He’s back!

This morning’s safari was the usual traipse up the hill, down past the Golden Triangle, through the park and back. Nothing exceptional of note. Singing Blackcaps and Willow Warblers were heard but not seen. The Coal Tit was singing once again after yesterday’s absence. We copped for a Chaffinch, first for a while, singing from the top of one of the Ash trees. There are a few self-seeded Ash trees in the park and just one planted Oak tree. The Ash are far more advanced than the Oak which, if the old adage is correct, suggests we will have another wet summer…dooohhhhhh.
A Grey Squirrel scampered about in the dead and dying twigs of one of the few remaining Elm trees. Once again our Long Tailed Tits were heard doing whatever it is they do deep in their Bramble thicket.
Walking past Magpie Wood, which is bursting in to leaf, we got a glimpse of a bird on the water tower in more or less the same spot the Peregrine used to sit on but on the big ledge rather than the thin ledge. The foliage obscured the view and we had had a Feral Pigeon sat up there earlier in the week so we didn’t think too much more about it. But once we had got past the trees and in to the open the bird could easily be identified as a Peregrine. We had taken Wifey’s mini-bins today and examining it through those revealed it to be the male having his breakfast. Great stuff; but where has he been? We took some pics with the happy-snappy but although the light was excellent the distance was just too far for it even on full digital zoom.

We then hit the lonely walk down the empty road to our new Patch 2 watch point. The concreting machine that looks as if it’s straight of a War Of The Worlds film set was being fired up, what a weird and wonderful thing it is.
As we were watching the lads setting up the surveying equipment and calibrating he monster a flock of 45 Pink Footed Geese flew over the beach. Scoping them quickly we couldn’t tell if the 'Tundra' Bean Goose was with them – there has been/still is one kicking with about 300 late lingering Pink Footed Geese at the ‘Place We Don’t Mention By Name’ on the South-side. Not that we would ever be able to pick one out in flight from a flock of its congeners anyway.
Much warmer today and no wind at all, the work’s turbines were motionless indeed it was summer by any other name. The lack of wind made scanning the sea a joy, flat calm with good light, shame there was nowt out there! Six Cormorants flew past, followed a few minutes later by two Whimbrel. Scanning hard we picked out two distant Grey Seals, one straight out the other a good way to the south. Four Shelducks flew north, direction of the day, while two more were sat bathing on the sea just behind the breakers off the dunes to our left. ‘Visible’ migration consisted of an ‘alba’ Wagtail and a Meadow Pipit being heard but not seen overhead. A Razorbill dived not too far out in front of us…not a bad half hour but could have been better – where are the terns?
One Sandwich Tern appeared at lunchtime and one of the Grey Seals was still knocking about but had moved quite a way towards us, sadly still too far off for a pic.
More worrying was the number of Lugworms being stripped out of the beach again, three guys = 15 gallons of worms, then there were two blokes peeling Mussels off the outfall pipe too – it’s a flippin free-for-all on the biodiversity down there at the moment. They don’t look like the sort of chaps you’d want to argue the toss with either.
The big machine was in full flight…

Where to next? Is there a snake in the grass?
In the meantime let us know what you wouldn’t be able to identify in your outback.