A Post Starring Woodpigs??

Who'da thunkit?


But at the Nose on Saturday morning, Woodpigs, moving in no small numbers, were very much in evidence. More than 1300 passed in the near two hours I was there, but 1100 of them were in the first ten minutes! This may not seem like much in comparison to other sites, but the Nose, being stuck out and not that high, is frequently bypassed by strong-flying migrants who just pop over the peninsula. So, large numbers of Woodpigs are a rarity.


Not to say there weren't other, far better, birds around. :)  Not just pigeons on the move [and finches and pipits and larks and wagtails... of course], but thrushes, too. Oh yes, Ring Ouzels - yes, plural! - at the Nose! I almost got a picture of one, too. Well, I DID get a picture, but the evil bitch [twas a female] turned her incredibly scaly back at the last moment and came out all dark; so indistinguishable from a Blackbird! Aaaarrgh... The other two were even less co-operative. They were with a band of Redwings and at least one Fieldfare, mobile and vexing around the berry bushes of the South Side.
Still, 3 Ring Ouzels is not to be sniffed at, not at all. Not least in having almost doubled the number I've seen at the Nose! Why am I not crowing more? Well, I was so close to getting a lovely sunlit shot of the scaliest Ouzel I've ever seen, that they've quite annoyed me. So the Woodpigs get the title.

I also managed to find some warblers.. Well, 3 of them. A female Blackcap and 2 Chiffs. [[Yellow-brows everywhere else.. Mutter Mutter]]


Later on I - while getting things done - managed to have a spot of lunch at Yarner. Evading the press-gangs, I took up my favourite vismig spot and watched a few flocks of Woodpigs seemingly milling around - 104 went east, 172 went west! A flock of 8 Crossbills - very close, too - were better, but it was mostly quiet on the bird front.. just nice and Yarnery.. :)


Finally, in Towne, I had a look at the Harbour, where the weather and tide weren't favourable for Purple Sands, so no surprise I didn't see any. The wagtail roost was impressively busy [and still impossible to count accurately!]



Sunday I was also busy with non-birding things, and as I'm shifting onto nights [yay] I wasn't up at the crack of dawn. So no chance of any interesting falcons coming from the north... Bugger.
Anyways, IMD near the Nose did have one or maybe two Firecrests - they were keeping down out of the wind - and the Nose itself had some offshore passage, including 2 Med Gulls and a cracking juv dark morph Pom Skua, which gave a flock of poor Kitts a hard time.. Also of note, a Peacock and at least 4 Red Admirals still on the wing.