Little Dark Things

After a surprise change to the Night Shift I found myself with a free day on Friday and work today. Right... ::Rolls up sleeves::

I went and had a look at some duckies. Quite a lot of duckies. I also saw a lot of rain, but 'saw' is the important word as I was joyously out of all but a little of the lightest of it! :D

I'd never actually seen a female Ring-necked Duck [or "slippery little $%@&§fl!!!" as I more usually say...]. I've dipped them - most notably a few years back at Stover - but only seen males. I decided to wander down to Slapton and have a casual look for the one down there; if anything else happened to stray into view, then that wouldn't be bad, either.

The North Ley was noticeably lacking in Bitterns and Marsh Harriers [at least, visible ones] and I got rather muddy checking for sneaky ducks hiding in Ireland Bay. Someone has been busy with the super-strimmer along there! I did see a gorgeous [is there any other kind?] male Goldeneye, but the Tufties had no little [or not so little ] friends with them - only a group of Wigeon. A Firecrest has been reported from the Bridge area, but I couldn't find it - and while various birds called from the reeds, none felt like showing themselves.

Crossing the road I gave the sea a scan and was rewarded with a flock of 45 Common Scoter, plus another group of 38 heading past south. One Scoter was an adult male - the first I've seen for a while - and he was busy displaying at the [rather bored-looking] females. The Scoter were quite close in, but even closer was a nice Slavonian Grebe. Further out was a GND, with a couple of Razorbills finishing things off. On the beach towards Torcross were a group of loafing gulls, upon interrogation, one of the Commons showed an interestingly pale saddle, but alas it was only that and not a Ring-billed.

Moving south, I found that someone has been very busy indeed as both the hides have been replaced! The car park hide got only a flying visit - it now has a fancy sign over the entrance ramp and seems to be smaller than the old one? - as I had Stokeley Bay in mind for lunch...

Wow, what a difference.


I'm afraid I have to give a rant alert, now.

Which I have deleted.

Short version; windows are too tall, central pillar too wide, no shutters, so no light control and wind and rain come right in. Otherwise good, especially if it gets stained [and has shutters fitted!]. ;)

Ahem. Right, sorry about that. It's not that bad a hide, I'm just a little frustrated at what looks like a missed opportunity.

It's still in a nice location - the Noah's Hide of Devon - and I stayed put for a long while. Yes, there was lunch involved - also a nice lady and her grandson; she liked the Pochard, he preferred the Tornado that came roaring past! - but also a Great Duck Hunt. Patience, persistence, and the Huge Scope won out in the end, but the RND didn't give herself up easily. She was lurking out beyond Scaup Point [the bit that sticks out and stops you seeing Ireland Bay, I call it that as Scaup are usually near it when present], but eventually came down to just north of Stokeley Bay. She stayed close to the reeds' edge and was a slippery little git, but I waited her out and she showed quite well eventually. Through the scope, anyway. :)  A Scaup [1w male] also briefly came around the Point, dived a couple of times in the usual Scaup place, but evidently decided he liked it better on the other side and made himself scarce.

The Goldeneye were better behaved, though always distant, with at least 10 on site. Two Black-necked Grebes that stuck together determinedly were another good sighting. Coot and Tufty in three figures with at least 45 [probably a lot more] Pochard, more Gadwall, plus Mutes and Canadas made up the bulk on the water. The usual 5 flavours of gulls were in and out to bathe, at least 9 GC and 6 Little Grebes, plus Cormorants, dived or bobbed. A lone male Shoveler worked the seaward reed edge and a female Pintail appeared briefly before flying off. Finally, The Beast Of Beesands has returned from whatever Dark Dimension he goes to, looming over the quaking Tufties.......

When the rain eased off, I went for another look at the sea. A [the same?] GND was close in to the north, a 1w RTD flew south and a GC Grebe fished closer to. On my way home I again checked the North Ley and again failed to see anything big and brown...


After work today I got out about the Patch to little more than Blue Tits - something about all the rain kept the birds down, maybe - but things changed when I got to the Blackball Roost. There was a lovely two-tone colour to the sea, orange and blue really go together, don't they? :) No new rockfalls, this was just washed down soil, but the murky water inshore and the wind combined to keep the birds in a fairly narrow band, nicely illuminated in the low light. After failing to find any cetaceans under a group of 15 circling Gannets, I counted 62 GC Grebes, 2 Razorbills, 51 Kittiwakes, and a growing gull roost of 350+ But wait, what's this with one of the GC Grebe groups? Tiny, dark.. a Little Grebe!! I may have seen 6 the day before, but on the Patch, they're rarer than Red-necks. Result!  Perhaps inspired by the brave Li'l thing, a couple of good land birds came by; a Goldfinch and a Green Woodpecker. Not bad at all. :)