Manxie invasion!

More seabirds off the point this morning, and it went,... a bit like this,...

08:00 to 08:59 - 3 Manxies, a few Sanderling and a smart 1st-summer Med Gull close in down channel
09:00 to 09:59 - 1 winter plumaged Great Northern Diver close in down channel, 3 Fulmar and a few more Sanderling
10:00 to 10:59 - 6 Manxies, 1 pale phase Arctic Skua, 1 2nd-summer Common Tern straight over our heads and yet more Sanderling.
11:00 to 12:00 - 210++ Manxies in one flipping big flock, 2 dark phase Arctic Skuas and 1 adult Arctic Tern.

An entertaining morning, certainly a helluva lot more entertaining than that poor excuse for a football match this afternoon (mind you, guess you can't expect too much from the 3rd/4th place play-off for the Champions League).

Back to normal

Thirty or forty Kittiwake, two Gannet, one Sanderling, four Whimbrel and a distant dark phase skua (probably Arctic) was all the point produced today.

Tales from the Golden Cliff

Four hours of peering into the pea soup produced 1 Manxie, 1 Little Tern, 1 dark phase Arctic Skua, 2 Sandwich Tern, 74 Arctic Tern, 6 Fulmar, 2 Kittiwake and 33 Gannet. A seawatch in Gwent,... with seabirds! Whatever next?!

Did they show well?

Yeah,... not bad.

Crappy Saturday

The day didn't start well, on the way to Craven Cottage got the news that both Purple Heron and Dotterel had turned up in Gwent; it didn't get any better. The best sightings were Ring-necked Parakeet in Bishop's Park, John Terry in his black Ferrari on Putney Bridge and Gary Barlow (whooooo?!) sat in the cottage at the cottage (if you know what I mean). The worst dip was missing dishy Des, also at the cottage.

Unfortunately, though rather predictably, Liverpool put out the reserves and played like it. God should have had two, but didn't, and Alonso had left his magic boots at home. Fulham just about scrambled a win though it didn't half help their cause that Bellamy, Gonzalez and Pennant took 'flattering to deceive' to a new level. If nothing else, it was great to see God in what may well be his last season in red (there really is/was only one Robbie Fowler). I might just point out that, if we win in Athens all the above is a load of inconsequential tripe.

Pot Pood?

A pre-prandial perambulation to the postbox produced a perfectly performing Pood Parbler, porry the p pey is ptuck pown.

What is plural for ibis?

Ibises? Ibis'? Ibi? Anyway, probably saw all 17 this evening at Slimbridge although no more than 11 at any one time, still nice though. Another four have rocked up in Somerset, surely Goldcliff will produce before long (Whinchat was the highlight today).

Any one of the 17 will do

Despite a good look round, I couldn't find a single Glossy Ibis on the patch, surely one of the Slimbridge birds will visit at some point. Did bag my first Gwent Gropper and House Martins of the year plus 1 Spoonbill, 1 White Wagtail, 13 Whimbrel, 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Sedge Warbler, 3 Reed Warbler, 3 Ruff and 1 Greenshank.

SPOO

An immature Spoonbill and a stonking summer plumaged Golden Plover were both present on Lagoon 1 at Goldcliff today.

On the move

The migrants keep coming, although in pretty disappointing numbers; Reed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and Whimbrel were all added to the 'birds I have seen whilst wandering about the patch this year' list. Much more exciting was a patch-tick: Red-legged Partridge! He shoots, he scores! Oh, and the dusky-flanked Tufted hybrid has flown the length of the reserve and is now at Uskmouth, vis mig at its best. Just for comparison, with last weeks slightly over-exposed pics, I managed to obtain some slightly under-exposed pics today.