Blimmin' Birds..

Well, they can be little gits.


Especially duckth.



Yesterday I went after a right one in the form of the Portworthy Dam GW Teal. Probably the same one that had wintered there last year, it has been reported on and off, but is most likely always around. Perhaps the [one and only] view of the site may lend a clue as to why this little duck should be proving so elusive;

Portworthy Dam

This is an old mica dam - an artificial lake for settling waste out of the spoil water from china clay workings*. Now a shallow lake perfect for dabbling waterfowl. The dam itself is on the left side - effectively a bank of rocks and gorse. This is about 75% of the water, with the north end visible by moving along a bank to the left of the gateway this is taken from.

This is the only viewpoint [now anyway], with the whole area being private and also busy with the mine workings** - note new road in foreground. So yeah, you need a scope. Preferably a big one.

With scope, here's a close up of the dam edge;

Lots of Teal 

This was my first proper visit, as its a fair way to go [being north of Plympton] for, as you can see, not a great deal. But a yeartick is a yeartick, after all.***


So, I arrive to find a lot of Teal [62] and one GW Teal lined up along the dam edge with a few odds and ends, cowering out of the howling gale.
[It wasn't really a howling gale at all, I don't know what the fuss was about {see all the waves on the water? No? Exactly.}, but there you go.]
 I had less than 2 minutes obstructed view of the bird [see the two above the Mallard in the close up? Like that] before said frelling Mallard decides to plonk down in the wrong spot and the GWT moved back out of sight. Then, after a fair bit of waiting, the ducks flushed out a couple of times - though never all of them - and I lost track of it. When eventually a general movement started to go upending for weed at the north end, the GWT did not appear among the 65 birds who braved the party of swans.

A local birder who arrived early afternoon told me the GWT had been with 70 Teal on Thursday, so I guess the blighter was with the missing half dozen. There is easily enough dead water on the near - also sheltered - shore to hide them. [You may notice how the numbers of birds changed...] I gave it 3 hours, wanting at the very least a decent attempt [by my standards, anyway..] at a record shot, but there was not a sniff. Hmm.


I did see a few Mistle Thrushes, a lovely tit band, a nice Nuthatch, and the odd Stonechat [no doubt wondering what the hell had happened*]. Sharing the water were a couple of Wigeon, 2 Little Grebes, and a lone Canada Goose. This got a good grilling, but didn't seem too obviously odd [and certainly not a Cackler] to merit more than one sentence.
Bathing gulls included 5 Commons, but never came in any numbers. A few other birders also showed up hopefully, and left regretfully.



Today I have again been merrily working. Aren't I good?

I also have a new living Yuletide Tree. This one is a Blue Spruce, and hopefully will prove to be actually pot-grown, with all the roots. It looks pretty good, but so did last year's [my poor Noble Fir turned out to have been dug up with ~5cm of root - likely using some sort of corer -  then jammed in hard to look pot-grown..].


In home bird news, this week saw a riot of activity, with at one point, 2 Great, 1 Blue and at least 2 Coal Tits, a Nuthatch, and a Robin [which took offence at, and viciously assaulted, one of the Greats..] all present!
Green and Gold finches still, too, though not coming in in such big numbers.





[[*Quite a lot of this about on this corner of t'Moor]]
[[**Any visit will show the man-made desert that has recently eaten the greatest dragonfly site in the SW. And all the moor to the west of it. Yes, the tungsten mine [it's open cast, which was not mentioned when the 're-opening' of the old mine was mooted..], whose workings have destroyed a huge section of public land - either by quarrying or by dumping huge spoil heaps on top of it. My reaction was far stronger than print could convey, let alone what I could post.]]
[[***Naturally, today one has popped up at the Backwater. Because birds are gits, and She who is our Goddess has a right sense of humour.]]