i had what must've been a lap bunting flying west along the cliff at yaverland in the gloom first thing this morning. felt like i knew the noise but wasn't making an exact match in my head. and the silhouette/flight was right being a big and strongly built bird. different to the one i had at culver recently which was instant id, i've never been in a situation where i couldnt id a bird from call before so it's been really bugging me all day! was just repeatedly doing a chu call but not exactly the type i've heard them do in association with the rattle.

am all about the tit flocks now. looked at 6 today but only got 2 firecrests out of it. 4 swallows over the cycle track. most interesting thing up culver was this 'ivy tree'.

one from the cornwall trip  - mousehole harbour

got myself a new camera for digi/videoscoping to replace the shitty samsung that i've put up with for a couple of years. i had a v quick go on it today and the biggest improvement is the handling, so much easier to follow a subject, panning the scope and holding the camera to the eyepiece. with a stronger zoom the vignetting seems less too. spec wise it's got a 5x optical zoom, image stabilizer, f2.7 lens, 12m pixel sensor and full hd video, with a handy dedicated video button, and is the size of my mobile! great value for £108. cameras have come on so much since the coolpix i bought ten years ago probably for double that price. now i just need a caspian gull on the canoe lake to point it at.

on the subject i had to send my canon lens in for repair recently and the bill was nearly half what i originally paid for the lens! has put me off buying another lens with an image stabilizer a little

1 xbill over work

flock of 27 xbills, 19 swallows, 4 blackcaps, 1 wheatear up culver. wasn't any better at st caths - just 1 firecrest. still no pallass's. bring on the gulls

a firecrest at my work this morning