Sunshine and Showers

How often do we hear the weatherbods utter those dread words?

Yet, since coming back down to earth from the Joys Of Thursday, this has been the story. I've been rained on and sunned on, often when I was expecting [or at least had been told to expect] the other. All good clean fun, eh folks? But I'm not here to rant about the weather [again...]

A brief summary ensues;

Friday. Forecast: sunshine and showers. It rained. A lot. I decided to do something random and went to Yarner. I expected [as it was indeed raining there and as well as it does at Yarner, which is very] there to be no birds and fewer people, and to have a merry mellow time wandering around smelling wet trees and munching the odd Bilberry. As it happens there'd been some sort of Event on and there were several determined families with be-wellied kids wandering around. BUT I did meet my first Tit band of the Autumn, and it had the whole 5 flavours, so that was fun.

Saturday. Same forecast as Friday, but with actual showers turning up rather than just rain I went back to have a look at Huntingdon Warren. As I walked up to the dam, the sun was shining... Deary me. I took the chance to look for odonata and met some frisky Black Darters, a passing Golden-ringed, and some showy to the point of Porn Star-hood Keeled Skimmers [very odd, they're usually buggers to get close to..]. I just happened to have camera with Shiny New Lens with me [funny that, might even have been expecting sunshine?], and got a couple of shots off. Then it rained on me. I kept going and had a mooch about the place - the Heap Of Sinners is quite a nice cairn, with some serious views. Bird-wise the Avon and its tributaries gave me a whole heap of Whinchats and Wheatears, plus a Hobby passing through [How many is that this year now? I'm really doing well! :) ]. The reservoir was continuing to merrily pour over the top, but still no Goosanders [or anything else] on it.

On Sunday I gave the Patch some overdue attention and, after thinking I was going to have been sunblasted and generally made to suffer in the heat for very little, I was just about to leave the Nose when a big party of migrant warblers* collided with a group of tits** and I was in the middle! Imagine the chaos as more than 30 small passerines were zipping about the trees and bushes all around me, flycatching, chasing each other, calling, popping up, dropping down... The tits moved through fairly quickly, but the warblers stayed around for almost an hour and a half, starting at the Pear Tree, moving down to both sides of the First Slope, before looking at the Top Dell and finally moving off into the North Side. Of course, plenty of civilians were passing through while this was going on, fishers, dog walkers, and general wanderers - mostly looking at the guy with the bins spinning around and staring at trees with a silly grin on his face with various versions of 'These Bird-spotters are Crazy' on their faces... ;)

[* A good dozen Chiffs, at least 5 Willows, at least one Garden]

[** 7+ LTTs, 4+ Blue 2+ Great and 2+ Coal]

Today a Day Out with the Folks on't Moor! In an attempt to have at least most of a day without Tilly going bonkers, we went to Fernworthy. Cue mouse quote... Yeah, there were these sheep that had gotten into the enclosure. Oh dear.... Still, we did have some peace and quiet, and in a shocking development, the Little Black Dog even spent the whole of our coffee break being quiet..... ::Sound of Apocalypse Nearing:: She did this by means of finding a dead gorse stump [well, more of the whole stem], tearing it out of the ground, and then chewing it into teeny tiny little bits....

Aaaanyway. We went our way along many of the tracks among the trees, visiting the Circle [and wondering why people, when leaving flowers {which is sweet} leave the frickin' cellophane on them........] and various other bits. We wanted to go and have a look at Staddon Tor [which is one of the few we haven't been on] but unfortunately, a big herd of coobeasties were there first and there were sheep, so we decided perhaps next time.. While we had lunch beside a babbling brook near the plantation's edge [lovely little spot] we were visited first by not one but two Southern Hawkers [???] and then by two delightful [and presumably juvenile, as they were so bold] Redstarts! Ah, Fernworthy strikes again - got to be the best place to see Redstarts in Devon.

Redpoll were less confiding - a couple flew over the car park and that was it. Siskin were also feeling shy, giving only distant flight views, but the Crossbills.... Well, for almost all of the time they were busy playing les buggeres risibles, but finally a group of 15 decided to play nice and showed very well, and close up too :D The water has gone down a huge amount - you can see exposed some very nice hut circles by the main car park, and a bridge near the hide - and to my delight a Green Sand was present, at least for a while before being flushed away by all the bods... 4 Little and one GC Grebes were trying to fish in the reduced reservoir. A group of about 20 House Martin came overhead for a few minutes, and there was a steady passage of Swallows all day - eastwards.

Ok, so that's it for my summer hollyday; shutdown's over tomorrow, so it'll be weekend birding for me and not much for you to use for your insomnia cures.. Sorry.

Though you never know, I may be able to coincide finding the words for a rant with being here to put it into type... ;)

Shear Joy

Back to my more regular delayed posting, all that reporting on the day [or even within minutes] was just getting silly.

Also, 'twas a bit late when I got back and I needed sleep. Yes, 'got back', for yesterday I picked my moment and made the trip I've been planning since I found out about the August shutdown... That's right, folks, I was at 'Gwarra.

[[You can just see the grin, can't you?]]

Its something of a pilgrimage for seawatchers - not that I haven't been there before, but its always been after going for something else [usually as consolation and an effort to cheer myself up after horribly dipping something else, Citrine Wagtails and Savi's Warblers spring to mind...], I've never made The Trip, so to speak. This has been rectified, and The Goddess of Birding rewarded my devotion and She did rain down big shears upon Her worshippers and It Was Good.

But I'll get to that.

I dragged up at an obscene hour and decided that, while it is quicker to go via Plymouth when there's no traffic, as there were very heavy thundery showers forecast, it'd only take one of them plus one idiot to block the Bodmin road and I'd be screwed. A30 it was and a good choice that was as between Okie and Sourton a Woodcock flew across in front of me :D Crossing the Tamar into Cornwall, a couple of Goosanders did the same thing :D Good omens, I thought. The drive was enlivened by valley fog, hill fog, and apocalyptically heavy rain. I mean, ye gods and little fishes it threw it down - I was wishing for an 'Even faster' setting on my wipers and even the white vans and audi drivers were slowing down for it! [Yeah, that serious...] The sun came up between squalls, showing off the size of the clouds that were marching around - but also how spread out they were. Oh well, alea jacta est and all that...

Despite catching lorries, two buses and a tractor I made average time and found only 7 cars there before me, with one chap set up on the mound overlooking Porthgwarra cove. The sun was shining as I took the coast path to Hella [thinking to see what it was like there before deciding whether to stay put or go on to Gwennap] but the wind was keen [[That'll be 'Unsecured hats go bye-byes!', then]] and the sea looked frisky so I thought, 'Hmm, maybe...'. Watchers were spread out around the area - for those of you who've not been, the two heads are both big sites with a lot of places to sit at different heights and aspects - I picked a couple of chaps close by and wandered over, found a spot that seemed sheltered and had literally just sat down and was pulling my tripod out of my bag when [Cornish Birder] called "Large Shear!" followed a couple of seconds later by "It's Great". Cue the Benny Hill music as I raced the speeding shear while trying to suppress the flashbacks to my first one at Berry Head [[Really not my finest hour, that....]]. As at Berry, I just got on it in time. If I'd known... Nah, I'd still have wanted it!

Settling down to watch, I realised my spot was not ideal - the wind was coming around the corner and if it did what was forecast and got more southerly it would only get worse [[In a blatant Sign Of The Apocalypse, this indeed happened...!]]. I bit the bullet and moved, expecting "Big shear!" or worse at any second... I got to my new site [well down slope and right next to a nice chunk of granite] and set up ok. Phew. Then... "Big shear!" Then again, and again and again... Looking at the times, I can see that after three well-spaced singles, they came in little groups over 6 periods of 10-20 minutes and though I didn't record it, I'd bet money they were associated with those tight tall squalls that were prowling past. To my surprise, none of the squalls hit us, though we got 3 sideswipes that gave enough rain and wind gusts to make us glad of that. You see what that means? We were getting large shearwaters in sunshine. The odd one was distant, but most were on the Runnelstone line and some were closer - one so close I couldn't even get the Runnelstone buoy in view at minimum zoom... :D

Nobody got on everything; the sun and the swell, plus the wind carrying shouts away, saw to that. I saw 23 large shearwaters, of which 7 were Great, 14 Cory's and 2 unidentified, with the last [a Cory's] at 1431. * The Greats all looked pretty clean, but several of the Cory's [I'm kicking myself for not noting which] were moulting inner primaries.

Oh but it was glorious! Big shears coming through in bright sunshine, only one or two at a time with the chance to really follow them - see them in sunlight and shade, coming, passing and going, at different ranges, with other birds for comparison [one time a Great and a Cory's came through together and both were in one view... Wow.]. It is a truism of birding that there's no substitute for experience, that only by seeing a bird in the feather can you really know it. This is unfortunately used to justify a Catch-22 when it comes to IDs; 'If you haven't seen it, you can't ID it'. That is of course bullshit, but like the most effective lies there is a grain of truth within. I firmly believe that you can ID anything if you see [and if necessary hear] it well enough, no matter your experience - the difficult bit lies when you don't. So, I had 'Large Shear spp.' for what I was pretty sure was Great at Hope's Nose in 2008, because despite it coming in after trawlers twice, it was distant and hazy and I'd never seen a Cory's use that flight action and didn't know how they looked in those circumstances. Do now. Retrospective Patch Tick.

It really was a huge learning experience in big shear identification and unlike on say, the Day of the Sooties, I didn't have to get soaked [Bonus!]. Of course, it wasn't all Greats and Cory's going by, there were other birds. Again, I missed a few [or a lot - such as all the Stormies] but 2 each of Sooty and Balearic [plus a mid-sized shear that could have been either - it was just taking off and shaking, then I lost it..], 3 Bonxies, including a very dark one, more than 400 Manx [mostly going east] a single Kittiwake and 2 Razorbill, 4 LBBs, 2+ Common Terns [there were more in a flock but I got on them late] and two single Arctic Terns - a juvenile and an adult - which were a snap to ID on wing translucency; bless the sunshine! 32 Fulmars passed, with most being light phase [as opposed to the usual double lights you get off Devon] but one being.. not what I would call properly Blue, but all grey. There was a constant passage of Gannets west at ranges right down to cliff base, so I didn't even try to count them... Overhead 2 Whimbrel flew out to sea with much calling. I didn't see the Osprey. :(

In the sea, the big swell made things tricky. A Sunfish was briefly visible near the buoy, and to the east a Common Dolphin porpoised, followed later by a porpoising chorus line [very impressive synchronised swimming] of at least 3 robust dolphins that I'm hoping the Seawatch team got an ID on** - they were head on and too quick for me! Likewise what looked like a small whale went through my field of view as I followed a Cory's - I didn't stop for it and it wasn't there when I went back. Oh well... Late on a Basker was spotted right below us, but in a truly pathetic display of incompetence I was utterly unable to get on it before it sank out of sight. Drat.

I called it a day after 8 hours - no incoming squalls in sight and passage had really died - and went my way homewards. Despite the best efforts of assorted emmets to give me an aneurism, I got home in one piece and promptly crashed out. It had been a good day.

Oh, who am I kidding? It ROCKED!!!!!

[[[*There was originally a fairly long bit here about why the various published totals are different from mine, but it really doesn't matter; we saw what we saw and everyone had a good time.]]]

**EDIT: So, it seems the Seawatch team spent the day asleep really suffered from being round the corner at Gwennap, as they saw no cetaceans or big shears at all! Oh well, I'll put 'em down as 'Dolphin sp., probably Bottlenose' and 'Whale sp., possibly Minke'.

Just a Quickie

Hit the Patch today: not much to tell - a few Chiffs and a Wheatear at the Nose. I also had my latest film developed and [it having miraculously come out] want to share with you the last ever photograph taken through my Sigma lens. Taken at Stover, leaning out over the weir on the canal - image untouched save for a tiny crop;

I'm still grinning... :D

Yes, Another Post....

Deary me, what is the world coming to, five in five days, and this one with not all that much about birds. No, I still haven't gone to Cornwall...

So, I went to Exeter. Walking boots that really needed replacing and a scout for a new lens ⁄ new camera setup being the priorities, with a sneaky detour planned for some birding, because its shutdown week and I can't let a day go by without some! :D

Buying footwear is not something to be taken lightly for me. I have broad feet with high insteps that mean most boots are either too long or I can't get into them. As for shoes - forget it. When I was a kid you could see the assistants at Clarks trying to hide when they saw us coming in... [[Other shoe retailers may still be in business?]] Today was a good day, only the 4th pair was a good fit [though the retailer was a) very good and b) sold me some light boots earlier this year and remembered the fun]. In fact, I think a plug is in order [I'm not the BBC, after all]; for all your outdoor needs, be it clothing, kit, or footwear, if you're in Exeter, go first to Moorland Rambler. They're very good, very helpful and generally deserve your custom. [[No, they didn't pay me to say that, though if anyone from there is reading this and would like to..]]

I also surprised myself by buying a lens. Straight up, "I'll take it". I was just browsing about the second hand stuff [having seen the new prices..] and thought I might as well get hands on a couple. Lens in question is by someone I've never heard of; 'Mitsuki' [Which if you search you will learn is 'Three months' in Japanese and also an anime character...]. Apparently also a name of convenience for an OEM. Go figure. Anyway, this thing [and what a thing, it weighs a kilo or so] is a 75-260mm Macro, entirely manual, it will focus down to 195mm, which is pretty impressive [especially compared to my old Sigma]. Learning to use it will be interesting, as it focusses the other way and zooms properly [as opposed to the Sigma's trombone style].

My detour was in search of Dippers, about which I had some gen. Alas I dipped [I should have expected that, with all the puns I've been flinging around lately...], but I did finally see my first Kingfisher of the year [Woohoo!] and a very nice female Sprawk had a soar overhead after seeing off a couple of noisy Crows. Also a smart Grey Wag and a very over-friendly Labrador called Rocket...

I Didn't Expect That...

Well, I was going to get up this morning and most likely toss a coin on the Bonelli's. Unfortunately forgetting to turn it on a technical issue caused my alarm to not go off, so by the time I awoke it was far too late to make trolling west for 21⁄2 hours [plus traffic, and oh the traffic...] viable. Still, the sun was sort of shining it was warm and not that windy and while my not-going-twitching choice of Smallhanger was also not practical, I could still go looking for dragons closer to home.

Stover was, as you'd expect, full of people walking their dogs and⁄or kids, but I still managed to see some good stuff and it was worth the trip. :) Bird-wise the undoubted highlight and so very good to see was the pair of GC Grebes accompanied by a juvenile! :D I'm just over the moon for them - they're gorgeous and so confiding, its great they've finally succeeded!

Ahem.

Odonata-wise I did pretty good too, with 10 species getting my Not-Being-Chased Yearlist up to a creditable 25. What looked and flew very like a Ruddy Darter lost me on the canal before I could get a look at the thorax sides to confirm, so the Dragon of the Day award and blog title-giver goes to a lovely female Golden-ringed, which I was delighted and surprised to watch ovipositing [and the books do not prepare you for the sight of a Golden-ring ovipositing, they're like flying pneumatic drills!] in the little pondy bit opposite the Dragonfly Pond! Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but Golden-rings are dragonflies of gravel-bottomed streams, they like overhangs and cold flowing water, not shallow muddy heat-trap ponds full of weed?!? A male Common Darter [lots about - the most common dragon] tried to have a go at her [["Git orf ma' pond ya varmint!"]] and almost got eaten for his efforts...

A Migrant Hawker lurked about the far end of the canal, along with a half dozen Beautiful Demoiselle, which looked fabulous in the dappled sunlight. A smart Southern Hawker paid a few visits to the Dragonfly Pond, and a few Common Hawkers roved around. Emeralds were the most common damsels, with a few Blue-tails and just the odd Azure and Common Blue remaining.

On a less pleasant note, my big lens has seemingly jammed solid - its always been prone to sticking when knocked, but I've previously been able to straighten it out; now it just won't move at all, to zoom or focus... Drat. So I have a choice to make - get another one [ if I can find a manual Pentax-fit lens that's good for shooting dragons and very slow birds but doesn't cost a fortune] or say "Ok, time to put film behind me and spend far too much money on a digital setup..."

What to do, what to do.....

Who Wants To Go To Cornwall Anyway?

Reckoning that the Bonelli's would have done a bunk and deciding that as I'm planning a trip that way later and am supposed to be Being Good and trying not to spend vast amounts on petrol, I dragged myself out of bed at a respectably early hour and zipped down to the Nose to see if I could find some migrants, the weather having duly clouded over [and, I assumed. that the weak cold front predicted having passed through]. [[Oh, what a brief opening sentence]] A road full of cars had me worrying a bit about hordes of deranged doggers [no, not like that] but no less than 8 tents [cheerfully ignoring the 'No Camping' sign just as everyone ignores the 'No Barbeques' and 'Take Your Litter Home' and 'Keep Your Dogs Under Control', let alone shutting the gate to keep the livestock from getting onto the road... Ahem.*] in the quarry and a serried mass of fisherfolk bode well. Indeed, I didn't meet a single non-fisher while I was there - first time this has happened when its not raining sideways!

[[*What can I say? Its my Patch, my home, I grew up here. I pick up the litter [that I can carry - you seriously need a team with a vehicle to make a real dent] and I never fail to be annoyed that people can't even be bothered to shut one little gate so the latch catches. It's not rocket science; you just need to pull or push....]]

Relishing the peace and quiet I gave all the cover a good going over, managing to find some actual birds! [Shock!] It wasn't spectacular, and dwarfed by the good days I'd had in Spring, but considering the lack of proper fall conditions, I think it was a fair result. Star bird goes to a Lesser Whitethroat in the Top Dell, ordinary Whitethroat numbers were up and Chiff numbers had more than doubled. A couple of Blackcaps again and the odd Stonechat, but the most interesting birds were the Robins. Yes, you read me right. At least 9 in the Top Dell alone, at one point 5 adults were in one small bush and not trying to kill each other. This potential Sign Of The Apocalypse looks suspiciously like migration to me...

Down south there was the periodic rumble of thunder, and a Dark Cloud loomed on the horizon, but no flashes were to be seen, so I figured the weather minions had got it right[ish] for once. Ho Ho Ho. Yup, got rained on! Not for long, but big drops. Oh well. I may not have found a Melodious or Bonelli's of my very own, but I didn't do too badly and more importantly had fun. Oh, and I met a Common Lizard! [No Adders, though]

I headed home for a good shot of coffee and rescued a Beech-green Carpet from the conservatory [I shocked myself by managing to find it among about 1700 species on a very thorough website], then it was time for a trip up onto t' Moor with the Folks. After our fun in the boggy bits last time, it was decided to try something drier and the old railway line from Princetown [which loops round some nice quarries before ending up at Burrator] was selected. I like the quarries on Dartmoor - they're proper bites out of the hills and the spoil heaps are not only not toxic or collapsey, but great for Wheatears! We scored 19, including one incredibly downy juvenile which must have been days out of the nest at most. Some were ridiculously confiding, not even bothered by Tilly [which drove her a little nuts - she likes things to run away when she barks at them....].

The Mipits are gathering, one flock was a massive 35 strong - they were by the trackway and as we walked the grass just kept sprouting more and more Mipits, Tilly didn't know which way to look :) A party of 4 Ravens treated us to some aerobatics, the Starlings in Princetown got grilled extra crispy [can't think why...? ;) ], and despite some very promising-looking habitat being passed, I failed to see a single odonate. The wind, perhaps best described as brisk, may have something to do with that.

Still got mixed feelings about that Bonellis, though... I really want to see one [they're gorgeous!], but. I may see how I feel in the morning [before I see the 'No Sign of..' ;) ]. I might even flip a coin, who knows?

Migrants Fast and Skulky

The trees are turning and the birds are migrating; it's Autumn, folks!

I gave the Patch a bash today, concentrating on the Nose and aiming for migrants. I got lucky and managed to avoid getting soaked, so consider the day a win. Best bird was doubtless the juvenile Hobby which shot past low overhead and powered off out to sea - heading SE, not for Berry Head - as I arrived at the top gate. WOW!

It was a glorious way to arrive, though it may also explain why there were so few passerine migrants in evidence... ;)

Other than a few Chiffs and some Goldfinches, the only definite migrant was a Garden Warbler, which gave me an interesting burst of sub-song from a very tricky to get at position on the cliff scrub by IMD. I eventually nailed the little git [the song had me going WTF - not what I'm used to from them, it sounded very odd and thus potentially interesting] though not without having to half-climb into a wasp-infested bush overhanging a fair drop to be able to see the right spot. You know, I've always thought carrying an MP3 player of bird calls was a bit like cheating, but I'm starting to think it might be an idea. Memorising a call and checking on CD and BWPi is all very well, but not so good when you're on the spot wondering if something needs hunting down and getting eyes on. History and geography show that sooner or later there's going to be an interesting sylvia on my patch and I need to be ready to know what to hang about all day for and what I can leave where it is...

On a lighter note, and a very light and happy one it is - family party of LTTs on the Hill! :D Great to see after two hard winters.