Just A Quick Post, Now Updated

Saw my first Swallow from here yesterday. :)



This morning I was down at the Nose early, and while there were only the usual Chiffs and Blackcaps and Whitethroats on land, passing by to sea were a Puffin and a high-flying GND. Otherwise a bit quiet. [I should point out I didn't do a 'proper' watch with the Big Scope, though]


This afternoon I decided to get around to Dipper for the year, so went up to my favourite Dipper site.
This is not the easiest Dipper site, especially as it tends to get busy and the Dippers get elusive and they can fly upstream far more easily than you can follow the increasingly shiny* path.. ::Deep breath:: But, it is a lovely spot, and when they are behaving, the views can be wonderful.

The Dart valley

The weather was an interesting mix of damp and full on rain. This was one of the reasons I went; more rain = less chance of flushing idi civilians. Evidently, the Goddess of Birding was in one of those moods, as there appeared on the other bank a chap with a brolly and a very irritatingly matching pace to me.. Also the psychic habit of stopping when I did. [[I reckon he didn't even know I was there, btw - just one of those things..]]
So I had the choice of 1; stay put and wait for the birds to come back after he'd gone [and before he came back], 2; try to outpace him - which would mean jogging, thus flushing the birds myself, or 3; keep going and hope he ran out of will to go on before I did...

Adding to the fun was the nature of said path, which I knew would terminate in a lovely collapse up ahead [and that after various scrambly bits]. Fortunately, the brolly bloke did eventually give up. But not before I'd gone a fair way further than I intended to.

Still, silver linings and all that; it seems some one has been very busy and built a new path. Unfortunately, it's about halfway up the slope, but at least it looks like you can get up to Dartmeet without risking unfortunate events traversing slip scars. And the views aren't too bad;

The new path - running along the top of the scree slope

Cream teas thattaway!

Please excuse the burnt out sky - its actually hillfog!



Right then, birds.. almost forgot them. Not long after I took those shots, a dozen Swallows seemed to drop out of the cloud base and fed over the trees for 5 minutes or so. Nice. there were more later as I was leaving, too.


I eventually did see Dippers, including a lovely sustained one of a colour-ringed bird. I only had to sit in the rain for an hour too. [It is amazing how close Dippers will come of you sit quietly in the rain for an hour...] Colour rings were on the tarsi; right leg Purple, left leg Light Blue.
Also 4 pairs of Grey Wagtails [I mentioned I got a way upriver] and a couple of Willow Warblers [but nowt sexier].



Anyways. Earlyish night, and hopefully a Blue**-crowned Treat for the 'morrow?  ::Looks upwards in devout supplication::

EDIT: Or maybe not..
OTHER EDIT: I'm not saying any more about small herons.





Be Seeing You..



[[*Old Non-PC joke about hidden twisted shining paths...]]
[[**As I said when I saw my first NH; "Black-crowned my arse, that's royal blue!"]]