The Catch-Up Post

Which is likely to be very disjointed and nowhere near as good as all the stuff I was going to post but didn't have time for.



Anyway...


Let's see, before we get to the Fun With Falcons [which will be a post on its own], we have a seawatch to go on about:


Hope's Nose, Sunday, aka The Watch That Lasted 'Til Dark.
I didn't get there for first light - the clocks changing was too good of an excuse for a lie-in - also it slightly slipped the mind that the time going back to normal meant the dawn got earlier.. Oops.
But never mind that, eh?

In my defence, it did start off rather sunny. The wind was blowing a hoolie, though, which helped. Even better were the big fast squalls. It clouded up more as the day went on, and the birds passed; with Gannets getting into four figures and a steady if not voluminous supply of interesting stuff to keep me occupied until the rain arrived and the light departed. 15 shearwaters wasn't an enormous number, but one was a Sooty :) the Balearic/Manx split was 7/4, with the other 3 being spp. - blimmin' sunshine! The Longtail that went by was only the fourth best bird of the watch [poor thing] - also 2 Poms, 3 Arctics, and 5 Bonxies. More shears went by in the morning - 11/4, while more skuas passed in the afternoon - 4/7; maybe the shears clearing off when they saw how close they were to land, and the skuas sauntering on after battering the innocents in Lyme bay / off the Exe??

Overall there were about 4 times as many Gannets as Kitts passing south, though that varied from 12x to 2.5x over the hours, with about 1 in 8 Kitts a juvenile [yes, I was doing a lot of counting]. A scattering of auks - Razorbills all moving south, Guilles a 50/50 split - a few interesting gulls; most notably a lone adult Med. A GND and the first GC Grebe of the winter also troubled my notebook.

Bah, here I am, going on about numbers again. I'm sure I'd resolved not to keep doing that...


It wasn't an epic, classic kind of watch, but it was very enjoyable, and I was merrily there until the light went. Also, before I forget - I ought to re-write the intro but I can't be bothered - there were at least 6 Chiffchaffs in the bushes on my way down, so there had been some overnight movement. This was another reason why I wasn't as early-starting as I could have been; no, I didn't find anything sexier lurking with them and they were all 'ordinary' ones.


Right, on to the gruesome twosome.

First up - and it was first - was my third sighting of The Thing.
Again way out - messing about with a feeding group in the outer Bay - I watched it for a minute or so at 1045. It's got a big pale bill, seemingly angled down a bit. It seems to have a reasonable caudal projection, but not a long thin tail - that I could see. Again it gave off a very 'huge Cory's' jizz; especially as it seemed to have its wings bowed and pressed forward at the carpals. The range is an issue, of course [we're talking 2km or more here]. It did do those lazy low unflapping arcs again, but I didn't see it land this time - too big a swell! Again, appeared to be mottled-looking Fulmar-grey all over except for off-white head and neck.


Secondly.. The wonderful Black-browed Alba-Gannet!
It only showed once; a nice flap-less straight-winged arc at long range - in the outer bay feeding event - at 1341. It timed its arc well; catching the light nicely and showing its upper side, which was spot on for immature [no strikingly yellow bill catching the light] Black-browed Albatross. For a second I actually went "Was that........" before I cottoned on that it just wasn't HUGE enough. But damn, that was the best impersonator I've ever seen! Really worth looking out for, this one, it's even better than the immature frigatebird mimic* I saw a year or three back at Berry Head.



Finally... Things That Go By On A Seawatch;
Here's a good one; Beach Ball, pink/yellow/green/clear, passed north. ;D






*[[It came in from the north across the Bay 3/4 on and looked horribly worrying; black with white breast patch, the evil bird had its head pulled in and was missing middle tail feathers! Darn near gave me a heart attack until it got level, turned fully side-on, and I saw the bill properly. Then I may have called it some rather unflattering names.... ;) ]]