I Said I Wouldn't Post On Monday..

My shifts shifted on me more than expected and Life got in the way [as it has this habit of doing], so here we are.


Just to do things differently, before I talk about Sunday, here's the last couple of days;

Not much.

A few small groups of alba wagtails over, Sparrows, the odd Chiff, and a few Greenfinches in the Garden..


Ok,
Sunday started out much like Saturday, so needless to say I was down at the Nose sharpish!


It wasn't as OTT as the day before, but there were still plenty of migrants about. A lack of quality, but the quantity of Chiffs and Blackcaps was, if anything, slightly higher. They were being much less obvious, though, and took a lot of patience as they popped in and out of sight all around the First Slope, South Side, and Top Dell. I again spent a lot of time in the Top Dell, which was it's usual vexing self, but did get the odd rewarding byproduct for all the time waiting and flicking bins onto another standard Chiff..

3 Clouded Yellows, for starters! At first I thought it was only one, and a very sadistic one at that, being oh so good at not quite posing for photos, but then as I stood back to call it names I realised there was another over there.. and another! All standard ones - I've never seen a helice - and all sneaky, but dogged persistence gave.. well, something;

Spot the Clouded Yellow

They like the pink ones.

There were lots of butterflies for October; one flowering Ivy had ten Red Admirals crowded onto it! Also Small Copper, Small White, Speckled Wood, and a Peacock.

Staying put helped with picking up some overhead passage; fewer Mipits than the day before, but the odd Skylark and a few Swallows to compensate [these going the right way!], plus a bonus Yellow Wagtail :)


What looked like a Spot Fly flew into a sycamore and vanished with amazing thoroughness - drat - but down on the Sole [when I got there] a couple of adorable Wheatears were a bit showier [though into the bright sun and too mobile to try Yet Another Wheatear Shot]. The sea was very calm again, with a lone Gannet the only seabird of the weekend!


The rest of the Patch provided a few more Chiffs, plus a couple of vocal Nuthatches, and Green and GS Woodies. I didn't see any interesting gulls, not even a LBB.





There was more I meant to say, I'm sure, but darn it if I can remember! Getting old........


Oh yes, one thing was my vexation at being too busy birding my own Patch to hear about the Bonelli's in time to go after it. Will it stay 'til Saturday? Ha ha.

The saying is true; No good deed goes unpunished.






That Buff-bellied would do nicely as well... ;)