Quality over Quantity

I always knew my Patchwork Challenge year would start off slow; I was in Somerset most of yesterday and in work most of today. So my game plan was to prioritise any 'goodies' in the little time I did have free, and it worked...ish!

On the 1st I had up until 08:40 spare, and seeing as it doesn't really get light until 8am I knew I had to use that 40 minutes as best I could... so I spent it looking at three empty gorse bushes where a Dartford Warbler had been seen flitting between two days previous!  A Dartie would be a quality bird for the list but frustratingly no one has seen it since the turn of the year. 

Want!

 

Despite this the 1st still proved a success, as like any good year lister I didn't go out when it got light, I left home about an hour before that!  And whilst I was scanning the still very dark river valley hoping for a cheeky Barn Owl, the only other species of bird that I had any chance of identifying in that level of light came floating down the valley - a Great White Egret!  It even pitched in briefly on Black Hole Marsh, and was seen later in the day and again today but others.  Presumably the same bird that was seen for a couple of days on Colyford Marsh around Christmas.  Still, I wasn't expecting it!

Then we have today, and during my shift at work news came through that incredibly the Colyford Common Isabelline Wheatear, last seen on Boxing Day, had reappeared in exactly the same place!  So at lunchtime I dashed up to grab some distant but much appreciated views. A big fat FIVE POINTER in Patchwork Challenge - thank you very much!

Another bird that reappeared today was the (was a probable now surely is) Eastern Yellow Wagtail also at Colyford Common.  It was seen on Christmas Day briefly, and then like the Wheatear, not seen again until today when it was photographed by visiting birders on overhead wires at Colyford Common late this afternoon.  So that's my next target, if I can find it...

Other year ticks so far have included Green Woodpecker, Water Rail, Cetti's Warbler and Coot.  Not looked at the sea yet, or the gulls, or been anywhere really, but my time for quantity will come...