We welcome contributions from Devon Birds members and the general public. Please follow the guidelines on this page if you have something you would like to post on the blog, remembering to use the relevant subject.

Please post responsibly, never post details of rare breeding or winter roosts of vulnerable species. If you are unsure of what to - or not to post there are guidelines here:   https://www.devonbirds.org/news/bird_news/rare_breeding_species

For help with ID email photos to id@devonbirds.org.

If you follow our Blog but are not currently a member of Devon Birds please consider joining Devon Birds to help us with the upkeep of running the website and this service as well as our valuable conservation work .

A female Marsh Harrier (our first ever!) and five Swallows (our first of the year) flew over the garden this evening as the rain clouds started to roll in just before dusk.

Good numbers of Sandwich Terns, at least 10, in and around Mayflower Marina

late afternoon Blackcap singing and 3 swallows over head

They are back, three House Martins calling over Pilton Street, wonderful!

1 swallow seen in between Avonwick and North Huish 

Garden watch highlight was Peregrine over (migrant or local wanderer), Buzzard migration continues with 15NE through the day plus 2 Swallow, 2 Green Woodpecker, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Mistle Thrush, Raven, 2 singing Blackcap & 2 singing Chiffchaff.

Non-avian: Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell & Large White.

Drake Red-crested Pochard on the pond again today. A few (5/6) Sand Martins and a Swallow, which I also saw over the reserve. A few Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs singing.

House Martin and Swallow ticked off today at South Brent....................

Saw my first swallow of the year today (5/4/20) flying east over my house in Old Torrington Road, Barnstaple. A normal day produces Robins, hedge Sparrow, Blackbird, a pair of Chaffinches, Goldfinch, Wood and Feral Pigeons. Seagulls are always floating around and when noisy it is usually to show they are seeing off a Buzzard or two. Last week, as reported by my neighbour, it was a Red Kite. Various Corvids though the pair of Crows that have nested in a large copper beech in my rear neighbour's garden for the last couple of years, are noticeable by their absence.

2 house martins checking out nests at Waye Farm this morning

It would appear that the tagged bird was caught and ringed in Norway. I conducted a web search and found the following information...

http://www.cr-birding.org/node/72Waders

species: Common Redshank

scientific name: Tringa totanus

EURING code: 05460

notes: Orange flag with a black 3 alpha-code (on right tibia) and yellow ring (on left tibia).

note 1 : metal ring on left tarsus.

note 2 : robusta and totanus will be caught at our wader station Giske OS (locality: Makkevika, Møre & Romsdal county), Norway.

note 3 : 

email sighting submit: kjellmorksoot@fugler.com

snailmail sighting submit: Kjell Mork Soot, Hareidsvegen 234, N-6060 Hareid, Norway.

colour-ring type: Flag : combination of uncoded flag and legring(s).

colour-ring colour: Orange [O]

colour-ring code: Three alpha code (3 letters).

countries where ringed: Norway.

Left tarsus upper: metal ring.

I've emailed a couple of images to them and hope to hear something in the coming days.

As a lot of us are stuck at home I thought I'd post a few insects we can see in our gardens

Dark bordered Bee fly Bombylius major

Hairy footed flower bee Anthophora plumipes

A Hoverfly Eristalis pertinax

While on my early morning exercise routine on my bicycle around the Marshes an adult female Marsh Harrier flew past being mobbed by Herring Gulls.

Early morning walk down to the Ley. Usual suspects, chiff chaff, blackcap and cetti's singing but no hirudines. Only newcomer, 1 Sandwich Tern patrolling the beach.

Flock of Common Scoter flew over village calling last night at 21:20, apparently headed north.

15mallard Staverton Bridge,Saturday pm

Also m mandarin and 1 Canada Goose disturbed by paddle board!

3 House Martins and 2 Swallows over the Dart, mid-pm. The first of both species for me this year. 

In response to Keith Mcginnes's(KM) post (Redshank with ring and tag. I photographed three large groups totalling fifty or more Redshanks along Fremington Pill on 29 March and haven just seen KMs post I decided to look back at my photos and can see the same bird in one of the groups. The Red tag look like it has a number 8 on it.

The small group of Red shanks with the tagged bird.

Saturday 5.30 pm. Suddenly appeared at mouth of estuary as I was photographing a flock of plovers. Watched for 10 minutes as it flew leisurely up estuary towards Instow and Appledore then headed up the Taw towards Yelland. Also on the Burrows, several pairs of wheatear. 

Osprey appears

Osprey...record shot

Wheatear

An early morning walk from home revealed quite a nice little fall of warblers, including at least 22 Willow Warblers – most concentraing on feeding rather than singing – and over 20 Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps too, including the first females I've seen this spring. Other migrants included a male Wheatear and 7 Sand Martins zipping W along the cliffs, whilst in the garden a male Crossbill dropped in to drink for the second day running.

Whilst enjoying my exercise managed to see an osprey over the Turf and heard a very early sedge warbler on the canal bank at mid day.

Later a single house martin over the garden in Exminster.

Walked down to Plymbridge. a pair of Grey Wagtails and a pair of Mandarin Ducks on the river. G.S. Woodpeckers drumming, Jays, Magpies ,Blue, Great and Marsh tits, Song thrushes and Nuthatches, half a dozen late Redwings.

Back across the golf course to Plympton. Greenfinches, Goldfinches and Linnets. Lovely to see and hear the Skylarks. 

Garden Watch:  Highlight today was a migrant Goshawk soaring high overhead this morning for a couple of minutes before drifting off west. Also: 12 Common Buzzards moving NE throughout the day much to the chagrin of the resident pair. One of the pair talon-grappled with one migrant, haven't seen this since Red Kites in Wales many moons ago; Green Woodpecker, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Mistle Thrush & 2 singing Chiffchaffs - not bad for the garden!!

Daily exercise bike ride - Still two Cattle egrets in field on Bickington side of the Tarka trail.

Redshank yellow ring and orange tag HAE

Redshank with yellow ring and orange tag

2 Swallows flying past this morning.

7 sand martin following the river across countess weir with around 25 over exminster marshes.  Good Nadal's off teal, wigeon  and a pair of Pintail. 

My lockdown exercise has involved walking from home  through the Meadows and along the Tavistock canal towards Crowndale Farm. I have been posting nature photographs on the Tavistock Parish facebook page. Feedback has been very positive and I have realised how they are being enjoyed by lots of people including those who are self-isolating for 12 weeks. My journey started on the 24th March. I have attached a selection of my photos/finds.Common birds will feature greatly!

Treecreeper, Redwing (one of six seen 1st April) , Noctule Bat (seen midday 26 March)

Tawny Owl and Chiffchaff ( 2 poses)

 Sparrowhawk, Marsh Tit, Long-tailed Tit

Go this image of a Blackbird near my home.

Male Blackbird

Just 5 minutes or so from my house were Blue tits, a Great tit, 2 Long tail tits, a couple of Robins, a few Blackbirds, Collared doves, Wood pigeons, Magpies, Crows, Jackdows and a couple of Wrens.

Great Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Blue Tit

In my Garden were a good number of House sparrows, 2 Magpies, a Blackbird nesting in a shrub, a Blue tit nesting in a nest box.  The nest box is fitted with a wireless colour camera with sound.

Male House sparrow

Female House sparrow

Blue tit with nest material

Sat in the garden early evening, 19.37 , 4 swallows flew over east to west.

A walk around a Local Nature Reserve this afternoon:-

3 Nuthatch, 2 Chiffchaff, a pair of Bullfinch, several singing Blackcap, a Pheasant feeding in the undergrowth, a Song Thrush in full song, 1 Goldcrest, 3 Jackdaw, blue/Great/Long Tailed tits, and 3 Buzzard overhead.

'Grey' Chiffchaff (tristis/abietinus/fulvescens)

Pheasant

Out on the scrape this morning, 4 Snipe, 15 or so Teal, and 12 Godwits. One of which looked like a Bar-tailed Godwit. Don't see them out here very often! Again no Sand Martins.

Green Woodpecker poo if I am not mistaken!

Venn Ottery Common was very quite this morning other than a Buzzard, a pair of Ravens, a few Chiffchaff and Blackcaps singing and a Green Woodpecker calling.  Some common woodland birds missing. 

On my early morning walk today it seems that the dippers are feeding young in the nest.  Was surprised to see a redwing.  More chiffchaffs singing, but not blackcaps.

Rob Dart left a message this morning to say there was an Osprey heading WNW just after 0700. He also saw a Red Kite over last week.

A pair of dippers on the Alphinbrook nr Ide

In garden today 

Goldfinch                   Long-tailed Tit                      Peacock

Male Wheatear, several Stonechats and a Stock Dove today on the way to Manaton delivering shopping.

From the garden at work a sparrowhawk flew over several times, a couple of ravens flew past which the herring gulls did not seem to appreciate. 2 mute swans on the sea.

Sparrowhawk                        Raven & Herring gull                              Magpie

5 smart male Wheatears on the sea defence boulders this morning. On the Ley 1m. and 1f. Goldeneye still remaining.

Miscellaneous observations from this morning's walk down the towpath and back:

Blackcap song audible for much of the way, perhaps twenty birds in total, with double that of Chiff-Chaffs, and half a dozen Cetti's;

at Countesswear, a Green sandpiper was in the river, and at Matford ponds the Little Grebe was trilling away, with a pair of Stock Doves in the dead Oaks. The rookery now has an outpost on the East bank of the river opposite the sewage works (don't remember seeing them there before);

on Exminster marshes, a Peregrine was on one of the pylons, two small groups of Sand Martins headed North, three Gadwall were near the fishermans' car park (a very belated year tick for me), three Water Rails squealed from the ditches, and, in the distance, the Lapwings were very active in display and harrying the intruding crows;

in the estuary, around 50 Golden Plover were still present, sounding more mournful than ever, and a distant dark dot bouncing in the waves was, I think, the Slavonian Grebe in Summer plumage, although I have not seen it in the upper estuary before.

A quite friendly Rose-ringed parakeet by the feeders. Nothing much else of notice apart from the usual Magpies, Crows and a Raven calling, plenty of bird sounds, but not much seen.

Morning walk around Fremington Pill, Highlights today were Kingfisher and Spotted Redshank. 

An addition to the recent Redwing fest was a group of 10 feeding near Underhill, South Brent this morning. Perhaps some of those that flew over Lipson in the night?

Red-crested Pochard on the pond still this morning. Now 9 Black-tailed Godwits out on the scrape, along with 16 Teal and the territorially aggressive Swans and Geese. The Sand Martins seem to have gone back south again.

About a dozen Redwing having a rest in the tree tops before heading west.

Morning walk around Fremington Pill, Highlights today were Kingfisher and Spotted Redshank. 

Partly in response to Perry. Working at home has meant that I have a bit of time to get back into some nocturnal migration recording. Last night was pretty good with a total of 68 Redwing and a single Fieldfare as well as a single Meadow Pipit over Lipson in Plymouth. Redwings started about 1:30 AM and continued until dawn and included what appeared to be at least one largish flock.

6 Redwings flew over garden early this morning. Late for here.

A quick cycle down the canal to Exminster Marshes around 25 Sand martin and 4 Swallow were the highlights. Several chiffchaff singing as well as 2 Blackcap in song. only one Cettis warbler heard. still good numbers of Teal, Wigeon and Shelduck

A walk around the River Otter just South of Honiton resulted in a couple of surprises. 2 Red Breasted Mergansers and 8-10 Fieldfares still hanging around. Nice also to see 3 Little Egrets and a Kingfisher.

Eds: It seems an awfully long way from the coast to see Red-breasted Mergansers - Goosander is much more likely?

The 1^st April gave a good birding return from around my garden feed station and three fields at home at South Brent with 34 species being recorded.

The highlight of the day was finding a male Blackcap in full song close to a hedge corner where they have bred for the last two years.

4 Wren, 19 Blackbird, 31 House Sparrow plus the would be Italian Sparrow, 3 Redwing, 3 Song Thrush, 11 Great Tit one checking out a nest box, 22 Wood pigeon, 15 Jackdaw, 16 Chaffinch with several males in full song, Raven, Buzzard, Jay,10 Blue Tit with four nest boxes occupied or being checked out,         7 Robin, a pair of Bullfinch, flyover Pied and Grey Wagtail, GSWP drumming, Green Woodpecker calling since first light, a pair of fly over Mallard, several Canada Goose fly overs from first light.

Late afternoon a strung out flock of 94 Jackdaw flying over towards the village.

An evening walk round the fields gave a Pipistrelle bat, 2 rabbits and just after 8pm as dusk was falling a late patrolling Peregrine over the house field.

A walk around the River Otter just South of Honiton resulted in a couple of surprises. 2 Red Breasted Mergansers and 8-10 Fieldfares still hanging around. Nice also to see 3 Little Egrets and a Kingfisher.

All white bird, with dark eye reported from Whimple and presumed to be leucistic House Sparrow, unless told otherwise

Not much going on around Marsh Green.  First Chiffchaff and Blackcaps heard a few days ago and Green Woodpecker calling regularly. 

Thanks to Peter Howard and team for superb Devon Birds Report 2018 and to Mike Lock as Editor for his outstanding Reports over many years.  

Nice to see a male blackcap and goldcrest this morning I put a couple of nest boxes up in the wood yesterday so shall be watching those on my trips in the wood 

Up on the roof doing some essential repairs when all hell broke loose amongst the Herring Gulls. An Osprey flew overhead and then down river towards Instow. A new bird for my garden list!

Stay safe everyone!

Female Wigeon and drake Red-crested Pochard on Wrafton Pond this morning. Out on the scrape now 6 Black-tailed Godwits (a couple in summer plumage) Plus 24 Teal, 2 Shelduck 12 Canada Geese, 4 Pied Wagtail. Nearby several Chiffchaffs and a couple of Willow Warblers singing.

Couple of new birds this morning make sparrow hawk .chiffchaff.and jays busy collecting nesting material 

Popped out to Fremington Pill this afternoon. Saw a couple of Little Egrets, a single Curlew, a Spotted Redshank, a Greenshank and a couple of Shelduck, In the trees on the other side of the river I could hear a Green Woodpecker and on my way home a Chiffchaff  called out.

Curlew                                              Greenshank

Over 5 'exercise' walks from home in the last 10 days (to compensate for not being in the Antarctic!), I've been counting birds between the SW edge of Chudleigh town and the River Teign. I finally got around to using the BTO's BirdTrack app* and have notched up 41 species, the highlights of which have been: a pair of Mandarin Ducks, 3 Stock Doves, 1 Moorhen (unexpected on the Teign), 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (moving N), Kingfisher, a pair of Dippers displaying, 5 Chiffchaffs, 4 Blackcaps, Grey Wagtail, Bullfinch, 3 Roe Deer, 2 Rabbits (rare here these days) and a bat flying in daylight.

* The app is excellent and allows you to easily record what you see as you go along and then upload the data when you get home. A great way to make use of the records you gather as you're birding, and I believe the records come back to Devon Birds at some point. And you can record mammals and dragonflies as well!

Quick look at the scrape this morning - much as yesterday but 5 Black-tailed Godwits too.

Pair Goosander, pair Grey Wagtail. Also 2 Angleshades moths sunning on our windowsill in Honiton. 

Nine Fieldfare heading north into the headwind over Kingsteignton at 0845hrs

My very local patch produced buzzard jay long tailed tit bullfinch and the usual woodland suspects 

While it is good for the well being of us all to get out and about, we must consider our NHS staff. So where we go, how long we stay outside, who we go with or meet should be kept to a minimum and while you are out be sensible about maintaining the Social Distance.

A Wren sunning itself along the footpath

On my home I took the foot path between Tews Lane and Maple Grove.

 I saw and heard a lot of different types of birds,  a Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, a number of Wrens, a Blackcap some tits  

Chaffinch                       Greenfinch                             Goldfinch

Popped out to Fremington Quay this morning for my daily exorcise and  took my camera to help me build muscle tone you know!

Greenshank                      Spotted Redshank                          Little Egret

Roost of about 12 Little Egrets in the trees at the top of the Pill, 10+ shelduck, 20 redshank and 1 swallow seen this morning whilst on daily exercise this morning. 

Daily exercise ride to the pond and scrape, which was very busy. several Sand Martins hunting insects in the shelter of the railway embankment footpath. On the scrape a Shelduck, 2 Shoveler 27 Teal, 2 Pied Wagtail 17 Canada Geese, 2 Swans. By Wrafton pond a lone singing Willow Warbler livened up my day.

Early morning dog-walking from St. Davids to Trews Weir and back - several singing Chiffchaff, Great Crested Grebes and my first Swallow of the year: one around the canal basin and later at the Millenium Bridge (probably the same bird).

Seen from our bedroom window at 9.15 this morning in the lane - 2 Red-legged Partridges.Last seen here in April 2005. In 2003 they successfully bred in the church graveyard.

Chiichaffs have arrived but still await returning Swallows  and House Martins

From home this morning a Peregrine falcon in after my racing pigeons !!! Followed a few minutes later by another sighting of a Red Kite, looking at the state of its tail and wing moult it's the same bird that was seen here yesterday.

Bird No.23 of the day being the would be cock Italian Sparrow sp that has been visiting since January.

Heron overhead and a GSWP started the day just on sunrise.

I'm up to 21 species seen from my Modbury garden during this terrible time. Some of them very distant and seen through my scope. 4 species of corvid (no jay yet) a stock dove flying over, a distant little egret in flight and a male blackcap which was in the garden and a first for the year for me. Also a distant buzzard the rest are the usual garden visitors. Seeing if I can beat my rival and arch nemesis Rob Murphy who is on 22. 

A nice dotted Bee-fly in the garden today, they seem to like primroses. They are heralds of spring appearing on sunny days in March and April.It is associated with larger colonies of spring-flying mining bees, which nest in very short turf or bare ground in well drained, sunny areas (e.g. south facing slopes and along footpaths). The female bee-flies can be found hovering around such colonies flicking their eggs into the nesting holes. The larvae are parasites of the bee grubs in their underground nest cells,  waiting until the grubs are fully-grown before devouring them.

Dotted Bee-fly                               Dotted Bee-fly                          Hoverfly, Eristalis species