Over-egging the Optimism...Again

It was a day of unfulfilled expectations. As frequently happens, there was a big gap between yesterday evening's mental picture and this morning's reality. Over-egging the optimism is my speciality, but at least it gets me up when the alarm goes off. Last night certainly was cold - the coldest night of the winter apparently - but not cold enough to shift many birds. A few pitiful strings of Lapwing threaded their way SW this morning, but other than that my long, circuitous walk up the Axe Valley from Seaton seafront to Colyford and back saw little in the way of cold-weather movement. And nothing in the way of grey geese. Still, it was not without event...

Eastern Lesser Whitethroat of some kind or other.

Bathed in the warm glow of early-morning sunshine, that Lesser Whitethroat looks as brown as you like. I saw just the one bird today (there are at least two present) but it was in good company, with at least 4 Blackcaps and one or more Black Redstarts as well. A nice little hotspot in the middle of Seaton.

I pressed on up the valley...

My first Marsh Harrier of the year over the estuary reedbeds.

One of three Rock Pipits on the Colyord Common saltmarsh.

Back in the day it was typical to see double figures of wintering Rock Pipits here - for example, 25 on 1st Feb 2006. I don't know what the current situation is, but as Rock Pipits are neither egrets, kites or parakeets, I fear the worst.

My final destination and turning point was Colyton WTW. As previously, a stack of Chiffs feasting on tiny Diptera, including two Sibe Chiffs, as well as a Firecrest, 6 Goldcrests and a Blackcap. But their location today and the light were all wrong for happy snapping. Didn't stop me trying though...

This Firecrest was on view for quite a while but never emerged from cover. This is the best I could manage.

I assume the Sibe Chiffs were the same two I encountered last time, but cannot be 100% sure. One gave me just a single opportunity for a photo, while the other was quite obliging. But glaring, sideways-on sunshine made things a bit tricky...

Tristis Chiffs are subtle enough as it is, but you cannot be dogmatic about how they 'ought' to look in photographs, or even in life. They seem to take a chameleonesque delight in changing their appearance according to the lighting conditions. The only constant is that they always look pale and interesting!

Sibe Chiff surveying its larder.

Definitely 'pale and interesting'!

The bird is in total shade here, so this is one of very few shots without the harsh contrast present in most.

Typical lighting today!

On this individual it is actually quite hard to see greenish edgings on the flight feathers, but in this photo they are evident on the left wing at least, where it catches the sun. 

A different bird, but I only got one crack at it. This is the best of the burst.

The day's only downer was that I almost certainly walked right past a pair of Cirl Buntings at Seaton Marshes. Hopefully they will stick around. I've seen the breeding Cirls on Beer Head now, and one at Axe Cliff to the east, but it would be great to have them settle in the valley, right at the heart of the Axe patch.

I'm not interested in chasing numbers, but cannot help noticing that my BirdTrack app reckons I've seen 78 species locally this year. A purposeful birdwatcher would carefully check that list in case they had failed to record something obvious, like Wigeon, say. Oops. Mind you, a purposeful birdwatcher would invariably be submitting 'complete' lists anyway, with full counts and everything. I am not one. Sorry. Also, as it did with Caspian Gull, BirdTrack has reminded me that Siberian Chiffchaff is likewise a description species in Devon. Again, sorry.

Misplaced optimism aside, unpurposefully reacquainting myself with old haunts has thus far been a blast.