Belated News

After a birding-less Saturday, due to work and rain issues, Sunday saw me at least doing something. In the morning I had a wander about the Patch, with my first target being some hunch-following to the ridiculously-named Glen Sannox. This is in fact Babbacombe proper - ie Babba's actual Combe*but some Victorian decided otherwise and.... well. Anyway, now it is a little bit of gardens nestled above Babbacombe Beach. Its a nice little tucked-away spot, right next to the Theatre. Yes, that theatre. [It should be explained here that there are 3 theatres on my Patch. Yes, three. Get me.] You can meet some, er, interesting characters there [not least of which being myself.. ;) ], but when there aren't screaming horrors you have a shot at the odd decent bird. Like the Firecrest, which I narrowly missed getting another crippling view of. At least I know its still around, though now hanging with a band of Goldcrests and Blue Tits [plus one Great Tit] instead of being alone, at least that means its calling more.

Only 2 GC Grebes and a Razorbill on the sea, with nowt else of note.

Afternoon and only my third outing of the year with the Folks. We had a walk up on Haldon Ridge - the reason I'm being vague about where is coming up - and we did quite well for birds. A group of at least 5 Redpoll were nice, but outnumbered and outweighed by the Siskin and Crossbills. Both were present in numbers and both were feeling frisky; singing, display, the works :D Male Siskin showing off is something I always appreciate - even when they're being mimic-y gits - but I'm less used to Crossbills doing it, so this was a treat.

Plenty of other small birds around [plus Woodpigs] but of note was what looked very much like a cold weather movement going on. At a particular crossing point of the Ridge, wave after wave of Fieldfares, Starlings, and Mistle Thrushes [though no Redwing, for some reason??] were passing west at treetop height. I was able to stop and count for almost 5 minutes [admirable patience from a certain Little Black Dog] and almost 150 birds passed over; 9:4:2 of the above species. I didn't notice them going over anywhere else, but this place was the only pass [for want of a better term] we reached, so they may have been crossing elsewhere too. Fascinating, if not unexpected, with all the Weather they've been having up country.

[[*A note on names and terms... Combe, rhymes with zoom, pronounced the same as the welsh cym for the simple reason of being the same word from the same source. You'll find a lot of place names in the south west involving it, the majority being in southeast Devon, but to be found from Cornwall [where they like to spell it with oo or u] to Dorset and Somerset. It means 'dry valley', as in one without a river, though said valley may have a stream or even river in it. The implication is that the watercourse is there because there's a valley, as opposed to the valley being there because there's a watercourse. Its all geology - usually caused by a fault exploited by glacial [or periglacial, in the south west] activity. Usually a fairly small, narrow affair coming off higher ground.]]