This post is not about twitching.

But before I get to it, on Monday I was walking through that very field the Hoodie was photo'd flouncing about in today. It wasn't there, though.

Ahem.

So, on Sunday I had a toddle around the Three Reservoirs with the folks and the horrible dog [I have to say, while Tilly did not exactly cover herself with glory, she was better behaved than the Jack Russell which attacked her, and the Golden Retriever which went into the water to chase the ducks....]. I'd forgotten how good it is there - some very nice bits of habbo tucked away down the side bits where the dog walkers and joggers don't often go. While there were no rarities, the slightly scarcer kind of woodland passerines were present and showing nicely and some even sat still long enough for me to get my little scope [on its first ever tripod-mounted outing!] on them.

After being good yesterday, I decided to try cheering myself up by heading to a couple of my favourite [and very well-trodden this year!] bits of t'Moor. Weather decided to be good with a sunny morning to get things going, cloud to cool the hottest part of the day, before more sun to round things off. A Stoat running across the road in front of me was a good start, and then I got a surprise. Big looking raptor lifts up from near the roadside just past Grimspound - holy shit its got a golden head!! Plumage says sub-adult Golden Eagle and I skid to a stop, hit the hazards and am out with the bins [this is why I keep them in the front when driving]. It picks up height and arcs away from me - head shining in the sun, white bits in its patchwork plumage picked out...and its a [ANCIENT DEVONIAN SWEAR-WORDS DELETED] Buzzard. I kid ye not, there is a Buzzard knocking around Dartmoor that's marked like an immature Goldie - everything else is understandable, but how the pink frilly knickers did it get the head colour??!??!?!?

Moving on... I stopped at the Warren House and headed down into Vitifer, round the bend to Challacombe and back via a slightly scenic route. Now there are lots and lots of Whinchats, which is lovely - Whinchats are cracking little birds. :D Redstarts were showing and singing [eventually] but the Spotted Fly previously reported proved rather less visible. Pity that - they don't sing much or look fancy, but they're such characterful birds that I like them more than Pieds. A couple of hours trying various tactics having proved fruitless I was heading back up the Vitifer valley, when I got a reward of sorts in the form of a Gropper flushed out of long grass beside the path. It zipped into cover with great alacrity and duly failed to reappear or even reel at me. One day I hope to meet one of these showy 'reel out in the open' Groppers that other birders keep photographing.

Deciding that Spotflies were worth chasing, I dropped into Yarner on the way back. No luck there, though Wood Warbler and Pied Fly both showed well, and Blackcap and Garden Warbler made me work while singing well! The otherwise usual suspects present included a very smart Long-tailed Tit and an inevitably adorable Treeecreeeper. Work continues apace - the new wooden bridge over the pond ford has gone - and so has the ford! Now all concreted over, I have to say I'm disappointed - it was great for washing your boots off! A new fence is going up - presumably to stop people from falling in the pond [oh the joys of H & S], but the pond itself is now more like a few channels and lots of dried bits.

Finally.... I keep meeting the Dynamic Trio [including the World's Best Behaved Birding Dog]. Rumps on Monday, Vitifer today [several other times in the past]. Its got me wondering - can't be a co-incidence, so who's stalking who? ;)