My dear father-in-laws funeral was held on Friday 9th March and it was a sad, solemn, poignant, humourous, emotional and reflective day with heavy rain making the grave side a treacherous quagmire and fraught with visions of elderly relatives slipping over and falling into the grave - but a grand send off for a lovely man, Rest In Peace Dear Dabber.
Very fortunately we had a weeks annual leave pre booked for the week after the funeral and so on Sunday 11th March we had a quick walk around Saltram before the forecasted rain arrived - unfortunately everybody else had the same idea and it was very busy, not helped by it being Mothers Day. Not much was seen on the walk and we got back to the car just as the rain began to fall but 3 greenshank on Blaxton Meadow on a low high tide with 100+ redshank, 2 curlew, shelduck and gulls were noted along with a male and 2 redhead goosander fishing near the railway bridge with 1 of the redheads just managing to swallow a large fish it caught and brought to the surface before it was mobbed by the other 2 (later 3 redheads were seen together preening on the mudflats with the male roosting on the water nearby).
Goosander, River Plym
Goosander, River Plym
Tuesday 13th March and a beautiful spring day with sunshine, light winds and mild temperatures saw us heading off to Stoke Point for a walk, something we have wanted to do for a while but have been thwarted from doing due to weather, work and family stuff. While washing the dishes before we left the house for our walk I noticed an oil beetle in the bay tree outside, presumably tempted out by the mild weather and a new species for the back yard.
Oil Beetle, Back Yard
Oil Beetle
The footpath at Stoke Point as expected was a complete and utter mud fest after all the recent heavy rain and we spent a lot of time looking down negotiating our footing and not at the scenery and wildlife but it was a lovely walk as usual none the less.
Stonechats, meadow pipits and skylarks were singing and songflighting, a peacock butterfly was sunning itself on a rock, a female kestrel was busy mobbing 4 noisy and displaying buzzards, 2 ravens flew over cronking and a large peregrine was sunning itself on a clifftop rock before flying off. I had a very brief view of a probable Dartford warbler flying over the gorse near to a pair of stonechat before diving into cover but the highlight was a male wheatear flying up to a fence post by the footpath before flying off never to be seen again - spring is definently here.
Peregrine, Stoke Point
Wheatear, Stoke Point
Wednesday 14th March and the weather was foul, a complete contrast to the previous day with wind and heavy rain. I decided to head over to Torpoint anyway for a walk to nearby Wilcove where a male green winged teal has been overwintering but which I haven't had the opportunity to look for until now (due to weather, tides, work and family stuff). It wasn't too bad when I left the house but by the time I arrived at Torpoint it was chucking it down with rain and after the 20 minute walk to Wilcove I was soaking wet. Luckily I quickly found the male green winged teal feeding out on the mudflats with some Eurasian teal, its white breast flashes being almost luminous in the gloomy conditions. After 20 minutes I had had enough with my optics and myself being thoroughly drenched through and just as I left a bonus whimbrel flew over calling before landing on the rocky foreshore. A quick look off Marine Drive at Torpoint before catching the ferry back to Plymouth gave a nice view of the wintering Sandwich tern flying around but I was very glad to get home and out of my wet clothes after a successful but soggy trip.
Green Winged Teal, Wilcove - gloomy record shots
Green Winged Teal
Green Winged Teal
Green Winged Teal
And so time marches on, life goes on but not the same and spring is just around the corner.
No comments:
Post a Comment