Due to watching The Bridge last night instead of typing away merrily, like a responsible blogger would. Oh well, what can you do?
Right then.. After another merry week at work, I decided to get out and maybe even some exercise. First piece was a brisk, er, well not really brisk it being at birding pace, walk about Stover. Someone had said something online about not only a Mandarin but also Goosander and a low-flying Bittern. The prospect of these and maybe some other birds seemed worth at least a quick look.
There were no Mandarin on display, let alone any herons of any kind, but a slippery female and a surprise male [I met him when he was tight in by the canal bank - oops, but at least he flew onto the lake to show for everyone else...] Goosander were present.
Her gooseyness;
Goosey Goosey Goosander, wither do you wander?
[Sorry]
The unmagnified view; Stover Mill Pond.
The usuals were present, including a nice line of Snipe, but nowt spectacular, so with mounting numbers of
It being a sunny day with a light breeze, a thought naturally occurred to me. Yes, a little early in the year, but you never know.. So I went to a hill. In a few hours I saw some Ravens displaying nicely, a few Buzzards - one with a lovely red tail - and not much else bar Woodpigs. Wandering down towards tree-fringed fields, I saw a nice flock of finches and buntings - at least 8 cracking Yellowhammers among them - and was trying to see if there were Brambling too, when a male Sprawk came through. He was just cruising by, nowhere near attack speed, but oh, the finches went up! There were more than I thought, a lot more. A rough count gave 90+ At least 3 were Brambling; so present, but not in the same numbers as Sousson's. There were a good dozen Bullfinches, too. The flock was mostly Chaffinches [as you'd expect], with Linnets making up the next largest group.
Today I decided that, with the front due as it would be getting dark and the wind likely SSE before that, it wasn't worth a seawatch. Well, not a proper one anyway. I did get down to the Harbour and what a good move that was!
No, no WBD, but 3 GNDs and a BNG in the Harbour [playing among the boats and being sneaky, too] plus a few auks, and outside in the slightly sheltered waters off Torre Abbey; another GND, a BTD, a RNG and 2 GCGs. A lone Turnstone patrolled the Inner Harbour and unsurprisingly, given the tide and high seas [I got nailed, despite being behind shelter!] no Purple Sands.
One of the Harbour GNDs was a big 1w with a stonking bill - I rather suspect its the very same 'big pale one' that's been over at Brixham - I met it by the D-Day ramps and so had great views. When asked why it wasn't the White-bill, it made no comment but sniggered to itself and dived, reappearing two boats away [laterally, too]. . ;)
I later went over to Blackball to have a look at what was
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