A Quick Update Post

Even shorter and simpler than the last one, I'm afraid..


I've been hitting the Nose a lot, as you might expect at this time of year, though without any Wrynecks of my own yet.


Warbler numbers have waxed and waned with movements and weather, with the odd Wheatear thrown in for very good measure, while star birds were the group of no less than 6 Spot Flies on the 5th! One even sat still for an awful phonebin shot:

Far Eastern Phoebe

[sorry.. ;) ]

Kittiwake numbers have gradually dropped off from their maximum on the 3rd; today 'only' 230+ - and also today, the first increase in Oyk numbers, with 9 now present.


Elsewhere, on Friday I went up on't Moor. Which was very hot, very humid, with very little wind... and millions of bloody flying ants. Flying red ants are not fun.
4 juv. Goosander and a juv. Grey Heron sort of working together to batter fish in the shallows of Venford Reservoir were fun, though. The walk come stagger-while-beset-by-winged-devils I did was the Holne Moor, Huntingdon, Ryder's loop - with a good long watch for drifting raptors from Puper's for lunch.


I spent the weekend dropping down to cornwall, with the birding highlight a Hobby scattering a big flock of Swallows - these seen from Restormel Castle [which is a lovely spot, and even worth paying EH to get in].

Don't Go Near The Castle...

Monday belonged to the LBD, as I was dog-sitting. She had a lot of fun, and we both got very hot.

Little Black Dog 

in Very Long Grass

Yesterday I got to Bowling Green for the evening tide and had a look at the new hide. Jury is still out. A Little Stint, 2 Curlew Sand, and 7 Ruff! were very welcome, with 4 Spotshank and 15+ Greenshank also notable. I stayed on until it got dark [there was coffee to finish and I could still see! ;) ], but no bats appeared.


Today I had business in Exeter, but that didn't stop me mooching about looking for Sands afterwards. It took 4 hours of sustained battering of Matford, RVP, and finally the Exe banks down past the frickin' sewage works, but I finally scored 4 birds.. Yes, 4. The water levels are very high there, and so is the vegetation, so views are not at all easy and there isn't much mud away from the river. Still... 2 Green, 1 Common, and a Wood!!! Ok, I only heard the Wood - on the 'Sand pool' at Double Locks - but it still counts! :D  Other notable encounters were no less than 7 Little Grebes on Matford [all that time was worth something - I got no Sands there at all] and large numbers of dragons on the wing; mostly Common Darters and Migrant Hawkers, with a couple of Southerns and an Emperor.