Last night Jess and I went on an Owl hunt. Sadly we didn't see any, but we did hear a very vocal Little Owl near Musbury. That will do for me - patch year tick!
Today I was hoping a quick sweep of the river valley would produce the two Ruff that Tim found last night on Black Hole Marsh, and I'm pleased to say it did. They're both cracking males and were opposite Axmouth FC along with a few Lapwing, Dunlin and a Green Sandpiper. There's obviously been some wader movement recently; our wintering Bar-tailed Godwit flock has doubled to two, five Golden Plover were on Bridge Marsh and there were again over a hundred Dunlin present.
So my year list is on 116, with the total patch list for 2013 standing at 121. Don't forget you can keep track of my year list attempt by clicking on the '2013 patch year list' tab at the top of this blog.
I really thought I had blown it for a patch Waxwing this winter (yet again!) as numbers in the country have really dwindled since Christmas, but within the last week they have really been teasing us. At the start of the week there was a flock of 25 just five miles north of us, and today up to ten spent a couple of hours in a street just four and a half miles west of the patch. So although it is highly annoying they haven't been on patch - they've certainly given me renewed hope that the Waxwing gap on my patch list may soon be filled...
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