Froward, To The Seawatching!

This post now includes Extra Seawatching Content!

Woo!

And is horrifically late..

UnWoo.

😔 

Anyways;

 

I like to visit Froward Point at least once a year.

It's not an easy place to get to, but once you're there [quietly wondering if your legs will take the climb back...] it's quite good. Not perfect, by any way; 'tis too tucked in to really give good coverage of passage birds, but for the northern half of Start Bay it's not bad at all. So when I don't have the time to go to Prawle, the wind or time of year isn't right for the Nose, or I just fancy a change, I go there. Also some quite good land birding in the area  😁

These days, though, as well as the 'fun' level of climbing involved, the nt [::hawk ptooi::] are doing their best to keep any one for whom actual money is an issue away; with ever-increasing charges at the only access points and less-helpful hours, too. [You now get to choose from 3 hours or all day, the previous, handy, four hour option is no more. 3hrs is not long enough to get down and do an even half-decent watch... Also said 3hrs costs more than the 4hrs did. Naturally. 😡]

Ahem.

Anyways, it was a good call, as there was a lot of feeding action going on in - or more accurately off -the northern part of Start Bay. This made getting counts less than easy, unless of birds clearly passing and only passing.

So we have what we have.

420+ Gannets and 'more' Kittiwakes were feeding in a long band of activity, well out [ie. km scale range], with an unkown number of shearwaters - almost all seen being Balearic - with them. 87 Balearic and 11 Manx Shearwater were seen breaking off and passing South, so those are very much minimum numbers.

1 Bonxie trolled through early on, scattering all before it in tradtional 'bowling ball in a skittles alley' manner, with 2 Pomarine and at least 12 Arctic Skuas counted, including a group of 3 which came close enough inshore to not only photo - albeit badly - but to see and harrass a passing Whimbrel.!

Mediterranean Gulls were also part of this feeding activity [also, and notably, a dearth of Herring Gulls {??} ] and I counted a total of 65 come in and head into Start Bay's inshore waters, presumably to Slapton Ley/beach with a 1cy Yellow-legged Gull passing even closer in [I just hit it with a scramble-grabbed camera]. Plus 3 Fulmar and 3 Black-headed Gulls.

32 Common Scoter [in three groups] passed by south and were definitely passage birds. 

Under all this activity were seemingly several groups of Common Dolphin; getting counts at range not easy, but I recorded groups of 15+ and 39. Blue-finned Tuna were seen once early on, and may have been present throughout, but too far out to call. My first Bottlenose Dolphins of the year - slightly closer in than the main feeding area - were a group of 4+, with an even closer-inshore group of 3+ Harbour Porpoise also seen.

It was all rather good.

Over the weekend before the Marsh Sand, a series of days of forecast ESE to SE that turned out to be ENE to NE saw me giving the Nose repeated goes, with not a lot of numbers, but quite a bit of quality.

A mere 10 hours total over three days, and with half of them on the least productive day [oh, what a surprise], but I packed a few goodies in. 

Then we come to my Traditional Early September Hollydays, when I got to the Nose five times, with additional watching from Goodrington-Three Beaches and Prawle, though only an average watch time of four hours [poor, very poor]. However, despite barren patches there were some really rather tasty birds seen [and some dropped for that matter] but that's seawatching.

I'm not going to put a mass of numbers in this post, as to be honest I want to get something out. I will instead do another seawatching post, which will hopefully include some possibly interesting comparisons of hourly rates of those birds I've done hourlies for, as well as a few of the others [Blog Rules apply*]

I have been doing some other things; just yesterday I was up on t'Moor, taking far too long to find a cairn circle - albeit one buried under Gorse {that was NOT in the book, you fiend} - and getting rained on hard as a result [I had waterproofs, I'm not an amateur], but also finding surprise Whinchats! Been meeting a few of them, recently.

 

So yes, more to come. Hopefully with a bit more regularity of posting, both here and pictures over there.

 

You never know, might happen. 

Be Seeing You...

[[*Currently rarest allowable bird is Long-tailed Skua, on account of Sabine's Gull's regrettable recent scarcity. But Sabs have been doing well this year, so maybe a rethink will be in order.]]

Well, It's Like This...

I am just having issues with my muse. The words don't seem to want to come much. At least, not when I'm sat here trying to come up with an ever-increasing catchup on all the seawatching I've been doing [and it has been quite a bit, in numbers of watches if not actual watch durations].

Yes, I'm typing now, but this is the 'oh dear I can't type what I really want to', not anything actually useful, isn't it?

Anyways, I shall be posting properly, and not just about seawatching, but I don't know when.

I blame gargle, as it's much harder to get things flowing when I know I can't put up photos [thousand words, etc. etc.]

Pictures, visible to all, not sundry, are frequently put up on BLUESKY, though rarely with much explaination.

[Hey google, you are evil and CENSORED FOR LEGAL REASONS BUT IT'S RUDE!]

 

I shall still, at some point,

Be Seeing You...

No, This Isn't Seawatching.. [Oh, Don't Look Shocked]

But it is something.

 

 

Last Sunday I went up Exminster-Powderham way in search of a reported Garganey. I did not see it. Nor did I see the reported 7 Glossy Isbis later in the day [ok, I think that technically I did see them, but from so far off that I'm not counting them]

I did see a Little Stint, 3 Wood Sand, 2 Green Sand, and 5 Ruff through range and heat haze [and vegetation and coobeasties] on Powderham Marsh during the 3.5 HOURS I was waiting on the Garganey  - so not at all a wasted trip - but hey, nm.

On the Monday I was out with the Folks. We went up Sourton Tor, had tea, enjoyed the view. It was nice. 2 Buzzards and 3+ Ravens was far more aloft than my last visit, Mipits and Linnets all flocked up, and again a Wheatear as we were leaving.

Friday and I could not resist the lure of the showy Wryneck, so back to Exminster and down to Turf lock. It rained quite a bit. Then the Sun came out and so did the Wryneck. There was a lot more nonsense than that sentence implies, but what can you do? I'm giving something, here.

Again I failed to see a Glossy Isbis, but I'm not yearlisting. I did see lots of birders and some very expensive coffee and cake [but gluten-free cake and decent coffee, so just about forgiven], also my first Kingfisher in Devon this year [[Wait? WHAT?!?!?]] [[Yes. Really.]]

 

I also got really good Wryneck photos - only the third one I've shot and the second recognisable - at last. One day I hope to get one Here [What? I have ants in my Skygarden. It could happen] but until then, this will do quite well.

Ok, a Patch Wryneck will be needed, but I technically have that. [Look in the archives of This Here Blog if you doubt me, to see 'Wryneck Inna Treeeee']. Better Patch Wryneck needed.

Ok, that'll do for now.

And yes, one day a seawatching blog post will be finished.

 

 

One day.

 

 

Be Seeing You... 

Actual News

MASS PANIC AS APOCALYPSE LOOMS

Ahem.

Today I was stirred from my post-Nights stupor - having decided a trip up to Frampton was not a safe thing - by a text from The Teacher: 'Marsh Sand at the Black Hole'. Having been thinking on looking for [presumably] this bird on the Exe, and having seen exactly one before, no less than 17 years ago [which was, incidentally, the last one in Devon..], I decided that I did indeed feel ok to go that far.

::One very much not Wacky Races interval later::

I rocked up to barely fit in the car park, meet the Mighty JT on his way out and learn that the bird - and very full supporting cast - was on show, and then shortly after The Teacher himself, abased before the Dread Artefact, which was unerringly locked on the vagrant wader.

[[Did I mention I've come off a Night shift and not yet slept?]]

 

Marsh Sandpiper is an elegant little-ish wader, like a cross betwixt Greenshank and Black-winged Stilt, which zips about watery places on long legs [often belly-deep] picking off insects and so forth with its knitting needle of a bill. This one showed a lot better than the other - seen sideways from the Bowling Green platform up the Clyst - though the bright Sun and wicked heat haze didn't help my attempts at pictures, alas.

Also on show a very nice Wood Sandpiper, two lovely Little Stints, a Spotshank, Common Sandpiper, Ruff, and a scattering of the usuals in the ways of Summery waders and wildfowl.

 

Look up! OSPREY!

 

'Hey, is that the Osprey back, high up to the North?' asked a birder who was paying attention. I got on it and channeled Obi-wan; "That's no Osprey, that's a WHITE TAILED EAGLE..."

::Cue pandemonium:: 

A little later, I wandered up to the north end viewing platform, as the Island Hide was a bit crowded for the weather and my nerves. This was a Good idea, and not just for the Wasp Spider by the main way.

 

'Look over there, is that another Buzzard?' 'Nope, that's a Red Kite.'

 

I loitered to have some rations and the coffee needed to navigate safely, and the Marshie and Woodie eventually came rather close, though of course directly up-Sun.

Finally, I was thinking of going, starting to pack the scope up, and oh, here's a butterfly landing right in front of me [and I mean touching distance].

That looks a bit bright... Oh ::Naughty words, sorry:: that's a Brown Hairstreak. In fact, that's a female Brown Hairstreak and she's laying eggs.  

Just you wait until I've been through the hundreds of pics, uploaded the ok ones, and put the Brown Hairstreak shots up. Oh, just you wait.

I even hit the eagle. It's awful, but I hit it.

Kite's a bit better.

Waders are ok, considering.

Oh, what a day.

😁

Be Seeing You...

Something Moor.

In light of once more being far behind, I am trying something different.

I have a variety of seawatches [ok, three] to now report on, with associated lists of birds and whatnot, but also I've been up on t'Moor again.

So I'm going to split by subject rather than time.

Hey, at least you're getting something, right?

You may recall that the last time I was up on t'Moor - aside from an afternoon with the Folks on Rippon Tor - I was beyond cryptic with the actual location, on account of sensitive rare species of a potentially breeding nature.

Fortunately for you all, I saw no Grouse, Red or Falcon, Hobby [or anything else rare, for that matter] so I can say where I went.

Woo. 

Ahem.

I hit the south Moor, wandering from Whiteworks to Fox Tor, then down and over to Ducks' Pool, before deviating from my normal route [due to heat and idle curiosity] to head straight over the bogs to Great Gnats' Head, then down over the Plym to Eylesbarrow, back on the usual route.

Things were complicated from the start as I found I was sharing the Moor with not one but two sets of endurance runners, as an ultramarathon and half ultra were being run... Hmm. Well, could be worse. They were at least restraining themselves to the more well-trodden routes, so I'd not meet the runners until I was descending from GGH [not that I knew that then, but the lack of those little flags was reassuring].

Since my last time up top, there had been at least a little rain, and it was markedly damper, with much more green in evidence, though still by no means actually wet. More like closer to where you'd expect Summer to be, perhaps. Though of course as we've had feck all falling since then, it may be browning over again.. Regardless, it wasn't exactly hard going [I'd think at least once before heading straight for Gnats in winter, say] and surprisngly and pleasingly free of Horseflies [dry weather has its uses; as Horsefly larvae live in the soil, it drying out puts a crimp in their lifecycle. {Yes, yes, part of nature, yes, yes, lots of other things that don't bite through denim don't like the soil drying out. Moving on.}]

I found there were still many Wheatears up on t'Moor, including adults still feeding young in the nest, and you may have seen a few pics thereof on gluesky [they've annoyed me, so don't get their name written correctly], also a few dragonflies, a couple of which even posed, despite the fresh breeze.

It was lovely up there, though out of the wind it was quite toasty - which is the main reason I'd decided to avoid the notoriously hot head of the Erme valley - and in it quite frisky. Interesting times, but that's t'Moor.

The very next day I was up again, this time with the Folks [and of course, Canis horribilis salivatus], for a more restrained time - as it was less windy and more 'ot - around the Meavy valley area of Burrator. Many were the Beautiful Demoiselles about the Devonport leat, and many the species of birds seen and heard, too. 😁 

 

Juvenile and female Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, Willow Warbler, Great Spotted Woodpecker, and a lone Wheatear were outside the compound and notable [I will get some pics up eventually] when we relocated to somewhere a little less sheltered and with more of a view.

It may be of interest that I recorded 14 species of bird, butterfly, and dragonfly on the tops, and 37 in the valley the next day. 

Far more varied habitat, of course, or should I say habitats, and I suspect if I had been more assiduous in counting say plant species, or even included other inverts [that's three up for the tops off the top - boom boom - of my head] that it would be less one-sided. 

Anyways, 'twas a good weekend, and in defiance of the heat, too.

 

Be Seeing You...

Er, Yeah...

I have been doing things, but the muse has again deserted me.

 

 

So I will be posting, about things such as looking at the sea and wandering about t'Moor, and so on.

But not yet.

What will you do?

Be Seeing You... 

[Really. Will be.]

Moor Hours, Moor Birds

This Sunday - after losing the previous day to my head [argh] - I was determined to get some kilometres under my feet.

T'Moor awaited, and I defied the iffy forecast and actual rain to go for a proper yomp.

Aside from assorted DofEs, I almost had the place to myself, which was great. I covered a fair whack of ground and got to new bits for the year, I even refound - and used - an old crossing point I'd last used while still working at the merry 'vox..!! Better yet, I only got rained on once! Result.

My legs were unamused by all this use, though, and the creaking when I got home was a terrible thing to behold, but it was worth it.

 

And not just for being Up again, oh no.

 

The birds, my dears, the birds!! 

You may be wondering why I've not actually used any names, any places, so far. This is entirely deliberate, as when I said 'the birds', I meant it!

😁 

Part-way through - way out 'somewhere' - I came across an interesting feather on the path. Look Over There and tell me what you think? 😏

I knew what I thought and was extra on guard - despite being in what I did not think of as an area for the species - though I still managed to be surprised when I flushed two-no three! RED GROUSE, which went zooming off low, as is their wont.

 

You might want to hit that link, as I hit one well enough for you to see what it was [just about].

 

Zoggin' 'eck!!!

I've heard them this year, more than once in fact, but not seen any since that time I was 'somewhere on Dartmoor' and came across a female with train of utterly adorable chicks, up very close and personal. There are pics, you may have seen them if you've been reading this for long enough. ::Whistles::

 

Thus the lack of location detail; Red Grouse are very rare and very protected and you do not give locations in the breeding season [or any other time, if you're me].

 

 

Not very long after at all, an adult Hobby came zooming past. I was again surprised and again got a photo. Score. As it is still breeding season [well, just] and Hobby are also very sensitive breeders [Maybe. They're that sensitive. I think they do somewhere in the county but nobody is telling. {And that's very right and proper, too}], I couldn't tell you where I was even if I hadn't met the grouse. Ah well.

 

 

Elsewhere there were Wheatears, including a very confiding juvenile, and my first Black Darter of the year [latter much lower down and soggier location that the former].

In something of a re-balancing, I again got no soaring birds that weren't Ravens despite quite a bit of skywatching.

Ah, I love being up on t'Moor.

Be Seeing You...