So, two weekend days, two early trips to Hope's Nose in search of migrants and what did I get?
I'm not alone in this, it seems, though I unfortunately don't have any nice sheltered muddy rushy streamy bits to attract passing Bluethroats....
Saturday I, seeing all the blue skies, decided that I might as well do what I was going to do the week before and head up on't Moor. There might be Wheatears. Or passing Ouzels. There could even be a passing Red Kite, if I happened to have a long lunch on a nice viewpoint..? [[Hell, there could even be a lost trip up there??]]
I took a good long yomp, had a quite good time, saw some very nice stuff - both hoped for and unexpected - and then got home late and said some very norty words at my poor innocent computer. Again. But no more on that.
I wandered up Holne Moor, mooched about the Mardle, climbed Puper's Hill, then crossed over to Huntingdon Warren, went up to the Heap Of Sinners, then on the Ryder's Hill, before taking the long coast back down the Holne Ridge. Simple.
On the way... Things started well, with a smart male Ring Ouzel at Fore Stoke [a bit distant, but a Crow disturbed it and it flew towards me - such a pleasant change!]. The inevitable male Yellowhammer was where he usually is and buoyed up I went up and around.
The whole while I was up there, the Mipits and Skylarks kept up a constant accompaniment of song and calls - it was wonderful and such a contrast from earlier in the year - with a trio of Ravens having a very vocal day-long dispute to add a certain je ne sais quoi to matters ;) .
Cue a couple of surprises. First a poor innocent Buzzard with an ex- Bunny [I did apologise for making it carry all that weight off..] then a surprise typical of Spring on the Moor's edge; a Badger! It was out on the flank of Holne Moor, well in the open, foraging merrily and had no idea I was there. I even tried photos - one is down there [Shot blind due to glare on my phone's screen. You'll regret blowing it up, just trust me that that's a Badger, ok? You can see a white cheek and a lot of back.]
Another Ouzel was nearby, but both Ouzel and Badger were disturbed by a couple coming the other way. It heard them, looked up and saw me, went "!!", and scurried off into that big gorse bush behind it.. You know it's Spring when the young Badgers are kicked out to fend for themselves.. Poor li'l mites. Anyway, giving the gorse bush a wide berth I pressed on [the Ouzel had naturally gone, too] - with no migrating Swallows flying up the Mardle this time, but there were a couple of Mistle Thrushes and a posse of Starlings.
As I climbed the long diagonal way up to Puper's Hill I met.. another Badger! This one saw me first and went cantering off down the slope, so I again gave it's vanishing point a wide berth. A two Badger day :)
Finding a viewpoint out of the wind I casually started scanning for soaring raptors [well, you never know, one was out there somewhere..]. I got at least 7 different Buzzards, a Peregrine, and a Kestrel, but no Kites. One of the Buzzards was a wonderful soft mid grey - a gorgeous bird to look at [it was fortunately quite close] and something new for me; I've never seen a properly grey one like that before. [[Said Kite eventually turned up at Teignmouth, which was in my field of view [albeit far far away] though hours after I'd stopped looking.. oh well! ;) ]]
I did get some very close fly-past Skylarks for my trouble and a distant flock of about 30 [darn haze; it could have been anything between 25 and 35!] Golden Plover.
Huntingdon held two smart Wheatears! They weren't feeling very confiding, so no more dodgy pics, but the showy-er one was a proper classic icy cool job [ie. not a trace of buff on it; GGS colours!]. My last encounter to report was on the way back down Holne Ridge - first lizard! of the year! :D A nice brown-flavour Common.
Yesterday I did get something from the Nose. I'd lugged the Big Scope down and with nothing on land, counted 348 Guillemots and 1 Razorbill on the Ore Stone. [There may have been more Razorbills, the light wasn't perfect] With at least 35 more Guilles on the sea in the area, that makes a full colony present and correct. :) Also, a light passage south; I counted 9 Kittiwakes and 3 Gannets in 5 minutes. Yeah, apocalyptic numbers! :D
After giving up on any twitching, I took a stroll with the Folks about the Teign above Fingle Bridge. Though it was cloudy and not exactly calm [especially coming back along the Hunter's Path] the birds were certainly about! Many were the calls and songs and though we didn't see Dipper [too many people] all the woodland birds were about. No summer migrants yet, though - just the residents. There were some winter migrants moving - we had coffee on Hunter's Tor [wonderful spot, but far too many bods wandering out and back in summer to be worth trying to stop, alas...], which was a treat. Out of the wind, with a stick or five to keep LBD busy, the view was great and the eye-level passage wasn't too shabby either! Not enormous numbers, but April Fieldfare and Redwing were the highlights. Buzzard and Raven pairs displayed - staying on either side of the Tor and carefully pretending the others weren't there - again really close [brilliant!].
The National Trust have been very busy and the views are a lot clearer now - you used to have outcrops lost in trees, with no appreciation for just how much fresh air was right there - though the path is less sheltered in places now. Devon's gorges may not have the sheer scale of those over the water, but for beauty they stand a match for anywhere. I don't know if the
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