It's A Robin? It's A Wheatear? It's A Ringed Plover?!?

No, it was the Blyth's Pipit!

Such were some of the likenesses it showed when I toddled up Blagdon way yesterday.


Cracking little bird, if somewhat mobile...

Bigger, paler below, and a very different jizz to the Mipits

Coverts hard to see due to the scaps hanging over them

And so streaky above - almost like a Sedge Warbler..

All those legs, and it used them

It wasn't alone, either. All the birds there.. brilliant!

Like 10 Great White Egrets. TEN...

"How many??"

 

 "Two? No, he said ten!"

But that would mean bays of them....

Subtle? Moi?

And ten is the minimum figure..

Ten GWEs in view at a time.. [With another early flyover which could be 11, and another on the far side down near the dam that might be 12.. but 10 seems quite enough to me.]
Ahem.


Yeah, so all the egrets [only not, as we shall see]. Also 3 Bewick's Swans tarting about up the Top End;

One, two

Three

With a large cast of wildfowl also present, including Pintail, Goosander, Goldeneye, pleasing numbers of Pochard [there are some around], a flock of Shoveler, vast numbers of GC Grebes and Cormorants..
It was a lovely spot and a pleasure to be there.

Yeah, a 'turn up and there it is' Lifer wasn't bad, either.

After finding a Warden [and major respect to BW for letting the crowd twitch first and permit later, btw], I decided to wander over to CVL and see what was up there.



Even more birds! [Shock!]

Some quite close..

Yeah, another one..

There were at least 3 more GWEs at Chew; that one at Nunnery and one either side of Herriott's Bridge.
Yup, 13 for the day. Ye Gods and Little Fishies....

Also;

Showy Goosander

Some birds were very close indeed.

The real Teal.

Some were less close..

Those Barnies get everywhere..

Some were waaaaay off..

Seven o'clock from the white van [centre top] is a GC Grebe facing left

Eight o'clock from the grebe 

Three ducks in a row, below white van
[Note posing Tufty below dark van and compare]

Oh never mind....

Yeah, so lots of stuff on the Big Lake, too. At least 8 Goosander, 19+ Goldeneye, with Tufties and Pochard [and Coot!] in numbers, plus Gadwall and GC Grebes and.. You get the idea.
Waders were not at Blagdon [no sign of Little Stint], while at Chew I saw a Common Sand in Nunnery Bay and a scattering of Lapwings [a half dozen at Nunnery and a score at Herriott's]. Also plenty of gulls at both sites, with Common and LBB well represented [the latter mostly at Chew].


I did zip around to Herriott's* in a vain attempt to get better angle/distance/light on that last subject, but the weather had had enough of 'bright sun cold wind' and it absolutely tipped down on me, and so carried on until dark stopped play. [Not that it would have probably helped, the birds were well out even from there, and the vis isn't exactly great from the causeway anyway..]. I did see a couple more Pintail and the usual Shelducks on the other side, though.


Switching on shore, here's two other shots that had to be taken.

Roe Deer at Blagdon

Anyone else remember that one?

On my way back, I stopped off at Taunton Deane for a quick cuppa, and met this noisy lot;

Hmm, let's look closer;

No, those blobs aren't leaves..

They're wagtails!

It was quite dark and they were not sitting still, so all I can say is that there were lots. [I wasn't about to zap roosting birds with a flash, btw]



Be Seeing You..


[[*Yes, really I should have gone to Moreton..]]

Changeover

Happy New Year!

That's a new solar year anyway, even if the calendars take a little while to catch up..



So, another Solstice, another cloud-blocked sunrise - like I said last time, pcc - but hey, what can you do?

The sun did peek out briefly for me, so I can't complain too much, see?

'Day For Night' mode..

 "I say, that's a bit shooty for your dodgy 3 pixel phone camera, isn't it?"

Indeed it is. I've been out and replaced my ex- with a newer, fancier model... [Mid-life crisis, anyone? ;) ]. It's even got a viewfinder ::gasp::. It also has its very own set of idiosyncrasies; though it does seem to not partake in that insanely annoying 'get in focus on object, especially one flying, and then, after you hit the button, go out of focus and then take the picture'

Vaguely in focus.. ::faints::

Ok, enough of all that - it'll get ideas - and on to what I've been up to. As you may guess from the piccie, I tried a seawatch, what with an overnight front [of sorts] and an alleged SW plus another front allegedly incoming. You may take note of all that allegation and wonder. Indeed you might.


I gave it an hour and a half from not long after sunrise and soon found that, yes there were birds, but missing was a rather critical thing - all my sodding clickers!. With 'lots' going by at multiple ranges, these would have been required for a good count. As it was, I had to do a timed count and not take time to ID all the auks. And it was all the auks; I wound up with a passage rate of 1220/hour! In addition to this, there were 447 stuffed onto the Ore Stone when I sat down - though they mostly cleared off - and more on the sea. Wowzer.
Gannet rate was 184/hr and Kittiwakes were at 76/hr. All three southbound. Also a few Fulmars passing - with 5 more prospecting the cliffs around Kittiwake Gulley - and 16 Common Gulls over the full period, plus an adult Med.
Star bird should have been the one which went by at 0845, but the shearwater - probably a Balearic - was just too far out and sneaky for me to nail it. Drrrrrat.
The auks were mostly Guilles, but there were enough Razorbills - both flying and on the Ore Stone - to have me again regretting my clicker-less state making me unable to have the time to pick 'em out and give a reasonable ratio. Oh well.


The action wasn't all out at sea, as I had a curious visitor;

 "Got any flapjack?"

 Also on shore, as well as getting carried away with their lawnmower, the cheery bods at tcct have been continuing their project to make Whitethroats extinct as a breeding species at the Nose;

The Lower Tower

hacked from the jungle like a Mayan ruin

I asked a young Shag what it thought;

Ahem.


In other news.. I had some other things to do - not least being dekkers - so that was that for birding. Though a flyover - and I mean right over! - Kestrel was nice.

Finally...  I forgot to stick on some pics from my mist-bound trip to the Nose. Instead of editing my last post, I'm putting them on here, so you can be extra grateful to me for spending some more money;

Mercury calm

Very atmos-

wait, who's that coming out from dredging up the Bay

 well west of Thatcher Rock?

That naughty girl Rona

and a few of the 2k gulls following her

Always seems to be on a Sunday or Bank Holiday with iffy weather. But I'm sure it's all perfectly legal.*


Never mind the poor sea bed, here's a sunset to remember;

 Wow, just wow....

Be Seeing You..



[[*She was probably just outside the MCA, in the area that should have been included to help the poor starving seabirds. You know, the bit the RSPB are campaigning to have included? Did you not hear about that? I even wrote to my MP [real posted mail and everything!] about it**.]]
[[** Of course, I got a standardised 'restate Government position while ignoring your actual arguments/questions/requests' reply - on fancy HoP stationary - but what do you expect?]]

Head In The Clouds

The rest of me, too, yesterday.

Being determined to get up on t'Moor at least once more before year's end, I figured the imminent rain [at least forecast so..] would make it a better sooner than later affair. With the prospect of it coming pretty soon, I figured I might as well get going, especially if it turned out to be another of those 'fog in the valleys sun up top' days.

It wasn't.


Less fog below and hill scrapers above, but hey at least it wasn't windy and the rain held off until I almost got back.

I went along one of the favourites, from Scorhill to the White Moor Circle, then along the ridge to Wild Tor, before cutting across via Watern Tor, over the Pole Bridge and across Shovel Down back towards Scorhill. I took a slightly more circuitous route than usual - partly due to the white bowl but mostly due to taking an absence of coobeasties to have a good nose about the walled hill garden - and clocked up about 16km, so a good walk at least.

It was.. not as birdless as you'd expect, though the good stuff was heard only; Red Grouse[2+], Snipe [probably only 1] and several [presumably] groups of Golden Plover. The Rowans by the car park were very stripped, and only the odd winter thrush hanging about - a group of Redwing lower down and 3 Fieldfare up by the walled rock garden. Otherwise, usual suspects.
It was very people-less, and amazingly quiet. As I sat in the misty silence of Wild Tor.. Oh, apart from the odd passing aircraft there was actual real silence like you just don't get... :D Not even the wind in the grass.

The phone was unleashed for a couple of attempts at the joy of it, and no, you will not be spared.

See, it wasn't that bad..

White Moor Circle

Wild Tor

Oh, but it was wonderful.
[You may think I'm mad, stomping about cold dank hills in the fog, but I can think of worse ways to pass the time. Anything involving xmas muzak, for starters...]



In other news, Sunday saw me get out and have a look for birds on the dead calm sea. I found.. Not what I expected.

No Common Scoters! The mistyfog was a hillscraper, and so I went down the Nose and duly found visibility from The Mounds. I swept Thatcher channel to Longquarry and scored 60 Razorbill, 58 Guillemot, 9 auk sp., and a Harbour Porpoise [working along a flotsam and jetsam line]. A juvenile RTD flew south, and then so did 2 glorious Velvet Scoter - they came out of Babbacombe Bay! - adults, male and female, close in, in picturebook line ahead. Oh, if I'd had a camera..................
No sign of the previous GND, and not a grebe anywhere. I have no idea where they were, as the Boss saw plenty in the area the day after.. ?!?



So, another year ends and a new dawn beckons. The Sun is coming back, but what will it see? [Chaos, panic, and disorder - Plus Ça Change...]



A Hume's Warbler in Devon would be nice. [No, I didn't go to Dorset, I've had enough of dipping those things there..] A cute little pipette up zumerzet way, maybe? But not likely in all that rain tomorrow.. Oh well, what shall be shall be.


Be Seeing You..


P.S.
There is already a change a' come. You shall see more. ;)

Small Updated Post

"I'm still alive, just very badly burned..."


Why am I thinking about Austin Powers?

Who knows, it just popped into my head. Maybe the prospect of playing with boiling sugar brought it on - I do hope it's not a premonition - or maybe it was just a particularly groovy shop I wandered into yesterday while doing the shopshopshopping thang in Iscara..

Anyway, I thought I'd just burble a bit, so here you go.



I don't have a lot of bird news to report, due to work and Festive Things taking up all that time. I'm trying to sort the latter, and the former is now joyously done for a while, so hopefully things will change. Also hopefully changing will be my camera situation, as the lovely people at LCE have come through to replace my ex-joy [it is confirmed dead, though...]. [[Yup, there will be more pics.. Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha]]

Here and here, my nights have been frequently disturbed by yarking Tawny Owls, and my mornings by the Robin singing on my balcony. [I'm not annoyed by this, btw :)  ]
There has been, in a period of fairly quiet activity - now that its warmed up after the short cold snap - an increase in Blue Tits using the feeders, though quite how many is hard to tell without using constant observation.
The usual Nuthatches, Coal Tits, Greenfinches still come, though I haven't caught any more GSWs in the vicinity [doesn't mean they're not there, of course]. The Robin is still doing his/her feeder routine, though I think the change of feeder has foiled the Magpie - which can't get both feet gripped on the new one. Woodpigs are less noticeable, but there are more than enough Feral Pigs to make up for them..
It is my intent to put more time into the sea, as there have to be grebes and divers and things - and maybe more than just the Buoy Farm scoters - knocking about the peninsula's assorted spots and it is my duty to have a look [even if I can't get any dots blobs photos of them for a while]. But getting the Stuff done is priority §1*



EDIT:
 I actually did manage to get out on Patch and have a looksee on said sea. I found a mere 28 Common Scoter - entirely females and 1w - near the Buoy Farm. They were being disturbed by the assorted water traffic, which may explain why there are such dwindling numbers [or they've just snarfed all the shellfish...]. Also 6 Razorbill, but nowt else.
I moved on and found a few birds north of the Nose; a nice and quite dinky GND was in Hope Cove, and 11 more Razorbill, 6 Guillemots, and at least 2 Harbour Porpoises were working around and along a long line of flotsam and jetsam a few hundred metres offshore. 40+ BHGs also in attendance.
C'est cas.





Be Seeing You..



[[* I don't have a hash key on this bladdy keyboard for some reason...]]

At Least It Went Out With A Bang

After a birding-less Saturday, I decided that Sunday was the day I'd finally go and have a look at this fancy Desert Wheatear that's been tarting about Thurlestone for all and sundry.

The day was a sunny and not very windy one, seems like a good call?

The Thurlestone

Having been told that it was showing well, I was in good spirits as I approached Leasfoot Sand - a pretty little beach, slightly eroded and be-golfed, but you can't have everything, right? - seeing a couple of well-ensconced photographers, I figured my gen was solid.

Yeah, you know what's coming, so I'll just get on with it, shall I?

"Ooh, another camera to pose for!"

Sat on its favourite boat

"..And this is my underwing pattern"

On a posing perch

"Yummy mealworms"

Foraging

[because a bird can't live on mealworms alone]

"Can't have too many posing perches"

"Don't forget to get this side, too"

It wasn't all posing, though. The Dessie was vociferous in guarding his patch, especially against the local Stonechats, and frequently sallied forth to peck rump

Just bashed a Rockit

It wasn't all wheatear-centric, as there were Blackstarts on them thar cliffs!

"Here's looking at you"

"Bored now"

Looking down, the beach itself was notable for a large amount of these things, washed up amongst the weed;

Cuttle bones great and small

Marine biologists and budgie owners take note!



Tearing myself away, I toddled up onto nearby Warren Point - having the usual care you should take for any golf course [and indeed cliff edge..] - and sat myself down with the Big Scope to see what I could see on or over the sea.


Not an enormous amount. Despite good conditions [No, not excellent; not as calm as it looked and a bit hazy] there wasn't a whole heap, at least bird-wise. Mostly gulls and the odd Gannet. Eventually a group of 4 chunky ducks flying up from the south resolved into male-type Eider, but they stayed well out :( A single Razorbill on the sea, what might have been a distant RTD.. Hmm.

BUT. Under the sea, it was better - Harbour Porpoises! They came from the north and hung around, a bit far out for the naked eye, but there were lots! 14 at least, with 3 young ones and 2 calves with mothers.. I even got a shot! It's a little eye of faith, but out beyond the BHGs, what do you see?

About 2 o'clock from the flying one..

Time for a quick scenic shot;

Pretty pretty

Heading back, I was quick to try to get a flight shot of this old bird;

Wow!

[A side-on near overhead was foiled by the Evil Autofocus, unfortunately..]




Later on in the day, I toddled over to the Thatcher Overlook to see if the nice light would give me usable shots of the scoter flock off the Buoy Farm..

There were fewer present; 4 Velvets [3f] and 112+ Common, but when I tried to shoot the Velvets - who were posing nicely, for once - I discovered that my evil camera had decided to go on strike! The lens refused to deploy, so that was that. [I've since tried all the software fixes to no avail, so its crap hardware - failed motor or the connection to the motor - thank you Sony for your wonderful build quality.]

I wasn't stopped, of course, but it was back to the phonescope [You might want to shut your eyes...];

Four Velvet Scoters, all in a line..
[I know, I know...]

I'm not very amused, I must say. I know you always take a chance with 2nd hand gear, but 23 weeks is not much life, is it?


I'll sign off with the last photo my camera took;

Be Seeing You..

Magnificent Seven

Yeah, I went there - both ways.

Felt the strange need to take a rather scenic route on my way to getting some stuff done this afternoon. So it was that I found myself ambling up a rather slippery lane near Teigngrace, being interrupted by some low-flying things and, following them towards Blatchford, finding some more.

Ta and indeed da;

Ooooh

Ooooooooh

How many?

That many!

There was another egret with them, but it was able to duck out of sight [on the right] for my hastily taken photos [they were in view for less than 2 minutes, alas; I didn't even get my scope off my shoulder!] and was probably a Little anyway..


Time for some closeups from the show-offs among the Mighty Magnificent Flock!

Soon enough they were off, though;

Gasp! Flight shot!

They nipped over and away, but not far - though now much harder to get at;

At Berry Knowles,

with free Herring Gulls!

Also of interest was the reason the lane was such an interesting traverse;

Fling it here, fling it there

If you're standing by, oh then you'll get your share...

It was amusing watching the whitevanman's face as the tractor got ever closer... ;)

Be Seeing You..

More Of The Same

Not a great deal of birding has been done since last I drabbled. This is less due to work or even that Great Dread of apathy, than to the Greater Dread Winter Horror Wonderful Time Of The Year..

Yes, fighting to have large quantities of money extracted while being driven slowly but surely mad by the Brain Melting Horror of 'festive' muzak................


Ahem.



Right, start again;

Due to Pressing Duties, I've not been off chasing tweety birds around since last I posted. Well not off-Patch anyway.

Having said that, I did manage a very quick look at the reserve bit of Dart's Farm on Friday, which resulted in 5 Mistle Thrushes and SFA else. A few finches, but not a sniff of Brambling, let alone anything else, like interesting geese or duckth.. Oh well.

Today I lugged the Big Scope down to the IMD overlook. I chose this over Thatcher Point as I judged height and some shelter from the wind would do better than being slightly closer.

Yup, more sodding blobs are coming...

One view

Another view

[observe the yellow buoy's relative position]

Common Scoter and more than 80% female/1w. How many? When I first arrived they were resting in a broad line and I got 235 [twice].

Those were taken a little later, as I was distracted by interrogating these 6 characters;

What do you mean "Six..?!?"

Velvets!
There are as close as I could get to all 6 in that one; there's a semi-hidden on the left and the top of a head in between it and the obvious 4. Yeah, still blobs, but they were cracking through my scope!

There were 3 adult males - teardrops and yellow bits and all - and 3 female/1w, and all had nice clear white bars showing as they bobbed around. Never mind that, I could see they were VS by the face profile [which for some reason I decided to look at carefully..??]. Likewise I went through the CS - being slightly disappointed that they were all CS, though interested by the very high f/j:m ratio. No Eiders, no LTDs*, no divers or grebes, either! There were a few auks; 5+ Razorbill and 2+ Guillemot.

The unmagnified view.

I moved around to Meadfoot to get a lower viewpoint and scan for birds flying out from parts further off and was rewarded; a very nice w/pl RTD and later a Slav both flew out from around Broadsands to mid-Bay - presumably to roost?? - and a couple of Common Gulls and an adult Med were messing around over the Bay, as were 7+ Gannet.

More scenery;

One day I will get tired of shooting this here rock.

Maybe.

Closer to home, I have some feeder shots for you...

First up;

Gotcha!

Please excuse the half-wiped condescension, I became a little distracted..


Secondly, it seems that it's not only Robins that like pink suet;

How did he get that?

Like this!

Just look at that first picture, is there a prettier corvid on Earth? You can keep your Azure-wings [Ok, maybe fly one over here first?? ;) ] and your Chuffs [er.. ditto]..

It has also occurred that that second picture might shed some light on how my RSPB feeder was slain...  Hmm.
Speaking of, I've acquired one of the old RSPB metal jobs [as the new ones have large perches designed for pigeons to hang on to, for some reason....] and put the one you see up there back into retirement [[yes, that is rust you see..]]

In other news, the cold snap - which never got below zero but did give some lovely freezing fog on Thursday morning's trip home - seems to be done, we now have the 'blasting easterly' snap again..

If only it would bring something nice here. Preferably something that feels photogenic....


Be Seeing You..





[[*I've never seen an LTD on the sea north of Hollicombe - they seem to like it shallow and sandy]]