Blech..

Or, 'Every Silver Lining Has A Cloud'

In this case, a wonnnnderful roast dinner at the Folks [it doesn't get much better than roast pork with crackling.. ::Drool::] seems to have had the unfortunate side effect of me coming down with the lurgy. I blame Sister, who was also there. [Did I mention the crumble, too?]

EDIT: Apparently, Sister is innocent, and has herself now come down with said Plague. The Folks claim they are unaffected by any plague, and so a) they can't be the vectors, and b) can I please stay away so they don't get it too.

Anyways, now that I am duly struck down wit' t' plague, I'm in posting and not out birding.



I did get out over the weekend, despite the evident onset, because, well. Because.



So off I headed to the Nose both mornings, to find bugger all on land due to the wind. I mean, it's the second week of October, and I had 2 warblers total each day! 2 Blackcaps Saturday and a Blackcap and a Chiff yesterday. Sheesh.
Some overhead stuff, but even then nothing really noteworthy in terms of numbers, let alone species.


Sunday I also took the li'l scope along and stared at the sea for half an hour, on account of the misty gunk and brisk NE wind. There were a few Gannets and a light auk passage, but bugger all else. Not even a Kittiwake!


I did see that the Mad Axeman of the Nose has been back;

Almost felled it...

[I suppose wondering about the possibility of an unfortunate yet karmic axident would be wrong, wouldn't it?]


I've also been checking the various sheltered bits of the peninsula for anything stripey, but while the tit bands have formed up, there has been nothing sexier than the odd Goldcrest or Nuthatch with them.

At least, until Sunday afternoon, when I was checking the evergreen oaks* by the Battery on IMD and came across a band of at least 3 Goldcrests accompanied by the Autumn's first Patch Firecrest!

:D

They were in 'last feed of the day' mode and very mobile, this not helped by a party of chatty walkers who came by. I always appreciate interested civilians, but the smile can be a bit strained when you're just about to actually get a [maybe even good] view and then you have to take your eyes off and...



In other news, the Greenfinches are hammering my sunflower feeders, abetted by the Coal Tits. I haven't caught anything else on them, but that's not to say other birds haven't been around [the pace of munching does imply that the GSW may still be snarfing away].
Cunning use of fishing line stretched over my bird bucket has at least stopped the winged rats pigeons from flipping the pond weed therein right over when they take their baths, and brought daily spillage down from 3" to less than 2cm.
With colder weather now arriving and the prospect of Nuthatches and woodies, I have scrubbed the nut feeder [with the fancy cleany stuff and everything] and am going to try some peanuts [gasp!].



Right, time for some more honey and lemon tea...




[[*Some people may mutter "non-native!", but I'd reply "global warming" "european species" "wonderful winter habbo" and "slope stabilisers"]]