The Post I Should Have Posted Yesterday

Following a similar course to last weekend, I spent yesterday wandering the Patch. Catching up on sleep prevented me from being at the Nose first thing - which, judging by the numbers of phylloscs hanging around, might have been good - but the mix of hot sun and sea fog made for some interesting conditions anyway.

Two big kettles of Herring Gulls feeding on flying ants came to at least 450 birds - with juveniles present in numbers. A lone Swift was also tucking in, as were a few remaining House Martins.

Seeing the fog banks out to sea, I headed to the Nose, where I found a fair few phylloscs, a lone Blackcap, and some interesting weather! The southerly-ish wind was blowing fog up past the Nose - the Brixham triangle was acting as a huge shield for Tor Bay, which was basking in sunshine. Every now and then, the wind would shift to the SSE, causing the fog to come rolling in and obscure everything.

I took the opportunity to see what was hanging around on the exposed rocks; 18 Oyks, a lone Whimbrel, and several Rockits were picking through the weed. After maybe ten minutes of this, the wind shifted back and the fog receded slowly beyond the Ore Stone. Seeing Manxies passing in the edge of the fog bank in some numbers I tried a timed count, getting 167 in ten minutes, that's an hourly rate of 1000! Smaller numbers of Kittiwakes and Gannets were also passing, but with only bins and only a few Manxies coming close, I couldn't pick out anything scarcer.

On the insect front, I encountered two Southern Hawkers on IMD, first a male, then a female - Patch dragon Tick! Singles of Wall, Red Admiral and Holly Blue, plus 3 Silver Y Moths and many 6-Spot Burnets, some of which had odd transparent upper wings [?] were among the hordes of Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns and numbers of Common Blue and Speckled Wood.

Finally, today more gulls after flying ants; at least 250 this afternoon, plus at least 6 Swift and a House Martin.