The Joy Of Patch

Blogging Delayed By Olympic Nonsense again...

A stadium full of people from across the world and all of them singing along to Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life. Brilliant.



Saturday had me working - oh yeah, speaking of; 5 Sand Martins over south there on Thursday! Work Tick! - with a bashing of the Patch afterwards. With a brisk wind there wasn't a huge amount doing. I had a look at the sea, but a few Gannets were the only birds passing in bin range. A bit disappointing, that, but you can't score every time [or even most times, for that matter]. The odd warbler - common phylloscs and sylvias - hung out here and there and assorted local juveniles yarked variations on "Feed me!"

Yesterday I suffered a terrible lack of energy. I blame the weather. The fact that there was a Stone Curlew in Devon which I didn't have a hope of seeing didn't help. Eventually I summoned up some willpower from somewhere and decided to use the lessened wind and lack of forecast rain to bash the Patch for butterflies! It was a warm, nay muggy day and the mix of sun and clouds should make said butterflies active enough to see but not so active as to be little streaks. Maybe.

Having already had a good look at the Nose [and I will be back for more, oh yes] I decided to try the biggest area of limestone I've got; which has wild flower patches, bare bits, shrubs, woods, slopes... With archaeology and geology, its a very interesting site. SSSI interesting, in fact. Its also probably the single most popular dog walking site in the area. Hmm.

I speak of Wall's Hill.

It took no small amount of effort, wandering back and forth, covering here and there. Most of what I saw were the expected Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns, with Small Whites and the odd Common Blue. But not everything; two Blues were very pale indeed - Chalkhills!!!! A butterfly Lifer for me [oh the joys of starting out] and self-found on my own Patch, too. :D A small brown butterfly that was either a female Blue sp. or an Argus was very nortily on the cliff side of the fence, and dropped just out of sight... Tut. It could even have been a female Chalkhill, but I've not a hope of anything more than 'little brown job'. There was also the almost expected Fast Fritillary, which could have been any of the big ones at that location.. Oh well. A Peacock by the clubhouse was more obliging, to the point of getting right in my face; "Come and 'ave a go!" ;)

Similarly pugilistic, though this time with each other, were a couple of Small Heath, scrapping over the lee of a bramble bush. Trying to get away from gorgeous little butterflies... Again aside from the local standards, [ok, Bullfinches aren't very standard...] there were a few [presumably] migrant warblers passing through - nothing fancy - the expected young gulls knocking about.. And one thing saying "Summer ain't over yet!" - a still active Fulmar nest*, complete with chick in the Grey Fluffball With White Face Peering Out stage. So cute...

And so its back to work again, with a lovely looking frontal system bearing down on midweek. Arse.



[[*Now, mentioning, let alone advertising nest sites of any bird isn't something I usually do, but this one is in full public view from a location both safe and legal to do so. Also, Fulmars are advertised on the site literature, they breed all along the coast - including at Berry Head, as I've mentioned before - but nowhere have I seen a nest you can look at safely without any risk to the birds {or observers, unless they want to get closer and are feeling flippant about 300' cliffs with dodgy edges..}. And as I've also said before, anyone stupid enough to mess with Fulmars will get what they deserve...]]