Bird Sightings

Isabelline wheatear showing well on the boardwalk despite the weather.10am. didn’t see the EYW.

An excellent count of 48+ Snipe on the afternoon’s high tide at Blaxton Meadow. Also, Grey Plover, 7 Greenshanks, 8 Turnstones, Teal (drake), Little Grebe, Sparrowhawk, Kingfisher, Bullfinch, 2 Grey Wagtails, Green Woodpecker & c20 Redwings.

Exminster Marsh – 2 Marsh Harrier (3cy M & Prob Ad F), 1000+ Golden Plover, 800+ Lapwing, 350+ Wigeon, 180+ Teal, 36+ Shoveler, 9 Pintail, 45+ Curlew, Ruff, 3 Kestrel, 3 Snipe, 11 Greylag, 50+ Brent Geese best of 2 hours on Exminster Marsh this morning. 

Powderham Church to Turf bike ride in afternoon. Tide high. 340+ DB Brent Geese, 45 Pintail, 6 GC Grebe, pr RB Mergansers, Kingfisher, 1000+ BH Gull, 40+ Common Gull, 2 Stonechat were best of it.

Firstly though, Sue Bruce (plus her daughter and son-in-law) were at the Skern yesterday, and Mark id’d the sum plum Godwit as Bar-tailed! Anyone else seen it more closely? Or a photo?

Ringing today produced a good start to the year with 48 birds ringed. 21 of which were Greenfinch, plus one of Chris Dee’s. 5 Great Tit, 6 LT Tit, 6 Redwing 2 Song Thrush, 2 Chaffinch, 2 Blue Tit one each of Goldcrest and GSW.  Retraps included Chiffchaff and Kingfisher. The local Buzzard was taking an interest in the nets!! Went down the Toll Rd later, missed the Little Owl despite perfect conditions, but saw the female Black Redstart. Thanks to Grahame Preston for the heads up.

Adding to the abundance of birds seen and reported by Colin we have to add a highlight….in fact my 1st for 30 years…a MERLIN stooping constantly on a skylark over the large freshwater scrape at the end of the tip road. Didn’t see the result as it was lost to sight. Also seen was this gull….not sure, but possibly a Common Gull? Thanks to the scoper in the blue coat for pointing it out to me.

Eds – yes, Common Gull.

Watching from Headland: 1 Black-necked Grebe, 5 Great Crested Grebes, 16+ Great Northern Divers, 1 Long-tailed Duck, 1 Velvet Scoter, 32 Common Scoter, 2 Shelduck, 1 Brent Goose1, Grey Plover.

Highlights:

Aylesbeare (08:44-10:50)

Firecrest, Goldcrest, Jay, Treecreeper, GS Woodpecker.

Colyford (11:22-12:28)

Isabelline Wheatear, Rock Pipit.

Mudbanks (13:20-14:00)

Goldeneye (pair), Sandwich Tern, female Scaup.

3 great northern divers and a distant flock of scoters seen from the cliff overlooking Broadsands.

First farmland bird count of 2023 turned up 6 Snipe, 460 Skylark (would expect c.1000 by now), 9 Meadow Pipit, Sparrowhawk, 80 Goldfinch, just 19 Yellowhammer & 150 Cirl Bunting.

Non-avian: 18 Sika Deer & 11 Roe Deer.

Goldeneye (f) and redhead Goosander on pit this PM. What3Words for pit: ///stockpile.bombshell.dished

Lower Tamar Lake this morning.

43 Goosander 10m – 33f (07:50), 1 Whooper Swan, 1 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron, 3 Marsh Tit, c100 Lapwing, 3 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Nuthatch, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Buzzards.

Upper Tamar Lake.

c400 Lapwing, c150 Golden Plover, 13 Tufted Duck 10m 3f, 1 Snipe, 7 Great Crested Grebe, 6 Meadow Pipet, 2 Grey Heron, 4 Cormorant, c300 Canada Geese, c200 Black-headed Gulls.

A good high tide at BGM yesterday with pochard and spoonbil present alongside the usual waders (inc dunlin, greenshank amd bar tailed godwit) and wildfowl (including flyover brent geese).

Today at high tide 4 Spoonbills and a Kingfisher. Also kids riding round reserve late afternoon on noisy dirt bikes. Not sure if this should be reported somewhere?

Common Sandpiper flew upriver on high tide. Female/immature Black Redstart halfway along by small slipway at red sign. 3 Grey Plovers near Crow Point end and Water Rail calling in roadside ditch there.

Highlights were, from the point, at least 6 Great Northern Divers, Gannets and a probable Black Throated Diver. Passage House, circa 16 Avocets, 4 Little Grebes, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 male Red Breasted Merganser and a Common Gull amongst the many gulls.

Still getting Nuthatches on my feeders in the garden, a good start to the year. An earlyish dog walk added GSW and LT Tit. Little Grebe and Snipe as already mentioned on Wrafton Pond. Little Egret out on the scrape. Meadow Pipit and P Wagtail on the way across to the reserve, where 35+ Redwing, plenty of Green and Gold Finch plus a brace of Bullfinch. Marsh Harrier over Sherpa. Goldcrest and Treecreeper also present. Over at the Skern, the smart male Black Redstart still, along with a host of waders, including a stunning summer plumage Black-tailed Godwit. Pintail, Wigeon, Shelduck and Teal all present and plenty of Brent Geese. 2 Great Northern Divers offshore and then a Great-crested Grebe Finished at Fremington Creek, where the Spotted Redshank was at the top end with Green and Redshank. So this is where all the Godwits go when they aren’t on Wrafton Scrape.. Later the 2 Glossy Ibis were by the pill then flew up to the roost to join 3 Cattle Egret. A good day out with 66 species seen plus 2 heard.  (Cetti’s and Wren). Happy and Birdy New Year to all.

A GN Diver was off the Kenn outfall, 3 Egyptian Geese were very vocal in the Park, 75 Barwits (but, for once, no Pintail) were off Powderham Corner, and, on Exminster Marsh, 2 Peregrines and 2 Marsh Harriers were spooking the many hundreds each of Lapwing, Golden Plover, Dunlin and Starlings.

Back in Exeter, a Blackcap “tacking” its way to roost made 70 spp. for the day.