Now, "What madness is this?!?" I hear you cry. Ah, 'tis the Joy of Patch Listing. When a manky noisy should-all-be-shot Canada Goose gives you that spike of ecstasy... Ok, you're right about the madness.
I awoke before dawn this morning [not bad considering], looked out the window, saw clouds and so dragged up and got down to the Nose. This worked out nicely. There was a steady passage of southbound passerines, with the most numerous species being Goldfinches - unusual. The wind was lighter and in a more friendly direction than on Friday, but there still wasn't much going on in the bushes - clearly not murky enough [to the south, Berry Head looked promisingly mist-wreathed]. All the action was in the air, and as well as the expected Mipits, alba Wagtails, Green and Chaffinches, Siskins, Skylarks and Swallows there were a group of Redpoll [Patch Tick!] and a Woodlark! The lark came over nice and low, right overhead, not 5 minutes after I arrived. Brilliant! :D
Now... Enter The Goose. Flypast, low over the sea, honking away. Deary me... Also over the sea were an auk sp. [bins only, it was quite close] and 4 Gannets. Yeah, really stunning... I went over everything that could be gone over and then noticed a large amount of rain coming across the bay to say "hi', so decided it was a good time to go home and have some coffee... [[What a wimp...]]
This afternoon I wailed pathetically on seeing the news recognised the futility in chasing eagles flying away from me and took a wander around the top end of Cockington [defying the Apple Day crowds] in the hope of getting Stock Dove on the Patch Year List, but no dice. A Green Woodpecker showed well, though managed to hide its gender [impressive use of dangly branch]. Star sighting was a ridiculously confiding [for an odonate] female Common Darter, sat on a fence and allowing inspection down to a couple of feet. An overmature individual, she was very pretty indeed.
Yesterday was Day Out with the rellys - we took a wander around Fernworthy [wanting to protect our guests' ears from Tilly's enthusiasm as much as possible] [[Yes, futile - there's always something she can find to go bonkers at...]]. Crossbills were present in some numbers, mostly staying irritatingly distant and mobile, but eventually showing nicely. A lone Wheatear hung around the exposed hut circles near the car park, and a Migrant Hawker was patrolling below the dam, while the first Redwing of the autumn in the form of a flock of 23 went over westwards. A few hirundines were still passing - at least 2 of which were House Martins.
Plenty of the usual woodland species - in places a lot of them - with a very vocal Nuthatch and at least 3 GSWs notable. The reservoir was quiet, though, despite there being less disturbance than on my last few visits. A single Cormorant and a half dozen large gulls arriving late on being the sum total. A lot of deer were in the area, to Tilly's great interest, and we saw slots all over the place, including a good sized group of Red Deer, but no sightings [perhaps a good thing, as Tilda really likes them...].
Finally another Canada Goose, this time on the sign of the Ruptured Duck, where we had a very nice meal that evening [thus my self-congratulation at getting up so early the next day ;) ]. Said pub is not actually called the Ruptured Duck [[which is an in-joke so old nobody can actually remember why we call it that...]], though perhaps it should be, as Canadas are not proper wild geese, are they? Might as well have a Bar-head. A nice Brent would be much more appropriate. Still, they do good food and good beer, so a little leeway.
PYL: 82%
No comments:
Post a Comment