White Wings And Wanderings. Pt.2; Bella's Charms

 

Storm Bella came roaring through betwixt the 26th and 27th, causing chaos, panic, and disorder. I naturally dragged myself to the Nose at first light, to see what severe wind and lots of rain had done. The forecast said West-ish strong winds and lots of showers, which meant maybepossibly something of note...?

 

 

I got one epic squall with sideways hail and Doom level rain, then sunshine.

Still, when it wasn't Sunning in my eyes, the whole hour I gave the sea really paid off.

Oh yeah, then there was that lovely Glonk, too.

You know, this one;

 

Glaucous Gull, 1cy

 

 

The very non-standard wind direction meant I was able to sit up among The Mounds, giving a good view of the Slick and also well into the Bay. Passage of auks [~250/hr and 3:2 Guillemots], Gannets, and Kittiwakes aside, it seemed slow for about 20 minutes. Then it got exciting. This being because the seabirds like to roost, especially when it's rough, to the north of the Nose, but they like feeding in the Bay, to the south of the Nose. You see where this is going?

So, 2 GNDs on the deck in Hope Cove and 13 past south;

Great Northern Diver

Also past were 2 RTD - which looked to be heading past Berry Head -  and a BTD [presumably the one that's been off Broadsands], which went into the Bay. Likewise, the Pom Skua that flew into the Bay is likely the one that's been hanging about the place recently [light morph], while a Bonxie - much further out - seemed to be heading towards the Gannets congregating off BH. Two Fulmar came by close in, likely to be the residents having a wander rather than transiting birds, but again no grebes or seaducks [the 1cy female LTD aside].

[[There are no scoter about at all, as far as I know. This is unusual.]] 

The slick attracted gulls, with highest counts of 129 BHG and 53 Common Gull, with lots of passing Kittiwakes coming to have a look as well but nothing fancier. Not even a Med.

 

The slick, chopped up by the wind

 

Most of the divers came by in pulses [ie. at the same time, but not together] of two to four over twenty manic minutes [told you it got exciting] - as did the Pom - and after an hour of sunrise it was pretty much over. Checking Hope Cove on the way out for GNDs - after noting the continued presence of the female LTD - I got a lot more than I bargained for, though..

GND

This was the closer of the two present, seen from The Pulpit [Making a total of 18 divers for the morning :) ]. Then a big pale thing flashed across my field of view..

Giant Bird Terrorises Teignmouth!

I spent far too long cooing, as I had stuff to do, but well, it was wonderful! Too fast for many good pictures, though. I have an awful lot of blurry ones.. But this was far more 'got one sharp one, stuff it and just enjoy the bird'.  :)

 

Eventually tearing myself away, I ran into one of the local birders on the First Slope and made sure to go into effusive detail about said Glonk, then took the time, despite having That Bird waiting, to put out the news [yes, that post down there, the one with no pictures] before skedaddling North to- 

 

but wait, that's another post.

 

;)

 

 

Be Seeing You...