For me, I've eaten too much, drank too much and sat on the sofa too much as I've lounged about in my Christmas cocoon while the world goes on around me. It has felt very decadent and also very restorative but now that the New Year is here I shall have to get off my butt, stop eating and drinking so much and get out and face the world again.
No birding as such was done during "Chrimbo Limbo" but a Great Northern Diver was close in to shore for a change on a Boxing Day walk around Plymouth Hoe although "wild" swimmers in the water soon pushed it back out into The Sound. A walk around Burrator a few days later was grey, wet, windy and muddy and also pretty birdless but it was nice to see the white farmyard Goose was still present having avoided the attentions of Christmas goose rustlers for another year.
We actually managed to stay awake until Midnight on New Years Eve to see the New Year in but on waking up on New Years Day it was grey and claggy and with rain forecasted for later in the day we headed out in the morning for a walk around The Barbican and The Hoe.
There were 22 Mute Swans and 3 Canada Geese on Sutton Harbour but a confiding Razorbill was the best sighting although it was rarely on the water surface for more than a few seconds.
Razorbill
Razorbill
Off Fisherman's Nose there were 2 Great Northern Divers fairly close in, busily diving away and bringing up crabs to the surface to munch on.
Great Northern Diver
Great Northern Diver
Turnstones were feeding on the rocks below the Pier One cafe, unfortunately they flew off before I could get a good look at them but a circling Gannet off Rusty Anchor showed well as it regularly dived into the water.
Gannet
Gannet
The rain was beginning to fall heavily by the time we were heading home but I had a quick look around Beaumont Park before going indoors. A Chiffchaff was a nice find feeding in the undergrowth out of the rain but not so nice were 2 Brown Rats feeding on bread scraps put out for the Pigeons, both were as bold as brass, not even flinching as people walked by, and are presumably the source of our seemingly endless plague of rats trying to burrow under our house foundations in the front garden.
Welcome to 2024, Happy New Year!
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