I Can't Think Of A Title

I had this plan, you see. I was going to inflict a post upon you that would have crashed your poor innocent browsers, it was so insanely long. Unfortunately, even the best plan rarely survives contact with Reality, and this one was no exception.

Thing is, I've had this week off - carried over holiday that had to be taken - and have been putting off babbling about it until I had.. well, you'll see [eventually]. There is news, there is joy and something so long in the coming you'll have to sit down again. Suffice to say that I will be burbling to the point of flooding.. ;)

But not right now. I want to get up in the morning, and spending half the night wrestling this frelling keyboard is incompatible with that. Instead you're getting a brief bit about today, as I've just looked at Devon Bird News, and [Famous Devon Birder]'s update is an interesting comparison.

Yup, today I went seawatching, for the first time in an absolute aaaage. It wasn't bad, not bad at all. There was a constant veil of fog at just outside Ore Stone range, with a gradually easing wind and pretty rough sea.

Hope's Nose, 9 'til 1;

16 Fulmar S, 1N

1 Puffin S

305 auks S [about 80% Guillemots - I'd assume a lot were going to the Ore Stone* - ~200 in the first hour] 7 N

55 Gannet S, 9N

38 Kittiwake S, 3N

23 Common Gull S

5 LBB N

13 Black-headed Gull S

2 Curlew S

8 Dunlin S

3 Red-throated Diver S

1 [moulting] Black-throated Diver on the sea; preening, fishing, and generally hanging around nicely close.

[[*The wind was east enough to make me sit out of sight of the Ore Stone, so I couldn't distinguish which auks were going there and which were genuinely passing.]]

Compared to Berry Head, it makes interesting reading.. Where did those Velvets and LBBs come from? Where did the Dunlin and Brents go to? A lot will be due to the fog, the swell, and the Torbay Triangle**. Bitch about those Velvets, though; I've seen Velvet Scoter exactly once on my Patch... :(

[[**Birds go in, they never come out.....]]

On the home front, news in the form of the return of 'our' Chiffchaff, who started singing yesterday! :D Always a mark of Spring, that. Right, where's the Swifts?? ;)