At Last!

They're heeeeeeeeeeeere!!!!!!!!!

Having resolved not to blog again until I had a nice Wheatear on my Patch to blog about, the little gits kept me waiting. Tut. Still, all is forgiven, even if the female at Hope's Nose this morning did little more than flash her white arse at me and fly off 'round the corner.. Also at the Nose today - Bullfinches. My cup runneth over :D

In the interval between last post and this, when not failing to find Wheatears [and Chiffchaffs, but I'm not getting into that now] or being rejected by online cod-psych tests [definitely not getting into that] I do have a few bits of news that might even be of interest.

Black Things on the Sea!

On two days there have been scoter [well] off Blackball - this is highly unusual for my Patch, with past non-flybys being off Meadfoot or Preston/Paignton only. Wednesday saw a party of 5 diving then swimming off north - 2 males, and one definitely Common [so presumably they all were, but they were far enough out to need ID by wingflap]. Today there were 2 sitting on the sea, eventually they wingflapped to prove they were Common - again far enough out that headshape wasn't reliable in the haze.

Even more surprising - on Wednesday also the frankly shocking sight of 3 Coot fairly close in off Babbacombe Pier, diving for seaweed! I had no idea they even did this [I mean, they're Coot, you don't see them on the sea...] but apparently in northern climes they overwinter in harbours. Learn something new every day.

[Classified]

On a day that shall remain undisclosed, I went to a secret place hoping to see a secret bird. I succeeded. Brilliant!! :D

[[I really hate that I have to censor my blog. The things I wish I could share...]]

Duck..

On Thursday, having lugged the Big Scope down to the Nose to count the Guilles [318, by the way, so getting towards full strength] I decided I might as well take a wander around the lower bits of the Exe. The wind picked up progressively all day and at Dawlish Warren the sand was flying. I hid behind the lifeguards' hut and had a look at the sea, where the light was glorious.. Surf, Velvet and at least 15 Common Scoter, 2 Slav and 7+ GC Grebes and 2 Razorbills were picked out beautifully. A Bonxie and 5 of the C Scoter flew south and one of the male Commons repositioned closer to Langstone, flying very close and showing wonderfully. Unfortunately, I was getting sandblasted while all this was going on and so decided to give the rest of the Warren a miss and head inland. [I was de-sanding myself for the rest of the day - joy].

A quick look from Cockwood Crossing gave at least 30 RB Mergansers and a couple of Goldeneye, plus lots of the usuals before I moved on to Powderham Bend. A brief pause at The Castle revealed no Ospreys, not that I really expected one, but you never know. Once on site, the female Scaup showed briefly, before sneaking away when I took my eyes off her. Tut. The main Brent flock had no Red-breasted Geese with it, though there was a pale-bellied Brent as a consolation [I'd wanted to get a good look at the remaining RBG to see if it was the one with bling or not]. I plonked down in the lee of the levee wall and watched the tide go out. 5 flavours of gull, plus assorted waders and wildfowl. Might not have been most peoples' idea of fun, but I enjoyed it. Watching flocks of waders fly in, feed, then fly on. Listening to the geese behind me and jumping up when they flushed [300 Brents in flight might not be as spectacular as the show on the Fleet, but they're still pretty good] - they went up twice and I didn't see either cause - and moving to watch them come to the river for a wash and brush up.

Finch Fun

Needing to do Stuff at Heathfield let me get in a visit to a sunny Yarner, hoping for Lesser Pecker. No dice, of course, but the Siskin on the niger feeder put on a great show to compensate. Singing Nuthatches and Treeeeecreeepers, plus just being at Yarner on a quiet day made it worthwhile.

Back home a surprise Garden Mega! Goldfinch!!!!! Only one, and it got chased out by a deranged female Blackbird, but still wow! I know Goldfinches may be 30-a-penny to some of you, but this is a "Count 'em on the fingers of one hand in 30 years" rarity for me.

Not Seen You 'round Here for a While..

One of the less ugly* weird Herring Gulls made it's first appearance in the Harbour for more than a year - the Yellowy-legged Gull! This is exactly what it says on the tin. An adult argenteus Herring Gull in all respects except for a distinct yellow tinge to its legs. Definitely not an omissus. Ah, the tangled web of gull genetics - lump the lot of 'em!! ;)

[[*I might have said 'prettier', but these are Herring Gulls...]]

Where's a nice Russki Scoter when you want one?

Oh yeah, Kerry....

Right then, I'm off to the beach to wave a bunch of mussels and whistle 'Unbreakable Union of Soviet Republics'....

;)

PYL: 96