Lunch is important, especially when you're up on't Moor. Finding the right place to have it is usually a matter of balancing competing factors. Can you sit down without getting wet / smelly / bitten / prickled / harassed? Can you all sit down? Can you see anything when you do? Are you in / out of the sun / rain and / or the wind? Can Tilbury Dog see... well, almost anything that moves? Or find something to jump into / get tangled up in? We had fun answering these questions yesterday.
The idea was to go to Princetown and follow the tramways, on account of the Moor being a trifle soggy. Unfortunately, a large sheet of black ice on the Ponsworthy road just after the bit where the Great Grey Shrike had been put paid to that. Fortunately, it was the car in front which found the ice and pirouetted back down the granite-lined lane... One careful turn later, being unwilling to risk more minor roads or make a huge detour, we bailed out at Cold East Cross and had a wander around the vicinity instead. The sun shone and though the wind was a bit cold it was very pleasant going. The very wet moor had flash-frozen, giving unusual conditions underfoot - a bit like blancmange with a crunchy crust...
Running out of not-too-busy moor, and unwilling to brave the hordes further off, we moved to Venford reservoir mid-afternoon and were treated to 3 redhead Goosander swimming around on the mirror-smooth water. Bird-wise there were the usual winter moorland bits and pieces, notable was a very dark Buzzard hunting around Seven Lords' Lands and the first Fieldfare I've seen this year [which alarmed and flew off...].
Important Business this morning precluded birding and the continuing sunshine deterred me from a full-on seawatch, so I instead bashed the Patch; taking in Waxwing site [no dice] and the Downs [for sheltering seabirds in the strong wind] en route to the Nose [to see if the Eider [Devon Birder] got the day before was still around...]. There were 94 GC Grebe, 1 RT Diver, at least 15 Razorbill and 60 Kittiwake on the sea off Blackball, with a Fulmar and a dozen Gannets overhead. Getting to the Nose the wind was at an impressive level, and even with the little scope I saw a pretty impressive stream of auks passing. I went right down the The Wall and huddled in it's lee to do a timed count [the wind vying with TCCT's chainsaws as backing track!]. 305 in 10 minutes is a lot, if not apocalyptic, but about 150 of those were in the first 2 minutes and at 5 minutes the rain arrived like a frickin' express train...
Most of the auks appeared to be Razorbills, but with only the little scope and in the wind and rain I'm not going to even guess at a ratio. Kittiwake and Gannets were also passing south, as did a RT Diver, and the smart w/pl adult GND was still on the sea between the Lead and Ore Stones, seemingly unfussed by the weather. Realising I was definitely going to get soggy again, I figured I'd better check thoroughly for this Eider, and I eventually found it - a 1w male, I reckon - in the more sheltered water of Hope Cove with a score of Razorbills. Despite getting even wetter than on Friday, I was cheerful all the way home. [[Mad, mad I tell you...]]
PYL: 64
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