A Purple Patch

I know, I know, but I couldn't resist it!

A sort-of* long double bank holiday weekend means more birding, oh yes, and it was with great satisfaction that I got out for a Friday in the field. Starting off with the Nose first thing, I was rewarded with a whole heap of warblers - mostly Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs - a super-smart male Wheatear [ :D ], a surprise Shelduck sat on the sea, and best of all......two Pintail!!!! They flew past north, a Patch Tick of spawny joyousness. :D

Then onwards, as I decided that I really was over the Hume's [good call, as it didn't show!] and went after a Devon Tick instead... The Purple Heron.

More happiness en route, as there were at least 2 House Martins catching insects above the first sharp bend north of Labrador Bay. When I got to the Otter, I found a fair few birders, none of whom had seen it. It hadn't shown 'til 1035 the previous day, and I was well prepared to hang around, but 1035 came and went, and so did 1100. The crowd [ok, the group] started to thin... Then at 1120 it came casually flying downriver, low over the fields, eye level through the bins. Yeeeeeeeess!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It landed by the boundary between the first and second fields - a line of Willows along a channel - and strolled down out of sight. You wouldn't believe there was even anything there from most angles, let alone a watercourse deeply incised enough to hide a heron, such are the tricks of perspective. It stayed hidden until 1205, when it flew to the reedy channel at the back of the second field, moving from there to the reedy and rushy channel crossing the second field at 1234. So, three flight views; two very good and one prolonged. Better than expected!

The sun was shining, the wind was blowing [a bit] and I decided that I wasn't going to get a better look at the Heron, so I might as well have lunch a bit late elsewhere. I had a plan. Hordes of bods made me re-think slightly, but I eventually wound up with a very nice panorama on Woodbury Common. This plus the Big Scope was my cunnin' plan to try to get a raptor or six. Naturally, this wasn't going to be as easy as that - the haze and indeed heat haze made viewing a challenge. But this was merely an exercise in ID, with plenty of gulls and corvids to keep it interesting. Speaking of corvids, just before two a kettle of them caught my eye - an empty kettle. Where was the object of their ire?? I scanned around and got it - up and left, a lot of up! This one wasn't a Buzzard, it was an Osprey! YES! It looked to be over the Otter valley, but when, having out-climbed the corvids, it decided to move, I lost it too quickly in the haze to be sure which way it went. I'd guess it was one of the Exe birds - though whether that was before or after I saw it is unknowable.

At least six Buzzards were knocking around, with the corvids and gulls keeping them occupied.. Three Siskin flew over, calling prettily, as did several groups of Linnet, but there was not a notable passage. Eventually it clouded over and I called it a day. Not a bad one, either, with a Patch Tick, a Devon Tick and plenty new for the year.

*Today I had the Joys Of Work, but got out on't patch in the afternoon. Nothing outstanding to report before or after Hope's Nose, though. There I was fortunate enough to witness at least 6 [they were very mobile and may have been passing, rather than loitering] Sandwich terns fishing inshore of the Lead Stone. I love Sarnies! They're like mini Gannets, with that wonderful creaky call. One was unlucky enough to attract the attentions of a couple of Herring Gulls - one of whom, a 1w, gave it grief for several minutes. That daft gull seemed to think it was a skua; though it wasn't agile enough to play the part properly it certainly tried hard. The Tern won in the end - the gull finally getting it through its head that it just wasn't going to win.

I also met [Devon Birder] and [Devon Birder] and many were the things discussed. Notable topics included the excellent scheme to put cameras near vulnerable nest sites [[[If they could combine this with effective punishments**, I reckon we'd be on to a real winner]], the decline of breeding Kittiwakes, and the whole cameras versus telescopes thing. Before I go further off along this tangent, there were no Whitethroats at the Nose [let alone passing Ouzels], though plenty of calling phylloscs. Offshore, 4 Common Scoter flew north - amazingly my first of the year! Also, back on land the first proper breeding sign of the year - a Song Thrush carrying food. :)

[[**I favour public garroting - it'll make sure they don't do it again.]]