Patch Post

Well, I seem to be doing boring titles right now..

So, after losing this morning, this afternoon I toddled about the more sheltered fragments of the Patch's coast, looking for what I could find.

Scenery;

Overcast and a brisk NE

Lovely!

I suppose there should have been no surprise discovering that the scoter flock was, if anything further out in the swell....


This did not stop me - though again Sony's diabolical autofocus programmer tried - and this time there is no escape from the teeny blobs!

Mua-ha-ha-ha-haa....

First angle;

With added Shags and Gannet

No, they're not spots on the lens

Second angle;

You weren't expecting them closer, were you?!?

The buoy shot..

[see, there is more than one shot's worth]

Riding the swell

Counting was, as you might guess, a 'bit tricky'. I'm going with 185+
Also in the near vicinity [I think I caught one but not at a definitive angle] were 5 large dark divers - all together - which looked awfully GNDish but not a hope of being sure. Further out were at least 5 Gannets - you may notice the odd one up there - and the odd Kittiwake, nothing sexier.


Ok, time for compensation, but first, a wake up;

Incoming!!*

Cue cuteness;

You just have to pick the right bit to stand on

"Ohh..."

"...like this"

Speaking of cute, I got around the the Real Living Coast and saw these;

Sandpipers Purple!

Awwwwwwwwwwww

More active were;

One of five

Less co-operative - in fact, aided and abetted by my blimmin' camera exceedingly annoying - was my first proper grebe of the winter actually on-Patch and photoable and everything!

ID class!

Ok, you see a grebe on the sea, and know all 4 candidates are in the area, so... Which one is this?

"He's got a camera?!?"

It's down... it's up... here's a view;

"I'm outta here"

Now, both shots have enough, but if you're still going 'Huh', here's another one for you;

BNG baby!

The black and white fluffball body, long but not superlong straight-held neck, high rounded head with steep forehead, needle-like bill, dusky neck, and restricted white on rear cheek only...


Much easier to get on to were these two;

Mute Swans!

Not seen swans in the IH for an age, and these are the first I've seen on Patch this year, would you believe? They've become much less frequent in recent years [or is it me, being much less frequently about Torre Abbey? Hmm..]. Those two were patrolling around looking for gullible grockles with food, but I reckon they'd have been hard-pressed to find anyone.

I had a look at the roost off Torre Abbey, where 187 Herring, 248 Block 'ead, and 3 Kittiwake bobbed about at 5 to 4. Also there were 2 GC Grebes, which thought they'd avoided me! [Though they did avoid getting their pictures taken, due to low light]



Finally, I should mention land birds, but aside from the two posers up there - not surprisingly as it's been cold, overcast, and windy - they were more heard than seen, and then not often. Most interesting was a party of 5+ Chaffinch, working along the thin branches of Horse Chestnuts.





Be Seeing You..





[[*You may not be relieved to know that that one missed.]]