It's getting to be THAT time of year again, and things got very much in the way of chasing tweety birds last weekend. [And indeed of posting about it]. But I did get out, and here at last I am posting away. Yay me.
Rather than belabouring my suddenly-accelerated Things To Do, I'll just cut to the chase.
And there even was a chase!
Not a very successful one [puny human on foot over rough country vs flying birds; yeah that'll end well...] but still, there was a chase.
Anyways, on with the fun, which had to wait until the end of the weekend;
So, Sunday dawned with more sunshine and less wind than had been seen for some time. Also a fair bit cooler since the airflow had shifted from 'warm storm' to 'aaargh that's cold'. Even though Sundays are traditionally the busiest days up on't Moor - and nothing makes stalking thrushes harder than civilians wandering about * with their wonderful sense of timing** - I figured all the rain would make it boggy enough to deter most folk. In this I was delighted to be right, though of course there was the exception..
Reckoning that I might have to relocate, I parked at Venford and bounced straight over the ridge to the Mardle. This was less fun than it should have been and reminded me that it had been 3 weeks since I'd done anything more strenuous than lugging the Big Scope to the Nose. Still, at least it was leg pains and not chest pains, eh? And it did give me plenty of chances to look out for any passing Hen Harriers or SEOs.
::Long silence::
Yeah, so, up and over to the Mardle, where there were still a few Hawthorns with berries on, but a noticeable lack of thrushes to eat them.. Hmm.
I worked down to the deer park and still no joy. However, while scanning the slopes below Puper's for the nth time, the air filled with the calls of Fieldfares, and a flock of 22 came up over my head and headed down across the Holy Brook valley behind me. Yes!
I gave chase, carefully in case they had dropped into the berried patch by the watershed, but no sign. Then I meet the first civilians of the day, chatting loudly as they come.. Drat. So, I knew my only hope was the slope betweenHoly Brook and Holne Lee - which was fortunately where I've had my best encounters in earlier years! So I contoured towards the Sandy Way and while I never caught up with the big[ish] flock, I soon met a few Redwing and Fieldfares in small groups.
Right then. This time there were no distractions, just light winds, sunshine, and a few twitchy mobile birds...
..Who were very pretty from less than 20m, I can tell you. Especially through my li'l scope. :D
Having found a group of Hawthorns that seemed to be popular, I decided to stay put, have some lunch, and maybe dry off a bit [low cover and wet ground makes for damp stalking]. No sooner was I in a nice spot and had sat myself down, though, but the other civilian of the day showed up and wandered right past both trees and me. Ye Gods...
Ok, thrushes flushed, time to find somewhere else. This I did, but while I had a good area to watch over, there was a lack of close birds to watch. Ho hum..
Cue a view;
Looking Patch-wards
Time passed fairly uneventfully, despite my best efforts to find something to look at. Having finished eating, I decided I might as well move.. And then it started raining! At first just light 'you packed up at the right time, mate', it soon developed into 'put your rucksack cover on and cower!'.. With the wind picking up, I found a nice chunk of gorse and waited it out.
When the clouds finally got bored and moved on, I moved too - to and up the Sandy Way. Then I turned and followed an arc back towards the Res, taking one of the big paths. This was a good call, as I managed to find something decent - right next to said path, a Woodcock! It flew off low, [muttering something about semi-evolved monkeys], while I failed to suppress the urge to do the Dance of Joy.
I followed my much more civilised [if more cow-poached] route back to and past the car park - meeting a big flock of Fieldfare on the way - and on to Bench Tor, where I got out of the wind and finished my coffee watching to see if anything was flying along the Dart valley. I lucked out with a redhead Goosander and 105 Woodpigs! [Well, at least I got some Woodpig movement this year..!]
The Dart from Bench Tor
As time was passing, and the sky had cleared, I figured I'd hang about and see if any Goosander were feeling like showing to roost before it got dark. The redhead from earlier had joined the one that had stayed on Venford all day, but nobody else joined the party. The scenery was quite pretty, though;
Dusk at Venford
My final scores were 142 Fieldfare, 5 Redwing, 62 Starling, and one each of all the rest!
I heard Golden Plovers calling over the Mardle, but never saw them. Needless to say no Bramblings, GG Shrikes, wintering raptors...
[[*Ok, maybe 50 birders standing around smoking and chatting loudly..]]
[[**How do they always know to show up exactly when and where is least convenient??]]
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