Back again

Terrible, isn't it? No updates since Saturday, what is the world coming to.....

Today marked the eighth day since I went off to zumerzet [and technically other counties too, but don't get any locals going on that subject.. ;) ]. Having spent 7 being good, not driving my car around [[though I'd describe birding as a 'necessary journey']] and generally beating the Patch senseless* when not diligently job searching, I decided it was time to properly go somewhere. After all, no matter how many pictures you see, it's not until you actually experience something that you truly appreciate it, do you?

'Up to 8" of snow', they said. In the three falls, we had 2cm, 4cm, and a barest dusting here. 'Well, the last fall was Monday, they must have cleared the roads by now..' thought I. Ha ha ha..... I had wanted to get up on't Moor - last winter I'd had lots of fun with knee-deep drifts on Ryder's Hill - but decided the wind would be a bit too toothy [then there were the assorted accidents blocking the roads, so probably still a bit icy, too]. Deciding to play it safe I went for Exminster - Smew on the canal and hordes of Bramblings [maybe] were very appealing - thinking that there was plenty of scenery to shelter from the wind by, and that judging by all the people who've been there, access couldn't be too bad. Oh ho ho ho....

I did expect the lane to be ungritted and basically ice; I've driven interesting roads before and know that as long as I don't stop or maneuvre suddenly I'm fine. I didn't expect the car park to be covered in chassis-deep snow.. I had the nasty feeling that if I stopped I wouldn't be able to start again. Perhaps this was untrue, but I really didn't feel like finding out! Fortunately, my li'l car has a very tight turn radius and I got in and out in one. Parking in the Swan's Nest car park seemed overly cheeky, and the two layby spaces were already taken, so after deciding against Exminster village I went up to Countess Wear. Also an ice rink, but at least I had a reasonable chance of getting help if I needed it.

A long yomp then followed, down the towpath to Topsham Lock. It was quite breathtakingly gorgeous, I have to say. [Ignoring the roadside slush, the whole day was one of spectacular scenery] Not that cold either - second hat and the mitts came off [though back on when I stopped, the wind had sharp teeth]. The ice-free pool at the footbridge duly turned up 2 wonderful li'l Redhead Smew, plus 2 Pochard, 5 Shoveler, 30+ Tufty, 50+ Gadwall, 160+ Coot, 7 Mute Swans and up to 7 Cormorant - they were very in and out - [Also, one was a sinensis with a gular angle of nearly 100 degrees :) ]. I found a nice spot by the bridge where I was far enough back [and not showing a nasty human silhouette] to let the birds relax while still having a clear view of most of the pool. Rather conveniently, this was also out of the wind [[Side note: A folding stool is your friend]]. Getting on for 2 1/2 hours passed, while the Smew sat, preened, dived, and caught some impressively big Perch. It were dead great. Then one [the one with more white on it - a 1w male, maybe?] got out onto the ice right in front of me [so to speak]. Joy.

There were quite a few other birds around, including a couple of Cetti's and some very confiding Wrens by the canal, a Snipe in an unfrozen ditch, lots of thrushes... The usual Exe flyovers flew over; mostly solo Blackwits and parties of larks and finches, though a Redshank came up the canal very low and passed within 15', which was brilliant. A couple of Brambling were some consolation for not getting to Powderham Marsh [I had seriously considered going on there, but then I compared time to do the round trip with hours of daylight and chances of a quick freeze after sunset and thought better of it]. For raptors there were Buzzard, Kestrel and a high female Sprawk [no glorious male Hen Harrier, alas..]. With the way this winter's gone, I was half expecting a Lapland Bunting to fly over, so when one circled quite low overhead before heading towards Exminster, I was almost blase about it... I kid, I was grinning like a fool! :D

Eventually, coffee ran out, and it was time to go. Heading back, you will probably be utterly unsurprised to learn I had no trouble getting going. I maintain that paranoia is your friend. One notable thing more - very large numbers of larks on the snow-free field inland from Labrador Bay. Oh yes... I get home to find that the one day I wasn't on my Patch, another Waxwing's turned up. [[Ancient Devonian swear-word time...]]

*No shocking news to report - couple of sightings of GND on the sea, but most of that stuff's off Broadsands! There were at least 40 auks on the Ore Stone on Tuesday, and a singing Goldfinch was another Patch scarcity this week. Goldcrests and LTTs are surviving, yesterday saw the first Fieldfares of the winter show up, I'm still only on 3 [all male] Blackcaps in the neighbourhood, we had 35 House Sparrows out the back this morning, Chaffinches are down to about 15 from 20+ [due, I think, to clearing snow rather than mortality], our Wren is still going [yay], the Starling mob is still in evidence, fluctuating from about 20 to 80+ and we've still got Redwing all over the place.

[[[Those who keep a sharp eye on this blog may notice this post has been edited.]]]