Normal Service Resumes

In other words, more posts but not necessarily more birds.


Not no birds, though...   :)




Lots of work this week, including today, so less birding [boo].



I did manage to get to the Nose first thing yesterday, and was rewarded with many many Chiffs. There was the odd Blackcap, but it took almost three hours [yes, really] to finally find a different warbler.. Reed. [Not even a sniff of banana about it, either - tut]


The early stuff cleared off vexingly quickly to bright sunshine, and most of the following showers missed by wide margins. The one that didn't dropped a Tripit almost on top of me - I got a very nice if brief view before it decided it didn't want its picture taken [drat]. Moving overhead were mostly Mipits and Linnets, with a lovely v of three Yellow Wags being a notable exception.


The sea looked vaguely promising, and as I had the li'l scope with me, I gave it half an hour. 11 Gannet and a Razorbill were almost as bad as they sound, but again a most notable exception. I heard [yes, seawatching and picked up on call!] a very odd call coming.. loud and nothing I was familiar with. Then there came two birds, flying fairly high up - enough to miss through a scope, maybe even bins - divers! But that call's not GND, I know that one [everyone knows GND]. As they approach and pass I get a good look, as they're well inside the Ore Stone; BTDs!!!!!! The lead bird is indeed calling and still in pretty much s/pl too.

Did not expect that.

'Calls very rarely and not in winter' says the literature. No kidding; I've never heard a BTD make so much a peep before [and only RTD once, I think], while GNDs can be very noisy when the mood takes them.


The rest of the day was something of an anticlimax. I found another Blackcap near Stoodley, it was singing. That's it.



Today I toddled down to the Nose after work, not expecting much. On shore there were lots of Chiffs and Blackcaps, but again a miss on the funky warblers and things turning up everywhere else..


The sea once more saved the day. Well, a nice blue trawler did. It towed in 478 large gulls [I like it when they line up to be counted!] and 3 large skua spp., which were almost certainly Bonxies but just too far out to be sure. What definitely was a Bonxie came south along the Manxie line before angling out to wreak havoc join in the fun. It was a pretty good few minutes [as I'd promptly plonked down to watch] with an adult Med Gull, an insanely close Razorbill [ID-able without optics close!], and 3 Sarnies all passing by.
I even considered bolting for home to fetch bigger optics, but evidently thought too loud, as passage promptly died. Even the Gannets stopped.

A very pretty juv LBB showed up and started flying about in front of me, but otherwise there was only calm seas..  Well, calm apart from all the frelling powerboats....



The Coal Tits continue to pinch sunflower seeds, and this afternoon, a dozen Crows, Magpies, and Jays had a three-way fight on the roof. It was noisy, to say the least, with no obvious winner [though it may be one group will be more evident from now on, we shall have to see]. I had thought they were beating the crap out of a juvie Buzzard mobbing something, but no, just after each other. Corvids, eh?