Osprey From The House

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to get Osprey on my house list, thanks to a text from Gav telling me of one flying towards the lower river. I looked out of my bedroom window and there it was amongst the throngs of panicking Gulls. Nice!

That brought me to thinking of the other decent house ticks I’ve had here and what a great situation the house is in for seeing birds. I’ve taken a few snaps of some of the views from various parts of the house and will mention some of the house ticks I’ve seen in them.

Here goes:

This is a view over the harbour, hideous isn’t it! I’ve seen Common Sandpiper, Kingfisher, Little Egret and Oystercatcher from here. I’ve probably missed loads of stuff flying in off the sea or vice versa, but I can’t stare out of the window all day! Can I?

This is a view of Axe Cliff , domain of SEO, Honey Buzzard etc. I’ve only seen Raven and Peregrine here from the house though.

This is a lovely view isn’t it? It used to be a factory, now it’s a pile of rubble behind a fence. I think it’s a great place for a Wryneck sighting though. If one were spotted, the problem is that you can only see into this compound from a handful of houses in the vicinity, therefore I’m not looking that hard, coz the resulting twitch would be from my bedroom!! I have seen Willow Warbler and Bullfinch in here, birds which I’d never see in my garden which is a few square yards of gravel. In the distance you can just make out Seaton Marshes, most of the estuary is obscured by trees though. This is where I saw the Osprey from. Here’s a closer view:

On this picture, just at the very top of 'Mount Racel' you can see the Seaton Marshes Hide and the screening along the path. Wheatears like to perch on the posts along here, and guess what, yes, I’ve ticked ‘em! I could have seen the Stone Curlew we had last year from here, if I’d lived here then.

This is my favourite view, (excuse the wonky horizon) The view from my seawatching window. Doesn’t look very exciting does it? But it is, I’ve seen quite a collection of excellent seabirds from here, all the common ones and also Balearic Shearwater, Arctic and Pom Skuas, Velvet Scoter, Storm Petrel and Puffin. Excellent!


* Drivel Warning* ......* Drivel Warning* ........

Very little happing up on Axe Cliff this morning, the only bird of note being 1 Yellow Wagtail over. After yesterdays seeming ‘fall of golf balls’ there was also a distinct lack of these too. Except for one, a poor unfortunate that had been run over by a tractor, half concealed beneath the earth, I wondered what it was, could be a tick? Every one of my ‘little grey cells’ screamed "leave it alone you saddo!!"

I dug it out!!

For a moment it wasn’t worth it. A crumby Titleist Pro V1. I’ve already got that one. But wait, it has an ‘x’ on it . A pro V1x. A tick!! Here’s a photo of the evidence. My excuse is that I was trying out the super macro mode on my camera, apparently it will focus down to 1mm, so I tried it!

Later at home I thought about something I had found on Axe Cliff last year (Golf related, sorry!!) I suddenly realised I may still have it and a short search later there it was. And here it is:

Yes the Spalding Tee Elite 9 Iron!! Whatever that is? I was following a Migrant Hawker along the hedgerow trying to get a photo opportunity when I spotted it sticking out of the undergrowth. How did it get there? The mind boggles! In this photo it is being modeled by my two doggies, on the left is Anubis, in ancient Egyptian mythology the guardian of the gates to the underworld, but here has been relegated to guardian of the door to the outside toilet! On the right a Jack Russell Terrier called Rex who is, these days, only marginally more animated than the former! I digress, back to the club. I know virtually nothing about golf so I looked up 9 iron on the net and found this on the BBC Sport website:

Range: 110-130yds (101-119m)

You can either pitch it long with a full swing or chip it delicately from the fringe of the green……

The best players can use their nine iron in a host of different ways....

Or evidently, lob it over the nearest hedge in a temper!!