Spring!

So the sun did shine, and seeking Swallows and hoping for other migrants it was down to Prawle yesterday. Surprisingly quiet there - I mean, there were families and dogs and families with dogs [and kids with sticks performing quite skilled duels] - but not as much as you'd expect on a warm sunny Sunday. Ok, I suppose it being March still may have had something to do with it!

Wandering from Prawle towards Start, the inevitable Cirls showed in spectacular fashion - not only very good numbers but also very confiding, one male stayed put and let us watch him at 10' or so [we'd seen him earlier, walked on expecting him to nip around behind us, and were amazed he didn't!]. My first Wheatears of the year also dun good - a party of 6 in a tight group also stayed put and let us get to about 20' [which is very good for a Wheatear when you're walking towards it]. They also later came to have a look at us while we were having lunch. I like Wheatears. :D

Getting on towards Kate's House, a couple of Chiffchaffs were starting to sing - another year's first - though all the tempting habbo around there proved barren of anything fancier. Also the first singing Blackbird [I think] [[that's 'I think its the first Blackbird song of the year', not 'I think it was a Blackbird singing'!]]. The weather was warm, sunny, and everything was getting the proper Spring glow - though not fresh green and leafy in the tree department yet.

Now, I know on Saturday, after I'd finished ranting about TCCT's incompetence, I said I was hoping to see a Swallow. You can guess, can't you? Yep, not a sniff nor a Sandie, nor a Sarnie on the sea, and certainly not a frelling Alpine Swift!

Ah, Alpine Swifts..... I think I am the only birder in Devon [if not the country] who didn't see the Seaton Swifts, you see. I tried more than once, oh yes, but unfortunately I could only be there in the middle of the day, not the mornings and evenings when they could be had guaranteed behind their drainpipe. Finding flying Swifts is far far more easily said than done, and I dipped most horribly. So they are a sore point.

Still, sunshine, flowers, some of my favourite birds, and the spray from a frisky swell - it was a nice way to spend a day.