A Slow Update Post

Try as I might, I can't escape the puns..



Nor the lurgy, which attacked and put a fair dint in my plans. Said attack seems to have fizzled out just in time to go back to work. Joy.


So..

Last week I got down to Prawle, where my attempts to find migrants that weren't Chiffchaffs largely failed. No rarities or even scarcities, though a Wheatear at the bottom of Pig's Nose was nice, and a flock of 18 Yellow Wags [none with fancy heads, alas] was pretty welcome, too. I did better with butterflies - many on the wing out of the wind - the best being 2 Clouded Yellow, one a helice.
With all those Balearics wandering past Berry Head, I figured the sea would be worth a look, and in 3 hours saw 4 Balearics. Pretty quiet, really, with what might have been a silver lining foiled by the sunshine [they looked like Common Dolphins, but.. ::shrugs::]

The evening went better, with another Home Tick! Audiomig strikes again, this time with at least 1 LRP over calling  :D


Friday was lost to lurgy, as was much of Saturday, though I managed a wander about the Patch - with the only notable bird being a Mistle Thrush sat stock still in a tree. It had damage to its head and neck feathers, which gave it the silhouette of a Wryneck. Gave me palpitations, I can tell you! Especially as this was seen out of my window.. I brought the Big Scope to bear and discovered the truth. As to the reason? Well, I suspect the narrowest of near misses. The bird stayed stock still for  more than 40 minutes before finally flying off, I reckon it was in shock.



Yesterday, I felt a bit better, and decided to go and have a nice bit of fresh air. Nothing too energetic, a nice sit down. [You can see where this is going, can't you?] Berry Head is far more genteel seawatching than the Nose, and I rolled up to find The Boss there, to boot. He'd been on site since 0700, and I stayed from 1200 [I'm ill!] to 1800.

The odd Balearic and a few Arctic Skuas - harassing the hordes of Kittiwakes - were on offer, with lots of Harbour Porpoises all over the shop. In my 6 hours I saw 6 shearwaters and 11 skuas. Also in that time, more than 800 Kittiwakes passed south [most later on, when the rafts tired of being skua'd, I think!], with 53 nipping back north right at the end.

Auk numbers may be starting to pick up for the winter; 24/2 Razorbills and 8 Guillemots, with small parties also rafting alongside the Kittiwakes.

Gull-wise, small numbers but variety, with a light passage of LBBs, a couple of Common Gulls, a YLG and 3 Meds - 2 'juvs' and a '1w' [hmm, some variation in breeding times, there?]

The quarry held 2 Chiffchaffs, and the only land migrant was another Clouded Yellow - in/off!




EDIT: This post is for some reason incredibly popular [as in 8x more hits than the average]. If anyone reading this would care to let me know why, I'd be grateful.