Made It!

What possesses a birder to spend the best part of four hours sat in a hide on a sunny day, waiting for birds to move their little white behinds out of the heat haze?

Good question. I think it had something to do with an idiotic self-challenge brought on by reading a book about three americans. You know the one, it's got a big egg on the cover.



So it was that I was at Dawlish Warren on Monday. Kinda fitting, I think, that the place where I started my attempt to beat my own record was where I succeeded.

Not that it looked like I would for a while.


One of those low middle of the day tides that so often give results at the Warren, with the desired bird new in the day before, seemed like a good scenario. The blazing sunshine and resulting heat haze, plus the best part of 700 small waders among the vegetation of the Bight for it to hide among, complicated matters.

Even better, with none of the Three present, I'd have to find my own birds. [I know; the horror, the horror...]

This was assuming it was even still there. [Such a thought I was careful not to voice, for fear of temptation]



After more than an hour, the waders flew in a way as to show all of their uppersides while heading away and yes, there was the square white rump of Curlew Sandiness. "Oh thank fu- where did it go??"

Even the Little Stint eventually came out - briefly - but not the CS, oh no.
So I stayed on, hoping for a photo [hah hah]. And eventually the waders moved onto the exposed mud from the falling tide and started giving good views. The one other birder who'd stayed the course got Little Stint at bin range [a Lifer for her - result], but the Curlew Sand stayed out of sight in the Bight.


So I sat, and I counted and I sat some more. Eventually the thing did show, but never well. It clearly had some sort of ninja training, as it only stopped behind posts, or Oyks, or friggin' Knot, then moved further out and into the haze....

Juv. Curlew Sand, preening

plus Ringed Plover

See what I mean? It had even dunked its belly in that little wet bit to try to look like a Dunlin.


Oh well.


As I spent so long sat around scanning and counting, I shall inflict some upon you;

Curlew Sandpiper - 1 [juv]
Little Stint - 1 [juv]
Knot - 69
Dunlin - 450+
Ringo - 230+
Sanderling - 48
Barwit - 1
Redshank - 2
Turnstone - 4
Grey Plover - 1 [mostly s/pl]

Oyk - 710+

Curlew - 535+

Also Wheatear in front of and Whitethroat behind the hide. As I was leaving, about 17 [distance, haze etc.] Brent Geese [looked pale-bellied but see comments re. visibility] were on the approaches close to the Point.
Yellow Wagtail flyover and a few Swallows were all the vismig, and the only terns I saw were Sarnies [but again, the vis. was not good].



Sunday was very different. Hope's Nose had a Clouded Yellow and a funny-calling Chiffchaff. It went chu-wee, or sometimes sh'wii. [Always disyllabic, but not at all like a WW, btw]. I heard it before I saw it and was naturally intrigued. When I saw a brown Chiff, I was shocked when it opened its bill and proved to be the mystery caller. Go and indeed figure.


After that fun, I went for a toddle on t'Moor with the Folks. We wandered up onto Hamel Down - for views and a lack of livestock - and then back down to the moor edge for a cuppa and some very nice biccies.

The scenery was typical late Summer - with all the grass and heathers and gorse out;

Doesn't do it justice.

Up top, the massive panoramas gave me hopes of picking up anything soaring about - and indeed there were raptors up. Unfortunately the haze was, too. This proved especially frustrating when a broad-winged long-tailed raptor was just too indistinct to clinch. It never gave a classic silhouette, and side-on or 3/4 views meant that while it definitely had a tail longer than wing width [so not the default juvie Buzzard], I couldn't be sure exactly what it was. It looked too 'chunky' for Hen, definitely too pale for Marsh, but with juvenile G a possible as well as Honey.. All I can say is "Bugger."

Lower down, a Redstart on the way up proved to be a foretaste of what was to come, as we found the plantation edge we'd picked was the perfect coffee spot; no less than 5 Spotted Flycatchers were using a nearby fence and trees to hunt from! We ended up watching them [and a couple of Chiffs] flycatching at nice binocular range for more than an hour, with Siskins above us and Stonechats in the foreground. 

Be Seeing You.