That nutty yearlisting thing demanded I change my plans on Sunday.
I'd meant to try the Nose again, maybe seawatch a bit, maybe try to find a nice YBW of my very own, that sort of thing.
But not only a yeartick, but a full Devon Tick popped up [and around and around] for the second time this year and this time I wasn't stuck at work...
Tally-ho and all that and up up up to Velator Quay again, driving through bands of rain and wind in search of...
Red-necked Phalarope!
They never stick around... Until they do. Sort of.
Getting back to the narrative;
I arrived to rain. Proper The Sky Is Falling rain.
Hmm.
Good to get a parking space, not so good for other things.
A couple of handy birders confirmed that yes the phalarope was still around, so I defied the rain [having waterproofs is quite useful] and wandered up to The Spot. This was on the path to Horsey Island, looking over the River Caen to a pond-cum-patch of soggy grass on Sherpa Marsh, which was only just in view.
[The footpath on the other side of the river, I had been assured, was not only a mud-bath but also gave not much more of a view. Certainly it looked like you'd flush anything on the pond just by walking along it, being fully silhouetted and Right There...]
Ahem.
A dozen Teal took offence at me even stopping [I suspect All The Bloody Shooting Ye Gods?!? had an influence on that...] on what is a very well-used route, so I decided I had done right.
The bird, however...
As the rain eased a bit, one of the Handy Birders wandered up and set up beside me."So... Where's this phalarope, then?" I asked him with a cheery smile....
Apparently it had gone missing before, suddenly coming back into view like it had never been away; most likely something to do with all the water falling from the sky interfering with fly-catching.
Let us cut to a little over an hour later, with the rain having given up in disgust, and actual sunshine threatening to break through.
There were now three of us there, when I noticed a bird fly up from behind and to our right [The Great Field area]. Looked like a pale wader and it went right down onto the water...
Eyes on.
"I've got it!"
Six Minutes Of Heaven followed, as the RNP made a couple of circuits of a route around the right side of the pond, busily snapping up anything that moved.
Wooooo
Lovely.
:D
Then, just like that, it was up and off and away, flying down the Caen channel and lost to view.
Very much a bird doing a circuit of sites, it seemed.
We gamely went after it and found zog all, but you have to try.
As I'd got there, a text from The Teacher told of a Penduline Tit at the Warren.
I'd said some very norty words in the privacy of my car.
Now I had a Mission.
Cut to late afternoon [should have ticked and run, but I suffered an attack of Good Birding]
Dawlish Warren's Main Pond
All very scenic and no, not a sniff of a Penduline Tit.
Oh well, worth a try.
There were lots of tit bands, with assorted Chiffchaffs* tagging along. Also, while waiting on the no-shower with another hopeful, things got a bit 'Sweet!' [Isn't it nice when birds come to you?]
Didn't get eyes on, though...
[Yes, yes, still counts, but I want another photo of one!]
Rain showers, wind, and a lack of Bulrushes [which they like, having seen all but one of my previous birds in their vicinity] meant I eventually called it quits not that long after my companion. We both just happened to wander about the rest of the cover, just in case, but no dice.
I then relocated to the seawall, where a look at the sea got me zog all but the view,
Raining on the Nose again...
Looking R to L and near to far, we have the Lifeguards' Hut [where you seawatch from], Langstone Rock [where you seawatch from if you are nuts very brave], The Patch [north coast] [where I seawatch from], and Berry Head [where most birders seawatch from]
[I might have something on my mind...]
Be Seeing You...
[[* None Siberian, btw ]]
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