Before we left I thought I should take a quick picture of base camp just for the record..
..and then I thought I would try and grab a shot of one of the culprits of the night's shattered peace...
.. if ever there was a bird deserving of a mate it was this one. This lonely Sedge Warbler sang 24 hours a day whatever the weather. An astonishing feat of endurance really. (As it was for us).
Climbing up the valley onto the Deer Park, the gorse was full of Linnets bouncing around and the air full of Swallows, a number of which had taken to nesting in the toilets by the harbour. Normally this might be considered somewhat unsavoury, not to say unhygienic, but in this case, these must be the cleanest public conveniences in Wales, so we will let them off.
Considering the number of beautifully coloured Linnets there were around, I couldn't believe how hard they were to photogragh. Constantly on the move, constantly behind gorse and brambles, I took shot after shot of bushes. In the end I only got a couple of usable pictures of this male. Not the brightest pink, and with no sign of a red cap yet, I believe this is probably a second calendar year bird. Still a lovely thing, and a bird which many watchers don't take too much notice of although I'm not sure why not.
Continuing up onto the relative flatness of the top of the Deer Park two flighty Choughs were around, looking for insects and worms that might be about amongst the rabbit burrow strewn ground.
A little later, they both took to the air and gave us the treat of a close fly-by, calling their name gently as they do
One thing I noticed scanning through all my Wheatear photos is that the fringes of the the primaries show considerably more wear on the right hand side than the left (this shows really well on the first picture above). I can't really explain this at all but wonder if it has anything to do with the fact they always sit with the left hand wing over the right. I also wonder if there are such things as left handed Wheatears. I also wonder if I wonder too much.
Stonechats were busy presumably feeding young, and we didn't want to stop too long in these areas in case they found us disturbing, as many people do. I missed the chance of a picture of a male, but got a rather unflattering one of a female. I hope she doesn't mind me publishing it.
I also didn't photogragh Skylarks and Meadow Pipits, not because I don't appreciate them, but because I ran out of time and memory card after spending perhaps too long watching a triumvirate of trouble on the edge of the cliff. Raven fledglings. The parents flew past watchfully from time to time, casting the odd "Honk" into the breeze, but over the half an hour or so we spent there, they didn't come in with any food this time.
What we failed to notice on our previous visit was the remains of gape markings on the young birds which was a bit careless really as they are obvious in the photos.
I include this last one just because Ravens nearly always appear jet black, but in the sun you can just make out the sheen of purple and blue and green that all Corvids show to a greater or lesser extent.
Not everyone's cup of tea I know, but I have long been a member of the Raven fan club so these views were really special to me as I have never seen fledglings before and to get so close in such a fantastic setting was a real privilege, and one that will live long in the memory.
Yet again Gannets were few and far between, and those that there were, were mostly quite a way out. Just the one came in close enough to get a record shot of, but I am going to have to wait for another trip to get a really good one.
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