The End Is Nigh. Pt. 1; Spangly Blobs And Other Insanities

In which your intrepid writer does what he says he isn't interested in doing and goes tarting about after year ticks. Devon ones, not proper valid Patch ones, too!

[[Oh, the shame, the scandal, what will the neighbours say??]]

I suppose I could have led with an historically validated defence of a plumage tick - I've tarted off to cornwall for such before, after all... - or even not wasted your valuable seconds with the effort of reading this drivel and just gotten on with it [[Python Fans: "GET ON WITH IT!!"]], but there you go. Flood or drought, there is no happy medium to be found in this here blog, oh no.

::Reels from smack upside the heid::

Ahem.

Yes, so, I suffered a great deal of indecision and literal as well as mental back and forthing before finally rocking up at Exminster Friday evening to see about an American Golden Plover [[what, no deranged birders' slang? Nope. :p ]]. Found it straight away, [helps when someone is looking right at it], also a nice Curlew Sand in about 60% summer plumage. Looking towards the sun in fading light with still a remarkable amount of heat haze made 'grainy blob' about the best that could be done. Did I mention it was riiiiiiiiiiiiight at the back? About as far as that White-front, that's how far. Hmm.

I was there so late [it was great through the scope, of course] that I ended up hitting the Nightjars on the way home - defying a real peach of a headache to do so - and was, after a longer than I'd like wait - rewarded with a couple of churrers but no flypasts. [More shame, more shame]

I suppose said blob must be afflicted upon you

American Golden Plover, 

summer plumage

At the back, facing left, 5 o'clock from the Canada Goose. It's in near perfect summer plumage, with dark back spangled in gold and silver, a near complete silky black face, throat, and belly, and a broad white border between the two. Utterly stunning in the feather, I assure you.

I am a merciful lo blogger and will spare you any more blobs of other things.

In fact I may have to spare you everything, as that's going then to be i- oh, wait! there is one thing I can show you!

Consider this a treat for putting up with all that stuff up there--^

I had an in-car visitor while awaiting the dark and the masters of two-tone and I got a lovely pure chance shot of an attempt at escape [it had to be picked up and helped in the end, poor thing].

What?

This;

Beetle!

These are everywhere right now. Very fond of buzzing about and landing on you when you're trying to do something else.

And finally... In case anyone didn't get the title; It was a bank holiday weekend. In this country that means one thing [in the warm half of the year] and that is rain. Perhaps wind, too, but definitely not lots and lots of sunshine. Getting it is sure a Sign of the apocralypse.

So now you know. [And knowing is hal-]

Isn't that better?

Be Seeing You...