Official News: Spring Is He- Wait, Whaaaat?!?!??

I was patrolling on the Patch today, in the merry merry month of...er, December, [[Ahem]] when I found this. It wasn't the only one, in case you're wondering.

Thought you might be interested to see...

Bloomin' eck!

Three-cornered Garlic

I wasn't the only one who was shocked at this drastic sign of Climate Chaos;

"Squeak!"

Translation Activated:

"Well, I don't need to tell you how shocked I am at the sight of that. I mean, it's not even the Solstice yet! You semi-evolved monkeys think you're so special, but look what you're doing to the world..."

"Oh and no BLEEPing plague jokes, ok? Do I look Black to you?"

A proper post about things with birds and so on may will follow at some point this year soon.

Be Seeing You...

Grey Days. Pt.2, After.

It hit me not so much like a train as a tsunami. It just kept coming and coming and swept everything away in a seemingly endless tide of pain. Unusually, it hurt more lying down.

Love a surprise migraine, really I do.

It eventually eased enough for me to sleep at ohyoudon'twanttoknow o'clock on Sunday morning, and after a little of said sleep, I awoke to a nasty lingering feeling - still present days later, btw - of queasy not-quite-ache.... but at least I could function. [[Hel, at least I could lie down....]]

*

Ok, enough moaning.

I resolved to get some exercise [and do some required supplies-acquisition] by prowling the Patch from Nose around to Downs Undercliff in search of, well, anything. [Yellow-browed Warbler would have been nice, for example  ::Whistles innocently:: ]

I found 5 Redwing at the Nose and zog all else.

[Ok, yes, actual birds around, but only usual standard resident species and not in any notable numbers]

Still, I got some exercise, and later on I engaged in proper dangerous culinary Mad Science. Which was fun, especially setting off the smoke detector! :D  [If you don't, you're not doing it right!]  [[Or you've remembered to shut the frickin' kitchen door....]]

Pictures? Well, you know what's coming.

Scarlet Waxcap

Was wondering if I'd find any at the Nose this year.

Slimy Waxcap

Cedarwood Waxcap

And something Truly Gorgeous to finish;

HMS Severn in glorious

Western Approaches camo

Oh yes.

Be Seeing You...

[[* Pretty sure not a vaccine reaction, I've had two shots of the fizzer before with only the same day or two achy spot I got this time. ]]

Grey Days. Pt.1, Before.

They say that the best-laid plans of Mice and Birders do go astray.

BLEEEP but that one's true...

Thus I got very little out of three days' worth of Time. Of course, I had a variety of Important Things to do, and most of those I got done. It would have been nice to have a full day to my own amusement, of course. For very valid health reasons, you see.

[This is actually not BS but totally serious. A proper Consultant told me so and everything.]

[[But that's by the by. Reality doesn't care.]]

Ahem.

So, after the Thing played one of it's little tricks on me, Saturday went other than planned. Despite this, I succeeded in getting Stuck for the third time, which was Primary Mission accomplished. I even got my Secondary done with [just] time to have a look at the lower Exe estuary in passing.  :)

Behold;

Red-breasted Mergansers

Great-crested Grebe

What's in Shutterton Creek?

Curlew, Wigeon, Pintail, Teal, Shelduck, Brent Goose, [horrid gulls..].  Anyone pick anything else?

Further off, the Spoonbill I'd been hoping to see a bit closer-to was over the other side of the estuary [it clearly had heard I was on the way], and the reported female Goldeneye evaded mine entirely. Still, nice to be looking at actual birds.

Running late but at least running, I headed home for an only slightly late lunch and-

Be Seeing You...

The North Wind Blew. Pt.3, Pretty Things That I Can Photograph

We are, of course, talking fungi here.

Hey, at least they don't fly away...

Hygrocybe helobia

Isn't it gorgeous?

:)

Meadow Waxcap

Snowy Waxcap

SW Variation

It's not all waxcaps at the Nose, of course..

Meadow Coral

Clouded Funnel

[swollen with water]

Aren't they lovely?

Be Seeing You...

The North Wind Blew. Pt.2, Double Nosed

Two days, two visits. Saturday afternoon to dusk and Sunday morning from not-quite-first-thing-due-to-night-shift...

In common; a frisky to stiff North-westerly wind, veering between North and near West at times [just to be annoying]. Sunshine and the odd cloud. A marked paucity of onshore birds being visible [funny that], or indeed offshore birds being proximal.

But I did get the odd picture;

Sandpiper Purple

One of three I snuck up on, on Sunday morning. [I left them alone after getting that; the bird in question having given me the eye in 'You're not going to make me fly in this wind, are you..?' style.]

Star bird of the weekend I didn't manage to sneak up on at all, as a Golden Plover [!!] present at dusk on the end of the Nose on Saturday was flushed by a ridiculously late dog walker, who climbed down onto the rocks with a little Scottie especially for the purpose..

Ok, that's how it seemed to me, as I heard the call [and took a while to process it, GP is not a regular Nose species, and out of context calls are always fun*] and after remembering what it was, and not seeing anything - bird of course went north - cursed royally. IF I'd got there first I'd have had a chance of at least a grainy first photo for Nose.. Oh well.

 

At least my fruitless scanning got me on a passing diver sp. - though that is only a 'throated' as it looked interesting but vanished as I grabbed the camera - heading south.

 

Also only a 'sp.' was the light morph skua, going north waaaaay out on Sunday. Quite possibly the Pom the Teacher had had the day before, but just too far in the heat haze and spray [yes, really] to be sure, even through the Big Scope.

 

 

Random flying bird,

AKA a Gannet

Grounded migrant!

Ok, it's a Meadow Pipit...

Though from that photo, just for a moment, you might wonder..! [Love the grass blade, almost perfectly placed!]

Coming up, things I could photo.

Yep, you know what I mean.

:)

Be Seeing You...

[[* The next day up on Dartmoor, said call was obvious... Cue coments about expectations and so on. ]]

The North Wind Blew. Pt.1, Finally, I Went Up On t'Moor

The weekend's birding was dominated by a frisky North to North-west wind. It was pretty nippy and very frisky [I've said frisky twice now* and it won't be the last...] and mixed with sunshine and the odd shower now and again. Interesting weather...

While hordes of Brunnich's Guillemots beset the East coast, we had no such luck down here. Especially at the Nose, where birds of a sea variety stayed irritatingly far offshore. Even to the Big Scope [which was lugged down on Sunday morning].

Working in a non-linear fashion [You may add a Whovian timey-wimey quote here in your head if that's your thing], we begin at the end with my determination to get up on t'Moor.

 

 

 

 

Stuff the weather. Stuff the hordes of mundanes. Never mind I'm on a strict time budget due to Important Things.

Was determined to go.

Went.

 

 

Observe, regardez, and so on;

A view.

 

I wandered up to King's Tor, had some lunch, admired the view, came back.

Up there we see the Princetown railway line, the Walkham valley, Plimoth, and..

Eddystone

With a little zoom and crop.

Closer to,

Heath Waxcap

Looking the other way..

Foggintor Quarry and Swell Tor

The only birds of note in the air were Ravens [Red Kite has been reported in the area but I had zip], with a single small group of Golden Plover - flushed by a walker and heard but not seen [again] - and a few handfuls of winter thrushes widely scattered in sheltered spots [all the usual species encountered, highest count of any one sp. was 7, though]

It was lovely to be out there, though [once I got out of the wind!].

Time rewound further presently.

Be Seeing You...

[[* Yes, yes, pedants... ;) ]]

One Day's Birding. Pt.3, The Big Finale

After all the fun with the Snow Bunting, it was getting a bit dusky at Slapton. I wandered into Ireland Bay, looking for a nice viewpoint to finish my coffee and munch a biccie of the choccy variety. However, I kept going and going due to restricted views and so on until I reached the Ireland viewing platform, which was occupied; something I was not expecting at that hour.

Huh???

Oh right, Starlings.

 

Hmm. Well, as you can see from the view, it did seem like a good day for them;

Ireland Bay at dusk

Oh, look....

A few Starlings

A few more...

...more of that 'few'.

I wasn't alone enjoying the view;

Black-necked Grebes

Also the odd civilian.

 

The Starlings put on what was the best display I've ever seen outside of The Levels, certainly in terms of numbers! I counted one component flock of at least 10,000 [total closer to 11k, but I always round down] and there were at least high 5 if not 6 figures present [hopefully someone in a better viewpoint {I was close but restricted, as you can see} will have made a good total].

Oh boy but it was good!

Murmuring away

Just one or two...

At first they were dropping into the reeds on the seaward side of the main Ley, near the Monument CP, but then they decided no, not there. A river of Starlings streamed into Ireland Bay, skimming the water and undulating over wildfowl trying to roost!

Autofocus blur strikes again...

This went on and on. 

The Starlings roosted in the main reeds, east of the Quarry and very close to the path. Oh, they were noisy! It was wonderful, standing under trees and looking into the reed edge, seeing nothing but hearing everything...

:D

Be Seeing You...