A Weekend of Ups and Downs

This being more literal than figurative...

In a radical break with tradition, I've been spending most of this month not going out and about with the Folks - we've only been out twice, and one of those was me talking them into twitching a Cattle Egret then ditching them to go after Big Ugly Gulls [[tut tut]]. So yesterday and today I've been wandering bits of coast path with them. Yesterday we did a chunk between Brixham and Kingswear - nice in the breeze but rather stifling out of it - and today we went off to Golden Cap. Yes, quite a bit of up and down...

The section between Froward Point Battery and Kingswear Castle doesn't look that bad on the map, but there's all manner of tight climbs and a whole heap of big steps. Mum was not amused, I have to say, though I wasn't enjoying the humidity much, either. Its been a long while since we last went that way [something about Pete Goss, if I recall...] and none of us remembered all those steps. On the plus side, it was quite pretty, there are some lovely rich peoples' homes to look at, and I'd forgotten how interesting Froward is. The Inner Point has a well-preserved WWII coastal defence battery [less the 6" guns, alas.. ;) ], if you're into that kind of thing, and gives a very nice view across Start Bay. Its a little out of the way, and tucked back a touch more than I'd like, but the seawatching potential seems to be there - with the choice from the Coastguard Lookout down to the various emplacements giving potential for plenty of different views and heights. For someone looking for somewhere a little different, it might be worth a go.

Stonebarrow to Golden Cap is a traditional walk of ours, now enlivened with Tilly-pwered antics, including tangling the lead around stiles and footbridges*, barking at chickens [Tilly likes chickens...], coobeasties, and distant frolicking spaniels, and eating crab apples [though only 2, as she didn't really like them...]. Having lunch on the Cap, the haze limited the view to Beer Head and the wind was perversely weaker than it was halfway up the slope [mutter mutter]. We did have some liveliness, though as a party of about 30 Swifts came wizzing past east at head height! No, I don't know why they didn't just fly around the side either, we were right near the edge [not that near, but within 15'], but past they came, angling to avoid us. Wow.

[[*Footbridge with gate at one end; she dodges gate and squeezes through fence, down into water, around tree, under bridge and in through other side, then around my Dad's leg. Not bad, huh?]]

Birds on both days were otherwise pretty standard, though Bullfinches flying past today pleased Mum and a showy Green Wood on the Golden Cap undercliff pleased me [he just sat there going "la la la you can't see me!"], as did a Jersey Tiger sat out in the open [?] - albeit again on undercliff, but you'd think a bird might notice?? A hawker spp. gave us a zip-past but evaded my optics and so went unspecified - it was probably a Migrant, based on darkness and location, but I can't be sure.

I feel like I did some climbing today [my legs are threatening legal action], and while I wasn't patrolling my patch [Swift Watch™ is still going, though] or failing to photo Small Red damselflies, I still feel they were two good days.

Friday Fun in the (Not Quite) Sun

Today I tried getting a little shuteye before trying the weekday birding fun. Probably not wise, as a little turned into quite a lot and it was gone 12 before I got going...

With a hot day and light winds I decided to give the Small Red-eyed Damselflies another go, so off to the sewage works! [[Mad, mad I tell you...]] Definitely one for proper 'ardcore observers, with enough breeze of a variable nature to ensure all directions got the heady aroma of Exeter's produce on a hot day. Dedicated, that's me.

It was also a bit overcast, indeed more than I would have liked for odonata-watching, but as it was well above 20° [more like 27°!] I figured there'd still be activity. Which there was, though not as much as I expected. Still 6 species wasn't bad, and as Small Red-eyed Damselfly was among them, pretty good. Photos were attempted, though if they'll come out as even recognizably 'damselfly' is another matter.

As I made my way down the causeway, I kept an eye on the muddy bank of the Exe, wondering about wandering waders. A Dunlin-shaped stone seemed to be the best on offer, though the sight of a couple of Black Swans cruising upriver was some consolation. I like Black Swans. [[I'm sure DEFRA will shortly announce a cull to protect spanish swans from being turned grey... Was that too pointed? I don't have a problem with removing invasive species, but think Canadas or Himalayan Balsam would be a better place to start. Just because it isn't easy doesn't mean its not right.]] [[Ok, back to usual nonsense]]

I looped around the farm and on to the Old Sludge Beds, which were annoyingly odonate free [except for one Emperor]. Lots of choking chickweed and other plants, though. Reed Warbler and Water rail were vocal, but not a huge heap was happening as I munched an apple then headed for the canal. The floating stuff [its green and slimy...] had 5 species of damselfly battling for dominance, and eventually I found a few Small Red-eyeds, which stood out nicely once I had my eye in. Large Red-eyeds made up the bulk of the numbers, with a few Blue-taileds, the odd Common Blue and a single Azure the rest. Trying to photograph the Small Red-eyeds was not easy, as they, of course, kept out and kept moving, but I gave it a few shots. You never know, right? Then, with the rush hour looming I headed back, giving the Exe another scan as I got back to the causewa-

What's that? Tringa - probably a Green Sand. Carefully get as close as a river's width will allow and have a good look. Ooh, no it isn't a Green Sand, its a frickin' Wood! Happily pootling about the mud on the far bank, looking all purdy with the light behind me.. ::Determined-looking lightbulb appears overhead:: Right. I tried a couple of shots, despite my vowing never to photo a bird that wasn't completely still and at point blank range. Then, as I moved on a group of cyclists came by and it flew, landing on a large chunk of ex-tree. A Wood Sand on a bit of wood? Oh I had to. Even longer range, but worth the punt.

I was going to go on about how effort versus the heat and the smell was rewarded by some nice views of Small Red-eyeds, but the jammy Wood Sand, rewarding purely looking the right way at the right time, kinda deflates that. So instead I'll end with musing on how things sometimes work out neatly - oversleeping is not always bad, and blah blah blah. Oh, but here's the counter-thought; What on earth do we miss by those happy chances not stacking up just right? Plain Swifts, for one. ;)

Happy chances.... Mud. Wood Sand. Mud. Sky. Common Swift. White-throated Needletail. Sky. Woodpig. Sky. Plane.

Eyes up, folks.

No Sooner Had I Posted...

Than there's some news to report. But of course, and with needing to go to work, its left until now to report it.

Nothing spectacular [well, fairly spectacular to watch, I think, but hardly twitch-inducing] - we have fledged Swifts! I've started the Swift Watch™ - checking for screaming Swifts every evening to be sure when they leave - and yesterday I realised there were a lot of Swifts up there.. Getting accurate counts of Swifts in an urban environment is not the easiest of processes, and with the need to go to work I was only able to give a few sweeps, but each came up with a figure in excess of 100 [none the same, of course] so 100+ it has gone down as.

This is pretty good for here! :) Of those which came close enough to check [The majority were feeding in a fairly tight kettle, above the horizon but over there ::Points:: a way - after flying ants, maybe], a good 50% were juveniles and there were lots of little family parties [[ie. kids chasing parents, going "Feed me! Feed me!" ;) ]]. 100+ is a pretty good count for here; usually when the young fledge you get a jump from 40-50 to 70-80 - though this does depend on feeding conditions. They were pretty close and high up yesterday, as opposed to the more usual 'spread out in several height bands including down to the rooftops' [and thus easier to miss a lot], so perhaps its just a truer representation of numbers? Either way, 'tis nice to see they've had some success. :D

To Expand On The Previous Subject

It wasn't very much, really, was it? A single paragraph in what is for me a short post. Having the inclination to post but a lack of news to post about, I thought I'd go into a bit more detail and generally bore the socks off you.. ;)

Twitching, why do we do it? I've had a few conversations about the subject recently, and more adept bloggers have aired their thoughts too - indeed I've prattled on about it on here in the past. What possessed me to drop everything and go haring off across the country [well, a bit of it], spending far too much money on petrol and so forth, to see a bird? I'm not a competitive lister [except on my Patch, and as I'm only competing against myself I can only lose ;) ] and the whole 'genetic hunting instincts' thing cannot, imho, explain this behaviour fully. If it was just the hunt, the Tick, then as soon as I'd seen it, I'd lose interest, wouldn't I? I certainly wouldn't stand around in the thistles and nettles for an hour and a half enjoying watching the thing. CaveBirder would say "Made kill, now go home before sabre-tooth gets you!".

Certainly the adventure is a part of it - the risk, the payoff - but for me the biggest bit is the discovery, the learning - seeing something new, something I've never seen before, something special. In this case a very prettily-marked bird which should be on the other side of the Atlantic, not poking around in a very-nice-if-very-hard-to-view scrape in dorset.

Ok, enough of that nonsense, time for more details on the day itself! I'd had the "Holy shit, a Stilt Sand in reach!" moment in the morning, followed by the deflation of finding out it had flown off and not been relocated. Adult Stilt Sand was fairly high on my list of desired waders [ie. right behind the 'It's Personal' section] and for one to be close enough to go for on a day I could go for it... At least the Hayle PGP was on a workday when I didn't have to stress about it so much. There was a time, of course, when the cost of living was lower and I was earning more when I would have gone "Ah, it might be hiding and if not I can always watch the baby Marsh Harriers!" and have gone up anyway, but I have to be more fiscally responsible, so its tart-twitching only.

Then the sudden reversal, the bird has been seen again; it's on-site, just being elusive. Whole different kettle of fish. In scenes very similar to the last trip I made to dorset [ah, and that brings a happy smile to my face...] I was off with optics, notebook, a bottle of water and my trusty flapjack! The drive to dorset is a reasonably scenic one, and with a clear run is enjoyable to drive and be driven, with lots to see out of the window and some nice roads. Spectacular panoramas, archaeology, and the real chance of Corn Bunting are on offer, sometimes in more detail than you'd like, as I've never met a main road more prone to long-distance tractors! I don't get it, really I don't - you move your tractor around your farm, you need to use roads, fair enough, but going on for miles and miles and miles.... The journey out was made interesting by meeting a 50-car queue led by a tractor with a huge trailer - about the length of a coach all together - followed by.. another tractor with an even bigger trailer. Ye gods and little fishes. The two together meant only an F1 car could overtake these 30mph monsters on anything but dual carriageway. Fun. Way back had a pair that had been cutting hay going at 20mph, but they were nice enough to pull over and let the waiting hordes past.

Arriving in weymouth is a lot more interesting these days, too. There used to be a lovely bit of road [when coming in from dorchester] - fast ridge then a drop into a serious hairpin. I don't know if the spectacular accidents you could envisage ever actually happened, but a LOT of money has been spent to remove the issue. Hills have been carved, bridges built, and they're still not done. It does make getting to Lodmoor a little simpler, just don't go looking for signs to it as there aren't any. :)

Lodmoor is very like Exminster - much excellent habitat, some of which you can view very well and a lot you really can't. Plus no hides [though it does at least have something to sort of keep the rain off - RSPB are you listening?]. The local chavscum are of course responsible for the lack of hides, having burned the old ones - they were well in evidence on Sunday, yelling unintelligible and doubtless unintelligent abuse from their passing novas and saxos [probably, though with all the plastic they stick on, I doubt even they know for sure..].

Anyway, a very good looking scape was mostly hidden by reeds, but popping in and out of view was the [very well-camouflaged] Stilt Sandpiper. Sandy-cheeked [ear coverts is a daft term, they're cheeks!] and rufous-crowned [also referring to anything but red as 'rufous', though orange just about does, with the historical connection, I suppose], streaked of neck and barred of belly, this elegant bird was a real cracker, oh yes. [[Another thing - why does the Black Book show them all fluffed up? Doesn't convey the elongate, tapering nature of the bird when active, tut tut.]] With motions varying between Ruff and Godwit, it looked a lot bigger than it actually was, as the odd passing Green Sand [which were bigger] showed. Stilts have been described as 'Curlew Sands with extra leg', and in flight this is very apt - the rump/tail is indeed as close as you'd expect, as is the shape and size, and you'd really need a side-by-side to be sure about the wingbars, I think - though there was no sustained flight to really be sure.

Being there for an afternoon rather than a day, I gave it an hour and a half then stopped off to admire the Common Tern colony. Watching the comings and goings, the to-ings and fro-ings, as the adults brought sand eels back to their yarking juveniles. :D Radipole for the Marshies would have been nice [even more if the Beardies had put in an appearance] but time was wandering on, so back I toddled.

There, wasn't that fun?

Wacky Races..

The big news today was of an adult Stilt Sandpiper being found this morning at Lodmoor in Dorset, then promptly lost again.

"Drat and double drat" said I, as I went from all fired-up for a twitch after one of the more desirable vagrant waders to sudden deflation - it looked like it had pulled a PGP.

Ok, on with my morning pootling about the place, not seeing anything spectacular. I'm just about to get some lunch when I think 'Ah, I'll just have a quick looksee online..' - "WTF!!"

One journey that was conducted in an entirely safe and legal manner later*, I was yomping along the seaward side of Lodmoor, then climbing up the [very thistley] bank and setting up the Big Scope to drool over this gorgeous yank. Oh yes, definitely gorgeous, also distant, prone to hide behind stuff and very well camouflaged compared to the three Green Sands also present. I spent a merry hour and a half watching it, munching what I'd grabbed for lunch [You know the mantra; "A flapjack is a birder's friend!"] and trying to do something approaching a field sketch [You'd think I'd get better at it, wouldn't you? Nope.]. I stopped off to coo over the Common Tern colony before heading back, a happy birder with another Tick. :D

[[*But that did include a nice Corn Bunting and a couple of Stock Doves, stereotypically by an actual corn field - being stuck behind sunday drivers has the odd plus side..]]

It's A Big White Gull With Brown Bits

He said, thus winning the 'Best Description of a 2s Glonk' award for 2011.

Yes, I found myself at the Otter today. I say the Otter, rather than Budleigh Salterton beach, because, contrary to ALL reports, it was not there. I know, for I yomped all the way down and all the way back in't blazing sun with the Big Scope over my shoulder and the stares of slack-jawed emmets on my back... Ahem.

Right, so the Glaucous Gull was loafing with the big group of assorted ne'er do wells at the bottom of the estuary, looking big and white and Glonky. Before and after that, the Cattle Egret had performed very well indeed, considerately traipsing up and down in front of the west hide and even pausing to pose next to a Little Egret. What a lovely bird. Unsurprisingly, there was not a sniff of Rose-coloured Starling [or any ordinary ones, either], but never mind, worth a look.

The Folks had come along, for a nice stroll along the Otter is one of our favourite walks, and while they enjoyed looking at the Egret [they'd even come to twitch the last one - back when they were rare - which is another story], dragging Tilly along the prom and keeping her from going bonkers at the gull did not appeal. So they took Tilbury off upriver to tangle her extendo-lead in the bushes and swim in the river [fortunately not at the same time]. She had fun - one day she'll learn what Grey Mullet are, and then her sorties into the Otter will get really interesting.. ;)

To be fair, the gull didn't really appeal to them either [very sane, really] - interesting to look at, but not worth traipsing up and down the shingle for. Perhaps my description, though Award Winning, didn't help, though I suppose Glonks aren't exactly oil paintings. Impressive, yes, and a good well-worn one in flight is certainly a sight, but loitering in a gull flock at scope range? Yeah, I understand where they're coming from. I still enjoyed it though. I have a bit of history with Glonks - only seen one before and dipped every one I'd twitched, so there was no small amount of satisfaction, oh yes.

This morning I had a pleasant surprise out the window - at least 3 Willow Warblers were working the trees and bushes out the back. Having had a Reed Warbler doing the same thing last year, I can confidently call them migrants taking a quick food stop before Channel-hopping. Its been a long time since Willows bred on the hill... :(

Surprises

A couple of flying surprises today, as the new Night Thing meant I got to go birding on a weekday! :) [[Albeit at the cost of sleep - please excuse any, er side effects in the quality of this posting...]]

After umming and ahhing about trying Budleigh I plumped for Dawlish Warren, as I haven't been for a while, the tide was at a nicely accessible time, and there might be Roseate Terns. I ran into [Famous Devon Birder], we wandered about the place together and a great time was had by all. First up being 4 Blackwit flying over upriver, followed by finding a very juvenile Redstart on the Back Path - this spotty little darling still had a touch of yellow to the gape, it was so young. The baking heat of mid morning failed to produce any Sand Lizard!s, but several hours in the hide over the tide gave a very nice Roseate Tern, which eventually showed well when the heat haze dropped off. [Famous Devon Birder] then had the second surprise of the day, when he got on what looked like an LRP flying with some Swallows; it eluded me and seemed to zip off south. Or so we thought, as it had sneakily dropped in and after 15 minutes or so was suddenly with the small group of Ringos lurking near the spartina. A gorgeous juvenile, it eventually came very close to the hide and gave great views. :D

Four s/pl Knot were looking very pretty [though never close], as were many of the 95+ Sanderling that scurried and scampered across the beach - coming much closer, but never staying still long enough to really enjoy! Two of these had colour rings, which have been recorded and sent off - details will hopefully be forthcoming. There were more than 50 Dunlin, a single Barwit, a couple of Redshank, the Whimbrel and [over by the railway where the haze made a count impossible] a group of Curlew. Out to sea, a couple of Common Scoter flocks passed south - one of 10 and one of about 18 - as did a couple of Gannets. At least 3 Common Tern were with the 200 or so Sarnies, but no Little or Arctic that we could pick out. A juvenile Med Gull dropped in, though settled too distantly on the river for a proper look.

I'd only meant to spend an hour or two there, before either calling it a morning or heading on to dip the Glonk [I'm quite good at dipping them - I've only ever seen one!], but I had so much fun that the time just went. A cherry was that the lovely Council have taken away the horrible speed hills [which destroy your suspension and damage nearby houses] and resurfaced the road. Joy! :D

Finally, a very unexpected surprise came this evening at 2012 exactly. I was startled to hear the call of a Curlew flying overhead! Garden Tick! Patch Tick! What was even more startling was why it was flying north calling while it was still light. Unfortunately, due to reporting restrictions, I can't be specific - suffice to say that the poor wader was bricking it, though probably not in any actual danger.

PYL: 130!