My back pain continues to improve and it has been interesting and bizarre to follow it's evolution as it moves around to different areas and changes form and intensity. However just as it has started to dissipate along comes excruciating tooth pain resulting in a trip to an emergency dentist (£85, I can't get an NHS dentist) and a course of antibiotics and another spell of sickness from work. Fortunately the tooth, an old root canal treated tooth, is OK but there seems to be an area of infection in the jaw. Hopefully it will be treated successfully with the amoxycillin tablets I've been given.
Thursday 20th April was a beautiful day, all blue skies and sunshine but with a chilly Easterly breeze. I would have been in bed asleep after my second night shift but I had taken the night off sick due to my tooth pain and so I made the most of it and headed out to Saltram for a short walk with David. The tide was very low and I wasn't particularly feeling birdy due to the pain but it was nice to be out and about and it wasn't too busy.
I kept an eye out overhead as Red Kites are on the move again but I drew a blank as expected although 2 Swallows and 2 Buzzard were noted. 2 Stock Dove and 2 very noisy Ring-necked Parakeets were also flying around and a Blackcap was heard singing away. Along the river a Common Sandpiper was flushed by a fisherman and I found my first Saltram Speckled Wood of the year flitting about by the viewing platform.
Wednesday 26th April was cool, grey and claggy as I headed out by bus to Wembury for a walk. The weather conditions meant no sightings of any butterflies or reptiles and insect activity was pretty low but there was some good birding to be had to make up for it.
There were at least 11 mobile and vocal Whimbrel along the beach on the high tide, always a delight to see and even more delightful to hear. A winter plumaged Grey Plover and a winter plumaged Bar-tailed Godwit were also present with 31 Oystercatcher, 3 Little Egret, 5 Mallard (4 males) and 5 Shelduck.
A very nice surprise was a singing and songflighting Dartford Warbler at The Point, my first here since 2017 following The Beast from the East in 2018 and the National Trust subsequently clearing all the gorse in the area they frequented. The gorse has since grown back and this is where todays bird was seen, hopefully the gorse is not due to be cleared again any time soon.
At least 6 Whitethroats were singing and songflighting and Chiffchaff and Blackcap were vocal too along with the Cettis Warbler in the valley to the beach which kept itself well hidden as usual.
Cirl Buntings were also seen and heard, 2 Red-legged Partridge were feeding in the wheatfield, a lone adult Gannet was offshore with Fulmars and 4 Swallow flitted about overhead.
A Noon Fly posed nicely despite the chilly conditions and the Hairy-footed Flower Bees were buzzing around their burrows in the usual wall.
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