The Sun And The Rain

An interesting week, though perhaps at times a little too much in the Chinese sense of the expression, unfortunately..


Friday saw an interesting start in the moth-y sense, with these two on my way home from work;

Good thing those are sturdy railings,

that's a big moff.

And very pink.

An elephant hawkmoth, but which one?? All I can say is "Er..."

Buff Tip

This one I know - but was surprised by how big it was; the size of my thumb!



After that excitement, I had to go out chasing butterflies. [There is logic in there somewhere...]


I went over to Great Plantation, on the Bovey road, where many White Admirals had been reported. I eventually caught up with at least 4, one of which posed briefly for my paparazzi setup. A shot may come out... I also zapped Small Skippers and Beautiful Demoiselles [what they are doing along stagnant ditches is anybodies' guess...]. Hordes of Meadow Brown, several Silver-washed Frits, plus Ringlets, the odd Large Skipper, and a good Red vs White Admiral fight [white won] also of note, with Keeled and Black-tailed Skimmers and Golden-ringed Dragons patrolling about.

It's a very nice spot for butterflies, and with luck and patience should yield great results, but you really have to watch where you put your feet [both shod and tripoded...]



Saturday I pretty much lost to a crippling headache. Have you ever had that one that feels like someone has shoved a needle through your eye and not stopped until it hit the back of your skull?

Yeah, fun times.

Brief relief meant I got to the Nose near dusk, for yet another windmill til fictional evening tern movemen where to my amaze a tern or two flew past calling and shock; not Sarnie! I didn't actually see it/them, but they sounded interestingly little... Unfortunately, I'm not sure and as I didn't get eyes on, they stay as 'tern sp.' - lack of non-sarnie call practice! [Even listening back to BWPi I'm still not happy.. tut]*



On to Sunday, where delayed sleep due to my head meant I was unable to get up as early as the sudden shift in the forecast required.


But at least I got to the Nose in time to catch the pod of Bottlenose Dolphin come by at point blank range, breaching calves and all!
At least 13 animals, including 3 calves, they split around the Lead Stone but seemed to be travelling with intent to mess around rather than hunt. They certainly moved past quickly.


After that fun there was quite a lot of not huge numbers.

I amused myself by playing the Manxie game. [It's like the Dunlin Game, but..... with passing Manxies**]. They obliged by passing at various ranges and visibilities, with the odd one thrown in. Best odd one had very white underwings, especially the hands. This made the uppers look darker and oh yeah, it was fluttering like a frickin' fairy. Well worth a look, as it was.. yes, a Manxie!


The C Scoters picked up - more than a hundred in all eventually - though the Manxies didn't average 30/hour overall and the standards even less. The weather proved even better than the forecast, with gunk lasting into the afternoon - coming and going with the odd demi-squall - and the quality picked up. Balearics and Arctic Skuas most noticeably. Singles of Sarnie, Whimbrel and Curlew, 4 Med Gulls and my first juv YLG of the year [which hung around but didn't pose].

As with last year, I again wonder at the lack of coverage at Berry Head. I mean, I know it's not August, but still, that river of squiggly frontal wind blowing right up from interesting places...
Ah, never mind.

No wait - one thing more; auks. Many of which had been roosting[?] on the Ore Stone [bare the day before]; I guess those would be females and perhaps a few failed breeders [the males being offshore with the juvs]. All Guillemots, and also all but one passing bird [of those that came close enough to ID in gunk and rain]. Interesting the contrast between the Nose and the Point, isn't it? Colony proximity, I guess?




[[*Nasty phrases are started to circle in my head, like 'bogey bird' and 'the one that got away'. They are accompanied by that little bugger which was flying up and down in front of us at Pagham. I knew I could hear it sniggering...]]
[[**If you've never played the Dunlin Game, you're not a proper birder. Sorry.***]]
[[***How to play the Dunlin Game.
You need a scope, ideally somewhere to sit out of the wind, and a good sized flock of Dunlin, preferably actively feeding on some juicy mudflat. Use the scope to go through the hundreds/thousands of teeny, grey, and very active birds and try to find something that isn't a Dunlin. If you fail to find an oddity, or are just a masochist, go through again and age/sex/race them. If you do this often enough, you will either go raving mad or get scarily good at small waders. Possibly both.]]