Ticking over

Blogging has faded, I have little to say so I say nothing. We have been here before, this is just the way it goes. There is just about enough for a couple of paragraphs, or I hope so anyway, let's see how it goes. What can I muster?

First up is a day trip I did to Germany a while back. I flew to Hannover after work and holed up in a hotel near the Haupt Bahnhof. Early the following morning I got a train to a town to the west of the city called Wunstorf, and from there caught a one-a-day bus further east to the village of Winzlar. From there I walked to the Steinhuder Meer, a large lake that from my research had appeared very birdy. Indeed it was, and by the time I had to catch the one-a-day-in-the-other-direction bus back I had seen over 80 species including Black Woodpecker, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank and Common Crane. It was excellent, even though in the half light I had taken the wrong track which had subsequently run out at just the stage where retracing my footsteps would have been really annoying. I ploughed on, through ditch and over fence, eventually regaining the right route but not before getting totally soaked in sodden vegetation. Take my socks off and wring them out soaked. It was like Northumberland all over again and made the rest of the morning quite trying, with shoes that weighed the same as bricks and a distinct squelch every time I took a step.

Despite this initial setback I had a lovely morning in full-on birding mode. The catalyst for the trip was an irritatingly poor German eBird list that I felt that I needed to rectify. I have fallen out of the habit of these European day trips and had forgotten how fun - and exhausting - they are. In the afternoon I had a late lunch and wandered around the old town for a bit before flying home. All very pleasant and relaxing, though 34,000 steps took their toll.

Closer to home I've seen a Pied Flycatcher and Med Gull on Wanstead Flats, and in Fife I ticked Glossy Ibis for Scotland. In the course of trying to find a Garganey that same evening I got ticked. I did not find it until the following morning in the shower, and half asleep and wondering what the funny little blob on my stomach was managed to break it off leaving the head embedded - it only came out today, just over a week later. Nice. It is now red and inflamed but that'll just be a local infection rather than anything nastier. Still annoying though, and wasn't on my radar for Fife at all. Now I know. Other than that it was a good weekend with plenty of migrants including Pied Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatcher, Redstart, Spotted Redshank, the Garganey, and another good seawatch at Pettycur that was notable for passerines rather than monster seabirds - a big movement of Swallows, Meadow Pipit, Siskin and Redpoll. These four species were everywhere I went, and Redpoll was a tick for Letham Pools, and was Kingfisher - 103. Won't be long before they're back in Wanstead I thought, and sure enough Bob had some Siskin earlier this week, and this morning I did some vizmig out on the Flats and saw 195 Swallow and 177 Meadow Pipit. Quite a decent count for round here, but I still feel that me and autumn proper have yet to get acquainted. A couple more weeks remain to put that right.