Last Few Days On The Patch

With interesting weather - and never quite what's been forecast - as well as All That Festive Stuff I've been about the Patch since the Honk series [which is still ongoing, btw].

Star bird was of course my Christmas pressie from the Goddess of Birding, that lovely biscuity Glonk.

If only it'd stuck around... ANY other day and there would have been anglers at the Nose, trawlers coming inot Brixham, and everyone could have filled their bootses.

Ah, She giveth as She pleaseth and taketh as She pleaseth....

Ahem.

Great Northern

Jump-diving?!?!

They aren't supposed to do that...

Photobomb!

ID That Diver!

Go on, it's easy...

;)

South-west's Biggest Chumming Machine

We've had some rain. :)

SWBCM attracts all sorts of things, including;

All gullses Great and Small

The last of my three sort-of-in-focus Glaucous shots.

Also looking seawards,

Harbour Porpoise

Been in evidence inshore in recent days, including the Nose [this photo of Brandy Cove] and off Blackball on Monday.

Blackball?

Monday saw me actually getting out to check the Blackball roost for the ah, first time this winter... [Shame]

The weather was a bit unhelpful, with bands of drizzly rain not helping the visibility, let alone light levels.

Looking over Blackball Rocks,

Petitor Point on the left.

Totals before all vis. lost at 1640; 21 GC Grebe, 1 GND, 19 C Scoter, 2 Razorbill, 20+ Kittiwake, 2 BHG, 600+ large white-headed gulls [90%+ Herring]. 

 

Almost something really good roosting, as a/the Pom Skua [adult light morph] came in about 50' up, close inshore, seemingly following a line of GBBs, only to turn back eastwards before it got to the pier... Drat.

That would have been first roosting skua [definite], though 2 years ago a Pom harried pre-roosting BHGs and skuas have been seen passing by early doors on roost counts in years past [I've been checking] and the odd 'dark thing' has been seen offshore that looked suspicious, but no proof of non-laridity has ever been found [by me, The Boss watches the roost now and again, so he may know better].

Today I went back [having lost the day to my head, joy] and in clearer if less feisty conditions, I counted [again at 1640]; 53 GC Grebes, 1 Razorbill, 76 Kittiwake, 29 BHG, 1050+ lwhg [90%+ Herr]. Also ~20 C Scoter flew by eastwards but didn't come in.

Speaking of low-flying scoter;

In brighter if not better light...

22 C Scoter around the Oyster Beds, with a female-type Eider there as well on Sunday.

Inland, small parties of winter thrushes are about, the Lincombe Wood Song Thrush has started singing, there's still no YBW [arg] and these are out with the garlics;

Winter Heliotrope

Days to go on the Patch Yearlist and I am keeping at it, with 150 tantalisingly close...

Be Seeing You...