What's that Raptor?

Mike Langman and Mark Darlaston

“I’ve seen an osprey on a post at the bottom of a field.”

“There’s been an eagle on a Dartmoor tor…”

“I saw a Rough-legged Buzzard hovering over the marshes.”

“The Goshawk was sat in a tree beside the road.”

“It was a Honey-buzzard because it had a long closed tail.”

Following on from the 2009 SMADD survey, Peter Dare has decided to continue with a further pilot for 2010. The survey will now be known simply as Breeding Bird Arrival & Departures or BBAD.

This year two pilot survey has a revised recording form which can be downloaded in either Excel or PDF formats.

18 March 2010

The morning of Thursday 18 March proved a very rewarding one for Robert Jutsum. Whilst walking on Saunton Sands, hoping to see some spring migrants such as Sand Martin and Wheatear, he spotted a Gyr Falcon resting on the sand. This is the first record since 1998 for Devon.

Ducks live dangerously

The fox is a regular, the ducks can't resist a closer look.

Mark Darlaston

As Goshawks are still persecuted despite full legal protection, it is regrettable that Devon Birds cannot advertise sites to watch them. However, there are places where Goshawk can be seen and we have provided some pointers about where to see them and how to identify them.

17 January 2010

A January whitethroat caught on Sunday 17 January by Jon Avon is causing considerable interest.

Rob Harrison - 8 January 2010

A bird buried in a garden on 3 December and first thought to be a Storm Petrel has now proved to be a Leach's Petrel that died after being recovered from Roborough Down on Dartmoor.

8 January 2010

Heidi Mellan, WeBS Counter Network Organiser, has issued advise to WeBS counters about disturbance to waterbirds in harsh winter conditions.

This is in advance of the next WeBS date (17th January) and it was felt best to bring the BTO article to everyones attention.

9 January 2010

Chris Townend photographed two interesting visitors on the Otter Estuary on 9 January. A scarce Devon visitor was a Jack Snipe and Chris managed to get two very good photographs.

The second was a very unusual photographic record of a Water Rail drowning a Meadow Pipit and then eating it.

Jon Avon - January 2010

Feeding birds is essential to their survival as the ongoing cold weather continues. Please do you what you can while the freeze continues.

A stunning picture of a pair of 'talon locked' buzzards, was taken by Tom Wallis in August 2009. With only seconds to spare, Tom managed to grab 8 pictures of the pair as they fell from the sky. His reward was a well deserved first prize in a recent photo competition run by the Dartmoor Preservation Society.

6 January 2010

The current harsh winter conditions have brought many unusual birds into gardens in search of food. However, the meeting of birds not normally associated with garden feeding often means confrontations with more normal garden visitors.

5 January 2010

A flock of about two dozen Lapwings headed West along the edge Dartmoor on 4 January 2010. They were seen and photographed by Steve Hopper

5 January 2010

If you have submitted records in the last few weeks (late December / early January) and have not had an acknowledgement, please re-submit your records. The Recorders have had a problem with the lycos.com email system and are not getting all the email submissions. Please send your records again to Julia Harris

If you have not yet submitted your 2009 records, PLEASE DON’T DELAY – GET YOUR RECORDS IN PROMPTLY so that they can be entered into the database. Closing date is 31 January 2010.