All That Fun gi You Were Missing Out On

Now that I can post photos again, I'm going to do just that.

I might even add some IDs

[and they might even be vaguely accurate. Though only might...  ;) ]

[[Don't bother trying to escape, Minion is ready with the restraints]]

Let us begin with a few I noticed whilst yomping about t'Moor.

Heath Waxcap

Butter Waxcap

Meadow Waxcap

Pink Waxcap

Crimson Waxcap

Not a waxcap

[Entoloma conferendum]

Heath Navel

Grassland Puffball

Mosses and Lichens!!

Ahem.

H. helobia

H. reidii

Ah, but these waxcaps are on Patch!

:)

H. persistens

[rather late]

Meadow Waxcap

 

 

Ok, slightly greater than expected absence of IDs going on there, though most if not all have been up here before [with possibly even the right ID attached..?], but there is a slight temporal issue ongoing, so I decided to post first and ID later maybe.

I can state that they are not all waxcaps and not all at the Nose and do so with confidence. [[Beyond that, however...]]

Something slightly saner may ensue in the possibly near future, though I wouldn't count on it too strongly.

Oh yes, but before we part [and those nasty restraints are removed].

This;

History.

Right there.

That black thing right in the middle there is a Stormie, south of the Ore Stone and buggering off at speed.

Here it is in front of said Stone,

Below the white water, wing raised, white rump

visible behind it even with this graininess.

I've never even hit a Stormie before.

:D

Closer to,

Look at all that black!

2w Med Gull

It's so much easier shooting a much bigger bird coming towards you at 1/4 the distance when it isn't raining.

:)

Ok, letting you go now.

[Minion, you can release the eye clamps and unbolt the shackles, they'll work them loose soon enough]

Be Seeing You...

A Little More Fun At The Nose

A significant absence of wind put the scuppers on a planned seawatch attack at the Nose on Sunday [seawatching Remembrance Sunday is almost a tradition].

I eventually figured that while the weather wasn't going to play ball, there might be small things of a potentially stripey nature that aren't Firecrests to be had and headed out to look for them.

A text from The Teacher had me shift pace and Go to the Nose, Go Directly to the Nose, Do not chase that tit band, but instead see another adult Little Gull!

In, on and about the slick, showing wonderfully, and yes there are pictures

So cute

White Winger!

Different White Winger

Not so white in the wings-er

Also at least 4 Med Gulls, with 4+ Common and 76+ BHGs. 3 GNDs were spread out on the sea and a Grey Seal popped up from under it.

On shore, Goldcrest numbers were markedly up on previous visits, with a group encountered on the way up at the Wryneck Bit having at least one Firecrest with them.

Still nothing funkier ashore, though.

EDIT: Wednesday saw the first Blackstart found by The Irregulars' BR specialist MP.

Also, first Redwings of Autumn heard overhead at Work Tuesday.

Ah, 'tis rough without pictures, isn't it? Not even any pretty funguses for you...

Ashen Knight

......

Woo!

[Victory! :D ]

Just tried that on the offchance.

I shall be Updating Up There, as well as putting a few other things up.

Just one Little Thing? [Uncropped, too]

Even sat down, it

never stopped moving!

Be Seeing You...

[[* Two birds involved, as shown by head patterning. ]]

Off Letching The Stregs

Saturday saw me vertical at an almost reasonable hour and off out up onto t'Moor!

After a little vacillation, I ended up at Shipley Bridge, where I discovered they've fixed the ticket machine [Drat] [It's coin only, though.   Well, you can try 'the app' but there's not exactly mobile signal there..?!?]. Oh well, at least the loos were operating, too. [[You get older, you appreciate these things more. Wait and see.]]

Anyways, I, as last time, went up the tramway to The Sub, though this time I went on to Western White Barrow, then cut down to the Redlake Tramway and followed it to Leftlake, where after a chat with a very dedicated Ranger, I cut up to Three Barrows. The weather shifted decisively pretty much as I got there, so planned leisurely lunch and skywatch was curtailed due to a lack of visible birds and - perhaps more relevantly - a frigid wind [proper two-tone day; the morning had been sunny and rather warm], the kind known in the family as lazy. Because it can't be bothered to go around, so cuts right through you...

Avon in frisky mood

3 Barrows from The Sub

I crossed Hinckley Plain, past Hinckley Tor, and stopped again at Skylark Tor, where it was a little more sheltered and a lot more birdy.

Looking past Ugborough Beacon

Goldies!

[Bit distant..]

Assorted parties of Golden Plover were flying around, and indeed lurking on the deck about the Plain, and some even got in the way of the camera, 

 

One, two, three...

 

 

All too soon, time pressed, so I curtailed and went down Diamond Lane, then back along slightly less steep and far safer [yes, that's including traffic] lanes.

Yes that is a lane

and not a streambed

My route and stops were hoping for some vismig, perhaps find a stripey-headed wader of some sort, and maybe even a nice patrolling Shortie or Hen Harrier, possibly even another Merlin [You can never see too many!].

Nope.

I did get a fair few Golden Plover, and a handful of Redwing [lovely photo I have of one, too...] as I returned to lower climes. Though a lone Fieldfare was the only non-Blackbird in the [admittedly short] section of the Avon Gorge I looked at.

Lovely photo of a Redwing

So it goes, sometimes you sees the gratuitous flyby Hen Harrier, sometimes you sees the gratuitous flyby Mipit.

Other than birds, there were a few sights, and maybe one day you'll get to see them [mostly fungi, don't get too excited]

Exciting post, yes? 

Be Seeing You...

Nose 2. Retro Posting

Where to begin?

Oh yes, Friday.

Did I mention Friday?

Not much to say, as whilst being in the Exeter area, I tried to get to Exminster Marsh but failed due to flooding.

Just a little, the access road was flooded from almost the roundabout...

 

Not giving up quite so easily, I tried from Powderham/Starcross and even less dice were to be had. No time to double back and park up at Countesswear, then walk down the canal [the only accessway not requiring waders!].

Oh well, worth a try.

 

 

Saturday and I got to the Nose only fashionably late [look down].

 

There weren't vast numbers of birds passing in sunshine and quite surprisingly vicious squalls, but what there was...

 

Glonk Corner, 4hrs

 

Gannet                                             79

Kittiwake                                         18

Razorbill                                          13

Guillemot                                         2

Auk sp.                                             1

Seaduck sp.                                      1

BHG                                                 7

Med Gull                                          1

Little Egret                                       1

Great Northern Diver                       3

[also 2 landed on sea]

And.

Leach's Petrel                                  1  [Foraging just beyond Lead Stone 1142]

                                                        2  [S together on Manx line 1320]

Storm Petrel                                    2+  [1132, 1238, plus several glimpses]*

Great Shearwater                            1  [N and foraging ~2km to E-ESE 1247-50]

Merlin                                             1  [f low from NW and hunting Rockits around Ore Stone 1059]

Great Northern Diver                     16+ on sea

Med Gull                                         3+ on slick

Common Gull                                 5+ on slick

BHG                                              26+ on slick

* The Teacher had more than 20 Stormies and a Little Auk - which got right past me, much to my dismay - from Fence End, aided by 3 Irregulars. He missed the Merlin [which may have come from onshore? I picked it up not far from the Ore Stone], the egret, and all the Leach's [very uncharacteristically picking the wrong time to first go and check the Quarry, and then leave.  Ouch.] and couldn't get on the Great Shear [being lower down really didn't help, I fear].

For some strange reason, both Teacher and Backward Birder found themselves at the Nose again the next day....

I called by on the end of a Patch Patrol, once again failing to find anything sexier than a Firecrest [though admittedly they are wonderful] and a couple of Chiffs. Flocks of Woodpigs - largest 44 - appeared now and again, though most likely not passing by as stuffing their beaks with acorns!

Teacher again esconced at new favourite [when it's not raining] spot of The End Of The Fence [an access point down the raised beach deposits, at the South end of The Mounds, very close to The Outfall], this time I joined him and we ended up there for a little while,

End of the Fence, 1.5hrs

Passing,

Stormie                                                            3

Arctic Skua [dk juv.]                                       1

Gannets, Kittiwakes, Razorbills in small numbers

The Teacher had been there a little while and had more Stormies.

Loitering with Intent,

Med Gull                                                          3+

BHG                                                                92+

Purple Sandpiper                                              3

Redshank                                                          1

GND                                                                15+

4 Grey Seal on Thatcher Rock, another off the Lead Stone.

alba Wagtail over S

We had quite a lot of fun, despite getting rained on hard again. [Previous frisky showers were avoided by means of handy trees - I do so love Holm Oaks - as I had foolishly believed the forecast {oh, when will I learn?}]

I have some very nice [honest] fungal pictures, but until The Evil Ones see sense*, you won't. See them, that is.

[Groan]

Be Seeing You...

[[* See last post. Don't worry, the rude words have now been censored.]]

Nose 1. Surprised

After the midweek passing of the fiesty-though-strongest-winds-passing-to-the-south Storm Ciarán [with an uplifted A not an O, FFS], another frontal system Friday night into Saturday gave those of us with jobs a chance to seawatch.

I suffered a little dormus gravitas, but not critically so, and thus was down at Glonk Corner for mid-morning [could have been worse].

The Teacher letting me know how many GNDs and Stormies he'd had was a spur, and helpfully calling me for every black and white sprite he picked up with The Artefact's Power [which I almost universally failed to get on, but nm] was another [to pay attention, that is].

Bit of a swell

A few GNDs on the sea

and in the air

Many still feeling

rather summery

The odd Med Gull, too

Showing quite nicely, too

2w and 1w Meds, there; bit of a change in a year.!

But as is so often [to my Woe] the case, the best stuff avoided capture on camera.

First, a little scenery,

........................

Or not, as those CENSORED at google have just changed their system; preventing you uploading unless you let them put whatever they like from whoever they like on your device.

Nice, right?

Well they can go CENSORED A LOT.

[Offended by my language? You are at but a tiny fraction of my feeling.]

They have tried blackmailing me in the past, limiting uploaded data [and that was total, not per post, too] - unless, of course, you paid them - and eventually gave that up, so I will be standing fast.

No more pictures on Backward Birding for the present, I'm afraid [stop cheering].

Getting back to the early days of this here blog, when I didn't have the means [yes, that's what the title means; too Backward to even have a digital camera. I used a notebook and sketched interesting birds - and still do!].

I shall be posting a Part 2, with numbers and a lot of talking and so on, when I have calmed down enough to write legibly.

Hmm, this may take a while [the legibly thing, I'm sure I'll cool down in an hour or twenty*]

Anyways, I shall, in one form or another, 

Be Seeing You...

 

 

 

[ To clarify, probably needlessly, thus down here; I almost invariably take several days to write a post. Yes, really. So pictures uploaded fine yesterday, but today? ERROR: 'You need to allow Third Party Cookies' .... Bastards.]

[Yes, this is all about cookies. But the big word is third party, that means it could be ANYBODY willing to pay google to do it for them. Yeah. No. ]

[[* As you can see, I have, a bit. ]]

Extras

Just a few things from Home and Patch and so on.

My little skygarden is not a very convenient place for a human, being mostly plants and feeders, but that does lead to the odd benefit.

Such as getting some rather shy species up close and personal. How many people have been in touching distance of a live, free Great Spotted Woodpecker? Seen the local juveniles come in, see them start moulting?

Of course, shooting so close through a patio door that Woodpigs insist on flying into [despite all the UV stickers], is a little tricky. Then again, I do have a handy kitchen tree;

Who put that cloud there?

That's better.

Through said dirty dirty glass,

Mr Fatpecker

When you spend most of

your time pecking trees,

seeing backwards is important!

The Patch isn't all woodies, here's something that should have been in one of the last two posts, but, well, you misses stuff.

You can miss this quite easily, too,

Hedge Woundwort

This last weekend's posting will be along directly.

 

 

There will be petrel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

:D

 

 

 

 

 

Be Seeing You...

A Little Fun At The Nose

After shamefully wimping out on Friday at the prospect of getting soaked for very little [thus missing a Woodlark on deck and serve me right too], I hit the Nose on both Saturday and Sunday.

You're already seen many of the fungi I came across, and they were the most interesting stuff on land...

I have had my first Blackcap of the winter Here [a nice male], and I keep getting brightly-coloured visitors to my skygarden as you may well see in a near future post, but it's been very hard yards in terms of, say, a nice YBW.

Oh well.

But inshore [and offshore to an extent], we have had some joy.

Joy?

Observe, regardez, lookithere!

Well hello, there

Tripping the light fantastic on the SWBCM, a gorgeous adult Little Gull!

[And a 1w had been there too, earlier, but before I arrived, alas]

Kudos to Keith of The Irregulars for the find and the gen. I put word out, and The Teacher got over and the Power of The Artefact persuaded the LG to come back in [it having gone off to sit on the sea N of the Lead Stone] and show wonderfully again.

Cue far too many LG shots;

Oh, that underwing..

Three small gulls

As well as the Little, minimum figures of 63 BHG and 19 Common Gulls

And storm drains get

such a bad press

What?

Also present, at least 5 Med Gulls [2+ adult, 1+ 2w, 2+ 1w]. I got the odd picture,

White wings!

The same bird?

Meds can trip, too

Pounce!

Just taking a quick rest

Also,

Big gulls about, too

That one on Saturday.

 

Next day;

 

Common passing a

subad GBB?

 

Nope!

Psycho-class LBB!!*

 

 

Both days spent much time looking at the sea. On Saturday, a big passage of Razorbills [505 in 30 mins, with 4 Guillemots and a Puffin] in front of the frontal rain late morning, far fewer [7 in an hour] the next day in the sunshine. Sunday had a nice flock of 10 Turnstone going by. Gannets and Kittiwakes both days - with Kitts coming in to the slick - and both days a passing dark juv skua;

Saturday's skua

was full of grace

Sunday's skua

right in our face!

Ore Stone and Lead Stone[!] channels, respectively.

Sunday also had a pleasant surprise in Hope Cove;

Great Northern!

Almost entirely intact summer plumage, though not the easiest to photo.

More Little Gull.

Because.

Yes, the Little Gull

is in this photo!

Little Gull last seen off to the north, attending this very close inshore trawler and neatly flying around the Herrings, GBBs, and Gannets to pick the bits too small for the bigguns' attentions.

And finally,

The Artefact

under

the rainbows

[Did I mention the rain? The hail? No? Didn't mind them, for some reason... :D ]

Both days were very enjoyable, despite being rather damaged on the latter day.

 

 

 

Now for something nice and Eastern [or Northern, not fussy**] come down to stay a while here in my dear Patch?

 

Too much to ask?

Be Seeing You...

[[* Psycho is a LBB who terrorises Bowling Green like a bi-coloured Bonxie, devouring poor innocent waders {and anyone else he can...} ]]

[[** Or Western. Nice wintering spot for a poor lost Yankee!***]]

[[*** I can dream. Stop laughing. ]]