Monday 21 February 2011

As dull and grey as it gets

The Safari had an attack of the Monday mornings today and paid little attention to what was going on on Patch 1. Suffice to say we didn’t go past the Magpies of Magpie Wood and neither of the Peregrines were on the ledge.
A few Blackbirds song half-heartedly from various rooftops in the cold pre-dawn. Just one Song Thrush was all we could muster along with the odd Robin and Dunnock – nothing much to write home about.
Patch 2’s early morning safari was kyboshed by heavy sleety rain – not going out in that to see nothing and get cold and wet. By lunchtime it had stopped raining but wasn’t much better. The tide was well up the wall, not quite as high as yesterday but still a real biggy. Out on the sea the horizon merged in to the grey expanse on nothingness only about ¾ of a mile out. A Great Black Back Gull could be seen at some range with the naked eye but the smaller gulls closer in required the use of the scope to pick them out in the gentle swell. Beyond them a flock of about 250 – 300 Common Scoters were much more flighty than of recent but despite being airborne for extended periods and not too far out we couldn’t see any Velvet Scoters with them – not that we were expecting any of those mythical beasts to be out there.
Here's our only pic from yesterday showing the high tide flooding the marshes. The green in the bottom left of the pic had about three minutes grace before that too was flooded.
CB's musings only the day's events can be read here. Three Marsh Harriers - the swine!!!


Where to next? Still stuck to the patches lets hope the weather improves.
In the meantime let us know if you found anything in your grey expanse of nothingness.

1 comment:

Warren Baker said...

Lots of blogs bemoaning this awful gloom were stuck in Dave!! But wont it feel good when the sun comes through :-)