CJW
Hit-and-run WUM
I went down to my usual beachfront at mid.day today, more in the hope of a decent wader or two than anything else.
Part of the journey involves driving across a golfcourse. This golfcourse is a good place to see Chough and other corvids when the tide is particularly high, so I wasn't surprised to see a dark Hooded x Carrion Crow Hybrid on there, as I wizzed past.
Apart from the usual 50+ White Wagtails there wasn't much of note on the shore but the few scattered bushes were alive with Whitethroats and phylloscs. but despite grilling them, couldn't locate anything out of the ordinary. I had 20-odd minutes left of my lunchbreak so decided to drive back across the golfcourse to view the beach at the other side of the peninsula. The "hoodie hybrid" had been joined on the fairway by a couple of Wheatear but again, nowt special.
I pulled the Land Rover up so I could view the shoreline (flushing a Whimbrel in the process) and set about scanning the tide-wrack. Again there were plenty of White Wags, Linnets, Mipits and Swallows hawking up and down. Then I heard a call that was unfamiliar to me (in recent years at least) "Sweeeep", it went. "Hmm, interesting" I went. I got out of the car and immediately flushed a Yellow Wagtail - a scarce spring pasage bird here on the island. During the next 10 minutes I saw at least 3 Yellow Wags (all females). I contacted peteh who arrived within 10 minutes to get himself a 'lifer'. We watched one bird for about ten minutes until another local birder arrived and seemed somewhat excited. Surely not for a Yellow Wag'? They aren't that rare! "Have you boys seen the ****** **** on the Golf Course?" she asked. 5 minutes later peteh and I were viewing the bird in the attached photo at ranges of just a few metres. That'll teach me to dismiss corvids on the Golf Course!
Part of the journey involves driving across a golfcourse. This golfcourse is a good place to see Chough and other corvids when the tide is particularly high, so I wasn't surprised to see a dark Hooded x Carrion Crow Hybrid on there, as I wizzed past.
Apart from the usual 50+ White Wagtails there wasn't much of note on the shore but the few scattered bushes were alive with Whitethroats and phylloscs. but despite grilling them, couldn't locate anything out of the ordinary. I had 20-odd minutes left of my lunchbreak so decided to drive back across the golfcourse to view the beach at the other side of the peninsula. The "hoodie hybrid" had been joined on the fairway by a couple of Wheatear but again, nowt special.
I pulled the Land Rover up so I could view the shoreline (flushing a Whimbrel in the process) and set about scanning the tide-wrack. Again there were plenty of White Wags, Linnets, Mipits and Swallows hawking up and down. Then I heard a call that was unfamiliar to me (in recent years at least) "Sweeeep", it went. "Hmm, interesting" I went. I got out of the car and immediately flushed a Yellow Wagtail - a scarce spring pasage bird here on the island. During the next 10 minutes I saw at least 3 Yellow Wags (all females). I contacted peteh who arrived within 10 minutes to get himself a 'lifer'. We watched one bird for about ten minutes until another local birder arrived and seemed somewhat excited. Surely not for a Yellow Wag'? They aren't that rare! "Have you boys seen the ****** **** on the Golf Course?" she asked. 5 minutes later peteh and I were viewing the bird in the attached photo at ranges of just a few metres. That'll teach me to dismiss corvids on the Golf Course!
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