This afternoon I tried something I've never done before - I walked from my house and then around virtually the entire perimeter of my Patchwork patch. I left home at 12:45 and was back by dusk, and managed to include visits to Black Hole Marsh (Tower Hide), Colyford Common (hide, platform and reed bed walk) and the Seaton Marshes hide. I birded small bits of the patch that I've hardly ever (or never) looked at before, and even picked up a year tick as a result - a Mistle Thrush in Colyford, which is usually passed through in a vehicle. Mistle Thrush puts me on 86 species, and exactly 100 points.
A reminder of what my Patchwork patch comprises...
I carried only bins and camera. Travelling light is very liberating, but I felt a bit naked without a scope. When the weather improves a bit I would like to start doing the patch by bike, but again do not fancy being encumbered with a scope, even though much of our patch almost demands one. My Nikon/Manfrotto combo weighs a ton, and I really don't relish having to tote it around in a rucksack. Don't even mention Scopac. I do have standards...
Birds included 105 Dunlin, 7 Shoveler, 60+ Redwings, 20+ Fieldfares, and this rabid, jostling gang of 100+ Shelduck on the Seaton Marshes lagoon - I think they were on grain, so are perhaps being groomed for an imminent cannon-netting session?
A couple more photos to end with...
Looking inland over Black Hole Marsh - a bit of snow on the hilltops
And finally, proof that I would never, ever mislead the readers of this blog, or pull their legs in any way whatsoever. When I say 506 Golden Plovers, I can back it up with data...
Spent best part of a year covering a patch on bike. The scope fits quite comfortably in a pannier and the tripod was bungied to the rack. Took a few trips before I stopped looking behind to ensure precious cargo was still on board though. Sadly the patch was rubbish, I never saw much and came to the conclusion I was biking and birding quite badly...Jon W
ReplyDeleteThanks Jon. The old hack I'm intending to use to grind round the patch is fairly minimalist, and has no rack or panniers - in fact I don't own such items at all. I do have a pretty huge saddlebag though - but even that's not big enough for the scope. Now if only I still had that old 60mm body...
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