A Day of Surprises

Yet another post?!?!? What's wrong with this guy???

Last night I looked at the forecast and went "Aaaarrghhh..."; American Robin at Turf and a huuuuge weather system coming in, and I'd be at work for the daylight hours...

I was Good. I did not skive off or call in sick or pretend a tree had fallen on my car. Sometimes you are rewarded for Being Good. Sometimes.

That the Goddess of Birding was Smiling upon me became evident when I arrived at work and disturbed a female/imm Blackstart from pretty much under my feet. It zipped over to another car and looked at me slightly reproachfully, as if to say "Hey, you think the weather's rough on you? Try being my size - it's all I can do to hold on!"

It wasn't too put out, though, as it put in another appearance at lunchtime - albeit only to land nearby, look at us just long enough for me to get my bins half up, then fly right past us and away.

But I'm getting ahead of the Main Event. Rewind back to the early morning...

Before we start work, we find it helpful to have a cuppa [vital aid to skilled manufacturing, I assure you]. This is had outside, to enjoy the view and let those of us who need to smoke. Huddled against the wind and sideways rain, we puff and slurp, talk about this and that, and keep an eye out for anything interesting. Not long before work was due to start [we're in for 8-00 sharp] a flock of birds flew over, heading SW. "Those're funny-looking Starlings.." Says I. [My co-workers are getting used to this kind of thing] So funny I get up and venture into what was fortunately only light rain to get a better look at them. 10 very chunky-fronted Starling-sized birds. They're not Redwing either, but they're going away from me by now and my work bins aren't up to colour from silhouetted birds like these.. Then one of them calls; "Sriiiiii!"

At times like this, most birders would be straight on the phone. I, however, suffer an attack of self-doubt and have to wait until I get home and can listen to the recordings.. They might still be around Totnes. [[They might have been blown halfway back to Norway by now....]] I will be looking [in the 10 minutes or so of light I get either side of work] tomorrow!

Posting Again!

Oddly, there seemed to be less moving today [or more likely I was just missing it!]. At least 4 Little Grebe were messing about quite close first thing, and a Mute Swan graced us with it's presence [probably wondering what the ducks were eating], though it didn't risk the dogs and joggers by joining in. These are not my reason for another post, however, as my Big News is that the Work List now passes another milestone and stands at....

::Fanfare::

61!

60th species was Bullfinch - two lovely little jobs flew over north, nice and low. As for the 61st - any guesses?

Work Birding??

There's been a bit of movement visible this week at work - small parties of Woodpigs heading upriver, and assorted finches and thrushes mostly heading north. Stunning vismig sightings of species such as Linnet, Redwing, and Fieldfare have pushed the Work List to the giddy heights of 59.

Wow.

I have to take a moment...

Right then.

Also of note today was the first Cormorant since the 29th of October - it flew upriver first thing and I couldn't assign it to race as once again it was past me before I noticed it... [In my defence, the fish-molesting git timed it so I was just taking a slurp of coffee as it passed.] A Peregrine stooped beyond the far ridge at lunchtime, causing a panicked group of Woodpigs to come barreling out over the river before they realised they weren't being chased... Finally, another raptor on the Berry Pomeroy road - a Buzzard munching ex-bunny on the verge.

It's all go here, I tell you. :)

Sunday's Stuff

I said not that long ago that 'You can't believe what you read on the internet'. Seemingly, this includes me in reference to what I write, too.. But more on that later.

A Sunday morning stroll about bits of the patch with some rellys brought about not a huge amount of birds, though a Cormorant of the form Haigi was of interest to me at least off Babbacombe Pier. ;) A pair of Collared Doves looked to be trying for an 'early even for them' record up my road, and well, that was about it. There were Blue Tits, though. Lots of Greenfinches and Coal Tits on the feeders, as well as the usual Blue, Great, Sparrow mix.

Rellys having departed, the folks unwisely asked me for suggestions for an afternoon stroll [they really ought to have learned by now... :) ]. Thus we took a wander around Clennon. :D

Tilda Swindog had lots of fun on the grass, though she seemed a bit disappointed not to be able to find any sheep to go bonkers at, she made do with a crow sat in a tree, which she decided was a squirrel.... A male Gadwall and two male Shovelors, plus half a dozen Tufties and a Little Grebe were on the big pond. We would have spent a while watching the Grebe preening, but there was a party of 8 Mute Swans, and the cob seemed so proud to have 6 cygnets that he led them over and tried to start a fight with Tilly! I kid ye not, they made a beeline for her, cob in font with his wings up and of course Tilly wasn't going to miss an opportunity like that. On we went hurriedly, with the sound of swans making chicken noises behind us..

Before all that, though, we had to have a look for the Yellow-browed Warbler, didn't we? 0:)

I'm not super-familiar with Clennon - I went there in the rain for the Penduline, and before that you're talking school-days hockey in the horizontal rain.... Thus it was that finding the storm drain was not entirely straight forward. A fallen Willow very near the YMCA didn't help. but eventually we got to the spot, which is utterly unmistakeable once you know exactly where it is. ;) Having taken the scenic route led us past 4 Chiffchaffs, including one showing all the tristis features - it was even calling, which was nice of it. Sheltered from the wind but still in the sun, there were plenty of birds around and within a few minutes of our finding the spot, the Yellow-brow put in an appearance. A lightning-fast one, unfortunately. "I got the head as well as the body" is the best I can say [if only it'd been like that on Saturday...] [[Oh, stop moping!!]]

A quick bit of background...

Yellow-brow is a special bird for us - my first was in my parents' back garden, you see, back during the 2005 influx, when one came in fairly regularly for 2 minute aphid blitzes. They called it the garden warbler [very logically]. When I got eyes on it I almost had a seizure... This little fluffy hummingbird was right outside the kitchen window; what a show. :D

So, we all know Yellow-browed Warbler from the comfort of the kitchen, watching it perform hover-y spiral routes over a young conifer. Real life blink-and-you'll-miss-it view [note the singular] was a bit of a disappointment for the folks, alas, as they missed it...

There were some gorgeous point-blank Long-tailed Tits, though, and yet another female Sprawk cruised over [a Crow went up to do some annoying, but changed it's mind after suddenly finding the hawk behind it.. :) ] so it wasn't an entire loss. I hung back* while they walked on, Tilly having found a gap in the driving range fence and had tried for the 'tangled lead in brambles' game, but no further showing was had [elusive is not an overstatement].

[*For about 20 minutes.. I am duly ashamed]

Saturday's Stuff

Apologies for the delay, which was due to a brief staying of relatives. :)

Saturday morning saw me up bright and relatively early and over to Berry Head to see if there was the slightest chance of one or more Pallas' Warblers having remained...

I took the scenic route in, past the hotel, and heard the reassuring sound of two tit bands as I drove up [though not, of course, where I could stop]. Starting from the car park I worked my way towards the Array - two tit bands later I reached it and then was amazed to hear the clear sound of a calling Pallas'!!!! Very clear and sustained and a bit loud for a little phyllosc. I thought, and so it proved, as I instead found [Famous Devon Birder Who Shall Remain Nameless] with a recording... Not long after attracting me, an actual bird came for the briefest of looks - it had leaf green uppers and two straight wingbars and that is literally all I had; rats!

Parting ways, I continued to scour the woods and scrub, meeting tit bands, Goldcrests, but nothing fancier. A few finches went overheard, including Bullfinch and Siskin, also noted were Green and GSW, several [all standard] Chiffs and a very nice female Sprawk, plus lots of thrushes above the Walled Gardens. Remeeting [Famous Devon Birder Who Shall Remain Nameless] he pointed me to the far side of the Walled Gardens, where he'd first found the Pallas', and had just had a Firecrest. Up I went, and though there were some very nice Bullfinches there plus more Chiffs I missed the Firecrest. Thinking all was mostly lost I heard again the call of the Pallas' - ah, more recordings, I thought. I even softly called out "[Famous Devon Birder Who Shall Remain Nameless] is that you?" Then the obvious finally got through my thick skull;

It's a £%%£$@§* Pallas'!!!

The calls, all 3 of them, had come from behind a big ivy-covered tree, which I spent the next hour watching. Not a frickin' sniff.

[[* Ancient Devonian Swear-words, which I am not allowed to translate]]

A LTT band came through, other tits, Chaffinches, a Chiff, Goldcrests, lots of butterflies, a Common Darter and a Migrant Hawker even, but not Pallas'... Heading back to the coast path by the hotel I then encountered a huge tit band; 30+ including 3 Treeeecreeepers! While I was trying to sort through them more birds arrived; Chaffs, Goldcrests and then again a Pallas' called! It was mayhem - there were plenty of leaves still on the trees which were moving in the wind, and LT, Coal, Blue and Great Tits, Goldcrests, Chaffinches, butterflies [big enough to attract attention for a second], Treecreepers, a Wren or two for good measure all moving all around me from ground to canopy. The Goddess of Birding has a very 'interesting' sense of humour, and that day it was set on high; I got an underside view of the middle of a wingbarred phyllosc., but again not enough to rule out Yellow-brow and so not enough to Life Tick. Aaaarrrggghhh....

The band [or maybe bands?] moved on and I was left alone and not a little bereft. I continued working up through the woods back to the Array, but I didn't get another hint. After deciding the hordes would have moved the Blackstart and very late Wheatear from the Fort, I eventually called it a morning after 4 hours. This was an hour more than I'd originally intended, and so I had to head straight back without detouring to have a look for the Yellow-brow at Clennon. Would have been nice to see another but as [[::Chorus of Opera Singers:: "Yoou're nooooot Yeeeeaaaarliiistiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!"]] I'm not too cut up, and it'll probably hang around for a while..?

After checking on Tilly the Terrible for the parents, I gave the patch a bash until it got dark. Things started off well, with flyovers by Goldfinches [rare for where I live] and a Sprawk, and as I climbed the Hill, I thought I might be in for something? There were tit bands including lots of nice showy LTTs and Goldcrests and I got a great view looking down from IMD of two old friends sitting in a tree :). The Nose was unsurprisingly quiet, it being a sunny Saturday and the sun was by then starting to come off it - nowt to report but a Wren in the Top Dell and little better on the sunny southern slopes. Ok, maybe not something, then. Well, apart from The Second One, but that's classified.

I may have come within 2cm of a Lifer [either way I'd have had a clinching feature! ;) ], which is possibly the most exquisite torture you can inflict on a birder, but I'm not that cut up about it*. I reckon that these things [non-sylvia warblers, that is] just aren't meant for me to twitch. As I've sort of said about the hours of daylight, you need to play the hand you're dealt; I know where to look, what to look for, and what to listen for, so I'll just have to find the wee buggers the old fashioned way. Now, if I can just get hold of one of those american squeakers.....

[[*Ok, this is a teeny bit of a lie. I'm more philosophical about my pain.]]

Little bit more

Some bird news from work today!

No less than 6 [yes, 6!] Little Grebes on the river this morning. Well worth putting up with the sideways drizzle while we played 'count the Grebes' - yes we're that daft - and nobody was within 2 when they finally all were on the surface at once. At lunchtime a Kingfisher flew upriver and perched on 'Gramps' again. It [or they] like doing that - perhaps because his roof is blue. 'Gramps', I should add, is a motorboat that is a near permanent resident to the riverside [This being Totnes, I have to make it clear.. ;) ].

The Baltic Wharf dockyards that the money-grubbing land-destroying developer-leeches want to demolish- er, sorry, 'revive' with houses and shops [but no jobs to speak of, of course] were utterly derelict and.. no wait, they are actually stuffed full of boats, with a healthy turnover, and are clearly doing very well as they are, thank you very much. Not that that will save them [buildings can't do funny handshakes, after all...] [Allegedly]

Also, still no confirmed sign of Derek the Danish BHG this week - not to say he isn't still about; quite a few have taken to sitting behind a kerb where you can't see their legs, the pesky little blighters!

Finally, I see the sad news that someone has finally discovered the identity of the Reservoir Cats - the resulting blackmail causing them to cease blogging and bring out a hasty book to try to raise the cash necessary to save their pelts from the wrath of [[Those Who Must Remain Nameless for Legal Reasons]] upon their public naming... ;)

Circles

Pallas' Warblers at Berry Head. Yummy. Or not, as hours of work, plus roadworks, plus rush hour, plus lack of daylight, plus weather equal no light to see them by. Rats.

Edit: At this point I previously launched into an impassioned [but highly justified and borne out by science, logic, and philosophy] rant about those who desire us to adopt continental time [or worse]. Thinking on it, I've decided posterity doesn't need me foaming at the mouth any more than I already have on this blog, so I've deleted it. Suffice to say, I consider the only rational course of action is to go the other way and abandon BST; living entirely on GMT and accepting the cycle of the year for what it is. Those who want 'more daylight' are of course free to simply get up earlier.

Ahem.

At work there have been up to three Little Grebes on the river [All together now- "Awwwww..."] and a young female Sprawk livened up the otherwise dull wait to get off the Berry Pomeroy road one morning.

That's it - quiet week! Not even a sighting of Derek the Dane... Saying that, I've been hearing a lot of LTTs, but not seeing them, due to intervening scenery. There could be anything with them. Maybe not....

Getting back to the title, it's all to do with circles. The year is a circle - waxing and waning daylight, which in turn affects everything else - and now we're into the darkest deadest part. Come the solstice it'll turn the corner and things will start looking up [though the coldest stuff will be still to come], but until then it's too dark before work, too dark after work, live for the weekends! :) If every day was the same it'd be boring. Embrace what you're given, I say, and spend your extra time indoors writing stupid things on the internet!!! ;)

Getting back to weekends, I may have to go look at some trees on this one. As you've no doubt noticed we've been treated this year to an autumnal feast of colour - the wind-blown leaves on the Dart today were, I think, better than a Kingfisher [which is saying a lot]. Go on, before they get blown away - go out and look at some trees! You know you want to....