At Last, A Post. And A Blackstart!

With superbly tuned comic timing, a female type popped up just over there ::points out the window of this very room:: on Saturday. I'd just been trying to call Sister The ElderYounger and was staring out feeling moderately vexed, when there it was in a small tree-thing atop a rockface. It swiftly flew down and away out of sight, but not before my bins got onto it [and I had the good ones handy, too. Prescience, that.].

So, like any good brother, I gave up trying to contact Sister and went after the bird. I got another brief view of it - this time on the classic rooftop - before it lost me properly. The area is all big gardens, some nice outcropping of limestone, and a surprisingly large number of palms - most showing many berries. So pretty much perfect in a nice sheltered valley near the coast. I don't know why I overlooked it.. [[I suspected I could hear the Goddess of Birding chuckling quietly]]



Sunday saw me get out in the afternoon to chase down the definitely-not-plastic-as-everyone-else-has-yearticked-it Barnacle Goose, which I'd missed in January, but had been reported the day before on Powderham Marsh. It was feeling co-operative and was in the first field to the north of the road on Exminster! I was very happy to be surprised by that, I can tell you, expecting it to be hiding out on the main marsh somewhere.

Caught Off Guard

and Clearly Embarrassed

After making sure there weren't any Pendulines on the pool, I toddled happily over to Powderham anyway, where there was a big flock of Linnet and a few very smart buntings to look at. My hopes for a wandering raptor-y thing were dashed again, though.


On my way home I got another nice surprise - another Little Owl on a power line! This one was right out and up in daylight where any passing Peg could nail it with ease, I don't know what it was thinking?!?



Finally, getting out late from work on Monday afternoon proved fortuitous, as a lovely male Sprawk in full 'look at me' mode came drifting over, scattering Mistle Thrushes and finches before it!