October Begins

Oh, I love the day shift....



But anyways, what have I been up to this last week? Other than not posting anything, that is..



Well, Friday last, I took my final morning to the Nose, where there were lots of Chiffs and a few Blackcaps in the bushes. [[Nothing like a frickin' Tanager of any season, though.. :(  ]]

Overhead, a decent passage of Swallows and finches was continuing, with the odd group of Mipits thrown in. Also a group of 4 Jays - these being reckoned migrants rather than locals due to flying high, straight south, and not calling once.


After getting the li'l car serviced without major expense [and still being in shock from that] I moseyed down to Berry Head, in hope of some showy Firecrests. After much searching [and muttering at insanely noisy and irritatingly-spaced dog walkers, I must add] I found at least 2, within barking distance of the radar array thingy. None were feeling co-operative, despite having some nice sheltered sunny bits to lurk in. Oh well.


I toddled down to the quarry, which was inhabited by one Chiffchaff. I had a look at the sea [the wind was blowing, after all] and in half an hour scored 2 Bonxies and an Arctic Skua! Get in. They were zipping south with seeming intent, so I decided to make use of my discount and head up to the Fort.


There is no coffee like reduced coffee, and sitting at a slightly windy table I thought 'what the hell' and had what turned out to be a very cushy seawatch indeed. Yes, that's right. Seawatching from a cafe table with proper coffee [with hot milk and everything!]. Oh how spoilt I felt :)

There was a big feeding thingy going on, way out to the south. [I reckon 2 miles or so.] A hard distance unless you have a Big Scope. Oh, what a fortunate coincidence! There were 4 fishing boats working the area, and in the spaces in between, the crowd of large gulls, Kittiwakes, and Gannets was being worked by 2+ Bonxies [probably the two I'd seen earlier, maybe with another] plus 2 probable Arctic Skuas and one probable Pom [on size and behaviour; even the Big Scope has its limits!]. There may well have been a YLG in there too, but its a 'might' at that range! I watched the fun for 40 minutes before an empty coffee cup and time getting on sent me home.



Saturday saw me up at aaaaarrrggh o'clock for the Nose. I know the forecast wasn't anywhere near as ideal as say Monday, but there is this thing called Having A Job, you know... :(

I got lots of rain, and watched for four hours before presciently bailing just before the sun broke out, see?

Here comes the blue sky...

I saw not a lot in terms of numbers [5 skuas, 5 shears, a 10:1 Gannet to Raz ratio where the total of both fell shy of 200...], though a fair bit of variety and one lovely piece of quality; Long-tail!! :D  On the Manxie line in a pause between harder pulses of rain at the very civilised time of 0941. Well worth getting a little soggy for.


With the cleared weather, I tried for Patch owls that evening and scored! Tawny is pretty much a shoo-in here [::Grins::] and did not disappoint, but there is another, oh yes, and a periodically vocal one, too.

:)



Sunday's efforts at the Patch suffered karmic levelling for Saturday's success; I found one Blackcap and not a single Chiff!! W T F....  A passing flock of 6 Jays [again high, straight south, and silent] was the most notable record.

Most amusing was this 1w Herring Gull, which had clearly been watching the Little Black Dog;

That's a tennis ball, which it had fought hard to keep. 

It kept dropping it, watch it roll away, then chase and catch it again.

It even gave it a few 'chews' like LBD does...

Birds, eh?



This morning on the way to work, I passed a Fox sat on the roadside, waiting to cross. Neat as you like, watching the traffic go by.