The Safari was again on the dry run this morning and it was noticeably thrushy. A Song Thrush was heard away over in the Golden Triangle as soon as we opened the door. On a chimney pot on a house on the opposite side of the road up the hill a bit a Blackbird sang loudly. Getting round to the Golden Triangle all was now quiet apart from the twittering of a couple of Robins and the chattering of waking Blackbirds. The closest park Song Thrush was heard again in the distance and both Peregrines were still asleep on their respective ledges. The Magpies were beginning to wake up and stretch their wings so we could only get a rough count of about 60.
Just as we reached the turning in to Base Camp a Dunnock fired up from a garden opposite...It’s getting more spring like everyday now and maybe next week we’ll be able to get to work without the headlights on, assuming it’s not cloudy of course.
Patch 2 wasn’t quite a gully as yesterday, certainly not actually on the patch right in front of us but over our border to the south there was still a prodigious number of them and a big few more than plenty Oystercatchers too. In the runnel we guestimated around 100 Redshanks without looking at them too closely while we checked the Black Headed Gulls for any Meds that might have been lurking amongst them – we’re determined to pull one of these beauties out of the throng this week!
Most of the LWHG were much further away and going through them wasn’t that easy despite the excellent viewing conditions, we did manage to find two fine adult Yellow Legged Gulls though.
The sea had only a gentle swell and the light conditions were just about perfect for viewing – it was so clear we could see the tips of the wind turbines off the coast of North Wales. We didn’t see any Harbour Porpoises or Grey Seals just a few Cormorants scattered about not really actively fishing otherwise the Great Black Backed Gulls would have more far more interested. A decent number of Common Scoters seemed to out there, mostly distance flocks, probably in the order of around 500 or so.
At lunchtime the conditions were still god but the rising tide had covered more than half the beach and there were four legged bird scarers everywhere. 135 Redshanks tried to roost in peace on the wall along with 22 Turnstones after being flushed from the runnel...not by the photographer peering over we might add!!!
Just as we reached the turning in to Base Camp a Dunnock fired up from a garden opposite...It’s getting more spring like everyday now and maybe next week we’ll be able to get to work without the headlights on, assuming it’s not cloudy of course.
Patch 2 wasn’t quite a gully as yesterday, certainly not actually on the patch right in front of us but over our border to the south there was still a prodigious number of them and a big few more than plenty Oystercatchers too. In the runnel we guestimated around 100 Redshanks without looking at them too closely while we checked the Black Headed Gulls for any Meds that might have been lurking amongst them – we’re determined to pull one of these beauties out of the throng this week!
Most of the LWHG were much further away and going through them wasn’t that easy despite the excellent viewing conditions, we did manage to find two fine adult Yellow Legged Gulls though.
The sea had only a gentle swell and the light conditions were just about perfect for viewing – it was so clear we could see the tips of the wind turbines off the coast of North Wales. We didn’t see any Harbour Porpoises or Grey Seals just a few Cormorants scattered about not really actively fishing otherwise the Great Black Backed Gulls would have more far more interested. A decent number of Common Scoters seemed to out there, mostly distance flocks, probably in the order of around 500 or so.
At lunchtime the conditions were still god but the rising tide had covered more than half the beach and there were four legged bird scarers everywhere. 135 Redshanks tried to roost in peace on the wall along with 22 Turnstones after being flushed from the runnel...not by the photographer peering over we might add!!!
There were significant numbers of gulls away to the south but on the nearest small were close enough to work through, nothing of note noted.
Out at sea nothing much had changed from first thing this morning. Best was a flock of about 20 Kittiwakes way out certainly interested in something and we saw one of those large splashes we reported a couple of weeks ago, are they to do with a large marine mammal, dunno didn’t see anything breaking the surface today.
Where to next? More of the same than its the weekend...and a safari to who knows where...
In the meantime let us know what’s not showing itself in your outback.
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