Tuesday 15 January 2013

Menagerie à Trois

I'm shagged!! Not in the good way, in the way where your back, legs, arse and hands hurt. No I'm not making erotic references. Not something, that, ahem, I do. Anyways the cause and effect of flower picking for the past two weeks is biting into every flex of muscle and stretch of tendon creating a creaking, or should I say moaning monster.

Here! This is a relatively birdy blog, quit your flower pansy jibber jabber. So. Despite being physically crippled by flowers I still found time to get off my face on mid-winter rares of all sorts of shapes and sizes.

Firstly a Winter Moth caught at somepoint in the last week or so was only the 6/7th record for Scilly. Other winged wonders brought in by the previously warm conditions included the odd Silver Y, Pearly Underwing and RDP. Did you notice those weren't written in taxonomic order? 




Meanwhile at Longstone. There hasn't been a great deal really. Daily Chiffchaff sighting climaxed with two sunning and calling for a day or so last week while Blackcaps have hovered around one a day, alternating between male and female so through the magic of sexual dimorphism we can deduce there are two, Sick. Beside passer flex's, those feisty non-passerino's have been regular with the Long-eared Owl being the highlight. After 'bare time' (as they say on the streets) standing and waiting on multiple dusks, camera at the ready, this silent flapper circled my head and barely 4ft range, amazing. Experiences like that really epitomise the breath-taking beauty of birds and nature, and a sense of privilege that I even notice this stuff, let alone appreciate it!


Meanwhile near Longstone. After the initial sighting I had to wait til my Wednesday afternoon off for another chance to re-grip myself over the monster Pipit. And as luck would have it, there it was. Looking big.
 
The grass in greener with a Dick's Pipit on...

Several rogue Little Egret have been hanging around the Cattle intent on giving me cardiac arrest...

Meanwhile at Porthellick. On said Wednesday afternoon I had got back after a tiresome afternoon dipping for the 4.56x10th time on the Dusky Warbler and saw those Ducks with rings around their necks had put in an appearance. Meh I though, I'll pop round after work tomorrow, it's getting dark. THEN. Then my eyes licked across internet photos that showed our 1st-winter male was now in full drake plumage! Ring-necked cock!! So I dashed down and caught them at dusk, hence crappy but evocative photos.

Seriously, how fit is that duck! Sorry ducks...

These big fat nuggets were still hanging around #Greenland Whitefronts

Meanwhile at Lower Moors. AGAIN. My last piece of decent birding came last weekend when a weather and non-hangover window saw me complete a mini-tour of my favourite under-rated/watched sites. Which produced zero birds. But that's by the by. So I slutted it up down at Lower Moors knowing/hoping the local Phyllosc skanks would be parading around in their buff in the sun. And I wasn't disappointed with my first 'proper' Siberian Chiff since my return. Not the most grey I've seen them, but that call don't lie, and it was pretty f##king grey. No Dusky though. AGAIN!

Siberian Chiff playing hard to get...

And in traditional style I thought I'd end with a lovely photo of some Phragmites reed and a sunset. Colours are cool.

No comments:

Post a Comment