So I don't have to drag up at "Aaaauuurrrgh...." O'clock tomorrow morning, as I am now on the Night Shift. It's been 4 long years of having to get up far too early in the morning*, then trying to not only act like a civilised person but also do a responsible job of work [[stop sniggering!]]. Not easy. But its back to the old routine. Well, sort of. Anyway, changes are a' comin' and I may even get to do some weekday birding again! [Maybe] [If I'm not asleep]
[[*Ie. actually in the morning.]]
Aaaanyway, as I'm having to get back into the night shift routine, I decided it probably wasn't a good idea to get up at 3am to be down at Pendeen for a respectable hour. It matters there, you see - every time I've seawatched there I've found a group of serious seawatchers already ensconced [well, except for the first time, but that was December ;) ] - so rolling in at 8:30 would just be embarrassing... Right, so the forecast looked very tasty for north cornwall, and I thought about Pentire, but the same thing applied - with the hike out to Rumps it takes almost as long to get from bed to starting watching as Pendeen does, though the crowd tends to be thinner on the ground [most I've met there is 2!].
Then I remembered the time I went to Prawle when it was blowing NW and scored what is still my highest ever total of Pom Skuas [yes, skuas at Prawle, you do see them there sometimes...]. 'Hmm...' thinks I. I looked at the wind charts and saw that there was reason to my thinking; birds pushed into the Channel by the sustained winds would be trying to get out and may use the shelter of the land to do so, also if the wind was more W than NW then it would push birds into the west coast of Devon, and they may well pass eastwards to escape [rather than battle the length of the peninsula into the wind], the big squally showers promised could drag or divert anything out there close to land - and mask the land as happened so fortuitously the day before. Finally, Prawle is one of those places where you can get birds in any weather - I still remember when [Very Famous Devon Birder] got a Stormie there on a day of blazing sunshine and almost flat calm seas. [[I still couldn't get on it...]]
So, Prawle Point in a howling WNW [pushing near W in the squalls], sunshine and some fast-moving and very fierce squally showers... It was interesting!
Tucking myself down in a gully I felt like I'd turned a switch - November to August! The sun was hot, the flowers were pretty, the butterflies were trying to kill each other... The sea was really something - breaking crests, full-on tumblers, some of them - with the light quality giving excellent views of the Manxies that passed in the sunshine. The big waves were a bit of a pain, even from my high vantage point, but they made for spectacle, and meant only the 'ardest yachties were out. No jetskis today - woohoo! Ahem. I watched for 6 1/2 hours - the 1/2 to wait for one last squall - and got some interesting stuff, missed something potentially very interesting, but got a super-spawny slice of jam to compensate and then a cherry too, so I'm fairly happy overall.
Most movement was around the squalls, but even when the sun shone, birds were passing, though rarely in any numbers - biggest flock size was 34, and mostly the Manx came in small groups. Westerly Manxie passage started strongly, with 198 in the first hour, but died off rapidly, only to be almost entirely replaced by easterly passage. I don't think they were just flying in circles, but I can't prove it. 332W and 357E were the final scores. Gannets came out at a disappointing 118/68 with only 3 Kittiwakes, 4 Fulmars, 4 Razorbills and 3 Guillemots.
There were no fewer than 6 Balearics past west - all in an hour and a half and one a very pale individual. The fact that no Balearics came east in the latter part of the day suggests to me that maybe there were two distinct groups of Manx [to and from the nearest colony, maybe?]. Singles of Stormie, Sooty Shear, the seemingly inevitable juvenile Yellow-legged Gull and Whimbrel also went west, while an odd shearwater spp. went east - medium-large size, mid-brown, shaped like a cross between Great and Cory's and had a very odd flight action - I lost it before I could get a decent look; it went behind a wave and Houdini'd me.. Frustrating ain't the word, folks. ::Mutter mutter:: As to what it was....I can't even speculate. That's seawatching - you really can't get 'em all.
Never mind what might have been - on to the jam. There I was, scanning around, when in a trough I see a very curved black back with a little hooked fin - cetacean! Not just cetacean, but a frickin' Minke Whale! :D Yes, you read right, this jammy git not only got himself a whale, but did it in nigh on gale force winds...
Finally the cherry. I stopped off on the way home at Slapton, to see if the hirundine cloud contained any interesting swifts [[he's just not giving up on this nonsense, is he?]]. It had very few Swifts, and all of those Common - though it did have lots of Sand Martins - but as I cast my gaze to the other end of the Ley, what should I see but Her Ladyship! She then hung around while I burned up to the Bridge and gave me a display of hunting the seaward side reed strip! Yes! After the very few fleeting glimpses I've had in the past, it was wonderful to finally get a good look at her.
And finally - at Prawle, as I sat watching, what should land on the next rock over, look at me, then fly off? Juvenile Wheatear! :)
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