The plan for today was a walk around Tidemills, however as it was a bit brighter than last week I thought I would stop off at Splash Point first and try and get some better pics of the Pied Wheatear that has been hanging about all week, with a bonus attempt at some Black Redstarts that had been in the locale as well! Trouble was the Wheatear hadn't read the script and wasn't on parade when I arrived😢 though someone had apparently seen it at first light not seen since, was about 7.40ish when I got there. I'm not really a fan of standing around waiting for birds to appear, especially as I'd already seen it, someone mentioned they had seen a Black Redstart at the Fort, so I had a wander to try and find it, no luck there either, not going so well at the moment,😢 though I did see a couple of Pied Wagtails, Rock Pipits and a Fulmar did a flyby whilst I was on the cliff!
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| Fulmar, either a bit early or a bit late depending on your point of view! |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| The Male Pied Wag, for the record this is a colour photograph😂 |
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| Rock Pipit |
I headed back to the group, considering it's been there a week I was quite surprised by how many birders had come to see the Pied Wheatear, no sign of the star bird sadly, at this point I decided to delay Tidemills and head up The Head, to scour the cliffs between there and Hope Gap, relocate the bird so everyone got to see it and become the hero of the hour!! Quite a brave decision, considering the steepness of the climb, my advancing years and decreasing lung capacity 😂😱 I strolled up not gasping for breath at all, was rewarded at the top with a very confiding Black Restart that posed well! Now normally at this point I would flood the post with heaps of Black Redstart pictures but considering what's coming later I will just put up a couple😁
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| Black Redstart |
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| Proof I made it over the top for all you doubters! |
So I scoured the cliff top to no avail couldn't find the Wheatear, wasn't much about usual suspects with Rock and Meadow Pipits, Goldfinch, Stonechats and not much else, a couple of Ravens flew by and there was a suspiciously chubby looking Kestrel sat on the cliff top!😱😂
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| Rock Pipit greyer and whiter than the others seen |
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| Kestrel |
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| "Pied Wheatear you say, hmmm, not seen it, certainly haven't eaten it, only eat voles meself" |
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| Raven |
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| Stonechat, the crowds of hikers and tourists who walk along the cliff top, mean the birds are quite used to people, so generally are quite cooperative |
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| That Kestrels a bloody liar ate my brother last week!! |
Possibly getting a bit to "Animal Magic" there😂 and if you know what that is you are getting on a bit!!😂😂
So I headed back down the slope to Splash Point was worse going down than up to be honest very slippery nearly went arse over tit a couple of times, but luckily my cat like reflexes saved me!! On arrival the shrinking group of birders suggested the Pied Wheatear had not returned!! Confirmed by several there, hopefully it won't be in the belly of a Kestrel but halfway back to Africa to spend the winter in the sun! At this point an amazingly confiding Black Redstart appeared, apparently it had been showing off all morning! There was talk that it had been fed at times, which would certainly explain it's lack of fear, but I saw no evidence of it today!! A few pics below!!
Yes obviously when I said a few I meant fecking loads😂 But what a fantastic little bird, I've always liked Black Redstarts, not particularly rare, but always nice to see!! I never made it to Tidemills but there you go can't do everything!!!
