Firstly.... Yesterday being Fathers' Day, there was the family picnic up on't Moor. The sun blazed down with all it's nuclear fury, and even Tilly the Terrible was subdued by its power [for about 30 seconds at a time, anyway....] - its tough being a Black Dog, even with a handy overhang to hide under. There were lots of Wheatears about, including two age groups of juveniles, but though I kept a diligent watch out for Large Soaring Black and White Things I was not blessed [having been in line of sight of where it was seen last weekend but evidently not at the right time, I'm feeling a bit gripped...].
It was a nice day, sat about enjoying being up there. Dad was happy, and Icklest Sister had made Blueberry Muffins [she has inherited my Dad's ability to effortlessly bake wonders]. There were a LOT of people about [as you'd expect] but fortunately most did the standard grockle routine [ie. not more than 30 feet from the car], so having yomped up to GST we were fairly unbothered and had a nice view too.
Today... Ah, today... :D
I watch the sun rise on the Solstices. I used to do it from a stone circle on't Moor, until I realised that as it was going to rain every single time, I might as well save myself an hour's sleep and a lot of petrol and go to the Nose instead. If I was going to get sideways rain, I might as well get in a seawatch after sunrise - sunrise by the time and that change in the texture of the light on the water, that is.... This worked particularly well up to 2008, with some nice birds passing. :) Last year it was calm and sunny, but a frustrating band of cloud on the horizon hid the sun from me.. This year, today, for the first time EVER I actually saw the Solstice Sun break the horizon and clear it. Words quite seriously cannot express the joy I'm still feeling.
There was, as you'd expect, very little going on in seawatching terms - in the 1.5 hours I gave it 10 Manxies passed south. 72 Gannets, 5 whole Fulmar and 4 actual Kittiwake [wow! I hear you say]. 4 Common Scoter went south, then 25 minutes later came back north. A single Razorbill went by.... No Puffins, no skuas, no Balearics even. The colony is doing well - a good 250 on the ledges, including young - and the Rockits and Whitethroats on the Nose are also getting on busily.
Hmm, I don't approve of all this sunny weather, you know. The Moor is very very dry - it really needs some rain - and I'm not much better! All this sunshine is bad I tell ya! Bad! Won't do you any good at all, oh no... ;)
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