Sunday's Post Is...

Short and with a surprise at the end!


:D



I only got out in the afternoon, and then with the Folks for the Venford/White Wood loop. It was not quite as quiet as I'd expected, with a party of about 20 Redwing and at least 1 Mistle Thrush moving through the canopy at one point. They were utter bastards, staying three trees away from us and then looping around behind.. Other than them there were a few small tit bands, a showy Stonechat by Bench Tor, and a vocal Treeeecreeeper.

It being fairly late, we had a look at the reservoir to see if any Goosander had come in yet and lo and behold! Two females were already present, hanging about with a female Mallard and...what the frick is that?? A smallish dark duck with white secondary patches, a white vent, and a cocked tail?!? It stayed resolutely arse-on as we moved around the shore, but eventually we got a clear view and a side-on duck. A juvenile Goldeneye!! I've never seen a Goldeneye sitting around with its tail stuck up like a Surfer, and the lack of a golden eye [which would have caused an instant recognition, of course] wasn't expected, either. Juveniles aren't that common around here. Ok, most Goldeneye are seen at range on the Exe or at Slapton, but I'm pretty sure the 'females' always had the eponymous feature..

Anyway, it stuck with the Goosander and one wing flap aside, didn't do a lot. More impressive was the drake Goosander, which announced its arrival with an almighty splash! Normally Goosander seem to arrive almost by magic - take your eyes off for a second and there another one is! - but not this fellow. I suppose he wanted to make sure we admired him :)

We didn't get any more arrivals before we left [LBDs get bored quickly, and Parents are allergic to hanging around in the cold while it gets dark without even a nice flask ;) ].





And finally...
Today I started a new list. It won't get proper attention for a while, but this is definitely the right and proper start date. As of now it numbers a mighty 10, and the First Bird [do you remember the first birds on your lists? I don't for any of the others, which I regret a little, so I think it's worthwhile recording mine :) ] was Goldfinch. Which beat Herring Gull by about 2 seconds! :D