I've had a excellent day's birding on patch, and as the title suggests, I've taken plenty of photos - and not all are crap for a change! There's a grand total of SEVENTEEN for you to look at in this post!!
To very briefly sum up my day, I've had five patch year ticks, which ain't bad going at all! The non-brief summary looks like this...
My day started rather late really, at 8am, all thanks to a text from Ian McLean informing me of a mixed bag of Flycatchers on Beer Head.
It was odd on Beer Head this morning, overall it was quiet, expect for The Hollow, where the bushes were sheltered from the north wind and the sun made it feel like an oven! A Tree Pipit over was one of today's year ticks, a Garden Warbler with a few Blackcaps and 10+ Willow Warblers was another, and then there were the Flycatchers...
I left after thirty minutes and had seen at least six Spotted and two Pied Flycatchers (the latter year tick number three!). Being Flycatchers they never stayed still for long, but here are some photos...
Pied Flies
Spot Flies
One of each
After a quick stop off at home, I headed down to Blackhole Marsh for high tide. I was hoping to see the two Little Stints Phil had found on Sunday. They were indeed both still here, the juvenile remained distant, but the adult proved much more 'helpful'...
If only the sun was as 'helpful!' Year tick number four
While my scope and camera were trained on close things, I couldn't help but snap a Dunlin too...
That little droplet of water on the end of its bill being enough for me to want to publish this pic!
I thought the Little Stints would be the highlight on the marsh, but that wasn't so...
I spied a wader looking 'pally' with a Greenshank on the southern edge of the marsh....but in direct line of the sun! After a bit of manoevering to view it in more favourable light conditions, this wader showed itself to be a juvenile Spotted Redshank - RESULT! 'Spotshank' is a less than annual visitor to our Estuary, and I think it is the first for the marsh...
As you can see - it stayed distant! Year tick five :-)
There's obviously been a bit of a duck influx too, as my first Wigeon of the year flew around looking lost over Blackhole, before landing on the river (this is much earlier than last year's first - 7th September) and a flock of 28 Teal took off from Colyford Common.
I've not had the moth traps out for what seems like ages, but I'm still gonna sneak a few moth photos into this post...
Jersey Tiger at Blackhole Marsh
Old Lady by our garage door!
Looks like a lot of this week is going to be wet. Not what many people want during the summer holidays - but I like the sound of it!!
To very briefly sum up my day, I've had five patch year ticks, which ain't bad going at all! The non-brief summary looks like this...
My day started rather late really, at 8am, all thanks to a text from Ian McLean informing me of a mixed bag of Flycatchers on Beer Head.
It was odd on Beer Head this morning, overall it was quiet, expect for The Hollow, where the bushes were sheltered from the north wind and the sun made it feel like an oven! A Tree Pipit over was one of today's year ticks, a Garden Warbler with a few Blackcaps and 10+ Willow Warblers was another, and then there were the Flycatchers...
I left after thirty minutes and had seen at least six Spotted and two Pied Flycatchers (the latter year tick number three!). Being Flycatchers they never stayed still for long, but here are some photos...
Pied Flies
Spot Flies
One of eachAfter a quick stop off at home, I headed down to Blackhole Marsh for high tide. I was hoping to see the two Little Stints Phil had found on Sunday. They were indeed both still here, the juvenile remained distant, but the adult proved much more 'helpful'...
If only the sun was as 'helpful!' Year tick number fourWhile my scope and camera were trained on close things, I couldn't help but snap a Dunlin too...
That little droplet of water on the end of its bill being enough for me to want to publish this pic!I thought the Little Stints would be the highlight on the marsh, but that wasn't so...
I spied a wader looking 'pally' with a Greenshank on the southern edge of the marsh....but in direct line of the sun! After a bit of manoevering to view it in more favourable light conditions, this wader showed itself to be a juvenile Spotted Redshank - RESULT! 'Spotshank' is a less than annual visitor to our Estuary, and I think it is the first for the marsh...
As you can see - it stayed distant! Year tick five :-)There's obviously been a bit of a duck influx too, as my first Wigeon of the year flew around looking lost over Blackhole, before landing on the river (this is much earlier than last year's first - 7th September) and a flock of 28 Teal took off from Colyford Common.
I've not had the moth traps out for what seems like ages, but I'm still gonna sneak a few moth photos into this post...
Jersey Tiger at Blackhole Marsh
Old Lady by our garage door!Looks like a lot of this week is going to be wet. Not what many people want during the summer holidays - but I like the sound of it!!
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