Better but not really any good

The Safari was excused a Patch 1 visit this morning as Wifey took Frank out so no news from there other than we could hear the Golden Triangle’s Song Thrush singing away while we were deciding whether to lie in bed for a few more minutes or get up n at em.

Visibility was a far better than yesterday at Patch 2, or more specifically we could see further. In fact the visibility wasn’t that good as there was a bit of a weird shimmery ‘heat’ haze in the distance which wasn’t good for having a good check of the distant Common Scoters for anything out of the ordinary. Closer in there wasn’t anything to set the pulse racing with the few Common Scoters sitting behind the surf.

On the beach the patch let us down a bit – there were a few gulls and a couple of dozen Oystercatchers feeding in the runnels and along the water’s edge as the tide rose. A Redshank and three Turnstones poked around in the seaweed at the base of the wall and a handful of Sanderlings scurried around the edges of the incoming waves in their own inimical style. But it was over our southern border and out of accurate counting distance where the bulk of the action was. Several hundred gulls included a few Great Black Backs, a couple of Lesser Black Backs – the start of the return passage? – and a rather darker than normal Common Gull – from somewhere to the east?.

Oystercatchers were scattered everywhere on the wide expanse of beach with many hundreds more in a long black line along the water’s edge, conservatively 2500 of them. Sanderlings too were numerous with 130 counted before they took flight and flocked up. A good number remained on the beach and we’d guess at somewhere in the region of 200-250 altogether.

A trip along the corridor from the office to the brew-room was rewarded by not only a hot cuppa but through the windows a Magpie (P2 No 36) was seen flying over the garden which landed on a neighbouring roof joining three Black Headed Gulls, one of which was in just about full sum. plum. Magpies aren’t necessarily easy at Patch 2.

The lunchtime safari wasn’t up to much either. The shimmering haze was worse and now started at the near-middle distance making anything beyond that far out look as though it was related to Wobbly Bob from Wobblesville, Arizona.

Close in a similar number of Common Scoters bobbed about on the swell, close enough to be able to tell there was nothing special with them other than a single Great Crested Grebe.

With nothing much happening we gave up after about ten minutes.

This shrub makes up half the front hedge at work, the other half being Tamarisk. No idea what it is other than it has little pinky-purple flowers that the Bumble Bees love...we do know it should be in bud yet!

Round the back is our Gorse hedge which gets excessively and badly pruned by people trying to get at the windows to clean them - pruned too hard for the local Linnets to nest safely  in those spiny branches. A severed trunk has this unknown fungus growing out of it - dunno how long it's been there but not noticed it until this arvo...any suggestions...it's about an inch (25mm) side to side maybe a tad more.

Where to next? Gotta get better soon...hasn’t it?

In the meantime let us know what’s wobbling in your outback.