Black Birds

In traditional British manner, I shall start this post with discussion of the weather!

Ye Gods and Little Fishes, hasn't it rained?


Right then, now that that's out of the way....

Today I couldn't get any proper seawatching in, as I had Things to do, but I managed to get brief burst of birding in both morning and afternoon;

This morning, seeing there were birds close in I scurried down the cliff road from Babbacombe Downs to see a 1w Great Northern Diver showing rather well, but it then decided the water was too muddy for it's taste and flew off south*. In ten minutes timed staring from the lee of the shop on Oddicombe Beach, I counted 6 Fulmar past south, but no other seabirds. A dozen BHGs were picking among the flotsam and jetsam - no Little, let alone Bonaparte's - and that was it aside from Herrings, Geebs and the odd Shag and Cormorant. In the woods, a big tit band was far too active for the Li'l Scope [I was on foot and had taken that instead of bins, anticipating the only activity to be at sea - drat], by their calls they didn't have anything scarce with them.

This afternoon I swung by Tessier, where a horde of Blackbirds - I counted 13 in one corner - were accompanied by a dozen Redwing and a couple of Song Thrushes. The Downs were.. well windswept is probably the term... Bands of rather nicely squally rain were shooting through and I again cursed the day shift for making me have to do stuff when I could have been getting soaked for sod all happily seawatching.

As it started to get dark, a roost of Kittiwakes built up off Babbacombe Beach - slightly further around than usual, as the wind was still pretty SE - I counted 320 and still rising when the light failed. A single Gannet came past, but again nothing else. There were no other small gulls that I could pick out amongst the Kitts, and again no divers, auks, etc. No sign of any grebes, which is odd as there are usually at least a few by now. Perhaps it's the lack of proper cold weather, combined with all the rain keeping them at their inland sites?

Switching back onshore, the male Blackstart continues to hang around the Garden and in my wanderings this afternoon I found a female type near Cary Park and another male on the Downs. In the Garden, Blackbird numbers have climbed markedly, with low-intensity multi-sided skirmishes between 5 males this morning! Aside from the Sparrows, Greenfinches and Coal Tits are most numerous at the sunflower feeders, but still no Blackcaps yet.



[*Technically heading a little south of east along the peninsula {even more technically, until they pass Longquarry, when they turn to full SE...}, but 'south' is the better term]