First Little Stint of the Year

I was meaning to get down to Colyford Common first thing this morning to see if the Little Stints were still present, I couldn't get up though, I tried, but not too hard. Fortunately, both Gav and Steve were far more eager and both texted me within minutes of each other to say that one Little Stint was still present. I was by this time already dressed and imbibed with copious quantities of tea, so I was ready to go!!

When I arrived I could see one Little Stint on the small scrape, fast asleep and another along with two Dunlin and the five Ruff on the main scrape. The morning sun was just struggling to break through the thick river mist, beautiful maybe, but rubbish for photography. I was considering digiscoping the sleeping Stint, well once it awoke. My plan was thwarted however because when the bird did wake up and move I was too busy texting Gav to find out what gripping golf balls he had found on Axe Cliff and I missed it, it either flew away or died! I never saw it again. You know what that means don't you? Yes, I decided to digiscope the distant one on the main scrape instead. Here it is, yes it's that little brown blob on the right at the back.

A typical Colyford Common Scrape disaster.

Little Stint is Patch Year tick 182 for me, I might even be back in the lead!

The Osprey arrived again with a huge Mullet and landed on it's favourite post for a while but later moved down to a gate post on the Common itself. I knew I could get quite near to take some snaps but it was really misty and glary and I thought it probably wasn't worth it, but like you do, (well I do anyway) I had a stab at it regardless! Here are the results. They aren't overexposed it really is fog!! I think they look rather......erm.... rather ...er ... 'artistic'. Look at the size of that Mullet though. The throng of people I could see waiting at Coronation Corner for a view of the bird, would be having a long wait for it's next appearance I thought!!



I don't know if they saw it again but everytime I've driven past Coronation Corner today there have been half a dozen or so hopefuls there, some with scopes and some with the kind of cameras you need a team of Sherpas to transport! Here's the 4:30 PM bunch:

Waiting for the Osprey

I decided not to walk Rex on Axe Cliff today, afterall Gav will have ticked all the golf balls. :-) Instead I took him to Colyton Waste Water Treatment Works (sewage farm). Really, it's not as bad as it sounds, it's a great spot for Chiffchaffs and Water Pipits in the winter too. What lies one field beyond it is what I was heading for, the tramway, possible Wryneck territory! The footpath here crosses the tramlines and I had a quick stroll up and down the line before a tram came. A long shot but you never know! Here's a picture of the scene:

Prime Wryneck habitat

In this picture you can see the famous 'pink tram' in the distance and the driver alongside it, looking at me, don't know why! To the right - what I thought would be my foolproof Wryneck flushing weapon. It was rubbish!