Cold and blustery...again!

The Safari is hoping for better weather sooner rather than later but at least we’ve had a bit of success on the Robin front.

The morning on patch 1 started well enough when a Blackcap was heard singing from the Golden Triangle as we approached. The first of our Robins was heard there too. At the Butterfly Zone it was good to hear the Chiffchaff again and last night there was a Robin singing from there too. Then we saw two Chiffchaffs break cover in a chase across the small area of grassland to the bushes opposite, two males or a male and a female? A/the male started singing immediately but the other disappeared in the dense cover.

In the park a Grey Squirrel managed to escape being noticed by Frank which from our shoulder’s point of view is a good thing as he would have set off after it like the proverbial bat out of hell and us with him! In the far corner there is a little out of the way wet rough piece of land from which we heard another Blackcap singing. Good to hear three on the patch. Back in the Butterfly Zone on the return journey we heard no Robins but did see a pair and we still think there are more to be found.

Most unusual sighting goes to a female Pheasant found dead on the main road at 06.30, wasn’t there at 06.00 and seeing as how its hardly busy it at that time of the morning the poor thing was either very unlucky or deliberately mown down.

The tide was at the seawall on Patch 2 and the wind was cruel; deffo more wintery than springy this morning. Not much was doing, scattered small flocks totalled no more than 50 and we struggled to reach double figures of very distant Gannets. After not too many minutes the thought of a warming cup of tea easily beat the remote chance of a skua or shearwater and headed back indoors for some heat.

It was no warmer and possibly colder at lunchtime even though the wind had swung round to almost due south. By th time the tide had dropped considerably too. Of note were about two dozen Sandwich Terns roosting on the beach which were joined by others, mostly in pairs, from time to time. By the time we left there were 34 and others still out at sea. Again a small smattering of Common Scoters were seen and a handful of very distant Gannets.

Where to next? Come on spring you can do better than this. In the meantime let us know how sprung spring is in your outback.

Pic – Primroses in the gloom of Patch 1 this morning; narrowly escaping where a plonker has replaced his rear fence and chucked his old one out of sight out of mind in to the park and on to the big patch of Bluebells and Dog Violets that grow beyond his garden - that's alright then - they're only weeds...aren't they?