Saturday's Stuff

Apologies for the delay, which was due to a brief staying of relatives. :)

Saturday morning saw me up bright and relatively early and over to Berry Head to see if there was the slightest chance of one or more Pallas' Warblers having remained...

I took the scenic route in, past the hotel, and heard the reassuring sound of two tit bands as I drove up [though not, of course, where I could stop]. Starting from the car park I worked my way towards the Array - two tit bands later I reached it and then was amazed to hear the clear sound of a calling Pallas'!!!! Very clear and sustained and a bit loud for a little phyllosc. I thought, and so it proved, as I instead found [Famous Devon Birder Who Shall Remain Nameless] with a recording... Not long after attracting me, an actual bird came for the briefest of looks - it had leaf green uppers and two straight wingbars and that is literally all I had; rats!

Parting ways, I continued to scour the woods and scrub, meeting tit bands, Goldcrests, but nothing fancier. A few finches went overheard, including Bullfinch and Siskin, also noted were Green and GSW, several [all standard] Chiffs and a very nice female Sprawk, plus lots of thrushes above the Walled Gardens. Remeeting [Famous Devon Birder Who Shall Remain Nameless] he pointed me to the far side of the Walled Gardens, where he'd first found the Pallas', and had just had a Firecrest. Up I went, and though there were some very nice Bullfinches there plus more Chiffs I missed the Firecrest. Thinking all was mostly lost I heard again the call of the Pallas' - ah, more recordings, I thought. I even softly called out "[Famous Devon Birder Who Shall Remain Nameless] is that you?" Then the obvious finally got through my thick skull;

It's a £%%£$@§* Pallas'!!!

The calls, all 3 of them, had come from behind a big ivy-covered tree, which I spent the next hour watching. Not a frickin' sniff.

[[* Ancient Devonian Swear-words, which I am not allowed to translate]]

A LTT band came through, other tits, Chaffinches, a Chiff, Goldcrests, lots of butterflies, a Common Darter and a Migrant Hawker even, but not Pallas'... Heading back to the coast path by the hotel I then encountered a huge tit band; 30+ including 3 Treeeecreeepers! While I was trying to sort through them more birds arrived; Chaffs, Goldcrests and then again a Pallas' called! It was mayhem - there were plenty of leaves still on the trees which were moving in the wind, and LT, Coal, Blue and Great Tits, Goldcrests, Chaffinches, butterflies [big enough to attract attention for a second], Treecreepers, a Wren or two for good measure all moving all around me from ground to canopy. The Goddess of Birding has a very 'interesting' sense of humour, and that day it was set on high; I got an underside view of the middle of a wingbarred phyllosc., but again not enough to rule out Yellow-brow and so not enough to Life Tick. Aaaarrrggghhh....

The band [or maybe bands?] moved on and I was left alone and not a little bereft. I continued working up through the woods back to the Array, but I didn't get another hint. After deciding the hordes would have moved the Blackstart and very late Wheatear from the Fort, I eventually called it a morning after 4 hours. This was an hour more than I'd originally intended, and so I had to head straight back without detouring to have a look for the Yellow-brow at Clennon. Would have been nice to see another but as [[::Chorus of Opera Singers:: "Yoou're nooooot Yeeeeaaaarliiistiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!"]] I'm not too cut up, and it'll probably hang around for a while..?

After checking on Tilly the Terrible for the parents, I gave the patch a bash until it got dark. Things started off well, with flyovers by Goldfinches [rare for where I live] and a Sprawk, and as I climbed the Hill, I thought I might be in for something? There were tit bands including lots of nice showy LTTs and Goldcrests and I got a great view looking down from IMD of two old friends sitting in a tree :). The Nose was unsurprisingly quiet, it being a sunny Saturday and the sun was by then starting to come off it - nowt to report but a Wren in the Top Dell and little better on the sunny southern slopes. Ok, maybe not something, then. Well, apart from The Second One, but that's classified.

I may have come within 2cm of a Lifer [either way I'd have had a clinching feature! ;) ], which is possibly the most exquisite torture you can inflict on a birder, but I'm not that cut up about it*. I reckon that these things [non-sylvia warblers, that is] just aren't meant for me to twitch. As I've sort of said about the hours of daylight, you need to play the hand you're dealt; I know where to look, what to look for, and what to listen for, so I'll just have to find the wee buggers the old fashioned way. Now, if I can just get hold of one of those american squeakers.....

[[*Ok, this is a teeny bit of a lie. I'm more philosophical about my pain.]]