The safari had tinterweb issues last night somehow our provider had managed to cut us off – yes we had paid the bill! – hence no post; but hey who said it had to be a daily job – not a slave to those three Fatbirder digits!!! – honest.
We were out on Patch 2 before work but it was hard work today. Visibility was very poor - no evidence of a horizon to speak of just grey merging in to grey in the middle distance. A stiff off shore breeze brought a little passage of Gannets close in shore, four adults and a bird of the year. Whilst scoping them we caught sight of a Red Throated Diver on the sea. Very few Common Scoters were visible and there was precious little else. An even shorter visit at lunch time produced even less though 10 Sanderlings on the tide line was the highest count of the season here and four Redshanks ganged up on bits of seaweed flicking them over to see if anything was lurking beneath – there wasn’t, they had to make do with probing deeper for hidden prey. Unlike Monika’s beach we have no Sandhoppers on our stretch, plenty on the beach south of the river where they are the favourite food of the endangered Natterjack Toads. Three Lesser Black backed Gulls headed purposefully south through the troughs a fair distance out although some of there compatriots were sat with the Herring Gulls on the beach. A good grilling of the gulls sadly didn’t reveal any Ring Billed Gulls, two different individuals have been seen not far to the north this month – always a good find for the finder, adults are bonny; second winters can be a worthwhile challenge.
No visit to Patch 1 this morning and no chance of getting there in daylight for the evening session either…might be nice to bump into a Woodcock one of these nights they are beginning to trickle in, crackin photo of one on Bardsey Island recently, which is just outside our ‘area’. Last night a skein of Pink Footed Geese went over their gaggling calls audible above the last of the rush hour traffic and we could just see their pale breasts in the glow of the street lights. A few Redwings and Blackbirds were heard on the move too.
For those of you not familiar with Redwings and Fieldfares have a look at these lovely pics of them in the hand from PS on the north side of the river. Little beauties, the pair of them.
No photos from the safari again today – not worth wasting pixels on just plain grey or pitch black!
Where to next? Weather looks promising to have another bash at last weekend’s failed project.
In the meantime let us know how grey it is in your outback; surely it can’t be as grey as here – can it?
We were out on Patch 2 before work but it was hard work today. Visibility was very poor - no evidence of a horizon to speak of just grey merging in to grey in the middle distance. A stiff off shore breeze brought a little passage of Gannets close in shore, four adults and a bird of the year. Whilst scoping them we caught sight of a Red Throated Diver on the sea. Very few Common Scoters were visible and there was precious little else. An even shorter visit at lunch time produced even less though 10 Sanderlings on the tide line was the highest count of the season here and four Redshanks ganged up on bits of seaweed flicking them over to see if anything was lurking beneath – there wasn’t, they had to make do with probing deeper for hidden prey. Unlike Monika’s beach we have no Sandhoppers on our stretch, plenty on the beach south of the river where they are the favourite food of the endangered Natterjack Toads. Three Lesser Black backed Gulls headed purposefully south through the troughs a fair distance out although some of there compatriots were sat with the Herring Gulls on the beach. A good grilling of the gulls sadly didn’t reveal any Ring Billed Gulls, two different individuals have been seen not far to the north this month – always a good find for the finder, adults are bonny; second winters can be a worthwhile challenge.
No visit to Patch 1 this morning and no chance of getting there in daylight for the evening session either…might be nice to bump into a Woodcock one of these nights they are beginning to trickle in, crackin photo of one on Bardsey Island recently, which is just outside our ‘area’. Last night a skein of Pink Footed Geese went over their gaggling calls audible above the last of the rush hour traffic and we could just see their pale breasts in the glow of the street lights. A few Redwings and Blackbirds were heard on the move too.
For those of you not familiar with Redwings and Fieldfares have a look at these lovely pics of them in the hand from PS on the north side of the river. Little beauties, the pair of them.
No photos from the safari again today – not worth wasting pixels on just plain grey or pitch black!
Where to next? Weather looks promising to have another bash at last weekend’s failed project.
In the meantime let us know how grey it is in your outback; surely it can’t be as grey as here – can it?
No comments:
Post a Comment