And Now For Something Completely Different

I did not go seawatching today!
Gasp!
Shock!
Horror!

In fact I spent a far too large chunk of today asleep [bloody alarm clocks that only work when you remember to turn them on...]. I then only got as far as a quick wander about bits of the Patch which didn't have sea in them. Ok, I did also have a look off the Downs, but there was bugger all out there. Only thing worth typing was a band of Coal and Long-tailed Tits not far from my house. It must be autumn.


I could blabber on about something bird-related now, but instead I'm going to surprise you by living up to the title. Also by putting a photo up! Yes, another one!

This is from last year, as I didn't see let alone get a picture of any this year. It's even vaguely in focus and you can actually identify it [just].

Taken kneeling in a bog at an undisclosed location in Devon. I have more, but this is the least worst in terms of focus - I'd like to blame the wind, but lack of ability is the major factor...

Appearances Can Be Deceptive

Once again the weather rolls in on a Friday and once again I headed down to Hope's Nose. Albeit a bit later due to some involuntary shuteye...!

It didn't seem too hopeful at first, bright overcast threatening sunshine, but I went on and the wind was just east of south and then a couple of very nasty squalls came roaring through. Sweet. Well, nearly, as there was a certain..shall we say paucity? of birds. A big flock of Common Scoter came through close and high - I counted 33 of them - but aside from a few Gannets that was it for more than an hour!

Eventually more odds and sods started dribbling through behind the showers, and then the front itself arrived, with some serious rain! In its leading edge there were a few good birds and a little pulse of Manxies, but nothing like last week. The outflow kicked in and a nice slick developed, sprouting Fulmars like magic. :) When the rain eased, there was some movement, but oh the wind... instead of kicking around to something like SW, the wind went from S to SE! I'd wedged into the end of The Steps, and so got a lovely taste of spray. Yeah. So much for the South West's Biggest Chumming Machine....

Moving around to the Traditional Seawatching Spot, I started looking for all the stuff that should be behind the front... And looked... and looked.......  Gannets, Manxies, not many of either....
Hope's Nose strikes again - conditions were pretty striking; gungey drizzle and rain giving a nice wall just outside the Manxie Line, strong SSE-SE winds. Sounds great, right? Big Shear weather. But a lack of birds. Hope's Nose is tricksy like that - the seawatch he never shuts up about Four Gannets and a Fulmar watch was in great conditions, too.

There were some nice birds, it was by no means a sea watch; early on a Sooty went screaming past north, way out, and what I assume was the same bird came back south much closer in. This was the first Sooty this year that was close enough to enjoy as well as ID - Star Bird. 3 Balearics and only 45 Manx in more than 5 hours, plus 95 Gannets [91 south] 26 Kittiwakes [only 2 juv.s] and 48 Fulmar. No skuas at all! Singles of Little and Common Gull, Whimbrel, Ringed Plover and Razorbill also went by south. Terns were a bit better, with 3 Arctic - 2 adults and a juvenile - 19 Common and 4 Sandwich, all nice and close in.

Finally, Hermione the Herring Gull turned up within 10 minutes of me sitting down and over the course of the stop-start rain gradually got used to my bumbleshoot enough to only step back a bit when I put it up or down. In the week since we last met, she's acquired a noticeable pink tinge to the base of her mandible. Rockits and a Whitethroat were the most interesting land birds, with amazingly several Gatekeepers on the wing - and having to put a lot of effort in, too!



P.S.
This is Post 400. Woo!
I never thought I'd find this much to natter on about, really I didn't...

The Post I Should Have Posted Yesterday

Following a similar course to last weekend, I spent yesterday wandering the Patch. Catching up on sleep prevented me from being at the Nose first thing - which, judging by the numbers of phylloscs hanging around, might have been good - but the mix of hot sun and sea fog made for some interesting conditions anyway.

Two big kettles of Herring Gulls feeding on flying ants came to at least 450 birds - with juveniles present in numbers. A lone Swift was also tucking in, as were a few remaining House Martins.

Seeing the fog banks out to sea, I headed to the Nose, where I found a fair few phylloscs, a lone Blackcap, and some interesting weather! The southerly-ish wind was blowing fog up past the Nose - the Brixham triangle was acting as a huge shield for Tor Bay, which was basking in sunshine. Every now and then, the wind would shift to the SSE, causing the fog to come rolling in and obscure everything.

I took the opportunity to see what was hanging around on the exposed rocks; 18 Oyks, a lone Whimbrel, and several Rockits were picking through the weed. After maybe ten minutes of this, the wind shifted back and the fog receded slowly beyond the Ore Stone. Seeing Manxies passing in the edge of the fog bank in some numbers I tried a timed count, getting 167 in ten minutes, that's an hourly rate of 1000! Smaller numbers of Kittiwakes and Gannets were also passing, but with only bins and only a few Manxies coming close, I couldn't pick out anything scarcer.

On the insect front, I encountered two Southern Hawkers on IMD, first a male, then a female - Patch dragon Tick! Singles of Wall, Red Admiral and Holly Blue, plus 3 Silver Y Moths and many 6-Spot Burnets, some of which had odd transparent upper wings [?] were among the hordes of Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns and numbers of Common Blue and Speckled Wood.

Finally, today more gulls after flying ants; at least 250 this afternoon, plus at least 6 Swift and a House Martin.

The Blog I Should Have Blogged On Friday

Seawatching after you've done a night shift and haven't slept since the afternoon before is always a challenge. On Friday I did grey out a little now and then, when the sun shone and it got warm, and I suffered Head To Eyepiece once or twice. I also only twigged after it had passed that that wasn't a juv Kitt but a Little Gull, and almost missed the Black Tern. The Whimbrel was better, it went by point blank and calling. As did a couple of Turnstones and 21+ Dunlin [where did they go to?!?]

Getting back to where I should be.. The weather was pretty reasonable, at least once the showers cum rain bands started kicking through, and the wind, which was barely west enough for me to squeeze into the south corner of The Steps, stayed nice and brisk until the sun really came out in the afternoon. After a Gannet-rich start - first scan was 15 Gannet, 5 Fulmar, 5 Kittiwake, 3 Manxie! - some huge post-rain Manx surges gave a final score of 1232 south / 7 north for Manx and 232 south / 5 north for Gannets. 157 Kitts went by, with 25-30 juveniles among them, and while 55 Fulmars passed, how many zipped back north over the top? I didn't take hourly figures [tut tut] - I didn't think of it until about 2 1/2 hours in - which is a shame as there were some big variations in there.

Despite the very nice attacks of rain, there wasn't the array of 'interesting ones' you'd expect. Skuas were thin indeed - 2 Bonxies and a lone Arctic. 3 Balearics and another shearwater sp. among the Manx - though rain and the very annoying habit they all had on the day of really staying low in the troughs may have obscured more. 5 Common Scoter, 3 Razorbills, 2 Guillemots, a Swift... Oh, and the other terns. 60 Common Tern, 21 Sarnie, 5 Commics - not bad. On shore a Painted Lady was my first of the year [I think..].

Last's the best... As my watch was coming to an end, I noticed some bright spots way out and a way to the north. Light on waves? They would appear, grow, and wane, over a few seconds, all in irregular timing, in a discrete patch of sea. Which was slowly moving. Into the wind. Oh ho, thinks I, that's the sun reflecting off the dorsal fins of cetaceans!
So I waited while they gradually got closer, deciding that there were at least 5 of them, and that they had good-sized fins on them. Finally when they were east and at their closest I could make out some better detail; tall falcate fins on grey bodies with lots of scarring - Risso's Dolphins!

I also had some company for almost half my watch - a 1s female Herring Gull. This character, coverts very well barred, dark bill with fancy pale tip, interesting tertial pattern*, gradually sidled up to me until she was standing in reach. Definitely a cool customer, she'd worked out I was happily sheltered from the wind [and rain - the bumbleshoot was something she found both scary and interesting!] and those big nasty GBBs were keeping clear of me. Plus, human equals food, right?
Being so close to a wild bird was great; I looked at her and she was looking back - iris just starting to get paler, btw - but once it got to lunch time, there was a definite overtone of 'Can I get one of those sarnies off him?'. Deciding charity was better than violence, I used the old 'toss a bit of food over there' routine. After fighting off 3 juveniles, she stayed put [in hope of more low-flying rations!] for the rest of the time I was there.


[[*Inner few had the typical edge notching, but most had broad pale tips with a thin dark subterminal band. Interesting.]]

Quoting Blake

Seems to be the done thing when you find a Jersey Tiger in your Garden. You may be surprised to learn that it was the first one I've ever seen. You probably won't be surprised to learn that I've tried photography again, and may inflict the results on you at some point in the future...

Moth meeting happened when I got in from work, after that I had Things to Do. As one of said Things was in Paignton, I decided to walk over [plus the cost of parking.. let alone the buses!?!!]. I may have taken optics. I certainly needn't have bothered, as the fanciest birds were a couple of calling Chiffchaffs and the odd BHG... [I had a vain hope* concerning terns in the bay...]. I've not had a decent walk in a while and this was the sunny side of 10 miles, so vaguely respectable. Still not the best of ideas, though, as while the wind was brisk, it was horribly humid out there and the results were not pretty, oh no..

Yesterday I naturally dragged myself kicking and screaming down to Hope's Nose and spent a merry six hours indeed. But more on that later, when I have time to burble properly.



[[*Low-flying Ospreys are a dream]]

Short and Sweet

Just before 5pm today, a Swift low over the garden. Rooftop height, clearly feeding, clearly Common.
Had me going for a second, though.. :)


In other news;
At last! Photographic proof! The naysayers can gft* - immature / non-breeding Eleonora's Falcons DO wander and CAN get here. Eyes to the skies, folks....

Speaking of raptors, I had a wonderfully vivid dream** yesterday about being woken by the Gull Alarm to see an Osprey flying low overhead [well, Hill-top height, which is low for any raptor trying to pass the Herrings!]. One day it'll be real. One day...

In the garden, there was a Coal Tit with the Sparrow Mob this morning - quite early for them - and Goldfinches continue to visit. :) Also a Collared Dove after the Traditional Summer Absence.

Finally... Look at the forecast! AAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!! If you can, get out there and let me know what I'll be missing... ::Sniff::

EDIT:
I've got that Friday Feeling, creeping up on me..
I've got that Friday Feeling, soon to watch the sea!




[[*Go Farm Turnips. What did you think I meant?!? ;) ]]
[[**Yes, I'm getting that bad, its becoming a Dream Log.... ;) ]]

The Joy Of Patch

Blogging Delayed By Olympic Nonsense again...

A stadium full of people from across the world and all of them singing along to Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life. Brilliant.



Saturday had me working - oh yeah, speaking of; 5 Sand Martins over south there on Thursday! Work Tick! - with a bashing of the Patch afterwards. With a brisk wind there wasn't a huge amount doing. I had a look at the sea, but a few Gannets were the only birds passing in bin range. A bit disappointing, that, but you can't score every time [or even most times, for that matter]. The odd warbler - common phylloscs and sylvias - hung out here and there and assorted local juveniles yarked variations on "Feed me!"

Yesterday I suffered a terrible lack of energy. I blame the weather. The fact that there was a Stone Curlew in Devon which I didn't have a hope of seeing didn't help. Eventually I summoned up some willpower from somewhere and decided to use the lessened wind and lack of forecast rain to bash the Patch for butterflies! It was a warm, nay muggy day and the mix of sun and clouds should make said butterflies active enough to see but not so active as to be little streaks. Maybe.

Having already had a good look at the Nose [and I will be back for more, oh yes] I decided to try the biggest area of limestone I've got; which has wild flower patches, bare bits, shrubs, woods, slopes... With archaeology and geology, its a very interesting site. SSSI interesting, in fact. Its also probably the single most popular dog walking site in the area. Hmm.

I speak of Wall's Hill.

It took no small amount of effort, wandering back and forth, covering here and there. Most of what I saw were the expected Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns, with Small Whites and the odd Common Blue. But not everything; two Blues were very pale indeed - Chalkhills!!!! A butterfly Lifer for me [oh the joys of starting out] and self-found on my own Patch, too. :D A small brown butterfly that was either a female Blue sp. or an Argus was very nortily on the cliff side of the fence, and dropped just out of sight... Tut. It could even have been a female Chalkhill, but I've not a hope of anything more than 'little brown job'. There was also the almost expected Fast Fritillary, which could have been any of the big ones at that location.. Oh well. A Peacock by the clubhouse was more obliging, to the point of getting right in my face; "Come and 'ave a go!" ;)

Similarly pugilistic, though this time with each other, were a couple of Small Heath, scrapping over the lee of a bramble bush. Trying to get away from gorgeous little butterflies... Again aside from the local standards, [ok, Bullfinches aren't very standard...] there were a few [presumably] migrant warblers passing through - nothing fancy - the expected young gulls knocking about.. And one thing saying "Summer ain't over yet!" - a still active Fulmar nest*, complete with chick in the Grey Fluffball With White Face Peering Out stage. So cute...

And so its back to work again, with a lovely looking frontal system bearing down on midweek. Arse.



[[*Now, mentioning, let alone advertising nest sites of any bird isn't something I usually do, but this one is in full public view from a location both safe and legal to do so. Also, Fulmars are advertised on the site literature, they breed all along the coast - including at Berry Head, as I've mentioned before - but nowhere have I seen a nest you can look at safely without any risk to the birds {or observers, unless they want to get closer and are feeling flippant about 300' cliffs with dodgy edges..}. And as I've also said before, anyone stupid enough to mess with Fulmars will get what they deserve...]]