Snow? What snow?!?

While the country supposedly vanished under feet of snow, here there was a brief flurry of sleet [about 10 minutes after my last post...] and nowt else. There's an icing sugar dusting on the highest Moor hills, and exposed standing water has frozen, but the roads are covered in salt only.

Saturday saw me awakening to these conditions, thinking 'Ah, up on't Moor it is!', then realising my phone's battery was dead. Schoolboy error there.. While it charged I patrolled my patch, finding not a lot - no berry-munching trillers yet.. After an early lunch I decided to head down to Berry Head to see if this Lapland was as confiding as reported. The possibility of really good views [as opposed to the usual "It's 50' away in a field full of stubble and furrows, with 100+ assorted Mipits, Skylarks, and others running interference..."] was tempting, as they're gorgeous little things, plus you never quite know what'll turn up there.

The wind out there had teeth my dears, and sharpened ones at that. It was also strong enough to send an unwarily crouching birder over on his arse [fortunately the photographers* present were looking the other way...]. The Lapland, once found [It was sneakily hiding in plain sight, right by the main roadway just inside the fort gates!] was a lot more than confiding - if you stood still would come right up to you and it let people and even dogs pass within a few feet. At most it would freeze, or nip behind a stone - it apparently took a dog going for it to make it fly. It's been there since Wednesday, I think, so this is hardly the desperation of a starving 'I've just flown for thousands of miles' bird - it's just icy cool. I watched it when there was nobody about at all and its feeding behaviour was the same.

[*A couple of young lads from SG - into birds and having gotten cameras before optics; I suppose this is the future of birding..!]

After spending 45 minutes admiring this cracker I took a wander through the woods and down to the Famous Pallas' Spot. In the brisk to strong wind and double figure windchill ensuing there was unsurprisingly little doing - though a smart male Bullfinch sat in some brambles long enough for me to be sure he wasn't a Northern one [not that I was expecting it, but it's nice to a) know what to look for and b) be able to check just in case]. As I was trudging back up the road I met the SG lads [being driven home by one of their Mums - these two are even younger than young master Ray!] [[Yes, that is apparently possible.. ;) ]] again, who'd seen a sea duck off the quarry and weren't sure what it was [Yup, got Mum to stop the car to talk to Strange Bloke in Silly Hat...] Bird in question was very dark and looked quite Eider-y, but the head shape in the photo didn't look right. Oh well - it's not dark yet so I'll wander over and have a look.

Said duck is indeed still sat on the sea off the fishing platform - got the scope on it and it's a juvenile [probably female by the lack of super] Eider all right! Just goes to show that the camera does lie - head shape looked very Scoter-ish in the shots but in the feather no doubt of the ID. I know this is one of my pet rants, so I'll spare you any more of it than 'this is why they use paintings in field guides'.

Today due to a slight case of sleep I again did not get up on't Moor. This morning saw more patch-bashing, with 11 Redwing over the best of it, and Mr. [sorry Herr] Blackcap having set up in the garden to winter on the fat block.

This afternoon I went for a stroll around Yarner with the folks - usual winter Tits and 'hatches - with Tillbury Dog providing hi-jinks that had me climbing a bank to untangle her from a tree stump, some gorse, and a small tree [all in a dog's cradle of extendo-lead...]. We went a way we [and indeed I] don't usually go, and met the granite tramway, which with the line of Beeches beside it was very pretty indeed. It was crisp and dry and cold enough to feel but not so bad that it was nasty [nice warm gear helped, of course]. Very pleasant walking, though we managed to meet every single person there [judging by the car park] on the way. I'm not going to start rhapsodising about layered colours again, but they were beautiful.