Birthday Pressie!

Starting with the good bit for once;

Wryneck on Patch today!

Found by yours truly, feeding on ants on the open bit of Bishop's Walk near Brandy Cove at 1302. It did the usual routine of vanishing through a bush, but I later saw it in flight heading north towards Black Head. I went as far as Walls Hill, hoping it had gone to the grassy slopes overlooking Redgate Beach, but could find no sign of it. There are a few small and nigh-inaccessible areas of grass and bracken sticking out of Black Head where it may well have holed up, though there's enough room at Walls for a dozen to hide easily, so I'm not holding out much hope of a re-find. Amazing fluke I saw it at all; a long period with nobody on the path is a very rare thing at any time of year. Of course, after another 10 minutes of quiet hopeful waiting, the lights changed somewhere and the hordes appeared...

Getting back to the beginning, I gave the Patch a Birthday Bash this morning, which stretched into the afternoon as what had been a very quiet and largely bird-free affair got suddenly exciting! Aside from my pressie from the Goddess of Birding [thankyou very much!], the best I could muster were a few migrants; a single Willow Warbler [albeit a very smart one] at the Nose, a few Whitethroats, a dozen Chiffs [a couple of which had a sing], and a few small groups of LBBs passing south along the coast. Walls Hill slopes had a Wheatear, and while vainly scanning the little bits sticking out of Black Head I saw a Grey Heron lurking there, which is not a regular sight.

Migration has been well and truly underway all week, with not a morning being without at least a couple of Chiffs out the back. There have been other passerines with them, but always too skulky for me to get a look at after a night's work; "Ooh, that sounds like a sylvia" and "Ah, a Willow" and "Hmm, what's that?" are typical attempts at ID-by-call. It was a rough week at work....

Now then, how many is that on the Patch Year List now....?