26th February 2010
Here Comes the Sun
George
Harrison
Here comes the sun! The glorious weather starting the day was entirely different to what I had been used to since the start of the year and the brightness of the sun, unseen for days, was actually hurting my eyes!
“Oh, the sun is
a-shing to welcome the day!”
I went to the entrance of Beer caves, which
look similar in structure to Tilly Whim caves at Durlston, not that I have ever been inside those (!) and
other caves at nearby Winspit, both the latter near Swanage, Dorset. Similar to
the previously mentioned ones, the caves here were blocked off so no
exploration was possible. When living in Swanage and when near the caves I used
to imagine what it would be like if one could build a house in one and have the
front entrance overlooking the sea as a terrace. In notebooks I used to draw
plans for such an abode, with a back entrance just like that of Luke
Skywalker’s pit in Star wars and expansive French windows at the cave entrance.
Every year a couple around my age used to come for a week and camp in one of
the caves, with their tent at the entrance. I used to go and join them for a
chat. The view over the English Channel from their high vantage point was
sensational.
After leaving the Beer Caves the small
country lane from Beer joined the main A road towards Honiton. Here there was a
large pig farm, which had hundreds of gulls and corvids together with a fair-sized
flock of Lapwings. This gave me an excuse to have a rest. A rest was required
as the westerly wind was strong enough to stop me cycling. Windy it may have
been but the sunshine continued to put the sun in my heart.
Lunch was taken at the extensive Aylesbeare Common RSPB reserve and on searching around, only two birds were found on the deck; a 'small' female Reed Bunting that I tried to unsuccessfully to string into something better and a Goldcrest. Otherwise a Buzzard flew over and everything else was being kept down because of the gale.
I then cycled around to Venn Ottery RSPB reserve and similar birds were here, that is none!
Down to Bowling Green Marsh RSPB Reserve, three different RSPB reserves visited in one day. Now I was a couple of days ahead of my schedule; yet with one of the worst storms in years coming for Sunday, according to the weather forecast, it felt good to have a 'cushion day' or two available. The tide was rising out on the Exe when I got there, so waders were arriving during the sunny afternoon spent in the hide. About one hundred Avocets were flying around with a similar number of Black-tailed Godwits and some Bar-tailed cousins, Redshank and Curlew with just two Dunlin. one Little Egret, one pair of Pintail, seven Redwing and c.250 Wigeon. three Pochard, a few Tufted Duck. Lovely to be having a relaxing birding time in such a large, comfortable bird hide, away from the frigid wind. Two of the Black-tailed Godwits were in summer plumage too.
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