Shameless Yearticking 4; If At First You Don't Scaup-ceed....

You catch the slippery little wotsit when neither of you are expecting it!


:D


Where else? Newton Dogs, of course!

Yes, there.

Yes, there's a story in the name.

I speak of Stover, known by the moniker due to the flat circular walk around the lake, used by millions of chavs and their pitbulls dog walkers up from nearby Newton Abbot and so rather like unto a greyhound track. Only much slower.
Despite all the hordes of dog [and baby] walkers, there is surprisingly often at least a half-decent wildfowl or two on there. Plus the woods have good spp. - easiest place to see Marshies and Bullfinches at daft range - plus the seething packs of very fat Squirrels...!
This is before you get to Summer and all the dragonflies.... :)


Anyways... I wandered over for yearticking purposes after work [duh], as there are insanely tame Mandarin [look down] and often Goosander to be seen. Plus you never know what else.

After seeing my targets and munching some lunch in what they call a hide [still better than anything on Exminster, eh RSPB?] - ie. spending too much time there, I resolved to properly count the 15-odd Tufties on the la.... Hold on a minute. That's a funny-looking Tufty.

That's no Tufty, that's a Space Station Scaup!!!!

Almost certainly the elusive bugger who made me go to Decoy*, I reckon;

Adult male Scaup

"Guys, guys, lend me a Tuft and some paint!"

"Just give it up, mate, you're burned"

It's one of those nasty brain tricks; you expect to see Tufties, with black backs and so on, so that's what you see. He did stay well out and with Tufties, and to birders who are looking at / for Goosander, little 'black and white jobs' are just Tufties, because 99 times out of 100 that's what they are. It's the same phenomenon as the 'rare maker' - where you see what looks like something rare out of a glimpse of something not {usually a Wren!} - only powered by expectation instead of hope.

Ahem.

Stop burbling and get back to the pics!

I could have led with this one..

Or this one

Goosander

Three present

Two Pochard

[female Tuftie in the middle]

Told you about the Mandarin

[three of them, too]

There's the other one.

Oooh. They are soooo insanely posey there. Your only problem is all the civilians trying to throw bread at them... I think there's something in the water, as one time not so many years ago, a Spring Garganey dropped in and he even posed a bit. For a Garganey. [You may recall awful pics on here]

:)

Things had gone well, the weather was good [at least for that day], so I decided to carpe the jugulum and try for Haldon Hawfinches.


I tried. What I found were all manner of non-Haw finches, with yearticks racking up, though only a couple of them actually sat down where I could see them.

Prepare for the more usual service;

Right in the middle

So's this one

Two Brambling [at least] in 19++ Chaffinches, up a way from That Bit. At That Bit, two groups of flyover Crossbills and one of flyover Redpoll the best. Not a sniff of flying nutcrackers, though.

Scenery;

Trees

Tree!

You do get nice views up there.
Oh well, worth a try. And getting horribly muddy..!


I finish with the sweet taste of gotthebarstewardonthefifthgo... :D

This is one of the benefits of yearlisting; unnatural happiness at seeing birds. :)



Be Seeing You...

[[*Or maybe not; 'Scaup reported on Decoy' the same day..?!?]]

Shameless Yearticking 3; A Day Late And A Scaup Short. Again.

I had an important mission to carry out last Sunday, but that didn't preclude me heading back to Bowling Green; the Scaup had re-appeared there. Also showy Beardies in the Exe reeds were not to be missed. And who knows what else. Lots of yearticks to be had. [[Once again following a day behind MB.. I'm not stalking him. Honest!]]



What happened? Well, as you may have guessed,  absolutely no sign of any Scaup, though 4 Pochard and 1 Tufty were present. [Maybe it was hiding behind them? Dear oh dear, I even went back twice to the hide on the off chance it was asleep behind the Mound...]
Also the Ruff showed a bit better, and lots of the usuals. I even saw the Dowitcher out on the Clyst for the first time.
What else?
Well....

Black Swans.

Striking poses.

I really like Black Swans. I know they get a lot of stick, but to me they're no worse - in fact markedly better - than Canadas or any other feral wildfowl. A lot nicer to look at and listen to than Canadas as well [or Mutes, for that matter!]. Perhaps Mandarins are a better comparison? Highly decorative and from the other side of the world, after all. Nobody's got beef with them - that I know of - so maybe give the Blacks a break?

Look at that feathering.
[Don't look at that pollution.. Tut]

Ok, those two aside, a few pictures from all about the Topsham area;

Teal

Wigeon

Love that vermiculation.

Long-billed Dowitcher,

plus Blackwits

See? Really obvious even at range. :)

Greenshank Redshank comparison

Avocets

Ok, to the other main attractions. Needless to say, with the rain - albeit in drizzle form - a threat, Beardies were not feeling helpful. Bu I was persistent and spread my search wider than 'ferry slipway to opposite The Lighter'.

This proved a good idea as they were further upstream; beyond the wrecked boats, in fact.

See up there on the right? Yup, past that.

Brilliant record shot!

On the right, you can see a tawny bird with a long tail - which is pointed to about 10 o'clock - and on the left a bird with striking black and white folded wing visible through the reeds.

I know, I know, I've outdone myself. This is practically OspreyInTree levels, here. :)

Dizzle's onset saw them vanish [which is what they were doing up there - they had been out on the edge] not to reappear in my sight. :(  But after the air dried a little, I saw a nice large party of Reed Bunts - at least 9 - messing about, which was lovely.

Vocal Lapwing

Showy Greenshank

Little Egret

Keeping at it.
[115]


Be Seeing You...

Shameless Yearticking 2; I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

Got a Saturday, better weather than forecast, a list of screwy ducks, helpful fellow birders, less than helpful mundanes, half a tank of petrol, and a full flask of coffee.


Hit it.
😎


Inevitable first up was a little cardio courtesy of that screwiest of ducks at Mansands.

In an amazing twist of fate, he behaved and showed not only for me [that's one], but also for the assorted twitchers - many down from upcountry and presumably BritListing - in something  like sunshine!

2cy male Blue-winged Teal

plus female Eurasian Teal

..and with a male

In a shock twist, I ambled up another 'friendly' little slope to find Murphys admiring a posing Blackstart. [That's two] We wandered back together - comparing notes from the first - to find the BWT was showing even better...!! [I wonder if he's feeling alright?]

Black Redstart

I skedaddled post haste, and even went so far as to take the ferry over to Dartmouth to cut the corner [and probably save an hour's transit, knowing Totnes....]. ::Gasp!::

Ooh, over the Dart!

Anyways, after an encounter with the dustmen in a very narrow muddy lane above Beesands [yikes], I found the RND on the  Ley [that's three], cunningly hiding  behind just enough reeds to foil my camera... I must admit I got a little annoyed. It got beyond silly, to be honest, but eventually I got evidence;

Spot the Ring-necked Duck

I also ran into more birders in the form of Thurlestoners and a catch up ensued, which was great, though they told me they'd come from Slapton and had seen no Scaup, which wasn't. I also finally got to talk to a Patch-sharer and Firecrest-seer [yup, PD] who I've previously narrowly missed at the Nose about a dozen times..!


I moved on, and at Stokeley bumped into, yes you guessed it, some Murphys again! Also PD arrived [though I was expecting him to catch up], as did another couple of birders I'd met at Beesands.

I spent some time there, in vain hope of Scaup off Scaup Pont, but no dice.

There were some birds to see, though

Black-necked Grebe

Goldeneye

female and male

Eventually, 5 of each were in view at once. Never closer than that, though.

Pochard and Tuftie

BHG

One with bling [couldn't read it]

one with s/pl!?!

Those feets

Over to look at the sea... I eventually found 2 GC Grebes, but not a single diver or seaduck?!? This is getting a little silly, now. Where are the RTDs hiding?

At least it's a pretty view

Finally up to Ireland Bay and meeting PD again, plus Perry, whom I've not seen for I think actual years! Things then got very frustrating as what looked really good for an adult YLG appeared in the bathing gull mob, but flew right as I tried to get Perry on it..! Arrrgh.. I didn't even get a shot at it sat on the water, let alone the primaries you'd need to rule out one of those nasty HerringxLBB things, so it's only a probable and not even a yeartick...  ::woe::

Spot the Med Gull

At least one interesting gull stayed put for a moment.

Of interest;

I don't know, all the bloomin' violence around these days....

Ahem.


No Bitterns, either, or Marsh Harrier [in my sight, anyway]. Ho hum.


Onward.


There was a lot of very good bird watching going on in all that, and lots of welcome catch ups and chat - if a little curtailed now and again as time did keep going - in better weather than expected. So not bad at all.




Be Seeing You...

Out For A Jolly On The Moor. 2, Sunshine!

Last catchup post from last year. I think. Probably.
[Just get on with it..]


This time I was successful in getting the Folks up on t' Moor in winter. The weather was clearly feeling ill, as instead of blasting us with hail and sideways rain, unleashed vast torrents of sunshine.

I know, I'm still in shock.

Apparently there's a 17 month wait for therapy, so I'll have to deal with it the old fashioned way;

[SECTION CENSORED FOR SAKE OF PUBLIC SANITY]


Ahem.

So, we took a gentle toddle from the lovely little village of Belstone [think every 'Dartmoor village' cliche you can come up with, wrapped up and multiplied by about 100 million quid....] up the eponymous Ridge as far as Steeperton Gorge, where Mire Stopped Play, so we ambled back a way then went down to the Taw where it was possible to walk without waders!

Did I mention all the sunshine?

Belstone Tor

Looking south from Oke Tor

Lovely Granite.

Oh, and [L - R]; the Wilhay, Yes Tor [background],

East and West Mill Tors [foreground]

It wasn't all wonderful weather, as we were high above a sea of mistyfog..

Mistyfog giving a taste of sea level rise to come...

[[It's not politics, it's fact]]

Ahem.

Looking up the Taw plain

to Steeperton Tor

The Irishman's Wall,

High Wilhays, Yes, West Mill, Row Tors

Quartz-tourmaline veining and inclusions

The White Moor Circle

Birds were a bit thin on the ground up on t'Moor, though there were a few winter thrushes and a nice finch band in the sheltered paddocks around the village [I'll spare you the grainy shots].

Can't not have something alive, though,

Eeeek!

Bladdy ticks...

All this warm weather means they're all still about and just as frisky. Fortunately, this one decided my rucksack was worth going after, not me. [It was evicted with extreme prejudice.]

Speaking of frisky..

Small quarry on Belstone flank.

Plus a Little Black Dog.

Yes, she had just jumped in, [there are very few bodies of water the LBD won't jump in; fast-flowing rivers are amongst them, fortunately!] but very considerately is shaking out of range of me.  We'd taken a different route up than usual, so found this - which is not on my map - which just goes to show, doesn't it.

Obligatory fungus;

This looks like an Inocybe,

[like I. margaritispora], but is on moorland, so
perhaps a pale Lilac Pinkgill??

Classic tractor

And another

Never know what you're going to find.

Crescent Moon high over Wild and Steeperton Tors

Good day.
:)


Be Seeing You...