The Grindstone

It was the grindstone at the Nose today, where despite a promising forecast of onshore winds and closing in depression, there was a distinct lack of birds..

I'd got there first thing after work, and before half seven an Arctic Skua and a Puffin gave me hope, but the forecast rain held off and.. Oh, but it was dire.

Doesn't look like it's dead, does it?

Onshore wind, obscured horizon, passage underway..  But 'should' is not 'will be', let alone 'are'.


I persisted, as the rain had to turn up eventually. With the front, would come the birds, yes? Maybe?

Stonechat

Another Stonechat

Not A Stonechat

[Is that a broodpatch there?]

Well reader, eventually the rain did show up. Sort of. With it, there came a trickle of Swifts and Swallows in/off, plus a scattering of Manxies. Eventually a Red-throated Diver passed - yes, actually passed, and it was a s/pl, too - and then.. Four Hours In..

GADWALL!!!!

TWO OF THEM!!!

Why the capitals and excess of punctuation? Only a frickin' Patch Tick, people! :D

My Patch has its pros and its cons, and one of the cons is that the only fresh water bodies are measured in inches of depth and are barely usable by Mallards, proper duckth need not apply... So my Patch List is flypasts at the Nose [hey, I've got Pintail and Shoveler!]. I dream of Garganey, you know.. [Ahem.]





Be Seeing You..