Black Redstart at Dawlish Warren…

When we arrived a nice couple stopped me and told me that there was a Black Redstart about. After having a look at the Surf Scoter we decided to see if we could find it. We actually found two! It was a nightmare trying to get a shot of one of them. At one point (obviously looking as if I had been possessed) I found myself laying down in a dip in the ground (being a dune area). I jumped in and positioned the camera on the edge, ready to capture the shot of the day… then I felt the boggy stagnant water seeping through my jeans; into my thermal under garments and freezing my legs instantly! My thought to myself… “Well, you’re wet now so just stick it out”… Then, yet another family with about four lively children wandered by and the Black Redstart disappeared into the trees in the distance. “Half term is not really the best time for this” was my final thought on the matter!


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14th & 15th February

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We had a lovely weekend; Sunday was the Cruise on the Tamar with Bruce Taggart http://www.tamarwildlife.co.uk/ and for the day I recorded a day list of 58. I shall definitely be doing that again. I really enjoyed it. We headed up to Devon that evening as we had booked a room so as to make an early start in the morning. We did just that, as we hardly slept. Trevor got up in a bad mood, having been cold all night and I was just too excited, as usual! We got off to a dull start. It was misty and raining, but the weather improved eventually and I should like to visit a few of the places again and spend more time wandering around. I had two life ticks for the weekend and quite a few for the year list. The only problem with trying to fit in so many places in one day is that you don't get enough time to have a good look - hint hint :-)

My day list for Monday has beaten my record of 74 and I am now on 78 (provided I identified them all correctly). I dare say I could have added at least 10 more, had Derek, Sam and Ben been there! :-)