Changeover

Happy New Year!

That's a new solar year anyway, even if the calendars take a little while to catch up..



So, another Solstice, another cloud-blocked sunrise - like I said last time, pcc - but hey, what can you do?

The sun did peek out briefly for me, so I can't complain too much, see?

'Day For Night' mode..

 "I say, that's a bit shooty for your dodgy 3 pixel phone camera, isn't it?"

Indeed it is. I've been out and replaced my ex- with a newer, fancier model... [Mid-life crisis, anyone? ;) ]. It's even got a viewfinder ::gasp::. It also has its very own set of idiosyncrasies; though it does seem to not partake in that insanely annoying 'get in focus on object, especially one flying, and then, after you hit the button, go out of focus and then take the picture'

Vaguely in focus.. ::faints::

Ok, enough of all that - it'll get ideas - and on to what I've been up to. As you may guess from the piccie, I tried a seawatch, what with an overnight front [of sorts] and an alleged SW plus another front allegedly incoming. You may take note of all that allegation and wonder. Indeed you might.


I gave it an hour and a half from not long after sunrise and soon found that, yes there were birds, but missing was a rather critical thing - all my sodding clickers!. With 'lots' going by at multiple ranges, these would have been required for a good count. As it was, I had to do a timed count and not take time to ID all the auks. And it was all the auks; I wound up with a passage rate of 1220/hour! In addition to this, there were 447 stuffed onto the Ore Stone when I sat down - though they mostly cleared off - and more on the sea. Wowzer.
Gannet rate was 184/hr and Kittiwakes were at 76/hr. All three southbound. Also a few Fulmars passing - with 5 more prospecting the cliffs around Kittiwake Gulley - and 16 Common Gulls over the full period, plus an adult Med.
Star bird should have been the one which went by at 0845, but the shearwater - probably a Balearic - was just too far out and sneaky for me to nail it. Drrrrrat.
The auks were mostly Guilles, but there were enough Razorbills - both flying and on the Ore Stone - to have me again regretting my clicker-less state making me unable to have the time to pick 'em out and give a reasonable ratio. Oh well.


The action wasn't all out at sea, as I had a curious visitor;

 "Got any flapjack?"

 Also on shore, as well as getting carried away with their lawnmower, the cheery bods at tcct have been continuing their project to make Whitethroats extinct as a breeding species at the Nose;

The Lower Tower

hacked from the jungle like a Mayan ruin

I asked a young Shag what it thought;

Ahem.


In other news.. I had some other things to do - not least being dekkers - so that was that for birding. Though a flyover - and I mean right over! - Kestrel was nice.

Finally...  I forgot to stick on some pics from my mist-bound trip to the Nose. Instead of editing my last post, I'm putting them on here, so you can be extra grateful to me for spending some more money;

Mercury calm

Very atmos-

wait, who's that coming out from dredging up the Bay

 well west of Thatcher Rock?

That naughty girl Rona

and a few of the 2k gulls following her

Always seems to be on a Sunday or Bank Holiday with iffy weather. But I'm sure it's all perfectly legal.*


Never mind the poor sea bed, here's a sunset to remember;

 Wow, just wow....

Be Seeing You..



[[*She was probably just outside the MCA, in the area that should have been included to help the poor starving seabirds. You know, the bit the RSPB are campaigning to have included? Did you not hear about that? I even wrote to my MP [real posted mail and everything!] about it**.]]
[[** Of course, I got a standardised 'restate Government position while ignoring your actual arguments/questions/requests' reply - on fancy HoP stationary - but what do you expect?]]