Staggering About The Patch

Well, I hope there was plenty of seawatching done today. I was unable to join in due to a) work and b) having come down with plague. It started annoyingly - not least as this was last Friday - and has worked up to proper levels of suffering. [[I feel your sympathy even through time and technology.]] Yes, I am getting on with it.

So, cut back to a weekend when I am still only wondering where I got that cough from and can I send it back, please?

Fresh air is good for you, and I wasn't about to start letting some pesky pathogen  stop me getting more awful blobs and blurs to inflict upon you get me down.


I restricted myself to the inner Patch, and as in the previous weekend tried to cover as much coast as I could.

Ok, my head won't let me think up too much more burble, so let's get on with the affliction of visual outrages;

Adult male Blackcap

Didn't expect that, did you? As you can see [and I have more angles if you doubt] this is an adult, not a fleck of brown up there, so definitely at least two Blackcaps coming to my little skygarden! :D

Earlier, and in less favourable conditions;

Tipping rain didn't stop 'a' male Blackcap

La Blackbird

Not out of place in New Guinea

Good luck with that!

['scuse reflected laundry..]

Does this mean that the 
Council actually felled a sick tree?

Yup, catkins

It might

Be thinking

About Spring

Ok, on with the birds..

Very olivaceous Rockit

Sleeping beauties

There were at least 9 Purple Sands on the Real Living Coast - but they were quite twitchy [the jet skis blasting about may have had something to do with that?] so I didn't tarry close enough to be sure, let alone get fancier pics.

Just the one Turnstone on show

At least 2 GND, 3 GC Grebe, and a nice BTD were on the sea, with 2 Common Scoter and a/the Slav flying about. All at too much range to get even blobs in the chop, alas [stop smiling].

Instead, here's something that did get close;

Not bad

BHGs are so much nicer when you can't hear them. Now if only the Bony's would do that for me..?? [Oh, stop laughing]

Now that you're feeling all spoiled and relaxed with the odd decent picture, let us head over to the Blackball roost... [is that ominous music I hear? It was certainly rain...]

The birds are out there..

Now, my darling little camera has an autofocus with some rather picky habits. It does not like being pointed at water, or sky, or through any kind of precipitation. It also throws a right one when the light drops*, even when you start wandering through modes to force it to not take 5 second exposures of moving targets.....

So you might consider taking more than usual caution with enlarging the following, as many are not properly sharp, even if they look like the should be.

Divers

Grebes

Gulls

[you had to have some, stop moaning]

Diver

Grebes being annoying

Hold on a minute..

One..two..three! Three divers!

Ahahahahhaaa!

Oh dear.

Periscope up

I need a really big flash..

Hand-held multi-second exposure

I feel proud

Some numbers;
112 Kittiwakes, 126 fugly gulls incl 2 LBB, 1 maybe 2 Common Gulls [one if it could move very sneakily], no white wingers of any flavour...
5 GND, 1 RTD [1w], 2 BTD
16 GC Grebes, 1 BNG, 1 RNG [off Petitor; I tried but I got a blob.. :( ],
3+ Guillemot, 2 Razorbill


And now for something completely different;

Chimney ftw!

I love this thing. Always stop for a slightly head-shaking admire whenever I pass by. This time, I had a camera... ;D


Right then.

Normal service may resume, but I still have a couple of horrors in the pipeline, so who knows?


Be Seeing You..



[[*This one I will admit is slightly reasonable; it's only using a teeny objective to gather light, after all.]]