Look! Up In The Sky!

I'm not chasing any yearlists this year.

Why did I tell you this [again]? Well.. Just because I'm not chasing doesn't mean I'm not keeping count, and I happened to find myself on 199 for Devon yesterday [ok, been there a little while, but what the what]. And there was this ten minute stint which hadn't read the script. Plus spotty cripes. All at Bowling Green.

What to do, eh?


So, after a day spent doing other things, I figured I'd wander over late afternoon, when things had quietened down a bit, and see if I could get a notable 200.


This may well have happened smoothly, except for Topsham fair, which they hold in the evening on the frickin' August bank holiday weekend, and to do so close most of the roads. I had seen no advance warning of this, so it came as a lovely surprise...


A far less sarcastic surprise came not long after I'd arrived.. What is that sound??



Holy Shit! LANCASTER!! TWO LANCASTERS!!!!!!!!

OH.
HELL.
YES.


They flushed everything, coming over very low, but not a single person minded.

:D


So, Bowling Green, now with near-finished bonfire for the local chavscum [don't the RSPB remember what happened? No, of course not, and breeze blocks are evil, aren't they? Certainly not stronger, longer-lasting, better insulation, better waterproofing, better soundproofing, and oh yes, fireproof... Good grief.]

Ahem, where was I?


Oh yes, I arrived to find the Crakes hiding and no sign of the Stint for about 4 hours. Oh joy.

Still, keep looking, it is here, just hiding in the dead ground. Also here was 200 for the year - an Avocet! I'm not sure which is funnier, that there was an Avocet in August, that I hadn't seen one yet this year, or that it was 200 for the Devon year...


Plenty of other things to watch, but then Bailey Junior arrived, and before he could even finish setting up his scope, out came the Temminck's Stint. Which showed rather well [ok, I had the Big Scope - so I should say 'at 75x it showed rather well']. Certainly better than the other one.

After the TS decided it had shown enough, I gave the Crakes an hour but they were feeling bashful. A Common Tern plonked down, some Sarnies flew over, a Ruff was about, as were 3 Snipe, 19 Greenshank, and 11 Whimbrel [and plenty of other stuff]. A Sedge Warbler worked through the far reeds, but no Ospreys came to sit on the crane, which was rude of them.


Temminck's is not a common species, and perhaps deserves more exultation at getting good views [it even ran at one point!], but I must admit the Lancs totally overshadowed it, both literally and figuratively.



In other news..

Today the Nose was vexingly quiet, with a Marbled White the closest to quality.
On Friday, I stopped off at Stover for a late lunch, where there were hordes of Common Darter, quite a few Emerald Damselflies, a couple of Migrant and a Southern Hawker. The birds won, though, with a lovely family group of Spot Flies by the Dragon Pool - adults feeding one or maybe two juveniles! :)


A couple of phonebins from Stover;

 Male Common Darter

Look at those huge yellow stripes on the thorax

Terrapin sp.!!

Never seen one at Stover before.. 

EDIT: And now a picture too!

Juvenile! Mandarin

Right then.. As it is the August Bank Holiday, there is the inevitable rain on the way, and oh I can hear the wind has already picked up.

What to do, what to do...???


;)