...

14 March, 2024

A Lion, I Think


There is a saying, that March marches in like a lion and out like a lamb, or in like a lamb and out like a lion.


I think, with the wind on Friday and the rain and hail on Sunday, that it is just about the former.


But then again, with the weather going the way it is... Who knows?!?




Anyways, I got out twice about the Patch, and it was... Interesting.

I got no yearticks [couple of annoying near-misses, though], but you got to keep at it.


The only sheltered water in a
strong NE wind... Grebes??

Paignton Harbour getting it

Boo!

Maybe move a touch..

Livermead and Corbyn's


I ought to stop putting
wave shots up

A few birds!

A long group of 200+ small gulls [you try counting them in that swell] and at least 3 GC Grebes [look closely] were it [where are the frickin' BNGs?!?], with assorted bigger gulls mooching about. One might have been something good, but it buggered off towards The Bridge and I couldn't get enough on it to be sure [Drat].

While I was there [late afternoon, due to work and so on], there was a steady passage of alba Wagtails overhead - cutting over the north Bay - towards the Inner Harbour roost site. This one was on deck,

Pied Wagtail
[black utcs]

A party of rooftop gulls contained only one non-Herring;

Adult LBB




Two days later, and the morning at least was quite nice;

It's raining on Yarner

Garden escapee

At the Folks', a Chiffchaff sang, and looking after it - cue it exiting at pace - led to finding a couple more, playing chase. Ok, one was chasing the other, and eventually drove it off. No calling, or anything helpful, which was a bugger as again there was the possibility of something more. Oh well. Eyes staying open.

Back Home, something nice to finish with,

La Greenfinch






Be Seeing You...


07 March, 2024

Getting Out And About. Pt.2, Taking A Break From The Madness


After all Saturday's 'fun', I was filled with the usual woe of dipping [Again. I really dislike Kumlien's Gulls*].

A nice amble with the Folks, Sister the Even Younger, and both Hounds Of Dooooom [well, slobber at least] about Yarner seemed like a good idea.


Lookit;

Tree Ferns


Tree branches

Quoth the Raven;
"Damn mossies.."

Wood Ants!

Industrial archaeology!
Yarner Copper Mine
[slightly disused]

Granite tramway


Yes, as in 'the rails are granite'. This is close to mile marker 5, btw. The railway [why not call it that?] ran from the quarries near Hay Tor and Holwell Tor [just down from Emsworthy on the right, go look next time you're there] down to the Stover Canal [and thence down Teign to Teignmouth]. There's a trail that follows it, the Templar Way [named for rich people, not crusaders, btw], marked with little orange and black badges.


After that little aside, I suppose a few birds are in order. Marsh Tits showed well again, but they were the highlight [well, nice if brief Grey Wag at the ex-pond hide]. A Green Woodpecker yaffled and a GSW drummed [once, very briefly], the usual tits and so on sang.


We got rained and sunned on, but the latter when we stopped for coffee and japflacks [which is the important bit].






Be Seeing You...





[[* "It wasn't one", you say? Still counts as a dip, says I. ]]

05 March, 2024

Getting Out And About. Pt.1, Wanted: Arctic Wanderers


Holes to fill and targets of opportunity to find. Never mind the showers or that bladdy coff, get out there!


Ahem.

Kumlien's Gull has a long and painful history for me, on account of dipping horribly all the time.* So despite the technical issues of a gull turning up at sunset, seen only by looking into said setting sun, I was going to go for it.



But before that, a nice flock of Barnacle Geese had turned up at Exminster. I needed Barnie for the year, and proper wild ones [39? Come on. These ones aren't 'escapes'. {And see previous posts for the alternative}] were even better.


IF I could find them.

We have been playing les buggeures risibles with geese, assorted, all year, haven't we?



Spoiler alert?

So, Exminster in the Sun

Out there, somewhere


The Barnacles were hiding right at the back, as far from human sight as possible; they certainly seemed to think they were wild.

The weather was in the same mood;

..and not so Sun.


Big squally showers were prowling around - not everywhere, some spots stayed dry all day - and the Sun was low and right in the eyes. Often at the same time, which is just cheating.
 
But when it wasn't raining or hailing sideways, it wasn't that bad.

Spring?

A Skylark sang when the Sun shone, and a couple of Cetti's periodically joined in. The grass-feeding Curlew were carefully checked, but again no Ruff was with them.


Right, nice detour. Time to get to the 'It comes to roost on Bull Hill' part of the day.



I was being thorough, and figured the KG had to be somewhere before dusk, so tried checking all the loafing gulls off Mudbank, and worked my way down to Shelly Beach.


Looking back to Mudbank from Imperial


Nothing even slightly Kumlieny was seen on the way, though as I and another hopeful settled down to withstand the icy wind and frequent salvoes of rain and hail [still with full Sun glare, see above], the only thing really nice was a party of 3 of the Eider lurking about the Exe mouth,

Two outta three and all that


Eventually my companion was beaten by time. Then the Sun finally dipped behind Haldon and I could see a whole lot better. 
 
 
Well, apart from all the darkness.


Gulls, yes


Six o'clock came and went. Many gulls arrived. Herring Gulls, Great Black-backed Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Common Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, even a couple of Mediterranean Gulls.


Note something missing?


Spot the Kumlien's!





Exactly.


So, a nice icy dip and then a nice walk back in the dark.



I HATE Kumlien's Gulls.











[I suppose should also mention that while waiting, a Kingfisher flew by, and then so did a group of assorted waders including at least 7 Ringed Plover [148]. At. Fricking. Last.]


Still, KG = Bad.





Be Seeing You...








[[* Ok, technically I managed to scope one at Brixham - from Daddyhole, eat 75x! - but I could only call it an 'Iceland-sized white-winger', so haven't counted it.** ]]
[[** Yes, I did twitch it properly, more than once, and dipped horribly.        ]]

NOTE:
The finder has now decided it was actually an argentatus Herring Gull. I haven't seen it, so can't comment.

03 March, 2024

I Hate Kumlien's Gulls


That's it. That's the post.





















There may be will be more when I can type without grinding my teeth get a minute later in the week.



There will also be pretty scenery from Sunday's fun.
 
[No, I didn't go back to Exmouth to try again. I may be mad, but I'm not insane.]
[I have a certificate*]







Be Seeing You...


[[* They don't actually give out 'Congratulations, you are not insane' certificates, you have to make your own.**]]
[[** Which is just inconsiderate. ]]

27 February, 2024

Defiance.


I'd finally had recovered enough to be able to lug a scope and so dragged myself out on Sunday.


Defying the plague, the weather, and quite probably anything even vaguely like sense, but I had Unfinished Business.
 
 
Yes, it was raining hard, sideways, and the roads were rather riverine in places, but that wasn't stopping me. I headed up and then left a bit, with the route giving a group of 20-30 Oystercatcher in flight over fields near Sith*, before reaching my target;


Spotted Redshank

There you are.


Zooming back out a bit,

Arch Brook

When I first arrived, the Spotshank was on the left of this shot, high up the Arch Brook - VERY close to me - and I used my car as a hide to get a briefly wonderful view, before a van came zooming by [despite the flood waters] and flushed it off to the Teign shore, out there in the distance, where I got that photo up there [actually still good views {at 75x}, but the camera likes not the heavy rain]. The Spotshank worked its way back along the shallows and into the mouth of the brook, where after skirting around a Greenshank, it vanished into the now rather inset channel.

After managing to miss the Freminton bird back in January, and every other chance in Devon since, I was a rather happy yearlister.

Just getting a nice sustained view [oh, if it had stayed so close, though], of a feeding bird was a pleasure [normally you only get close-ish views of ones asleep at Bowling Green] in and of itself.


Also present were a handful of Redshank, single Curlew and Oyk, plus Common and BHGs.




Later on, I was unable to resist the lure of the Nose, where all the rain had indeed fired up the slick. Unfortunately, the wind had come around to a strong, gusty NE-E, and it was a bit, er, tasty.

[Ok, actually the exact opposite, really, with the slick being blasted on shore....]



Spot the Little Gull

[You'll be doing very well. I couldn't find one....]
 

Boom


A scattering of Guillemots and Razorbills on the sea with the Shags and Corms, a half dozen Gannets, a Fulmar, and a couple of Kittiwakes, plus usual gull spp.

Drat.


But I was out there.


And I aten't ded.

[Yet]



Be Seeing You...




[[* Nobody types Stokeinteignhead more often than they have to. Also the acronym. ]]