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Female Ring Ouzel in the garden for a third day

2 Snow Buntings still around, on boulders and beach approx 400m from Torcross Car Park. 10am - 10.30am.  Bit flustered today.  Periodically flew to other side of road, only just off the road! when people and dogs approaching on the beach. First Snow Bunting sightings for me :) 

1 immature Goshawk at 10:20 this morning

1 Greenshank , 1 Spotted Redshank , 1 Glossy Ibis & over 100 Black-tailed Godwits.

9 snow Buntings  (4m, 5f/juv) still present at 9.30am at east end on fenced area accessed from information centre end. Unusually little disturbance at this time

A high flying straggling flock of 22 Ravens passing over South Brent this morning from the moors, three single individuals seen there after, two flying the same way and the last I assume a local bird displaying over a stand of pine trees.

One Great Black Back Gull and a handful of vocal Mistle Thrush.

This morning in strong wind, 2 Eiders again ranging between the Lead Stone and the Orestone.

Also, 2 Common Scoters south, Purple Sandpiper south of the Point.  Big movement of Kittiwakes and Gannets, all headed south. 

2 Grey Seals. 

Seawatching 08:00-15:00 with Dave Smallshire. Main feature was an excellent passage of 5016 Kittiwakes (3618 in 1st hour) including many juveniles. Other birds: 5 Mediterrean Gulls, 9 Common Gulls, 1st winter Little Gull, 9 Bonxies, 6 Arctic Skuas, Puffin and 2 Balearic Shearwaters. Also 6 Common Dolphins, 8 Harbour Porpoises and 5 sightings of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna.

Huge flock (50+)of cattle egret flying towards powderham 

Similar numbers of waders to yesterday, on this morning's high tide, but Wigeon up to 10. Also, juv Ringed Plover (unfortunately, unusual here these days), 2+ Common Sandpipers, 21 Turnstones, 4 redhead Goosanders 2 Little Grebes, 3 Shags & a Grey Wagtail.

At Efford Marsh, Marsh Tit & 2 Chiffchaffs.  

Spoonbill this morning , Fremington side of Barnstaple new bridge.

Visited Slapton this morning hoping the Snow Buntings would still be around. Within 20 mins one was spotted (thanks Brian) around the boulders 200m up from Torcross car park. A very bold little chap who wasn’t flustered by us as he wandered up and down within a few meters from us. This was a first for me. Stopped at Shipley Bridge on my way back to see if I could see and Ringed Ouzels, just up past the bridge and up to the right were 5 birds, 2 more flew over head and single male on his own in a neighbouring tree. 

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

5.15 pm.Went looking for snow buntings and found SEVEN feeding where Rob had spotted three earlier and where I'd seen two yesterday. Several times passers-by spooked them and they flew to the pebble ridge but returned in no time.They were still feeding busily when I left at 5.45.Unable to attach photo of all seven on pebble ridge.

Blustery/windy conditions this morning, particularly on the south side which was blown out.  50+ Redwings over the upper slope/entrance on arrival.  2 Firecrests and a Chiffchaff calling from deep cover in the top dell.

2 Eiders.  1 initially just NE of the Lead Stone and showed very well.  Later relocated more distantly N of the Orestone, where a second bird joined it briefly.  A single Balearic Shearwater south too.

Great to see 2 Purple Sandpipers close to the Point.  

I was on the Tarka Trail counting Godwits on the scrape this afternoon, and most of them flew a few yards confirming that they are Black-tailed - max 20 of them. Then I saw a Jay fly out of the reserve, and then another followed by a third.- this is unprecedented, a few minutes later, at least 2 of them returned and one at least seemed to be carrying something. Acorns from elsewhere? There don't seem to be any acorns in the reserve this year, so not sure why there is this level of interest. Dipper in the river, 2 Stonechat outside the reserve, GSW, Water Rail, Cetti's Warbler 30 Redwing 20 Goldfinch the notable birds inside.

A visit starting around this morning's high tide, produced: 2 Lapwings, Snipe, Jack Snipe, 10 Greenshanks, 180 Redshanks, 3 Black-tailed Godwits, 9 Dunlins, 7 Wigeon, Little Grebe, 2 Mediterranean Gulls (adult & 2nd-w), Common Gull (adult), Kingfisher, 3 Shags, 36 Redwings (26 going west), Firecrest, 2 Stonechats, Green & Great Spotted Woodpeckers & 9 Roe Deer.

Polish-ringed adult Mediterranean Gull on Tothill Playing Field.

Female Ring Ouzel in garden all day.

Hen Harrier (ringtail) over Trowlesworthy, Cadover, at 16:25. Flew from Trowlesworthy Warren towards Wigford Down.

Nice morning around headland with a movement of 1,500+ Redwings, 1 Merlin (had a go at some Redwings), 1 Ring Ouzel, 3 Brambling, 2 Firecrests, 7 Goldcrests 8 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap.

                  Brambling                                                                         Merlin and Redwings

The 3 Snow Buntings I reported 2 days ago were this morning within inches of where I last saw them... but today I managed a few pictures. (I hope that the gentleman I chatted to who was out looking for them with his scope - probably a Devon Birds member - later found them. They were again just outside the NE end of the fenced area.)

A 25km walk taking in Gidleigh village & common, then up onto Hangingstone via Teignhead Farm. Raptors included a distant Hen Harrier, Peregrine harried by Ravens, singles of Goshawk & Sparrowhawk. On the mires 3 Snipe flushed, a single Golden Plover overhead. Coming off at North Creber a single Ring Ouzel with several Mistle thrush, Redwing and c100 Starling.

At Hope's Nose this morning:

2 Eiders seen close to the Lead Stone before moving north, off The Point.  2 Firecrests in the top dell.  More unusual was a Kingfisher that flew across the south side bay to the west-facing undercliff at Sandy Point.  Two Harbour Porpoise were off The Point too.

This afternoon at the Avon Dam, Dartmoor:

14 Ring Ouzels, with 12 in the small trees and bushes on the hillside to the right of, and just beyond, the first bridge.  2 further birds came up out of the quarry and a splendid male perched on the south-facing Dam Wall itself!  Below, a fem/imm Black Redstart showed well as it flitted up and down the spillway.  30+ Redwing, Mistle Thrush.    

Managed to locate a single Snow Bunting on the beach area this afternoon which is a first for us. Also from the beach, spotted a Grey Seal swimming north staying very close in amongst the breaking waves Three Wigeon on the Ley, a single Gadwall and numerous Tufted. Large Grey Heron.

At least 1 Snow Bunting present at Slapton on beach/roadside boulders as I drove past, 300m N of the Torcross car park at 9.30am.

Start Point 9.45am-1pm: 8,000 + Wood pigeons > SW, 8 Swallows, 20+ Skylarks, 4 Siskins, 15 alba Wagtails. At the lighthouse 2 Black Redstarts, 1 Chiffchaff, 3 Stonechats.

From home at South Brent this morning small numbers of migrating Wood pigeons passing over in small flocks of up to 50 birds, steady passage of Redwings over with flocks of up to 30 birds, 2 Mistle Thrush and a GSWP.

South Brent church the female Black Redstart found by Peter Reay still in situe and showing well, feeding along the roof, a steady trickle of Song Thrush (10 plus) Redwing and a Mistle Thrush coming into feed in the Yew trees in the church yard.

Walking back home an adult tiercel Peregrine passed over Hillside at low level.

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

Snow buntings

Snow bunting

Snow Bunting

Mid morning visit looking for winter thrushes which were few and far between,probably because the Rowan trees are devoid of berries this year.Saw a few blackbirds and a couple of Mistle Thrushes, and about a dozen Redwing at the far end of the valley well past the reserve boundary. Very few small birds about at all, but the bird of the day was a Ringtail Hen Harrier which flew along the valley and passed about 15 ft from me!

More vis mig: 2860 Woodpigeon (1640E 620W), Redwing 190W, Stock Dove 19W, Starling 16E & 45 grounded, Meadow Pipit 16W & 32 grounded, Jackdaw 48W 70E, Skylark 50W & 100 grounded, Mistle Thrush 1N, Jay 2W. Also: Jack Snipe, 5 Ring Ouzel, 20 Teal, 6 Song Thrush, 5 Chiffchaff & 3 Bullfinch.

Thanks for finding the 2 Snow Buntings Sam! When Andy joined me a bit later he had seen the third one a bit further North with a Linnet flock, so still 3 there.

Just 2 Snow Bunting present at around 11am today. I was lucky enough to witness 3 yesterday. 

Approximately 1500 Golden Plover on the shoreline who eventually moved over to Saunton direction.

At least one Snow Bunting still present at nightfall, around the sea defence boulders, just before the Starling murmuration. Also two Cattle Egrets flew south over the Ley.

Snow Bunting

In addition to the Black Redstart reported at Avon Dam, there was another around the churchyard in South Brent this afternoon. 

Black Redstart, South Brent

This afternoon a group of five Cattle Egrets and two Little Egrets were on Penhill Marsh.  In a field on the in land side of the Tarka path were a group of ten Curlew. In the river were two Bar-tailed Godwit and yet more Curlew. No camera today.

Lovely walk up to the Avon Dam this afternoon when the rain stopped. At least one male ring ouzel feeding in bushes below the dam and other thrush flocks around. Also a Merlin flew over the dam and one black redstart among the mippits on the dam wall.

Good view of late hobby hunting over field behind Lions Rest. Catching dragonflies and eating on the wing.  Being harassed by three magpies.  Also immature marsh harrier over central area.

Seen from home at South Brent this morning a flock of 31 Redwing, Tawny owl then flushed from the orchard.

Garden feed station getting busy with two Nuthatch and good numbers of Greenfinch as well as the usual garden birds, immature Sparrowhawk flew through and landed on a gate before moving on.

This afternoon a high flying female Merlin (record shots at best given the poor weather conditions)

Merlin

Merlin

3 Snow Buntings on beach adjacent to golf course

Bittern dropped into reeds just north of bridge at 07:30, also Kingfisher here.. In the bay Great Northern Diver just off Memorial Car Park. Lots of Gannets and Kittiwakes south through Bay, also 3 Brent Geese and 2 Arctic Skuas. 2 Cattle Egrets in the cattle field across the ley from Memorial Car Park.

Some good seawatching at Berry Head this morning with Mark Darlaston:

Ed: final day totals 0745-1545 (from MD):

1 Little Auk, 1 European Storm-petrel, 1 Sooty Shearwater, 1 juv Puffin, 1 juv Pomarine Skua, 6 Balearic Shearwaters, Manx Shearwater, 4 Little Gulls (1 ad, 3 1w) , 72 Mediterranean Gulls, 4920 Kittiwakes (incl. c750 still in Tor Bay at 15:45), 57+ Common Gulls, c650 Gannets, 18 Arctic Skuas, 24 Great Skuas, 2 Gadwall, 4 C Scoter, 2 Brambling, 6 Swallows plus Atlantic Bluefin Tuna & 6+ Porpoises.

First 3 Snow Buntings at Northam Burrows this morning

Very nice to see some black-billed Scandinavian male blackbirds , c4 feeding on the ground inside a damp park .

1 Ring-necked Parakeet, 9 Mandarin, 3 Curlew

As per Lloyd's earlier post two Snow Bunting at Slapton today, 150 Coot on the Ley and a handful of Great Crested Grebe but not a great deal else, up to eight Cetti's Warbler and two Water Rail.

Twelve Cattle Egret flying across the bay just out to sea and another two in a cattle field above the Ley, Greenfinch and Stonechat showing well.

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

After a quiet start, a reasonable spread of autumn migrants recorded including: Dartford Warbler, 3+ Ring Ouzels, Merlin, Firecrest, 2 Siskins, 1+ Redwing, 5 Song Thrushes, 5 Chiffchaffs, 5 Goldcrests, 9 Teal, 7 Golden Plovers, 12+ Stock Doves & just c250 Woodpigeons. Also Hare, 8 Sika & 3 Roe Deer.

Today at Bucks Mills I saw this fine chap perched on a rock close to the waters edge. Also saw two Oystercatchers, some Jackdows, a Rock pipit and a Robin.

Carrion Crow

Ringing early this morning aiming to catch a few Redwings which have started to appear. First bird out of a net (pre-dawn) was the female Tawny Owl which had been calling to her mate when I arrived. Ended with 6 Redwing, 5 Blackbird, 4 Blackcap (all males) 3 Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest and a few locals. Still no returning Greenfinch. Out on the scrape from very early a very big flock of Black-tailed Godwits (150+?) Raven over. Didn't catch the Jay, or the Cetti's Warbler, nor yet the GSW or Water Rail....

Anyone know anything about small freshwater fish? There is a small shoal of something (lord knows where they came from!) which mooch about on the surface with their noses just breaking the surface. I have no idea. Otter food?!

2 Snow Buntings this morning, up and down beach between Torcross and Memorial.Unfazed by many obsrevers

21 Oct 31 1.15pm in the sea by the breakwater leading to the lighthouse. Alas no photo 

Eds - Was this Brixham?? - Please anyone posting a sighting always start with the site as a 'title' for the post, not the bird.

Friday afternoon at Fremington Pill saw little in the way of bird life other than a Little Grebe at the Muddlebridge end a few Mallard, a few Little Egrets and a dozen or so Redshank.  On the little island just off the quay were one, Greenshank, one Grey Heron, one Spotted Redshank, two Curlew and a couple of Oystercatchers. From the middle of the I could see a half dozen or so Wigeon up close to Penhill Point end of river.

Little Grebe and two Mallard

Little Egret

With the change in the weather I put a bird feeder up today and was amazed how quickly it was rediscovered and soon emptied, upwards of 20 Greenfinch was a pleasant surprise I haven't seen that many around the garden for several years, a very persistent Nuthatch, flyover Greater Spotted and Green Woodpeckers, nice to have some Long Tailed Tits back on the feed station.

This morning gave the first evidence of the autumnal Wood pigeon migration with several small flocks of birds passing over, also a Mistle Thrush and several small flocks of Redwing.

Coal Tit

Nuthatch

Bundle Head 07:45 - 09:15 this morning: 23,500 Woodpigeons (around half heading south/west inland, half flying over the sea between Exmouth/Budleigh and Torbay), Brambling, Swallow, 168 Goldfinches, 119 Meadow Pipits, 67 Linnets, 34 alba Wagtails, 30 Chaffinches, 26 Siskins, 14 Greenfinches, five Skylarks, two Grey Wagtails, two Mistle Thrushes and two Jays.

I only had a brief visit on this afternoons rising tide. On Blaxton Meadow  Wigeon were up to 7, Black-tailed Godwit 6, Redshank 182, Greenshank 9, Oystercatcher 11, Dunlin 6, Curlew 37 & Shelduck 16. On the estuary 4 female Goosander, 2 Little Grebe and a Kingfisher.

Hope's Nose this morning:

Pleased to find my first Black Redstart of the autumn on the south side, amongst the lower boulders.  A prob imm/1cy male.  Also, 2 showy Firecrests, male and female Blackcaps, Chiffchaff, 6+ Meadow Pipits, 4 Balearic Shearwaters, 2 Common Scoters.  

Over in Paignton at the junction of the A380 and Fernicombe Rd, the juv Rosy Starling showed well on wires, on and off, at around 14.35.  It was mobile and spent time over at nearby Belfield Rd and Pimm Rd.  

Treated to a wonderful avian, aerial display this morning by upwards of 500 Golden Plover. Ravens 7, Snipe 3,Crows 10 Meadow Pipits 30+,Stalings 30+ some mixed in with the Golden Plover flock, Redwing 20+, Stonechats 6.

Golden Plover

Golden Plover

Had great views of a short eared owl over stubble near the warren car park this afternoon.

Female Shoveler and 3 Gadwall on Wrafton Pond this morning. 14 Black-tailed Godwits on the scrape (but later flew off east.) 2 Dippers in the river. Water Rail, Long-tailed Tit, Jay, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, GSW, and 15/20 Redwing in the reserve. Yesterday a Raven was calling from one of the big trees. Also a huge (1000+) number of Starlings on the telegraph wires near the river. Haven't seen such a gathering for about 25 years.

Snow Bunting , on beach between Torcross and Memorial car park, presume the bird from 11th October, feeding amongst the boulders so probably been overlooked. Also 1 Med Gull, a late Sandwich Tern and 6 Swallows

More vis mig this morning: 7560 Woodpigeon - 4280E 3280W, 103 Stock Dove 58E 45W, Skylark 205W & 160 grounded, Jackdaw 150 - 60E 90W, Raven 7W, Chaffinch 60W, Siskin 36W, Snipe 1W, Meadow Pipit 70W, Goldfinch 40W. Also: Golden Plover, 2 Ring Ouzel, 43 Song Thrush, Blackcap, 5 Goldcrest, 10 Pied Wagtail.

Five roosting Goosanders at the Avon Dam this morning included the first male of the autumn there, albeit still in partial eclipse. Two of the brown-heads had paler legs and were assumed to be 1cy birds. All flew out together at 0806. Very quiet below the dam, with just a few Redwing and one Ring Ouzel seen briefly before it took off and flew high southwards - perhaps to Soar!

3 Adult Spoonbill roosting at Isley Marsh at high tide this morning , Male 

Peregrine on Torridge bridge , 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls on Bideford quay 

a pair of Bullfinch at Yelland.

Late post for yesterday the 21st.

A total of 53 species seen in the morning including eight species of wader. I dipped on Pete's Dipper, but the following were of note. Bar-tailed Godwit, 4 Snipe, 8 Turnstone, 8 Bullfinch, 2 Siskin, 2 Stonechat, GSW and 159 Redwing flying over from Saltram towards Laira first thing (0750hrs). There were more Redwing Flying over, but my view was obscured by the trees at times so not counted.

Horsey Island Thursday morning watched juvenile Marsh Harrier quartering by the middle stone buildings, also good numbers of golden plover

Brief visit at lunch time. Probably the same juv hobby was hawking for dragonflies over the canal. The great white egret was amongst the roosting waders in the middle of the marsh. About 160 golden plover flew over but landed on the estuary. At least 2 chiffchaffs were along the canal bank.

In much nicer conditions, this morning: 2 Dippers (1 singing), Kingfisher, 2 Grey Wagtails, 1+ Common Sandpiper, 2 Little Grebes, Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Wigeon & a Treecreeper. 

Dipper

A very pleasant morning field walk in spite of cold N wind and waterlogged ground for 12 members of DB (as arranged by East Devon Branch).  From the car park a few Meadow Pipit and a pair of Stonechat were present but birds appeared thin on the ground until we headed north from the red barn.  The target winter thrushes did not come easily but beyond the last wall 2 Ring Ouzel, small flocks of Redwing, a Fieldfare, 2 Mistle Thrush were present at a distance. Overhead a flock of c100 Golden Plover were circling, plus 2 Buzzard and Ravens.  Gt S. Woodpecker was finally added to a count of 18 species.

Thanks to Alex and Shelagh Parsons for leading us and keeping the list.

Good vis mig this morning with 9450 Woodpigeons moving through - 5790E & 3660W then many groups straight out to sea presumably heading for France & Iberia; Skylark 18W 32E & 100 grounded; Song Thrush 8W; Jackdaw 13W; Swallow 6E; Siskin 6W; Jay 1 W. 

Also: 4 Ring Ouzels in Starehole showing really well from main path so no need to struggle up the goat path, female Merlin, Golden Plover, Sparrowhawk, 3 Bullfinch, 2 Chiffchaff, 50+ Meadow Pipit.