Today I had the honour of commentating on a Devon Wildlife Trust cruise for its supporters, celebrating the Trust’s 60th Anniversary. The main highlights came as we returned from Topsham towards Turf: first a Marsh Harrier over the estuary, causing panic among hordes of waders; then an immature Great Northern Diver right next to the boat; and then a presumed juvenile leucistic Brent Goose with a family of two adults and 2 young. On our approach to Turf, 2 fem/imm Scaup or Tufted Duck flew off upriver: one of them had a good white blaze around the base of the bill, suggesting Scaup, but I would have liked a better view of them before pronouncing for sure!
Other notables included c20 G C Grebes, c30 Shags, plenty of Little Egrets, 1000+ Brent Geese, c150 Pintail, 200+ Avocets, c500 Lapwings, 500+ Golden Plover, c50 Knot, 9 Sanderling, 100+ Bar-tailed and 1000+ Black-tailed Godwits, Kingfisher and a Pied Wagtail that accompanied us on the boat! On the down side, we saw only half a dozen Red-breasted Mergansers and a couple of Greenshanks.
