March 14th
A couple of visits, punctuated by rain, to Aust Wharf in the hope of short eared owls. The rain probably made it impossible for the owls to hunt and the fact that the road was caked in a few inches of wet mud from yesterday's Severn Bore meant that you couldn't even park up and see out the showers as the road was closed at either end although the flood barriers were quite climbable. The second visit at the southern end did bring a perched up Merlin. Not a year tick but a much desired photo tick and great to see fairly close.
Estonia in 12 days time will hopefully provide some Owls
The Battery Point purple sandpipers were fairly near by and while I'd missed high tide it was a very high one and the rain was likely to put off the fishermen who led to my last dip so I gave it a go. I dont dislike Purple Sandpipers but the effort involved in year ticking them each winter is in no way commensurate with how cool they are. Anyway it was nice to watch one poking around in the seaweed,
156 Purple Sandpiper
Birds 156 Mammals 6. Herp 1. Butterflies 7 total 170 lifers 6
A couple of visits, punctuated by rain, to Aust Wharf in the hope of short eared owls. The rain probably made it impossible for the owls to hunt and the fact that the road was caked in a few inches of wet mud from yesterday's Severn Bore meant that you couldn't even park up and see out the showers as the road was closed at either end although the flood barriers were quite climbable. The second visit at the southern end did bring a perched up Merlin. Not a year tick but a much desired photo tick and great to see fairly close.
Estonia in 12 days time will hopefully provide some Owls
The Battery Point purple sandpipers were fairly near by and while I'd missed high tide it was a very high one and the rain was likely to put off the fishermen who led to my last dip so I gave it a go. I dont dislike Purple Sandpipers but the effort involved in year ticking them each winter is in no way commensurate with how cool they are. Anyway it was nice to watch one poking around in the seaweed,
156 Purple Sandpiper
Birds 156 Mammals 6. Herp 1. Butterflies 7 total 170 lifers 6