Thrushfest

Using a couple of days of hollyday [yay!] - today I took a wander with the Folks up on t'Moor.

It was gloriously quiet up there - at least in the morning - with not a soul in sight! Just us and the birds.

Oh, there were birds. We went to Scorhill and wandered down to Middle Tor and Frenchbeer Rock [yup, vast distances] and back, and we met so many thrushes I could hardly credit it.. 1000+ is a very conservative estimate. And more than half were Fieldfares! 'Chachachak!' was everywhere. Redwings outnumbered Starlings maybe 4 to 1, and there was a scattering of Mistle Thrushes and at least 2 Ring Ouzels [1 at Scorhill, 1 at Frenchbeer] with them.

Also of real note was a cracking female Merlin, which actually showed for long enough for all present to get bins on her - very unusual for a Merlin, she also got quite high up - as well as all the usuals, including vocal but not showy [so standard] Golden Plovers.

Here's some Fieldfares;

One!

Two! Three! Fou-, er, lots?!?

Yeah, lots.

Hold on...

...how many?!?!?!?

You get the idea.



It was gorgeous up there, all blazing sunshine and stuff.

So much so that there was still a Black Darter on the wing! He was far too frisky to shoot, alas, patrolling a wet bit near Shovel Down.

Odonates aside, everything was posing;

 Admiral on deck!

Even the archaeology..

The Three Boys

[Doing its 2001 impression]

Also to report, on Patch; last night a listen gave 6 Redwing calls in 10 minutes. Tonight it was 8.

What will tomorrow bring?


Be Seeing You..