It Saw Me First

And duly buggered off, but it was still a Ring Ouzel at the Nose!!!!

WOOHOO!!

:D

Ahem.

Would you believe only my second there? Also plenty of birds [mostly finches] - in variety if not numbers - over, including Redpoll and Crossbill [yes!], plus some wonderfully showy Goldcrests. Ok, a paucity of warblers and it was blowing a cold hoolie, but heading to the Nose first thing was a good call. Also a nice band of LTTs with a few Goldcrests and the only warblers on site - 2 Chiffs.

After I'd given it a thorough going-over, I decided that as it was October I ought to wander over to Berry Head and try dipping [Famous Devon Birder]'s birds again. Its traditional, after all.

The sun was well out and so were the bods, but for some reason, after I'd gone over the woods and headed down to the quarry, I found nobody there... Yes, a couple of fishermen and some climbers, but no birders or dog walkers [the latter being something to be thankful for]. There were some birds, though, including the least skulky Garden Warbler I've seen this year and a smart Wheatear. The sea was pretty quiet; 6 Guillemots and 3 Razorbills in an hour quiet. Oh yes, before [and after] that, the woods were alive with Chiffs - maybe this is where all the ones that should have been at Hope's Nose went??

On my way back I dropped in at Paignton Mud Baths Clennon Ponds, where there was no sign of the Yellow-brow, though the drake Pintail was very smart and [as well as plenty more Chiffs] there were at least 2 Migrant Hawkers still buzzing around. Failing to connect wasn't entirely unexpected, as looking for little green birds among all those leaves makes you reach for hay-based analogies.



Hmm, I'm sure I had more I was going to say, quite possibly about trees... Oh well, that's what the Edit button is for.