Goosed at Exmouth!

Thursday 27^th October.

Sorry to those of your who thought you had double vision when you read my last blog. Twixt the draft entry in Word, and arriving in the blog creation box, I had a touch of the vapours. The Editor is not exonerated either as she did not pick it up!!

Just had a look at the statistics of people reading the 43 instalments of my blog, and 27^th October was the day that I got my 3,000^th hit, not exactly viral but from little acorns…… da de da de da!!

The number of hits per item depends on the appeal or curiosity of the title, and finding a good title is key to getting the hits.  “Bald Heads” drew a crowd, as did “Back in the Room”.  Reference to Trump, and the “Exe to the Axe” drew little interest, but I can’t get too controversial…I’d like to!

I must tell you that our 10-day mini-break was absolutely bereft of birds, just 40 species, but in my defence whilst we were in some birding areas, that was not the object of the mini-tour. We visited Wales for a wedding blessing, and did pick up some Red Kites en route.

Nice accommodation -  we stayed in Pembrokeshire in a small village called Bethlehem, in a farm house called the Paddock, and from our bedroom could see the Stables….. but no kings or camels.

From Pembrokeshire to Weston on the mud (again), the M40 was closed TWICE and we enjoyed a pleasant 60 minutes looking at and commenting on the front gardens of Swansea residents (could have done some weeding the way the journey went!). Weston only contributed Rock Pipit (same place as last month – probably same bird). 

From there we drove to Exmouth, via Lynmouth in N.Devon, visiting Tony, my birding colleague who moved away from Derby earlier this year, and was mentioned in the early days of my blog.   A LONG journey, but finally arriving at one of our favourite hotels, The Imperial at Exmouth.

Sad to read about the Royal Clarence hotel in Exeter – I stayed there in 1968 in my days with the AA. (NO – not alcoholic anonymous). My memory was a Florida cocktail served complete with a fly. Ed; he is actually telling the truth, on both counts.

Wednesday 2^nd November.   Exmouth is at the widest part and the mouth of the Exe estuary, and a walk around the harbour yielded very good numbers of Brent Geese, plus the usual suspects. We took in a brief visit to RSPB Bowling Green Marsh, but it is at its best when the Exe is high, and the waders come on to the marsh area… but not on the day we visited.

Saturday 5^th November.  I’m writing this a bit in advance of Sunday which is my usual Birdwatching for Beginners Beginners walk. 18 people booked, of which 5 are people who have not joined the walk before. Always enjoy getting more people hooked on this wonderful hobby.

Sunday 6^th November.  Well you can’t win them all but the drizzle, which became rain was the best way to stop people loitering. At one stage, and remember I’m the leader, there was no one behind me! 18 of us got the obligatory 30 birds, with BOD being a very busy Willow Tit on the Ranger Base feeders, which would have been outvoted by a couple of Redpoll, but not everyone saw them.

After demisting binoculars in the heated wildlife centre, added 3 Snipe on Horseshoe Island (one actively bathing), and then the bird of the year.. well we had not seen one in 11 months, a Moorhen.

So with one walk left in 2016 (Sunday 4^th December), 2017 will start with the walk on 1^st January!! I’m not sure but I may be Billy No-Mates.

And for a bit of self-indulgence, we have had 232 bookings in 2016 (so far), the highest number in 11 years... getting popular, in-it?

For those not on the walk to-day, I will be doing the annual ½ day-away at Attenborough gravel Pits on Sunday 8^th January. Meet in the car park (NG9 6DY) for a 9.30 start PROMPT, and finish at 12.30.

Good news… just heard that the Tower hide at Attenborough is now accessible, especially good because we are coming up to Bittern time, and for 2017, and that is a very good view point.

TTFN.

The Quieter side of Skeggy!

Monday 24^th October 2016   So those of you who get a mail shot each time I put something on my blog, are going to wonder why this one is hot on the heels of the one last Sunday.

1     Those of you who get a mail shot each time I put something on my blog, are going to wonder why this one is hot on the heels of the one last Sunday.  

      Well we 2 are off for 10 relaxing days, away from the computer, to Wales, Somerset, Devon finally settling in at our favourite haunt, The Imperial Hotel, Exmouth.

2    But rather than wait until we come back, whilst it is still fresh in my mind, I want to recount my birding experiences in the last 48 hours, which tells me that I am well on the way back to my good old birding days.

Good start… schools are on holiday, and commuters will tell you what a difference that makes going to work. And in 20 minutes, I was the other end of Brian Clough way, at the Toby at Wollaton Park……………..oh, not The Toby anymore; pity I liked their carvery! But it was a good run, and at 10.30 I was at Gibraltar Point, and wondering at the new visitor centre that replaced the one devastated by the East coast storms of December 2013.

Simon King, the wildlife broadcaster officially opened the centre on 7^th October, and I guess this week was the first time the centre had welcomed families at half-term – it was heaving. I’m sure the support for the new centre plus the gabion walls will protect it from any storm recurrence.

I knew hi-tide was 2pm, so I went off for a couple of hours to the lagoons, welcomed by 3 Fieldfares as I got there, and then Redwing, so that’s a start of the winter birds.  Top bird on the marshes was a single snipe in a small cluster of reeds.. a JACK Snipe to boot. It was not in clockwork mode, but the head stripes and bracers were very bold, so a nice addition for 2016.

After a very generous Jacket Potato with Coronation chicken and salad (managed 66%!), I set off for the closest place to the sea for the hi-tide, and beyond the east edge of the dunes, found 6/7 very active little birds, which kept dropping into the plants on/in the mud. Scope to the fore, with a suspicion as to what they were from the call, I confirmed they were Twite. I’d only seen Twite twice before, once at Donna Nook and once at Southport, so that was another good tick for 2016.  When I got back to the car I was able to confirm the call on my phone.

So with 40 birds for a satisfactory but shortish day, it gets dusk early, I headed for my B in Skegness. I was to discover when I got to the Ivydene that I had in fact only booked Bed! Quickly rectified, £ changed hands and I had an excellent full breakfast etc etc for £5.

Tuesday 25^th October 11am  And I was on the quayside in Boston, waiting to go on my 5th RSPB Birdwatching cruise to the Wash. The Boston Belle takes an hour to reach the sea, poddles around in the Wash then goes off down the River Welland, almost to the A17. 47 people enjoyed a 45 minute delayed start due to the tide, but more than made up for it by being “at sea” for 5 hours, much longer than usual. There were early requests for the Chefs speciality, Bacon Buttie, even before we cast off. A count of 70 species made it an excellent trip, as always

THE BOSTON BELLE

Steve Keighley, the caller (sounds like Bingo) aided by ¾ RSPB spotters, found an early Grey Wagtail, then a Green Woodpecker posing on a fence post.

Once we got into the Wash, seals kept popping their heads up to scrutinise us, and we were just overawed by the size of some of the bird flocks. Oystercatchers, Dunlin, Lapwing were everywhere, as were Redshanks, and up to 4 Marsh harriers were seen at one time. Add Merlin, and Scoters for good measure.

Steve reprimanded everyone (including himself) for wrongly identifying a cormorant, which turned out to be a Black Throated Diver.

When we went up the Welland, Rodney the skipper throttled back the engines to permit some non-vibrating photos of basking seals, and as we came home passed The Stump, he slowed again to photo the 2 Peregrines on the building.

This was the last trip for 2016, but they have already planned 2017 programme – well worth the trip – I will go again.