SnowBirding!

Oh, Saturday... It snowed, it did.


Not much in the way of settling happened, and the snow turned from sleet to rain [then hail, then a bit more snow..], but still. Scchhhnoooooooooww!!!!



Ahem.


I decided to get out and do some nice proper birding. In the snow and rain and frigid wind.. Ah, but where's the fun in easy? [Don't answer that]

Exminster Marsh had these guys;

There's at least 12 there...

And this guy, hunting insects in the grass by a gate and doing a wonderful impression of a teeny feathered Serval;

Chiff

Pounce!

What a cracker! :D

Did I mention it was snowing?

Not heavily enough to hide this lot, alas

Lots of Wigeon and Lapwing present, though the AmWig avoided me.


On across the river!

On Goosemoor, the Spotshank was less elusive than it had been on the 1st;

Spot the shank.. [oh dear]

Bowling Green was a nice place to stop for some rations and to coo over the hordes of birds, many up close and personal;

Song Thrush

Snipe

Snipe

Blackwit

Snipe!

That Thing

This Thing is of note. You see, while they are recorded most winters, I've never actually seen a [I can't say wild] free one before! That blur along the base of shot is the boundary fence below the hide, btw. Yes, that close.....

Wide shot;

Lots of water, lots of birds

At low tide, too

Of especial note were the vast Pintail numbers, with at least 97 present! They were all over the shop [but none came close like those lovely Wigeon, alas].

I wandered on around the point, past Avocets off the Goatwalk [not a good photo op, see earlier post for that] and eventually up to the Rec. There were 4 Goldeneye up by the M5 bridge, but much closer [yes, here it comes...] was this...

YBW

It stayed up high and very mobile, but Ye Gods and Little Fishies, I got it!!!!!!!!

A Famous Bicycling Birder was also present, so out of respect to him I did not actually do the Dance Of Joy, but oh I wanted to...  :D


Finishing up, I took a detour on the way back, namely a wee wander about the Haldon Ridge, where the Folks had through amazing skill/fortune/both found this;

A bit of [crap] local flint?

[Left / upper side]

But look at that shaped edge...

[Right / lower side]

I'm not an expert by any means*, but having had a very educational meeting with a real knapper, I've seen what a shaped edge looks like. Yeah, this is rubbish quality flint [good stuff goes 'ping' like crystal], but when you're here, you've just killed a something and you need to butcher it, and what's to hand works.. ::shrug::

Held in the right hand: Upper view; First finger along straight edge at top, thumb sits in a depression in the angle. Lower view; first finger along the top, middle finger sits along the lit face below the little ridge.
You get a scraper which fits the hand beautifully.
How old it is? Not a clue, really. Could even be modern. 

The site is the shoulder of a watershed [as usual] and the tool came out of the root bole of a big tree. I had a good look and couldn't find anything else, though I'm not good enough to pick knapped off strikes from naturally broken bits. Also, the assorted leaves and liberal dousing of snow didn't help.


Right then, after all that fun, here's something at which I just had to laugh. Really, I had to...

Be Seeing You..





[It's not politics!]

[[*Not at flint knapping, let alone archaeology!]]