First blog post anywhere, ever.

I've never done one of these before, so may as well start here, I doubt I'll be that regular posting, but I'll stick bits up from time to time.

Despite horrendous man flu, worse than anyone has ever had before, i'm sure(!) this afternoon I drove down to the RSPB car park behind the Swans Nest pub near Exminster, the marshes there are a haven for thousands of birds, and its well managed, and I live about two miles from it, so its also convienient!

Swinging into the car park, a few people were gazing wistfully into a bush, occasionally waving cameras at something unseen, thats usually a clue, further investigation revealed the Long Eared Owl I saw last week, I posted pictures on my page recently, I took a couple of snaps and he gave me the sort of look normally reserved for Traffic wardens, something unpleasant he stepped in, and estate agents, so I left, thinking that this particular Owl was becoming very tolerant, especially considering the amount of attention he has been getting.

Five minutes along the path and the marshes were alive with Lapwing, Curlew and Canada Geese, off in the distance I saw a few Greylag tucked in along the hedgeline, the wind was very strong today, and cold, so a lot of the smaller birds present earlier in the week were not to be seen, which is not to say that they were'nt there, just sheltering from the cold and generally being sensible. Another trudge along for a couple of hundred yards and that field was occupied by a flock of Canada Geese, and the Glossy Ibis.. again I was lucky enough to have seen him close up last week, but its still a buzz when I see something special again, he (if a he he is!) was having a good old rummage in the field, looking for worms etc, I took a couple of shots, whilst being buffeted by the wind, hence they're not that sharp, but you can see the Ibis on the right hand side of this picture.

Well it was'nt turning out too bad an afternoon, so I decided to push on to the end of the path and back along the canal to the track back to the Swans Nest car park, in the hope of catching sight of a Red Breasted Goose in with a flock of Brents in the fields overlooked by the canal towpath, my thanks for this information must go to a gentleman I chatted to along the path, he too had seen a good variety of species today, and was also amazed to find he had parked not twenty feet away from a Long Eared Owl. I bade him goodbye, and wandered off, thinking to myself that the RSPB may have put a stuffed Owl in the bush to drum up business, but that was silly, I'd seen him move, fractionally.

Half an hour, broken only by occasional Lapwing and Curlew flying overhead, intent on getting just out of camera range, found me on Turf basin, a pretty spot, where you can walk down onto the Exe estuary, well worth it,  or back up toward Exeter, alongside the canal, or the river a bit further up if that takes your fancy. In Exeter city centre, Peregrine nest in some of the churches scattered about, happy with reducing the Pigeon population! Just outside the basin, a group of people focused on the adjacent field caught my attention, examination revealed Brent Geese, hundreds of them, all chattering amongst themselves, from my vantage point on the towpath, I scanned across the flock with my binoculars, a flah of colour caught my eye and the Red Breasted Goose was there, finely edged white bordering a rich chestnut, handsome indeed, amongst his drab suited hosts.

Apologies if this is the same image posted on my page earlier, I'm getting on and I forget things. Age has its compensations, like more excuses, still if it is the same, saves you looking, does'nt it?

I stood and watched these guys for a while, and then went on my way, no sooner than I had started off, a loud honking filled the air and I turned to find the whole lot getting airborne, an impressive sight, (and sound),  something had startled them , I';m kind of glad I was'nt underneath, did'nt take a brolly.

I watched them disappear towards Topsham, and made my way back to the car, pausing only to look for the Short Eared Owl that was evident last week, did you know that a Scottish name for the Short Eared Owl is the Short Horned Hootlet? Far better in my opinion, we should replace Owl with hootlet straight away! Imagine seeing a Tawny Hootlet, or a Barn Hootlet, or even a Little Hootlet, see if you can say it without smiling!

Oh, and when I got back to the car, the Long Eared Hootlet was still there.

If anyone wants to know more about Exminster marshes,