Forgotten Stuff

 

I totally forgot to post about the Solstice.

 

 

Tut tut and other comments.

 

 

The way the Sun steadfastly refused to show [it made a White's Thrush look showy] and the whole 'Glonk flying past 5 minutes after I left' thing haven't helped motivate me*, but the actual watch I pulled - what with it blowing a hoolie and so on, it seemed an idea - was 2.5 hours of not that bad, considering. I got what others had been getting at the time, though nothing in spectacularly [ie. photographably usuably] close.

 

Also, I then had Business up Exe way, so I had a merry time after taking care of it looking for and utterly failing to find a reported flock of Barnacles [double figures = proper flock, oh yes]. I got VERY rained on, but enjoyed my failure far more than I should have.

 

 

Awful picture from The Vaults;

 

Redwing!

Posing in the rain at Exminster.  :)

 

 

I'm sure there's more, but ah well, never mind and so on.

Be Seeing You...

 

 

[[*Especially with it more than making up for said naughtiness from the 27th.. :D ]]

Patching Over The Holes. Pt. 2, The Usual Suspects

 

Yes, the long overdue many times lapped by other posts, second part of all the Patchy stuff I got up to after I got sick of driving to the far end of cornywall to dip a vexing little plover and get rained on. As for the title? Well...

 

Because you know what to expect by now, right?

 

Pretty funguses, horrid gulls, and maybe an awful shot of something else.

 

 

And I would hate to disappoint.

 

 

 

Snowy Waxcap

 

Ah, waxcaps, the only good thing about the council's blasted heath policy...

 

A couple of more interesting ones, now;

 

 

Heath Waxcap, or is it a Parrot?

 

Very late H. persistens??

 

 

Common Gull, 2cy

 

How's this for a shot? Second winter Common Gull, very adult-like but with reduced black and white areas in outer primary tips and those wonderful dark tips to primary - greater, median and lesser - coverts! Also note the bill pattern.

 

Goblet Waxcap

 

 

 

Bella having a blow

 

Scenic morning

 

 

To sum up, before That Glorious Glonk showed up, it was pretty standard fare. More waxcaps than expected - a late flurry - probably due to the unusually warm weather we had running up and into the Solstice. Otherwise, the usual winter spp., dependent on weather etc etc. Just like the title says, really. [Isn't that shocking?]

 

[There was more, but, awful blobs of distant divers and things flying by aren't that exciting, really, are they?]

Be Seeing You...

 

Just A Load Of Repeats

 

"What's on telly for new year?" "Load of repeats.."

 

What's on Backward Birding?  Yup.

 

So, Tuesday. A certain Birder of a Backward predeliction patrolled his Patch and was slightly surprised to find an actual twitch at the Nose.

 

 

Real double figures [ok, just] had come and survived the trip down the Slopes to try to see Glonk and LTD, both of whom were showing [one better than t'other, 'tis true]. As one of them was none other than The Boss himself, it would have been plain wrong not to join in.

 

Standing next - well, covid 'next' - to him on The Pulpit, the Glonk duly gave us manifold and wonderous flybys, lit against a dark background and everything. If one of the shots he took isn't the next Devon Birds cover, there is no justice and the Powers That Be are blind. [Yes, I said it in type and everything*] 

I mean, look what I got;

Glaucous Gull

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Wowzer

White Wings!!

['scuse photobomb]

 

 Oh what a bird. This was the third day it was just hanging around showing insanely...  Even on deck!

It could almost be Icelandic lava...

Also on repeat;

Female LT Duck

Three-cornered Garlic

Now coming out in numbers in Ilsham valley.

 

 

Ashore and dry[er], it was mostly Blackcaps and the odd Chiff, though a Firecrest teased on South Side of the First Slope. Also four species of raptor and some moderately big Woodpig flocks amongst the coastal oaks.

 

Be Seeing You...

 

 

 

 

 

[[* I make it a matter of principle never to say anything online I wouldn't say in person and vice versa.]]

White Wings And Wanderings. Pt. 3; An Icy Dish

 

After the Glory of the Glonk, I went happily home via the shops and switched on the computermabob with a cuppa brew to put up my news post [that one down there with no pictures] to alert All and Sundry to the Good News.

........

Ah.

Needless to say, leaning that That Cursed Bird had actually stuck and was showing Right Then made me go Looney Tunes; assemble kit, make lunch, pack above, don'tforgettoshutthewindows!, and byeeeeeeeeeeee

It took a lot less time than I expected to get to Bude [Due to nice roads. Apart from the wheel-ripping potholes..!], where ensued a not that stressful hike down the canal to eventually find a semi-flooded field with assorted birds in. 

 

Oh, there it is. 

 

Ooooh, it's flying.

Sabine's Plover

Sociable Plover

In standard pose.

Yes, wonderful pictures, but getting anything at all was a major victory.

 

 

Once it had stopped raining- And then stopped hailing- 

Ahem. 

Once the Sun came out, it was quite nice. Very pretty bird. Don't know why the Lapwings were so mean to it, though...

Views through a scope - which doesn't rely on a sadistic autofocus and doesn't need to be held up at arm's length to work - were so far better than these that it would be quite funny if it wasn't so frustrating.. [[Thus my utter vexation when, after one takeoff, the bird decided to land right next to us, so to speak [maybe 70m, tops], in clear reed-free view. It was there for about three seconds before a Lapwing attacked it and drove it away... Arg.]]

This is about binocular view.

Spot the Sociable.

:D

 

Speaking of those flying kazoos...  I counted 281 Lapwings in one flock photo [I'm considering posting it and holding a proper 'Spot the Sociable' quiz...] and they were quite a sight as they wheeled overhead. 

Despite the icy wind, frequent hard rain and hail attacks, and my scope getting caught by the wind and somersaulting over a barbed wire fence - I had both hands on the camera at the time, of course.... - it was actually quite enjoyable.

The revenge helped, of course, as did sharing a cracking bird with friends old and new, not to mention assorted interested passers-by :)

 

Just to add to the festive spirit, it sleeted on the way home.

 

 

 What. A. Day.

:D

Be Seeing You...

White Wings And Wanderings. Pt.2; Bella's Charms

 

Storm Bella came roaring through betwixt the 26th and 27th, causing chaos, panic, and disorder. I naturally dragged myself to the Nose at first light, to see what severe wind and lots of rain had done. The forecast said West-ish strong winds and lots of showers, which meant maybepossibly something of note...?

 

 

I got one epic squall with sideways hail and Doom level rain, then sunshine.

Still, when it wasn't Sunning in my eyes, the whole hour I gave the sea really paid off.

Oh yeah, then there was that lovely Glonk, too.

You know, this one;

 

Glaucous Gull, 1cy

 

 

The very non-standard wind direction meant I was able to sit up among The Mounds, giving a good view of the Slick and also well into the Bay. Passage of auks [~250/hr and 3:2 Guillemots], Gannets, and Kittiwakes aside, it seemed slow for about 20 minutes. Then it got exciting. This being because the seabirds like to roost, especially when it's rough, to the north of the Nose, but they like feeding in the Bay, to the south of the Nose. You see where this is going?

So, 2 GNDs on the deck in Hope Cove and 13 past south;

Great Northern Diver

Also past were 2 RTD - which looked to be heading past Berry Head -  and a BTD [presumably the one that's been off Broadsands], which went into the Bay. Likewise, the Pom Skua that flew into the Bay is likely the one that's been hanging about the place recently [light morph], while a Bonxie - much further out - seemed to be heading towards the Gannets congregating off BH. Two Fulmar came by close in, likely to be the residents having a wander rather than transiting birds, but again no grebes or seaducks [the 1cy female LTD aside].

[[There are no scoter about at all, as far as I know. This is unusual.]] 

The slick attracted gulls, with highest counts of 129 BHG and 53 Common Gull, with lots of passing Kittiwakes coming to have a look as well but nothing fancier. Not even a Med.

 

The slick, chopped up by the wind

 

Most of the divers came by in pulses [ie. at the same time, but not together] of two to four over twenty manic minutes [told you it got exciting] - as did the Pom - and after an hour of sunrise it was pretty much over. Checking Hope Cove on the way out for GNDs - after noting the continued presence of the female LTD - I got a lot more than I bargained for, though..

GND

This was the closer of the two present, seen from The Pulpit [Making a total of 18 divers for the morning :) ]. Then a big pale thing flashed across my field of view..

Giant Bird Terrorises Teignmouth!

I spent far too long cooing, as I had stuff to do, but well, it was wonderful! Too fast for many good pictures, though. I have an awful lot of blurry ones.. But this was far more 'got one sharp one, stuff it and just enjoy the bird'.  :)

 

Eventually tearing myself away, I ran into one of the local birders on the First Slope and made sure to go into effusive detail about said Glonk, then took the time, despite having That Bird waiting, to put out the news [yes, that post down there, the one with no pictures] before skedaddling North to- 

 

but wait, that's another post.

 

;)

 

 

Be Seeing You...

White Wings And Wanderings. Pt. 1; Ho Ho zzzzzzzzzzzzz....

 

Oh it's Christmas Day, what is a birder to do? Get up early and go birding while the rest of the world is either catatonic or buried under sugar-frenzied kids, that's what! 

[I ought to note I was expected and did indeed get to see the Family mi- er, late morning, and spent the rest of the Day with them. So I'm not [that] bad, really.]

 

 

I decided to zip down to Brixham and see if anything was feeling showy. I took a flask as despite all the sunshine it was a bit nippy, and wound up stood up on the fish quay viewpoint, looking at a 1cy Iceland Gull, which had wickedly hidden from all but the most determined on an offshore slope of the fish market roof.. [ooh the rotter];

 

 

Iceland Gull

 

Dark [mostly] bill and dark eye confirm a [well weathered] 1cy.

 

Highly active

 

This was the standard pose

I was a little surprised to only find 10 Turnstones around the Inner Harbour, but I suppose it was the 25th, so they were likely all off after cake! 

 

As I'm on a photo quota these days, I'll not put anything else up [mutter mutter], so you can add imagined versions of awful long-range shots of the usual things you'd expect me to shoot...

 

 

A short trip but a nice one, and I think my first successful Iceland twitch since Coronation Corner, many many years past..!!  [Also only my third successful gull twitch at Brixham... Don't arsk about Kumlien's Gulls...... {or Mrs. Cake}]

 

 

 

Be Seeing You...

Breaking News. Again.

 

Shock! Actual fresh news!

 

Glonk again at Hope's Nose and this time before I left!  :D

1cy and showing wonderfully, annoying the GBBs by the fishing bods. [Slight damage at/bewteen P6/P7 on right wing?] Best views I've ever had, though always in flight. Still there looking back from the road as I left.  :) 

 

[PS, The Iceland was still at Brixham - lurking on the fish market roof - first thing on the 25th. :) ]

 

 

Photos will be along when I have time, but as I've got back and seen the news that That Bird is still over at Bude, it's time to make like the Roadrunner..... 

Beep! Beep!

EDIT:

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!

:D

Despite getting very hailed on [though not at all muddy, as I walked down the very tarmaced tow path!], I got wonderful views of the Sociable Plover at Bude. Woooo and Hoooo. At and frickin' Last.

Not wonderful photos, as a combination of the bird's talent at landing in the wrong place, a bunch of psychotic Lapwings' fondness for trying to kill it when it did land right next to the assembled twitch [it was so close...], waving reeds, and the intransigence of my autofocus meant while I do have pics, well they're usual standard.

My Glaucous ones aren't bad, though. [Just don't look at SM's...]. Speaking of, it's great that so many of the Locals got to have a look at it. :)

Ahem.

[Said Pictures will arrive. Honest.]

Be Seeing You...