Thankfully I managed to sleep a lot better and awoke at the more civilised hour of 7 a.m. I had a quick walk down to the lighthouse to see if I could find my Wheatear but had no luck and after a quick breakfast it was time to crack on with the DIY. I finished off touching up some of the outside work in the lovely sunshine whilst my VLW did the same with the interior. Then it was time to clear up the cottage and to pack up to head off home. The AHG came on the pager as having been back in the field again but there was no chance of me being able to take a look and frankly unless there was a closer vantage point there seemed little point anyway. All the clearing and packing took some time so it wasn't until about 1:30 p.m. that we were finally ready to leave. The only bird sightings of note whilst all this was going on was a single Raven and a Meadow Pipit staking out its territory with its song.
We stopped in PZ for fuel and sandwiches and then headed off on the long slog back home. Fortunately the traffic was light and there were some interesting programmes on Radio 4 to keep us occupied. As we sped northwards I reflected on the stay: it was always going to be about the DIY rather than the birding but it is such a pleasure being outside in such a beautiful part of the country. The take-homes for me from this trip were: lots of hard DIY work, some frustrating
staring at distant gulls, being outside in the bright sunshine (I even got a tan!), the eclipse, singing
finches, cronking Ravens, early spring plants and some new moths. My VLW and I discussed the possibility of coming back later in the
spring, not to work but just to enjoy being here. That would be quite a
novelty for us - people who stay in our cottage just don't realise how
much hard work goes into it all.
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| Pendeen Raven |
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