Oh Bugger...

I type this late and slowly, I'm afraid, as I have damaged myself again....

So I was at Hope's Nose, which as I have in the past described as 'not so much slippery when wet as downright dangerous'. It was wet, and yes, I had a little accident. There is a rock. A nice rock [or so I thought]. I have stood on it hundreds of times, looking into the Top Dell. Its siltstone, not limestone, so is nowhere near as ice-like when water is applied to it. Or so I thought.

Anyway, I had been standing on it, looking into the Top Dell for what might have been a late Ouzel [but was probably just that Blackbird again] [[But you never know]][[[*]]]. I decided to move on, shifted my position, tested my footing, it seemed firm, so I picked up my other foot.. My planted right foot just went from under me like I was on a cartoon banana skin. A 90° pivot and fall gave me just enough time to think "This is the kind of fall that breaks your hip" before impact. Did I mention I had my Big Scope over my shoulder?

Ouch.

Once I'd finished turning the air indigo, I checked to see what was broken. My scope and tripod were seemingly intact [What?? a) bones heal, metal and carbon fibre doesn't, and b) I'm a birder; Your optics come first! ], my bins landed on me so they weren't in danger. They build them well in Japan and Italy [the custom padding I've added to my scope against just such an eventuality may have helped]. No bones broken, either, and everything seemed to work. Wow, did I get away with that?!? I walked [very carefully] down to the lower bench to check my scope hadn't had its prisms jarred, and no, they were ok too, it seemed. A pod of Bottlenose Dolphin then came by south [one had a very noticeable notch in the tip of its dorsal - almost like it was split].

I kept looking around the Nose, feeling my right ankle, but that cleared up. Result? I went on to Preston [a Black-necked Grebe and not much else] and then Cockington, and then, up the high fields near Scadson's Wood, as I went to hop over a stile, my right wrist gave under me and I almost went into the mud... damn. It started seizing up worse and worse, so I headed home. No swelling means no sprain, but I've evidently bruised the ligaments where the hand bones meet the arm bones. It's weird; it looks fine, but any pressure or move it the wrong way and ouch! So, a day of not a lot of fun for me. The good news is it should heal in days rather than weeks [its already better than it was - I can now type with both hands, albeit slowly], but the bad is I'm rather limited because of course, its the right one and I'm not a southpaw..

Today I had a lie-in, then got some stuff done. I managed to have a look at the Harbour, where there were no gulls on the pontoon, but 4 Pied Wags. A single GC Grebe was all I could get on the sea - high tide, strong wind and so on..

Before I had my little accident I'd had some good stuff at the Nose - a tristis Chiffchaff, no less! :D It called and everything, nice and close too, though not super-prolonged. Also a couple of Blackcaps and a collybita Chiff. There were at least 125 Guillemots on the Ore Stone, and a dozen Kittiwakes and Gannets were attending a group of trawlers,which seemed to be working together about a mile offshore.

Cockington had a Stock Dove [Patch Yeartick!], three Mistle Thrushes in one tree and a group of very confiding and active [even for them] Goldcrests, including one very shirty male with his crest seemingly permanently raised. Also, on my way back I passed the new 'craft centre thing' - oh dear.

[[[*It was just a Blackbird, too...]]

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