The Backward Birder

@backwardbirder.bsky.social

Old-fashioned birder. Member of The Irregulars. Lover of Wild places and wildlife. Reliably twenty years behind the times. Also on Twitter {yes, it's still that to me} There's a blog out there somewhere, too...

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And for Keith, if he reads this - and the more discerning among you 😉 - here's some arthropod action! Ivy Bees now with added females for extra fun, the wonderful Hornet-mimic hoverfly Volucella zonaria, and a big Garden Spider! 😁 🐝🕷️

Ivy Bees. Female on the left, male on the right.This is the biggest bossest hoverfly we get; unsurprisingly as it's a Hornet mimic. The females lay eggs in the burrows of Ivy Bees, but the larvae don't - unlike almost every other nest parasite - harm the bee's young.I needs more spiders on here. This lovely Garden Spider was seen on my way home.
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Finally {as I forgot to put it in the alt... 🙄}, also several columns of Gannets over feeding Atlantic Bluefin Tuna {seen breaking the surface; like in the quote post down there but muuuuuch further away} multi-km out from NNE to E. 🐟

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In a separate post to protect the delicates' sensibilities, here's a nice juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull which dropped onto the Wave-cut Platform to show up the manky Herring Gull juvies. 😆 What? I like gulls. Not a glorious icy-fringed beauty like you dream of, but still; not bad. 😄🦉

Juvenile {or 1cy if you like} Lesser-black Backed with Herrings, on weedy wave-cut Devonian slates and limestones, Hope's Nose.The same bird, stretching the wings and tail, blocking out another manky Herring Gull from our poor suffering gaze.
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Nose seawatch this am ended by 🌞 not 🌧️ 🤨 {🌧️ turned up later - wrong turn at Albuquerque?} 4hrs gave juv Sab's, 13 skuas, 2 shears?!, yo-yo C Scoters, ~24 waders {prob. Dunlin}, 2 Swallow, 49 auks, 24 Kitts, 16 other gulls.. & 1947 Gannets! Grey Seal inshore, LTT horde in bushes. Details in alt 🦉🐬

The usual view from Glonk Corner. Thin bands of dizzle or rain with a stiff and very swirly SSW or thereabouts. No.s: Gannet 1947 {Hourlies 1082, 462, 197, 186} Kittiwake 24 {6, 3, 1, 14} Auks 49 {20, 14, 4, 11}, plus 205 on Ore Stone Ledges. Juvenile Sabine's Gull 0850, juvenile Long-tailed Skua {int} 1126, juvenile Bonxie harrying Gannet to NNE 1015 then presumed same S 1121, skua sp. harrying Kittiwake then S 1037-38 {markedly larger and less agile than Kitt, all-dark but for wing-flashes, short tail, really wish it came closer!}, 10 Arctic Skua {hourlies 4, 1, 3, 2}, Sooty Shearwater 1050, Manxie 1059 {yes, only 2 shearwaters; thus Manxie timed!} 1 ad Med Gull, 1 1cy Common Gull, 13 BH Gull, 2 m C Scoter S then 2m 1f C Scoter N. ~24 small wader S, probably Dunlin 2 Swallow in/off f Grey Seal close inshore, 17+ LT Tit in big band on way up. Far better than expected when I got in from work!Female Grey Seal, in very close. The right section of foreshore visible in pic 1, in fact.Long-tailed Tits! At least 17 in one big band flowed past me on my way up the Mud Path. If there was something fancy with them I couldn't tell, and certainly not hear!
@georgemonbiot.bsky.socialReposted by @backwardbirder.bsky.social

There aren't many days when you can kayak off Start Point, renowned for one of Britain's most dangerous tidal races. But yesterday the stars aligned, so I bunked off work. Delighted to see Rupert Kirkwood (the Lone Kayaker) out there. He took this picture of me +1. Before you ask: yes, it's real. 🧵

In my kayak, watching a bluefin tuna leaping beside me.
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PM up on t'Moor with the Folks for an amble and a flapjack. Wonderful views and very clement; felt more like August than October {20°.!!}. Mostly Mipits, but 2 Swallows came by close and low, which was nice. Cue pretty scenery; ⛰️

On Hookney Tor, looking SWish.Looking WNW. Warren House Inn and its hordes, Birch Tor, Fernworthy, a whole heap of tors.. Quite a view!Looking more N. Cosdon Beacon high in the distance, Shapley Tor much lower and closer. If not for the cloud, you'd get a fair view of Exmoor from here.
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Grounded{ish}: 25+ Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 8+ B'cap, 10 Goldfinch, 4 Greenfinch, 1 Chaffinch, 5 Stonechat, L Egret, 16 Oystercatcher. Over; 9 Rook, 14 Swallow, 5 alba Wagtail, 16 Mipit, 10 Linnet, 4 Skylark. Also a mirage of Fraggle Rock.! 😲😁 🦉

Adult and juvenile GreenfinchesJuvenile- 1w StonechatCount the Oystercatchers!Portland Bill {Fraggle Rock to anyone who doesn't live there ;) } seen from sea level. Note the lighthouse to the right; this is not a patch of low cloud. This is a mirage!!
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More post for more pics. Numbers moving incl. notably 3+ H Sparrow {Nose rarity!}, 5 Goldfinch, 2 Linnet, 3 alba Wagtail, 6 Mipit. 28+ Chiffchaff & 2 W Warbler grounded, Stonechats back for winter, Nuthatch {uneven presence}, 16+ BHG, 19 Oystercatcher, 6 Rockits playing chase below the Geo. 🦉

17 of 19 Oystercatcher present {unless you can see more?}Another Clouded YellowThe same helice on a different flower {Hawksbeard? maybe?}
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Been out on the Patch today; an update will be up when photos are uploaded {I post happily; got something good for once!*} {*Not a Rare bird - that would get instant news - untwist thy knickers 😉}}

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Slightly late one, meant to post this a while ago. {oops 🙄} About my Patch, there are two species of 'crests to be seen {or more often, heard}. These days, Goldcrests are the rarer one.! 😲🙃 🦉

Goldcrests! 2 of at least 5 with a band of 9+ tits. Sunny suburban area of my Patch last Friday {no not yesterday, the one a week ago...}
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I watched 0755-0955, headed over to but just missed @shiphaybirder.bsky.social, then worked up the sheltered North side of the Nose & IMD. There were Chiffs, lots of Chiffs. Willow Warblers in the Geo, 'something' below IMD {not photo'd, those are Chiffs}, & then found a stowaway in my car.! 😆 🦉🐝

The Geo {it's a vegetated cleft leading to the sea, only viewable from above via a cliff edge and sometimes there are birds; thus Geo}, viewed from Quarry cliff, with Brandy Cove in the background. There are Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, assorted Wrens, Robins, tits, and who knows what else in that scrubby stuff.At least it's sort of in focus..."No, I'm not looking"Ivy Bee! Hitch hiking, or possibly just hiding from the rain.
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Commitments meant I was required to Be Good at the Nose today: 2hrs seawatch, 1hr vs bushes. Sea went better; 1 juv LT, 1 Pom, 2 Bonxie, 17 Arctic Skua, 8 Com Tern, 35 Balearic, 4 Manx, 913 Gannet, 308 Kitt, 369 auks. 34+ Chiff, 2 W Warbler & 1 warbler sp. I could not pin down, around lee slopes. 🦉

Didn't look super promising at first... A few details; LT Skua a lovely cold dark juvenile; lighter bouncier flight, structure, and most of all the well-barred upper- and under-tail coverts were a bit of a giveaway. Pom a dark juvenile; well out and in a shower it had the broader arm and forward centre of gravity vs a well-fed juv Arctic with a more powerful direct flight. Word to shears; I thought I had a Great but couldn't get back on it and as there were Balearics with dirty tummies passing at same range I wrote it off. Oh well. I did not see any Sooties but did see a Sooty-pattern Balearic {dark belly, light underwings} which did not have the Sooty curved arm and was the same size as the rest of the Balearics in a little flock. Only one group of terns, all Common {and nicely backlit to prove it}. Did not see a single passing wader.! That is seawatching.Light morph Arctic Skua, {{looking rather like a pterodroma in this shot.!!}}. For me, this is a good photo....The odd frisky shower came through.Arctic Skua, about to vanish behind the Ore Stone.
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After a slightly grey start, the Sun came out & so did the inverts! Two flies & two caterpillars for you. If anyone can ID the stripey caterpillar I'd be grateful; it bailed off grass or possibly Bracken & hid very quickly. 🤔 Flies {normal & hover} total posers, so had to be papped & uploaded! 🙃 🐛🦟

Noon Fly. Determinedly hoovering up the spill from my mugging by bumblebee {{Wait, what!?!?}} Of which more in a future post!A fairly large green caterpillar with two yellow stripes running down each side. I'd have loved to get a better pic but it buried itself in the grass so quickly and thoroughly that I couldn't get to it without risking hurting it.Hoverfly, female, probably Eupeodes luniger.The inevitable Fox Moth caterpillar.
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Actual birds! Hordes of Meadow Pipits allll over the shop; it's Autumn, folks! 60+ is being very conservative and generously assuming the 50+ flock which went past me late on near Whiteworks were already-seen-birds. Not that late though, as there are still a couple of Wheatears about 😍 🦉

Showy Meadow Pipit at Eylesbarrow.Sitting and waiting allows birds like this gorgeous Wheatear to come close. Ok, closERMore Mipit"Check out those fringes, aren't they brilliant?"
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It wasn't all rotated rocks yesterday {though more will be seen}. First up, I'd have liked to have ID'd all these for MushroomMonday 🍄 But Field Mushroom and {possibly} Field Blewitt aside, I'm stumped 🤷 Scroll down for actual birds and other things.

Broad pale cap with dark stem in an open area of grassy Moorland? Field Blewitt possibly? It looks maddeningly familiar... {But not a Deceiver, c'mon...}I think this is a bonnet of some kind {Mycenae}Field Mushroom, old and young.And more 'err...ummm....'s
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