After endless hot, dry days, the forecast was for rain on the day of our walk! However, after a little light drizzle the rain stopped and all we had to contend with was a fairly strong westerly breeze. A group of 12 met in the car park at Hartland Point, having negotiated the maze of lanes to get here, and began with a bit of sea watching. In the words of the great Bill Oddie and his Little Black Bird Book, sea watching is 90% just that – i.e. watching the sea and not much else! But we were lucky enough to see a few birds and a group of 10 or so seals ‘bottling’ just below us. A lot of Herring Gulls, including juveniles in a variety of plumages, a few Gannets passing by with occasional Manx Shearwater, Fulmar and Kittiwake. A Sparrowhawk flew along the cliff below us, close to the ground hoping undoubtedly to disturb some small birds. Predominantly brown above, rounded wings, strongly barred tail, we put this down as a juvenile bird. We walked west along the coast path, passing the scrub and bramble bushes that often host a variety of small birds including warblers and chats, but today just a few Stonechat. Stopping for a coffee with a view over the lighthouse and out towards Lundy, we put in a bit more sea watching as a single House Martin and a few Swallows hawked above our heads. Most birds were distant, giving some challenge to identification, including a group of seemingly all white gulls passing east to west just above the waves, which we decided must have been Kittiwake. A raft of about 150 Manx Shearwater were also spotted resting on the water, but again too distant to fully appreciate.
Heading back to the cars we drove a little way along the coast to Titchberry, where the National Trust warden, Paul Collom, very kindly gave us a guided walk around the site. Before beginning our walk and while eating our lunch we were entertained by trying to identify a raptor on a telegraph pole, just out of comfortable binocular range. We had all left our scopes in the cars at this point! With a lot of white on the head, and some white underneath we discussed harriers, or possibly even Osprey. Then the bird took off and was very obviously a Buzzard! Apparently there are one or two very pale individuals around here. A Kestrel also hovered nearby, giving us much less of an identification challenge. Paul led us along hedgerows and around the arable and grassland fields with wide margins full of wild flowers (mostly past their prime at this time of year). Plenty of butterflies were around, including some immaculate Painted Ladies and Clouded Yellow (which seem to be having a good year). A male Cirl Bunting sat on the hedge top at one point, but too briefly for all of the group to see. Goldfinches and Linnets were enjoying the plethora of ‘weeds’. Ravens croaked overhead, and then we were back to the cars once more surrounded again by plenty of hawking Swallows. This is a great site at what is generally a quite time of year for birds and we are very grateful for Paul for showing us around and sharing his extensive knowledge.
Sadly not with us this time was Tim Hubbard, who passed away a few weeks ago and will be sorely missed by the mid-Devon birders and all those who knew him. Tim was a bit of a specialist in the group on raptors, and so we dedicate the wonderful sightings we had today of Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and the oddly pale Buzzard in his memory.
We saw a total of 27 species: Woodpigeon, Kittiwake, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Fulmar, Manx Shearwater, Gannet, Cormorant, Shag, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Kestrel, Magpie, Crow, Raven, Swallow, House Martin, Chiffchaff, Blackbird, Robin, Stonechat, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, Siskin, Cirl Bunting
Report and photos by Tom Misselbrook
