The outfit parked in 'the Dell' at Crossways
TThe main purpose of staying here again this year was to look at some prospective houses, using this site as a base.
We had been sent details of a few properties and found a few ourselves on the internet.
Day 1 took us to Bridport and Bradpole, then on to Seaton, Colyford and Colyton.
Day 2 and we went to Simonsbath (Exmoor) to look at the old post office which had been advertised, and then to Dunster, Old Cleeve, Williton and Kilve. We spent the evening with friends in Chard.
Day 3 saw us looking at places in Seaton, Sidmouth, Budleigh Salterton and Whimple, breaking for lunch with friends near Exeter.
Day 4 was spent birdwatching. As usual, we went to RSPB Arne, trying to beat the crowds. We stood within 6-7 feet of a pair of Chiffs, nest building; it took us a short while to realise what was going on as we were looking at something else. We also found the Siskins and further round a female Gt. Spot excavating a hole on the underside of a huge broken bough. Waders were low in numbers but Whimbrel was picked up both by sight and sound. After the walk to "Shipstal Point" and back, we went onto the heath for the inevitable Meadow Pipits, Linnets and Dartfords.
Afterwards we went into Wareham and bought some 'blue vinny' (cheese) and some plonk as a prelude to visiting an old friend from Guildford in the evening. Day 5 (Sunday) we went and admired the traffic around Weymouth and looked at a few more houses on the way.
Birdwise at the site, the predominant bird, by song, was Chiffchaff. Three or more newly arrived Blackcaps were singing their hearts out, while a Coal Tit greeted us behind the 'van every morning. There are lots of Chaffinch and Robin around the site, which has much gorse, favoured by the LT Tits, and pine trees for the Greenfinches. On the early morning walk round, a Nuthatch obligingly sang from the tips of a Sycamore (in bud-burst), and the nesting Robin, and Blackbirds eagerly took the bread crumbs. A Grass-hopper Warbler sang from the quarry field next door, which the Pied Wags also preferred as it is wetter.
On day 6 we moved to Godrevy, north of Hayle. At the roundabout where we have to turn off the A30, I was not surprised to find a new retail building and an industrial estate that certainly wasn't there when I last visited. Cornwall is certainly catching up with the rest of England - well, the developers are!
All very swish. By contrast, later that day, we went for a walk over the "Towans", a SSSI and LNR, and the second largest dune system in England.
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