Halleluia. Sort of.

Dragged myself up and out and had a go at getting a better view and maybeevenyouneverknow a photo of the Pallid Harrier.

I failed.

I did succeed in getting a very nice view and even some grainy photos of the male Hen Harrier that's been knocking about the area, from The Pulpit [which is a stone circle, as religion in Devon goes back a Long Time]. Thus the title.

Amused, aren't you?

A flock of 11 Redwing were going to be the next best thing, but a Dipper gave me a flyby as I loitered about Cadover in vain hope of a last minute Pallid perforfmance.

I'd not been up Trowlesworthy Tors in many many years, so that was nice, too.

And nothing fell off the car this time, which was a bonus.

Be Seeing You...

Three Up North

After a slight delay due to technical issues [when bits fall off, you need to get them put back... Ahem] I was able to go filthy twitchin' up North.

Sandymere at Northam Burrows is basically a big puddle between a car park and a shingle bank. Not exactly the sort of place you'd expect to find waders, what with all the dogs running around.

But this is perhaps what's so appealing to the White-rumped Sandpiper that's settled there. Being a yank, it's pretty bomb-proof and just flies over to the other side when someone gets too close. More regular waders wouldn't tolerate anything mammalian within 30m at absolute least. So the WRS has the place and all the food - and there clearly is a lot it's finding - to itself.

This also means you can, with very little patience, get very close views indeed.

A  far better state of affairs than my last and only other in Devon, my view of which was largely a white arse flying off never to be seen again!

Ah, if you could see my pics. But gaggle still suck, so. ::shrugs::

Go look at various sightings sites, or twitter feeds.

I allowed myself a celebratory fried egg sarnie* at the caff [nice but pricey], tried a quick seawatch [epic fail], then headed over to Fremington, to seek out the first Slav Grebe in the county this year [what is going on?!?]

I had to toddle upstream a way and troll out over the sands [with care, I've seen SLAS], but it was there and lovely. The Glossy Isbis was visible on my way out along the Pill, so I stopped and zapped it immediately, as while I didn't need it for the year [remember? I got very soggy and cold and also a Green-winged Teal], there are principles.

Rewinding, and during my trip up the A361 - after I got off the duke but before I got to the Temporal Distortions Of Dooooom - I was very creditably able to keep driving in a nice straight line when a Short-eared Owl went overhead!

 

I'd been considering trying for one in the various places in t'North you can sometimes find them, if time permitted, but this was quite convenient.

Not very convenient, as then I would have been able to crash stop and get a picture or two for Over There, but you takes what the Goddess of Birding gives in Her wisdom.

So, three in a day and I've broken 230.

Result.

Be Seeing You...

[[* Not just a yeartick, but actual unequivocal photos, too!]]

Flurry of Goodies

Still place-keeping for now.

Normally October is the month for rares, but it seems the shift to November [and the clocks going back to where they should be] has had an effect.

It got to be a 'which do you try for?' yesterday, but with a Devon Tick versus a bird highly likely [as I thought] to get flushed off by hordes of dogs, that was also half the distance away, it really wasn't such a trial.

Unlike trying to get to and then find the darned thing.

A similar story on Friday with the Rosey Starling - allegedly at Whitford, certainly in a vast mass of regular-flavour Starlings roosting at Colyford Common/the Black Hole - where I could have just sat down and waited.. Ah well. Exercise is good for you, and all birding is worthwhile.

Reader, on my way back, having given up that the Pallid Harrier was anything other than a fly-through, and walking a different way back out of bloody-minded propriety, I flushed it. Got a lovely if very brief view of that spectacular arse [look at the photos; orange and white and dark and woooo] as it zipped off over the brow of Ringmoor Down [that's where it was all day; asleep in the long grass on a lee slope.].

Photo? I barely had time to get to get bins on it and start swearing.

Of interest,

The White-rumped Sand is still showing today, I understand. Despite being on a pool that is literally next to the car park with nothing to keep anyone off it.   Go figure.

Friday.  If I get my car fixed in time [Oh yes and that's another story]

Be Seeing You...

Note

I like Snow Buntings.

That's it.

Be Seeing You...

Insert Something Witty Here

I'd like to be able to put some lovely pictures of birds like Ring Ouzels, Whooper Swans, and so on, but that would involve a) actually having them and b) gaggle giving up.

Oh well.

I'm considering just going back to the Olden Dayes and being text only, with a few pics for those brave or foolhardy enough to go on twitter and find my presence there [though I'm almost as bad at posting as I am on here, dearie me]

Anyways, I've been out twitching winter swans and hunting down winter thrushes, and have even found my first lithic of the year [woo]

Also a few waxcaps, which were far more amenable to being photo'd.

Anyways,

I shall

Be Seeing You...

Happy October

 

Marked the start of the month with some filthy pre-work twitching of a gorgeous Black-winged Stilt on Exminster Marsh.

The Goddess of Birding rewarded my dedication with a surprise Pectoral Sandpiper; doubly surprising in that it even showed a couple of times.!!

 

 

Google still suck harder than a double-vortex vacuum cleaner.

 

 

Another wandering wader has turned up, but will I get to it, too?

 

We shall have to see.

 

 

 

Be Seeing You...

'Don't be evil'?  'Don't be greedy'.

Just Keeping The Dust Off

Gaggle still glow boats.

In other news, I'm under the weather.

In other other news, I went and saw a nice Long-billed Dowitcher and went and didn't see some nice Ruddy Shelduck.

I've also done skywatching and sunny day seawatching [this is what Great Big Scopes are for] and had a lovely day on t'Moor with t'Folks.

One day you might see some of this.

Be Seeing You..?

.........

::Kicks can down street::

::Whistles::

Google still suck.

Laters.

::Whistles nonchalantly::

Still waiting.

I've been seawatching when I can and horribly missing that fracking heron when I can't.

This included after work yesterday, when a reluctantly-enforced 'just one hour' at the Nose saw 625 Manxies, 2 Balearics, 10 assorted skuas, and various others coming by.. 😁 and indeed foraging not far to the NE

4 Common and 4 Green Sand, plus 2 LRP and 12+ Snipe were on Exminster and a Hobby overhead during my latest failure to photo that heron. 3 juv Knot and a Whimbrel were where the Little Stint and Curlew Sand weren't at DW the day before. Though a glorious BTD was increasingly close offshore and the Wasp Spiders were wonderful [Cheers Lee!]

Week earlier I got down to Prawle for two wonderful hours of big shears and storm petrels followed by four hours of fog [it was clear as close as Slapton.... 😕] and another watch at the Nose was a matter of fog coming and going and coming and going and comi-  yeah.

Also, Here there have been bats. Mostly Common Pipistrelle.

 

Perseids were almost as disappointing as the latest aurora [I saw, but I wasn't impressed]

And google still suck.

Be Seeing You...

Still Twiddling Virtual Thumbs

Well, recently I have been trying to get a photo of a Purple Heron, in order to add at least a vague hint of credibility [or at least reduce the deniability] of my Devon Yearlist. 

I have failed repeatedly, but that's hardly a shock. Even seeing one of those reed-lurkers is more Favour of the Goddess than anything else.

 

Getting photos of birds generally is rarely easy - or possible; for example at a workplace where Camera = The Sack - but it is nice to try, if only to give you something else to look at than my ravings.

Thus my vexation at google, demanding access to my system to upload anything. They don't need it, they're just in a paddy because I have a browser set to 'Feck off and be happy with the money you already make off of me'.

I am putting a few pictures up Over There, but Elon's happy land of Utter Freedom To Do Anything...ANYTHIIIIING!  isn't exactly the place to blog.

And my lovely [no really, I've got some good ones] moth pics have gone down like the proverbial base metal dirigible. .

.

.

Which is just... What?!? I mean, how much effort is a Like? One little click. What does it cost you? NOTHING. Less than a calory of effort, and no effect on the algorithm [not that you should care if you annoy mr m] that controls your feed IF you let it...

Argh.

But it's a fee world, so hey. It's not like I do it for Likes. They're just an addictive form of self-validation....

 

 

😩

But at least the heat's finally broken.

Bright side, eh?

Be Seeing You...

G**gle Still Suck

Still here.

Still unable to upload images.

Still waiting.

Odds, ends, and something approaching what I'm getting up to may be found here;

https://twitter.com/BackwardBirder

Unusually for twitter, I'm hardly ranty at all.

Yet.

[It's saying something about the state of the world that mr. e is more reasonable than the gaggle of fools who run this place...]

[[Though it has to be pointed out that he only lets people who've signed up {though all you need that's real* is an email, btw ;) } see anything, at least he lets you put photos up without demanding access to your system!!]]

[[* I am of course certainly not advocating or even suggesting entering false details to protect your privacy and/or screw with anyone's algorithms. Definitely not. ]]

Come On...

Prior comments on goggle's rationality were overstated.

😞

Backward Birding is again on hiatus.

😠

[Hey, idiots, you're making Musk look reasonable...]

I'm Back. Uh-oh...

Moths have been few and far between, and mostly of less than a half dozen species so far this year.

Not good.

I'm hoping it's been the cold nights, but we shall see.

Here's a nice one, for me noctuids are a treat;

White-line Dart

Dark Arches

Two in a week or so? Woo.

 

 

Brown Silver-line

Common on t'Moor, very rare down here.

Some of the more expected;

Buff Ermine

Dark Tussock

Mullein Wave

Plain Pug

[poorly-named]

Box Tree Moth

[slayer of non-native hedging]

Something, possibly, new, now.

Possibly

Isle of Wight Wave

Also?

 

Compare with,

Dwarf Cream Wave

Note DCW lacks the rufous leading edge and has a more rounded forewing and dots inside the trailing edges of both wings.

If IoWW, then they're over from the continent as, as the name suggests, they only [might] breed on Wight.

If.

Anyways, that's enough for now.

I do have some nice pictures [of butterflies] and awful pictures [of everything else] to come, with something maybe like a proper update coming directly.

And more moths.

Heh heh heh...

Be Seeing You...

Service Notice

Due to goggle being arseholes, this blog is on hiatus.

When they stop demanding access to my computer - for the privilege of giving them my art* for them to train their [and anyone else's who'll pay] AIs on - I'll be back.

Don't be too worried, last time it took two whole days for them to give up. The time before, a couple of weeks, so we shall see.

In better news, this is sparing you a moth post  [[Oh, stop cheering]]

I have been seawatching a bit, seen the odd good thing. Missed a few good things too, I suspect...

Anyways, until they give up, I shall

Be Seeing You...

[[* Yes, photos are art. ** ]]

[[** If a set of dirty bedclothes are, my blobs are. 😛*** ]]

[[*** Ok, nobody's offered me a million quid for one of mine - even my really good ones of beetles and things - but it's the principle that counts.]]

We're Going On A Bug Hunt. Pt.1, Chasing Phantoms

In which I headed over to the East Devon Commons to perform my annual pilgrimage in search of the Blessèd Silver-studded Blue [having failed awfully the weekend before.. Ahem]

Reader, I had a mare.

Lots of Horseflies found me, and it was running combat at times [me running, that is..], but my Pet Spot, where I've found SSB for many many years.. Drew a blank.

Bugger.

So I headed out to try to find somewhere else. Somewhere a small, low-flying, oft-resting, elusive and always scarce butterfly might be found.

It was hard yards, and in heat and humidity, too. Of course.

I did find the SSB's tag team partner - again with difficulty, as people seem to think that dragonfly pools on nature reserves are the right place to encourage big fat Brown Labs to jump in [FFS] - and this is the thumbnail;

Small Red Damselfly

Not very photogenic, perhaps, but shot at a tricky angle through a lot of vegetation [as oh yes, DWT seem to be allowing their favourite pool to vegetate over...]

Small Red Damselfly is not a big flashy obvious insect. They tend to stay low and sit around a lot. But if you take the time to find the things look carefully, you'll see they're quite lovely.

At this point, I was going to stick a load of 'all the other stuff' up and keep you waiting until the end - which is what I had to do, after all - but instead we'll get to the fun bit.

You are walking along a track on a heath. You need to keep eyes up for passing birds, eyes about for other birds, eyes down and to the side for the butterflies you are after, and eyes behind you for that HorseflyAAARGH...  You also need to watch where you're walking, and even more carefully for the twenty feet you are about to walk, in case there's something there you're about to flush.

So, can you see what I saw?

Snapshot.

I have learned the very very hard way to shoot as soon as physically possible. You might get something awful, but that beats nothing by an infinite margin.

Oh, what I could have gloated ab   the sights I have seen what I might have shown you..

Ahem.

Getting back to the point;

I then circled very slowly and carefully right to get an angle for a better picture.

 

It flew. Right as I was squeezing the BLEEPing shutter, it flew.

I followed.

Another snapshot.

Bit better.

You can see it now, I hope.

Hit the zoom, boy.

Silver-studded Blue

It flew again, I followed again, and never mind the Brambles and Gorse.

I just couldn't get an angle;

 

"Oh, you little blue

sod, you..."

 

 

..and then it was up and gone gone gone.

Still, it saved the day. Yes, lovely SRD, and yes, this wasn't bad either

The stuff of battleships'

nightmares.

😁

But I mentioned a lot of other photos, didn't I?

Large Skippers in numbers, at least.

Green Hairstreak, either side of the light. Annoyingly mobile, but worth it.

Cinnabar Moth!

Worth kneeling on a Bramble for.

[Knees heal, photos are forever!]

Keeled Skimmer

Remember I said about looking up?

Here's a reason why.

Sprawk!

And to look down?

Time for wasps!

Darwin Wasp sp.

Digger wasp sp.

Different Digger sp.

Digger sp.1; m and f

Bees!

 Flower Bee

 

Yellow-face Bee sp.

[not all have yellow faces] 

 

Grey-tailed Furrow Bee

So tiny! So cute!

 

[So hard to keep up with, she was all over this Heather, as you can perhaps tell]

At least I can ID with confidence.

[[Comment saying "Oh no you can't.." in 3, 2,...]]

Flies!

[Flies?]

Things that fly.

[::Whistles innocently::]

Hot, frequently frustrating, but there were moments. Oh, there were moments.

Be Seeing You...

We're Going On A Bug Hunt. Pt.2, That's More Like It!

Much bigger, sexier butterflies were prime target this time around, and oh my did I find some?

Boom!

Pow!

Splat!

Almost as wide as my grin.

Glare. I don't care.

Love the hair 😀

The eyes, the eyes.

That'll be a 'yes, just a couple', then.

So I got a few half-decent White Admiral shots. At least three individuals, there.

And...

[And?]

[And!]

Brimstone

Only the second time a Brimstone has properly posed for me, and this time I didn't have to wade through knee-deep Brambles to get the angle.!

Ringlet

Best Ringlet shot ever.

Unexpectedly, odonata pretty much stole the show. Well, sort of.

Big hawkers don't sit and pose, usually. Very rarely, anyways. GRD aside, at least.

So...

Emperor!

Eating what I choose to believe was the Horsefly that had been determinedly pestering me, then just stopped.

This is what dragons are for!

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Gorgeous. Will pose. I love them.

Have another!

One GRD, nice. Two is a good day.

Emperor's don't stop. Kind of famous for it.

But having lunch?

Very good day.

Then..

ID this dragon, if you will.

Have a prettier angle;

Southern Hawker.

Immature male.

Though not too far off.

June was a little early for SH.

What's this?

Southern Hawker.

Female

Wowzer.

I once met an immature SH on my way into Smallhangar. I got a half-decent photo, and this was on film..

 

It's been a few years.

 

 

 

Purple Hairstreak had been reported in the area. I had to look.

 

 

The Oaks were alive with winged things, indeed;

 

 

Dozens and dozens of Beautiful Demoiselles. I've never seen so many in one place.

Couldn't find a hairstreak, though.

Some nice bees and hoverflies also.

But oh, those Admirals.

Be Seeing You...