Glossy Ibis, Fremington Pill
Two Glossy Ibis and two Greeshank in the Pill this morning together with all the usual suspects.
Salmon Pool & Trew Weir, Exeter
Male Kingfisher, 2 Grey Wagtails & Common Sandpiper at Salmon Pool. Two more Grey Wagtails at Mill on the Exe.
Topsham visitor
Reedbeds facing Topsham on the Exe, solitary great white egret and on the mudflats godwits, redshanks oystercatcher and curlew.
Plym Estuary & Saltram
This afternoon, 3+ Whinchats, 2 Stonechats, 5 Wheatears, Peregrine (juv), Green Woodpecker, Goosander (redhead), 2 Black-tailed Godwits, Common Sandpiper, 18 Oystercatchers, Dunlin, 9 Greenshanks & 16 each of Little Egrets and Grey Herons.
Lower Tamar Lake
Lower Tamar Lake this morning,
2 Green Sandpipers, 1 Marsh Tit, 1 Nuthatch, 2 Mute Swan, 7 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Treecreeper, 15 Coot, 1m Tufted Duck, 6f Teal, 1 Grey Heron, 11 Canada Geese, 2 Robin.
Exminster Marsh
5 Ruff, 2 Snipe, 2 Hobby (Imm & Ad/Imm, hard to be sure on 2nd bird), 9 Gadwall, 8 Shoveler, 17 Teal, 5 Little Grebe, Whitethroat, Wheatear & Firecrest from VP or over Lagoon. 25 Cattle Egret (22 flew N viewed from Turf, with 3 with cattle in field South of VP).
240+ Dunlin, 15+ Ringed Plover, 80+ Curlew, Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Greenshank & 40 Brent Geese from Turf Hotel.
Otherwise 3 Chiffchaff, Kestrel, 30+ Swallow the best of the rest.
Lots of Migrant Hawkers, 2+ Southern Hawker, and a single ‘old’ Holly Blue.
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Sunday – Lyme Bay – Skuas and Shearwaters bonanza
8 Hour trip out on Sunday with Dave Saunders on Kelly Heros into Lyme Bay gave an impressive number of seabirds. Lots of bird movement made it difficult to accurately state the exact numbers but these are the minimum: 2 Arctic Skuas harassing the Kittiwakes, 2 Pomarine Skuas harassing the gulls, Great Skua, Storm Petrel, 500+ Guillemot in several rafts, 200 Manx Shearwaters, 15 Great Shearwaters, 10 Sooty Shearwaters, 30 Balearic Shearwaters, Cory Shearwater, 2 Razorbills, 4 Yellow-legged Gulls mostly 2nd cy with the occasional juvenile. 30 Gannets with all ages demonstrated. 2 Common Terns. Usual gulls. Common Dolphin and Harbour porpoise.
More images to be uploaded on the Devon Birds website page tomorrow.
Crownhill Down
Mixed wader flock still in the big pit on Crownhill Down this eve. 2 Little Stint, 2 Sanderling, 8 Ringed Plover and 3 Dunlin. Flighty but often on near shore. Wheatear on slope.
Fremington Pill and Quay
A walk along Fremington Pill down to the Quay produced 3 Greenshank, 70+ Redshank, 3 Glossy Ibis, 10 Teal, 4 little Egret, 1 Ruff. Then over towards Chivenor 4 Great White Egret on the far bank.
Riverside Country Park
An evening visit to the fishing pools by the Double Locks. Chiffchaff 6+, House Martin 50+ & Swallow 15+.
Plym Estuary & Saltram
Two Firecrests this afternoon, together with Treecreeper, 2 Whinchats, Stonechat, 2 Green Woodpeckers, Grey Wagtail, 4 Sandwich Terns, 13 Greenshanks, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Dunlins, Common Sandpiper & a Clouded Yellow.
Caen Estuary
2 Curlew Sandpipers, 54 Dunlin & 4 Ringed Plover this morning.
Dart Estuary
Two Ospreys on the Dart today during a guided cruise including one performing over the estuary for 30 mins eventually taking a fish (on it’s second dive) as we watched.
Powderham & Exminster Marshes
A morning spent on Powderham Marsh provided 8 Cattle Egret, 4+ Yellow Wagtail, and a small number of Chiffchaff. 6 Teal, 5 Stonechat, 40+ Swallow, 15 Blackwit & 2 Egyptian Goose were the only other birds of note.
A short visit to VP on Exminster Marsh, with 2 Ruff, 2 Hobby (Ad & 1cy) feeding over the lagoon, 30 Coot on the lagoon, with a single Little Grebe. At least 340 Curlew sat together on the estuary.
Velator reserve
Only 3 Cattle Egrets with the cows this morning, but they have moved around South of the reserve and a deal further away, so probably more…
Turf Inn, Exe Estuary
Two Curlew Sandpipers seen from Kayak on rising tide at 1pm
Soar
An Ortolan Bunting at Middle Soar around 12.30pm the outstanding highlight of a morning that also brough a smattering of common migrants including 6 Wheatears, 2 Whinchats, 20 Yellow Wagtails, 7 Tree Pipits, 20 Siskins, 7 Whitethroats, 2 Blackcaps several Chiffchaffs and good numbers of Swallows. Also 2 Peregrines, a Sparrowhawk & a nice range of butterflies.
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Plym Estuary & Saltram
Additional to Peter’s earlier report here are a couple of shorts of the Wryneck snapped after nearly an hour’s stake out in baking sunshine, but well worth the wait.
Velator/Wrafton
Late visit this afternoon: 10 or 11 Cattle Egret, They kept hiding in the long grass and behind cows so difficult to get an accurate count, especially as one of them morphed into a Little Egret by the scrape later. A singing Chiffchaff in the reserve.
Plym Estuary & Saltram
The patch’s first ever Wryneck today, showing intermittently in trees beside the lower end of Dell Walk. Also, 3 Great White Egrets, 2 Swifts, 3+ Whinchats, Siskin, Green Woodpecker, Sandwich Tern, 16 Turnstones & Great Crested Grebe.
