Sea Watching. Or; Forecasters Speak With Forked Tongue

Having been vexed in my intent for my usual holiday sea-fest by inclement weather, I've been trying to hit the Nose whenever I've had a sniff of a chance.

This is, of course, when I'm not working - best stuff always in the weeks I'm not available [like for the 35 Greats past BH...FFS] - and of course, while the birds are about [well, those not massacred by wind turbines H5N1....] you need at least a little help from the weather. Which in turns needs something approaching an accurate forecast.

Yes, that old chestnut.

You'd think by now they'd at least try to tell the truth?

Fah.

Fah I say.

Anyways, it's not been all bad, and I have found myself looking at a few good birds.

Sometimes seeing very well, due to large quantities of surprise sunshine;

Blazing Sun,

blue skies,

silver linings....

Dark Buzzard

 

Blue(ish) Oyster Cult

[Ahem]

Rock Samphire.

Still going in October

And sometimes the weather has at least partly behaved,

Spot the Skua

And ID it!

O:)

zomg! Sideways rain!!!

:D

Arctic Skua

[sorry; 'spot the dark morph Arctic Skua'...]

Let's see...

30/9  5hrs,

Arctic Sk  11

Pom Sk  3

LT Sk  1

Stormy  1

Sooty  1

Balearic  6

C Scoter  26

Fulmar  3

Gannet  315

Kittiwake  298

Razorbill  40

BHG  10

Com Gull  2

LBB  2

2/10  2.5hrs,

Arctic Sk  1

Bonxie  1

Balearic  31

Gannet  no count

Kittiwake  189

Auks  no count

LBB  1

[Swallow, H& S Martin, Mipit passage + Yellow Wag, 2 Clouded Yellow]

3/10  .5hrs,

Arctic Sk  3

Balearic  13

Gannet  33

Kittiwake  179

Razorbill  4

BHG  1

[Mipit, alba Wag passage]

Of interest: This Autumn I have so far seen more Long-tailed Skuas than Bonxies. This should be beyond ridiculous, and demonstrates the extent of the population collapse suffered by the latter...

Rafting Kittiwakes

Balearics

And as to land birds... 

Very little. On one day a few Chiffs and Blackcaps were clear migrants [and gone the next] but the hoped for if not expected other stuff? 

Well, there's still time.

[Here's hoping the Goddess of Birding is merely testing us before we get something worth a Big Red Star...??*]

Be Seeing You...

[[* Oh stop laughing... ]]

Here And There. Pt.2, A Quiet Stroll

Another wander not taken [mostly due to the Challacombe Pack.!] in recent years with the Folks was taken [or undertaken? re-taken??]; the Vitifer-Challacombe-Birch Tor loop.

Out of the wind

at Birch Tor

We took our time, finding spots out of the wind to stop and enjoy the view [oh, the hardship... :) ] and it was all very nice.

In terms of birds, the only real notable was a lone Wheatear at Headland Warren. Which only came out after we'd passed by, so here's a very long-range shot;

Yes, it's that blob on the rock...

Autumn Reed Bunting

Small Copper

Extra-funky caterpillar!

Mediaeval gatepost*

Erosion..**

Sorry to end on a downer.

Or not, here's

Rosebay Willowherb

:)

Be Seeing You...

[[* Serfs/Peasants didn't get hinges - metal was far too good for them expensive, esp. with rusting issues {no stainless steel then} - they used planks slotted into the posts. Which is a very flexible system, if time-consuming.]]

[[** That's a turf bank on a hillside bridlepath, about a foot high, cut right through by bicycle passage. The purpose of said bank was to prevent water flowing straight down the slope, eroding the soil and increasing flood risk down-stream***, ****]]

[[*** Yes, that's one tiny bank, but throughout the catchment..?]]

[[**** The NP have started using granite slabs now, which at the least causes circumvention. ]]

We Interrupt Our Delayed Posting... Pt.1, Old School Twitching

I was at it again, seeking vengeance for birds lost on a Friday after a night shift....

This time it was proper old-fashioned twitching;

There was a report where someone said someone else said they'd seen something.

Said saying now two days old and no other news.

So it was that I headed Up North to DWT Meeth Quarry. I'd been there once before, with Folks and a LBD and due to the latter [and some rather over-attentive Horseflies...] not seen all of it. Turns out the missing bits are not bad at all. Well worth it for Summer insects and Winter wildfowl, oh yes.

But getting back to the narrative structure [at least in some vague sense]-

Sometimes, just sometimes, the bird behaves.

Whooper Swan

Close in? Yeah, kind of...

"Ok. I'm ready for

my close-up, dahlink"

That is indeed the near shore, there.

[I should add that sometimes the camera behaves, too....]

Ho-lee-thingumawotsits!!!!!!! 

I never ever thought I'd see a winter swan so close [outside of Slimbridge]. Yes, those were taken from the hide [Yup, there's a hide; it's small but far better than anything the rspb have put up in the last decade or so, though the latch needs a rubber wedge], 

but on my way back, these weren't,

Nice bit of ex-pit

'That white blob

on the right'

Then it swam towards me. 

 

 

I put the camera down and just basked in the Glory.

:D

Also about,

I think we've got a Ringer, guv...

Migrant Hawker

Common Darter

Very Common,

there were scores about!

Flush with success, I headed home the scenic way and stopped off to add a far more recently-reported bird, though nowhere near as helpful.

As it turned out, I was stood there for well over an hour, during which time the rain caught up with me and said "You really shouldn't be stood out here in the open by a railway line with no waterproof trollies on, heh heh heh...."

Once the rain got bored and cleared away, visibility improved and I finally got more than a brief flight view [which was during the rain, of course].

Now, getting a photo...

Well, have a look.

Mudbank, from Cockwood Crossing

Yes, the far shore.

 

 

This is what Big Scopes are for. Not so big cameras do their best;

Three species of geese.

No, really.

You're not getting anything better, just take my word that a Barnacle Goose [which arrived with Brents and so is as kosher as we'lll ever get] is over there, hiding with the Canadas.

One bird behaved, at least;

She's got it sorted.

I have various bad pics of various good birds - including 3 Sarnies flying by - but I'll not afflict you with them.

I'd dipped Whooper twice, once very horribly, so that was with utter satisfaction, I can tell you. The views at 75x weren't bad, either... :D

Looking in the log, the Whooper had been at Meeth since at least the 3rd. I cannot help but think of a certain swan that flew over the Mighty MK and headed roughly NW not so many days earlier. What's NW of Exmouth...? Yup, Meeth.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

{228}

Be Seeing You...

Here And There. Pt.1, Get The Chainsaw.!!

Right, things to catch up on, lots to do, not feeling the muse again...

Ach.

I've been off out for ambles with the Folks a couple of times, though our party is now sadly smaller as Tilly the LBD is no longer with us.

First up, we took a wander about Stover.

Common Darter

Mandarin

Nuthatch

Earwig!

 

And now, the title-inspiring pic...

Hornets' Nest!!

Don't tell me you can't see that face... 😱

[I had a funnier comment, but my hand turned Evil and deleted it.....]

There will be More.

Also, some seawatching.

Be Seeing You...

Stand In Moths Post

I did threaten promise more moffs, didn't I?

And there have been a few more knocking around the in past weeks [months?] since the end of The Horror past.

I'll just whack a couple up and add more as I get back to them.

Yes, it's a timewarp post!

Wooooo........

Last up, this Joy was waiting for me after a shift, I think only last week?

Angle Shades!

Yes I am very pleased to have one at Home.  :)

Willow Beauty

Yellow Shell

[quite a brown one]

Large Wainscot

More will be added..

 

Oh noes,

it's a Pug.....

Be Seeing You...

Patchy Posting

I have not been idle about my Patch...

Chiffchaffs and a few Blackcaps are moving, with the odd passage of hirundines [mostly Swallows] but never in any notable numbers.

Nothing like a nice Wryneck [visibly, anyway...]

Yes, yes, ok, the Hoopoe. The actual multi-day twitchable [sort of] Hoopoe bird what could be photo'd and everything. [Sometimes. Still a Hoopoe...]

 

 

But that's a very bit of a sore spot.

I will feel better about it later.

"Laaaaaa!!"

Nuthatch in my kitchen tree.

:D

A few Oyks at the Nose

Look away while you can;

The mandatory

great big 'orrible gull!

Much cuter;

Not quite a Greenish...

..though looking at that

supercilium, one might wonder.!

Two different birds, btw. [And I am being mischevious, before you start typing O:) ]

 

Action shot!

A passer-by,

ItsaBuzzard!

And looking at insects,

Clouded Yellow

Ivy Bee

I was less happy to encounter two chaps on electric motorbikes, who seemed to think that as 'they're electric' it was ok to be burning up the Nose on them?!? I was very polite and maybe hopefully they paid attention...??

[They came in a big black 4x4 with a covered trailer, and seemed more like spoilt rich kids than the balaclava-clad chavs I've almost been run down by met on the coast path riding those things in the past... 😕 ]

Let's have something cheerier to finish on?

Awwww.....

[let's pretend they're not

the Begbies of the bird world...]

Be Seeing You...

The Longer Revenge Post

After the Double Days' Dipping, I had Business with a couple of birds who re-emerged at similar sites across Devon last week.

[Yes, 're-emerged' as I strongly suspect the South Huish Black Tern relocated to the Dart...]

No messing about, I was straight out of work and across the county to Bere Ferrers for first thing. I went the straight way up over t'Moor, but received no birdy bonus for it, alas [worth a try].

Upon arrival I found it cold and quiet, but I had a fire inside to keep me warm and was duly rewarded with the first view of the day of the pesky Roller, at 0800 on the dot.

It was.. Not close.

Gotcha!!!

Let us zoom out, so you can see what I mean;

 

Now, you see that T-shaped pylon,

yes? Right, look just to the left of it...

A whole heap of assorted twitchy types turned up - as if by magic - and after an hour and a half of the bird I decided to take a wander to see if a) I could flank it and get closer and b) stretch my poor legses.

I got the latter not the former.

To add to moderate vexation, I found not a sniff of anything funky on the Tavy [8 Curlew Sand were seen the day before]. But hey.

Getting back, ah look here be that Roller!

Garden Roller

Cue something quite gratuitous...

"Got to look sharp

for the cameras"

Getting the coverts out for

the twitchers...

Ok, avert thine eyes, those of a gripped disposition, this is where it really starts to get rubbed in.. [Heh heh heh]

"Ok, how's this?"

"Yikes, cloud..."

Roller onna wire.

Itsa classic.

Whoosapurdyboyden?

:D

Eventually the Roller tired of posing and I declined to go off on another Wild Roller Hunt, as I'd a) played that one before and b) had aforementioned Unfinished Business

So, to Stoke Gabriel...

Where after paying through the nose to park arriving, I found a couple of familiar-looking birders who were just giving up, having zipped over after much less Roller than me.

Huh?

Ah, it seemed not only had they had no sign but 'It wasn't here yesterday, either and one's at Slapton'....

Oh naughty words.

But I was there and I had paid thr and it was lunchtime...

I toddled out along the shoreline to Mill Point, home of the new yacht club [reachable almost only by water, proper job] and had a look at the Dart ria [it's not an estuary].

Oh hello..

Osprey!

With fish!

Nice start.

I set up the Big Scope and got to scanning.

Looking down to [Upper] Dittisham.*

Very soon, a bouncy little shape cruised through my field of view.

Oh there's the Black Tern.

Well off, alas, and it seemed to sense my camera and rapidly buggered off back downstream [it was loitering about the wide bit off Galmpton, it seems].

I did hit it;

Black Tern, juvenile.

You can see how grey it looks and the contrasting saddle. Honest.

With BHG

Note larger, whiter BHG with less angled wings. [Also tending to fly higher over the water]

More BHGs, [to show that yes that is a BHG and how white they look in said circumstances],

Actual finding of own food..!!

A Kingfisher flew right over my head and eluded the camera with loud glee, but someone at least knew how to pose;

Common Sand

Nothing like a little Middle

Devonian marine volcanics 

:)

The tern was showing no sign of coming back, and the tide was rising [you can get nicely cut off in full view of everyone** there, be advised] so I wandered back, took a stroll about StG, which is a far nicer place to visit than BF [having actual shop, open pubs, and public*** loos.. Gasp!]

 

[I would advise anyone wanting to look for said bird to invest in a kayak - which is how The Boss got his photos, btw - as you can get to all the bits you can't see from dry land without much travelling, also the seals.]

While I would pay for my vengeance - losing the end of the day and all the next, pretty much, to my head - it was worth it.

Oh, it was worth it!

:D

Be Seeing You...

[[* Knowing how to pronounce that is a shibboleth. Also, fond memories of sore feets, there, back in the Innocent Days Of Yore.... ]]

[[** Ie. you get wet feet and politelynotlaughedat, but not needing the RNLI ]]

[[*** As opposed to private loos, which you have to pay for. ]]