No, I can't think of anything more orignal.
With it being That Time Of Year again, my time was somewhat curtailed. My head misbehaving really didn't help, either.
But I was determined to get out at least once, batter the Patch, and maybe just maybe find something wonderful.
Or at least something.
Sunday morning saw me neither bright nor particularly early [thankyou saturday's brain] but out in the rather frisky NE blast wind, which is more than most, it seems... [ :p ]
Things got off quite well, with a few Fieldfare and Mistle Thrush flying about over the inner part of IMD [not usual here at any time of year]. Then they got even better, as the oh so cheerful sound of a Siberian Chiffchaff calling away like nobody's business filled my ears. :D
Alas, it had chosen the bushes by the raised section of the coast path [the 'new' path, as the old one is, well, on the cliff edge and now runs behind houses and then along the road] to loiter in, and the inevitable group of mundanes with yappy dog almost instantly appeared...
Bugger.
[Camera probably wouldn't have behaved, anyway..]
I hit the Nose, finding the misTrust had destroyed even more valuable warbler habitat in the name of.. Well, whatever it is that goes through their heads. [If they'd actually bash the bracken, stop people riding motorbikes* **, and maybe even prosecute somebody for the ridiculously overt eco-criminality that goes on there, I'd be FAR less sarcastic about them] They had so helpfully piled much of the mess and dead trees over the Top Dell entrance, so I re-cleared it. I still have a thorn tip in one finger - through leather gloves - from that, so it's a sore point. Ho ho.
In said Dell I found.. A Chiffchaff. Nice classic regular flavour.
But it's the trying.
Further down, the Blackstarts were hiding and a few light gulls and Gannets were messing about in the breeze. A Razorbill was on the sea.
Oh well.
Here's something unseasonal;
Though exactly what
it is, escapes me!
Parrot Waxcap,
at last!
Around to Meadfoot, where a GCG and a GND were eventually located, close to the Mew Stone, with another Razorbill. No loitering gulls of interest, again no BR.
Ho hum.
Fiery Milkcap***
The Harbour had 6 Sandpipers Purple - 5 foraging, 1 roosting - and eventually 8 Turnstones, right on the Inner slipway.
From there, 2 more each of GCG and GND were towards Corbyn's Head, the former taking advantage of the much calmer lee seas [as were 15 Common Gull amongst the Herrings and BHGs] but no sign of the earlier Eider which The Teacher had Summoned with The Artefact ::Ominous Chanting::
I did encounter Firecrests, but as they are a rare and vulnerable breeding species, I'm not allowed [under Pain] to reveal where. Even the one that showed at eye level, maybe 6' in front of me. Sorry.
Most of the Turnstones.
Sandpiper, Purple
Sandpipers, Purple
London Bridge
[bit rough out there.!]
I also learned that BTP is seemingly now a table-service bistro chain, not the wonderful [slightly and glorious for it anarchic] coffee shop with food it used to be. Shame. Coffee's still good, but, well...
Ahem.
So, a morning of ground covered, some stuff seen, some annoyances suffered [no, taking your van away does not make parking a caravan at Meadfoot legal, mate], and despite the friskily cold wind, I managed to get quite warm.!
Be Seeing You...
[[ * Yes, really. I have proof. ]]
[[ ** Just repair the entrance. One {ok, not-so-little} bike-proof gate would do it. ffs... ]]
[[ *** The name's not for show. Anyone 'foraging' this species will be very sorry... :) ]]
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