Slapton
On the Sea: 1 Velvet Scoter straight out from memorial car park – by itself. Further out 60 + Common Scoter (one wing flapped 2x with head up but too far out to see if it had any white in the wing – or not!), 3 Red-throated Divers, 1 Great Northern Diver.
On the Ley: 2 Great White Egrets, 1 Little Egret, 3 Goldeneye (All females), 1 Pintail (drake – unusual at site), 3 Wigeon no sign of any Scaup sp. among the many Tufted Ducks at Torcross, middle Ley or Ireland Bay.
Beesands: Just 13 Tufted Ducks, 5 Mute Swans and 3 coot!
Wembury Point
Yesterday (4th), 24 gannets fishing close in to Wembury Point, with 3 (possibly four) guillemots nearby. Also of note – 25 turnstone, 16 curl bunting, 25 skylark, and a raven.
Broadsands
5 cirl buntings in with 20ish house sparrows edge of northern car park.GN diver with large fish being mobbed by gulls,eventually submerged to finish its snack
Haldon Forest
A single brambling amongst the Chaffinches, and Siskins at the feeders at Haldon Forest yesterday. Also 1 GS woodpecker and 1 Nuthatch.
Red Kite Lewdown
- Red kite flying at Lewdown near Stowford turning 13.10 today
For Park Cemetery, Plymouth
Monday 4th, 10am. Large group of Redwings feeding on the Holly berries quite oblivious of noise from a nearby building site. Also two Green Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush and Song Thrush.
River Otter, Tipton St John
Morning walk with the dogs. 4 Goosanders (1 drake), Dipper, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Kingfisher and 2 Goldcrest
Plym Estuary & Saltram
On the high tide this morning: Great Northern Diver, 2 Goosanders (1 drake), 54 Wigeon, 3 drake Teal, 33 Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, 11 Greenshanks, 16 Oystercatchers, 19 Turnstones, Raven, Sparrowhawk & 2 Firecrests.
Cholwichtown Pit, Dartmoor
Female Goldeneye still on the pit.
+1 Photo
Brixham and Berry Head
Kayak trip Brixham and Berry Head today:
15 Purple Sandpiper at Breakwater
4 Great Northern Divers
1 Red-throated Diver
plus 40 Common Dolphins (3 pods)
and 8+ Harbour Porpoise
Fremington Pill this morning
Starting at Pill Head, Fremington, with the tide 90 minutes after high:
Spotted Redshank and a female Kingfisher, numerous teal, mallard and common Redshank. 3 Curlew, 5 Snipe, 2 Greenshank, 2 Bar Tailed Godwit, 2 Little Egret, 2 Dunlin, 1 Grey Plover. Another Kingfisher seen at the quay on the River Taw.
Blackcaps Brixham
Two male blackcaps feeding on fat balls in my garden in Brixham.
Plym Estuary & Saltram
Back on the patch today on the low (falling) tide: Great Northern Diver, 3 Jack Snipe. 24+ Snipe, 25 Turnstones, c380 Dunlins, 2 Common Sandpipers, Black-tailed Godwit, 59 Wigeon, 7 Goosanders (4 drakes), Red-breasted Merganser (1st-w drake), 4 Little Grebes, 2+ Green Woodpeckers, Stonechat, Grey Wagtail & 6 Roe Deer.
Wembury Beach 1:00 pm
At least one Purple Sandpiper at the beach, still feeding on the seaweed, at the same location given by Stuart Green. The birds were very flighty due to the number of walkers using the coast path. Firecrest and male Blackcap along Church Road just below the lower junction with Southland Park Road.
Tamar Lakes
5 Lesser Scaup 3m 2f, 1m Tufted Duck, 3 Willow Tit, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Marsh Tit, 29 Teal, c20 Snipe, 3 Cormorants.
Upper Lake
2 Willow Tit, 2 Marsh Tit .
Exminster Marsh and estuary from Turf
A high tide visit this morning, in cold clear conditions. 4+ Marsh Harriers (1cy, 2cy F/poss Ad F, 2cy M with pale/grey underwing inner primaries & an advanced 2 cy/3 cy male with grey inner primaries on both upper & lower wing).
450+ Teal, 300+ Wigeon & 3 Shoveler on semi frozen marsh. 58 Pintail on estuary. Little Grebe on lagoon. Only 5 Coot on canal.
700+ Golden Plover, 240+ Lapwing, 15 Blackwit, 16 Curlew, 20+ Dunlin, 3 Redshank, a Ruff, a Snipe and a Turnstone on the marsh. 500+ Blackwit, 36 Barwit, 320 Avocet, 300+ Dunlin, single Grey Plover on estuary, joined by Golden Plover. Also 100+ Brent Geese & a Great Crested Grebe. Tide still dropping.
Otherwise Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, 12+ Meadow Pipit, 3 Stonechat, 10+ Redwing, 2 Fieldfare best of the rest.
Wembury
A very cold and early start this morning paid off with 2 Purple Sandpipers found feeding amongst c.30 Turnstones on a big mass of seaweed along the beach below the horse field. 3 Knot were also roosting amongst the Oystercatchers on the rocks nearby but on my return walk there was no sign of any of them.
An adult Mediterranean Gull, 2 Chiffchaff, a male Blackcap, 5 Stock Dove (including 2 flying out to sea), a Grey Wagtail and 2 Roe Deer also of note.
Soar inc.Southdown Farm
Farmland Bird Count: Skylark 1030, Yellowhammer 136, Cirl Bunting 140. Also: Golden Plover 70, Snipe, Kestrel, Red-legged Partridge 3, Stock Dove 24, Meadow Pipit 17, Song Thrush 10, House Sparrow 120, Goldfinch 40, Linnet 40.
Sidmouth
Winter G N Diver off river mouth,close in going east.
+1 Photo
Broadsands Torbay
A Yellow-browed Warbler was in the ditch between the two car parks this morning with 2-3 Chiffchaffs and a Firecrest. at least 8 Cirl Buntings on seed in the 2nd car park.
Wednesday 29th: 1 Slavonian Grebe (perhaps a new one as the individual on 20th November was only present for a day) also 1 Black-throat Diver, 4 Red-throated Divers, 6 Great Northern Divers, 9 Great Crested Grebes and 7 Common Scoter.
Tuesday 28th: 1 1st w Black Guillemot, 4 Velvet Scoter, 4 Common Scoter, 2 Great Northern Divers, 1 Red-throated Diver.
