Getting About A Bit

A few days off work [hours to use up, that sort of thing] saw me first visit heath and woodland in search of birds I'd not seen yet this year [that's keeping count, not chasing a yearlist, officer]. 

At a heathland site, Dartford Warbler was where I'd left it last year, while at a different and much woodier site, LSW was feeling unhelpful.

 

 

At Yarner Wood, the Marsh Tits eventually took pity on me and one posed quite nicely [well, once you got the camera to focus through all the twigs...], and a Song Thrush likewise was well-behaved. Other species were much naughtier, Redpoll especially...

 

 

A rather iffy day of weather saw me up on t'Moor, where perhaps the lack of other people saw a group of at least 18 Golden Plover on the deck in camera range even with the awful light 😁 . I was mostly there to recce a walking route for later in the year and to look at a triple stone row [not a double, it's a triple]. Pics will appear Over There directly.

 

[Perhaps a bit more directly, might have to annotate them. Once I remember how...]

 

 

And now it was time to get some miles done and hit the road. The Levels beckoned. A Baikal Teal was out there, with another Green-winged and what's this? Report of an American Bittern? Also another Isbis, Whooper Swans, and all the lovelies you get up where it's flat and soggy.

 

Tally-ho!

 

Well, it wasn't that soggy [areas closed off via removed bridges, not flooding, hmm] but the rarity-hunting proved a bit flat.

Yes, looking for tiny ducks in huuuuge areas among vast numbers of other ducks is never easy, but come on...

 

But it was rather nice. Started misty working on rainy, then later the Sun came out and it got, well, warm. Possibly even hot. What madness is this? [That'd be climate change, there, boy] 

I resorted to an actual iced drink [much to shock of café-folk "do we have any ice?"...], having had to walk two miles to find an open loo [thank you rspb, putting 'loos closed' up on socials after I'd pointed it out and been told 'oh, they've been out since saturday, I think, but someone should be here to fix them today'....]

Ahem.

 

Anyways, at least 9 Marsh Harriers were quite nice to see, with 4 up at once at one point. Bitterns were booming but unseen, the Whoopers were sitting about on Noah's, a few Great White Egrets were in evidence, as were plenty of assorted ducks.

I wandered about Ham Wall and Shapwick for most of the day, before fleeing the onrush of Starling-hungry mundanes to Catcott, where the Green-winged Teal did not show. [Day before, day after.....] But the Starlings did show, and were brilliant with the aid of optics [you could see the macroforms much better than when they're right on top of you] though not that far off; you could hear them, even there!

😄

An attempt to see a Barn Owl failed, but driving over backroad Levels after dark gave a surprise benefit, as Snipe started shooting over the road in front of me at hedgetop level, and That's A Jack!  😮😍

[Their shorter bills give a more balanced shape and they have more extensive streaking down the breast, so you can pick them in flight from below as well as above {crown and tail}]

A rainy day did not see me seawatching, but I did take time out of getting annoyingly necessary things done to hit Arch Brook on the Teign estuary. The pack of roosting 'shanks, when I found them, did indeed include the SpotRed. A Grey Seal came in very close on the high water, and further out, my first ever Teign estuary Goosander surfaced long enough to get the camera on her 😁

Another day trip out was to the North; Tamar Lakes, The Skern, Fremington Pill and area, and Bursdon Moor.

 

Things went a bit better, though as with last year, wandering out along the Tarka Trail caused it to rain on me..  This time I haven't come down with anything as a consequence, though, which is nice. 

Willow Tits are publicised at Tamar, though not always easy to see, and indeed it took more effort than I'd like to get anything other than Marsh Tit and frelling squirrels [where's a Goshawk when you want one?], but I scored in the end.

 

The Lesser Scaup at The Skern was another matter altogether. Pull up, get out, scan the inlet to the left, oh, there he is.

That's what you want.

I stayed longer than planned, cooing over ridiculously close views for a bird out in the open, and watched him dabbling for food right in the shallows "You're a diving duck, not a Shoveller?!?"

 

Tore myself away to head east to Fremington, walking back west in search of Isbis and Spoonbills [the Spotshank there was on the Pill, from the car, natch ]. I found a big flock of Linnet [~150] and a big flock of Stock Dove [14] [perspectives] after it stopped raining hard on me. Before that, the Glossy Ibis popped up from hiding in the same field it was in last year, and flew off low so I couldn't get a pic, the fiend!

I had to turn back for time reasons; no trek to the far side of Isley Marsh this time. And with the tide well down, no Spoonbills were in sight. Drat. Nor any Kingfishers flying by, either. Oh well.

 

Then Bursdon was almost a bust... Until a female Merlin appeared on a tree, way off over there. Nice views with the big scope, and I got a photo of sorts [yeek]. The trip home gave no passing owls of any kind [not counting calling Tawny at BM].

Day after, up on t'Moor with the Folks. Sunshine and wind; lovely in the former and out of the latter.

Another Merlin, but this time the Navy version.!

Few flocks of Fieldfare, and a surprising female Stonechat FF with a leatherjacket.?!?!!!? First week of February.

Huh.

 

 

More updating will be along, honest.

 

Ok, you know it will come, the fun part is 'when'.. 😇

Be Seeing You...