Patch Birding

With some actual mist and gunky cloud, I dragged myself out of bed and down to the Nose this morning, in hope of maybe something interesting. The sun came out, quickly and fiercely, and then a gimp got going with a strimmer just across the way. Ok, maybe that was a little unfair, I couldn't see if the strimmer operator was wearing a gimp mask, but it sounded like he or she was into torture..

Ahem.

I got bugger all, anyway. Well, three Bullfinches. Not even a Wheatear. Ok, a couple of Chiffs and something that 'chack!'ed so impressively it sounded like two sticks breaking. [I have no idea what it was. No, not someone breaking two identical sticks unless they were in a bush and also then flew out the back of it..]

Anyway, having tried and failed on my Patch, I decided to finally give in and go to somebody else's.

Black Hole Marsh is indeed lovely at this time of year... :D
I'm not yearlisting, as I said back in January, but I am keeping score. Just for comparative purposes, you understand. I may have quietly decided that getting 100 on Patch, 20 odonata, and 200 in Devon was something that indicated I was paying attention, but in no way have I been chasing yearticks. Just wanted to make that clear.

I may also have been on 198 for Devon before today and after the Little Stint [there was only one on view at a time when I was looking] finally came out from where it had been hiding, the Green Sandpiper that peered around the corner 20 minutes later was duly toasted as 200. Yup, due to some interesting circumstances I'd yet to see or hear Green Sand in Devon this year. I'm rather amused by that, I have to say. :)

I spent an amazing - I say amazing as it felt far less than that - 3 hours in the Tower Hide. First searching for a Stint - which took most of the first hour - then counting and recounting the Dunlin and Ringos, before getting distracted by all the lovely gulls right there on a plate... Time just went. It was brilliant. :D

I got high counts of 31 Dunlin and 13 Ringed Plover, btw. Also a Greenshank [very close :) ], 4 Common Sands and 3 Green Sands, 46 Blackwits [one colour-ringed but I only got the left leg, which was Red over Orange over Lime], and 21 Redshank. I wrote 7 Curlew but that has to be wrong - must have forgotten to put in the final total.. Drat. I even took some rough [they would keep moving] gull counts; ~650 Herring, 120+ BHG and 75+ GBB, plus 3 LBB. Not even a Med, let alone a YLG... Oh well. 4 Wigeon knocked about the place as did at least 4 Shelduck.

Eventually I wandered around to the Island Hide, where the [a?] Little Stint came very close, but then flew off just as I was pulling out my camera.. Little Git. On my way out, a gorgeous Wheatear pulled the same stunt on the fence! Before that, a very smart Migrant Hawker patrolled the ditch by the Tower Hide path, above a little channel cleared through the weed that hadn't been there when I arrived.. Nice to know they're there even if I didn't get to see one.

I had a lovely time, the hide to myself for most of it..