Here in Cuba there seems to be a mint crisis, so no Mojitos for us. There’s no shortage of beer and rum, though. The birds are pretty good as well: here’s a couple.
Cuban Emerald
Cuban Grassquit
Cuba
Snow at last
About an inch fell last night in Worthing, giving us just enough for a snowman.
We’ll be a lot warmer soon, as it’s off to Cuba this week.
Third time lucky
We’ve been up to the Burgh a few times this year, but failed to find the Short-eared Owls and female Hen Harrier that have overwintered there. On Saturday that changed, with views of three owls and the harrier, although in poor light.
The Beast From The East
Or possibly the west. We went to Weymouth today to twitch a Ross’s gull, a rare vagrant Arctic gull that breeds in northern Siberia, Greenland and a few bits in the far north of Canada. The expectation was for a long vigil as the bird is mobile and, while it has some more regular haunts, it is unpredictable. The reality was much better, a wait of less than an hour before it came and showed superbly. What a superb bird: tiny and exquisitely dainty.
An Avocet brightened up the wait
The Ross’s Gull looks tiny compared to the Black-headed Gulls
Spoonbill
The Least From The East
This week brought snow to Britain and Worthing was no exception. In our back garden we had a drift up to half an inch deep. Something of a let down, considering everywhere else seems to have had a proper fall, but it has been just as cold here as in the rest of the country, and that brings birds to us.
There was a significant westward movement of Lapwing on Wednesday and some of them stayed: we had a flock of 44 today, along with a Golden Plover, which is only the second time we’ve had one at home. A few Snipe and a brief views of an uncooperative Barn Owl brightened up a dull Friday afternoon, but our biggest surprise came on Saturday night when our efforts at spotlighting failed to find any waders, but found a couple of Badgers in the field behind us.
Apologies for the quality of the photos: it has been very dark.
Lapwing
Lapwing
Long-tailed Tit (that’s snow in the background, honest)
Fox