Spot the Knot

Got down to the Nose this morning and there were migrants about, though it was more quantity than quality - with oodles of Chiffs on land and oodles of Mipits passing overhead. Variety came in the form of a couple of Wheatears and the surprising sighting of two juvenile Knot, lurking among the rocks! Can you see them?

The camo works a lot better against dodgy phone cameras than eyes, it must be said.

I then headed up Exe way, hoping for a few nice birds. I found them! With no published news about yankee porn stars, I went first to Bowling Green, where there was serious quality. 6, yes, 6 Little Stints, 9 Curlew Sands [they flew in together], a couple of Spotshanks, 24+ Greenshank, a couple of Green Sands, plentiful 'common' waders... It was great! And an amazing 61 Little Egrets [most of them came in in one great mass, too - what a sight!]

With the Lesserlegs confirmed as still present, I decided it might be worth trying to follow the directions
and driving up. This eventually worked and I found a truly amazing sight;

The bird was by the water's edge, pretty much centre of view.

Yes, THAT close!

I hadn't taken my camera, knowing how it tends to repel rare birds. This was a pity, as the shots I got with my mobile hint at the glories that may have resulted [what, you didn't think you'd get away without suffering MY Legs Shots, too?];

That's almost decent..!

Vignetted to hell, but I still like it.

Ok, one last one.

As you can see, the wind was blowing a bit.

What a wonderful wonderful bird....



Right, time to play with the stripey-headed gits. [The Ospreys refused to show at Bowling Green]. I tried Exminster, where a couple of Garganey failed to see me coming - when I lined up on the lagoon, they were the first things in my scope! :D A Kingfisher doing that wonderful hummingbird hover over the canal was a treat as well, but no sign of any Ospreys...

There was one of those funky-looking SwallowxHouse Martins flying around - I've not seen one before - which was a lot less like a RRS than I'd feared it would be. A few dragons were battling the wind - it was warm, still - with Migrant and Southern Hawkers plus a Common Darter.


Ok, thought I, there's one place the Osprey could be hiding; Powderham.

Fail.


Drat.




You know, I'd forgotten how good I am at dipping Ospreys.....