At Last, At Last

At last a shift [slight shift, but better than nothing] in the weather and I could blow the dust off the Big Scope and start staring at the sea again.

Joy!

Shameless clickbait

Not that I wasn't noticing arthropods along the way..

:D

But we need these;

Med Gull at 'normal range'

Classic seawatch view

Lit by the Sun, so exacerbating the effect; you see a bright white gull, no black in the wings, which seems headless.?! The black hood and dark red bill just vanish against the sea. You also can get this effect with adult Sabine's Gulls, he notes casually, and in some lights you get the headless effect with a tiny yellow dot in front! [The bill of Sabine's is black with a yellow tip, you see]

Speaking of seawatch views...

Manxie view!

How many Manx Shearwaters can you see in that photo? Three? Look closer, there are 8; showing a nice variety of poses and the effects of angle and plumage on visibility. A group of Manxies trolling by always needs following for a bit to be sure you've seen them all! [You also sometimes get other species with or trailing along behind them, so... ;) ]

Without the bright sunshine,

how many Manxies?

Waitaminute...

That's not a Manxie.

Two afternoon/evening watches, both with a little amble first.

Hope's Nose [I walked over, yes with all the seawatching kit] was nicely windy but not so rainy. Prawle [walking down from East Prawle - oh that wasn't fun going back up...] was sunny, then clouded over very promisingly, but the sun came back out again to vex me, just as the good stuff seemed to be starting up...

Ah, well.

Anyways, I have a few more pics for you

The Ore Stone,

with that lovely thrust in the Devonian limestones

and 'just a few' Guillemots

Looking towards Peartree Point,

with a lovely raised beach - palaeo-seacliff

Yellowhammer

"Got any sammiches?"

Sitting quietly gave results

Shieldbug sp.

7 Spot Ladybird

Tachinid fly sp.?

Rather fetching, whatever it is

More of that Small Copper

And now for a few numbers, let's hope my attempt at formatting works, eh?

 

Hope's Nose, 2.5 hrs                                                   Prawle Point, 5 hrs

Manx              80/1                                                       Manx            296/2

Balearic          1                                                            Balearic        3

Gannet           18/5                                                        Gannet         83/5

Fulmar           1                                                             Fulmar         6

Kittiwake      31/3                                                        Kittiwake     3/2

Guillemot      u/c*                                                        Guillemot     6/2

                                                                                     Razorbill      6

Med Gull       1/1                                                          Med Gull     2

                                                                                     Sooty            1

Shear sp.        1                                                            Shear sp.       1

                                                                                     LBB             1

* Due to breeding colony, no passage counting attempted. A scope count gave 748 combined on the ledges and rafting on the sea below them. Of note, there were no Razorbills visible among them.

Interesting to note the Manx, Gannet, Fulmar, and Kittiwake rates. Kittiwakes being notably shorter-ranged foragers and the nearest breeding at Straight Point [just up the coast from the Nose],  Gannets and especially Manx being famously longer-ranged and more flexible in their provisioning.

A couple of Bottlenose Dolphin porpoised/breached sideways [big swell!] off to the SE of Prawle, but the best thing I got pics of on the water was this;

Nice yacht.

Also about;

HMS Northumberland

Playing with

Classified

And finally;

Looking towards Bolt Head.

Bit scenic.

Be Seeing You...