The End Is Nigh. Pt.3; A Wild Gull Chase

And so we come to the 'what's going on on the Patch?' post. Which is about half the weekend.

Go and indeed figure.

[What? You expect anything more? Here? Phaugh. Phaugh I say!]

Ahem.

 

Let's start with something purdy, courtesy of my skygarden;

 

Hawthorn

 

On with it.

A lucky so and so down on his hollydays met a probable adult Laughing Gull on paintown beach at the unsocial hour of 0700. [Ok, who the frilly knickers is up and out at that hour ON HOLIDAY?!?]

Anyways, it flew off before he could get a photo {so not just me, then} and the cavalry was amassed to turn here, there, and everywhere over. I waited for the frothing hordes [and the heat] to ease a little, then worked from the Nose to Meadfoot [both light gull haunts]

Closest I could get

This 2cy Kittiwake on the Lead Stone was the darkest-backed small gull I could find, alas.

I noticed a few other things while searching,

Half the Turnstones

Eight Turnstones on the wave-cut platform of The Sole. Interestingly, none appeared to be in full s/pl, implying not only that they are all 2cy [and possibly non-breeeders] but also that at least half and perhaps all of these birds weren't here last weekend. [Despite the overall numbers being very similar]

This naturally makes me wonder about the birds we find about the Bay over the winter. Are they all the same? Or are they mobile about a larger or smaller area? Or are they passing through, with numbers limited by available feeding space, so we think there's a static population? Smells like a research project.

Bumblebee with lots of pollen

Many insects now on the wing, though still low butterfly numbers after the rough weather.

Always.

Plentiful supply of immature Herrings odd and horrid.

 

Eyebright

 

Part 4 of 'Will This Ever End....?' will be here soon. And then, yes, we get all the fun of the River. Oh, and 'Wind In the Willows' meets 'Nightmare On Elm Street'. 

Really.  >:)

Heh heh heh heh heh....

Be Seeing You...