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Full details are now on the website.

Taw & Torridge Branch will not be re-starting Indoor or Outdoor Meetings before January 2022.

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Three F/Imm Marsh Harriers together today at Exminster Marsh, during a very brief visit at lunch time. 300+ Teal, 10 Shoveler & 50 Lapwing the best of rest.

Redwings now arrived in Exeter with a flock over house & one along with Kingfisher & Stonechat on drainage channel south of Trew Weir 

Brief early morning visit to Cadover. Between patches of thick mist managed to see Redwings 40+ with Starlings, Blackbirds, Mistle and Song Thrushes, Woodpigeons 30+, Ravens 2, Yellowhammer 1, Chaffinches 6, Mallards 6 and a solitary female Goosander on the river by the bridge.

Redwing

Goosander

Short-eared Owl first thing seemed to come in off the sea. 743 Alba Wagtails came out of the reed roost just north of the bridge.

08.30-11.45

Decent morning with a female Velvet Scoter south.  The juv Eider showed well south of the Lead Stone.  A Woodlark in off with Skylarks.  Also, 4+ Firecrests, 10 Common Scoters, 4 Swallows, 4+ Chiffchaffs, 2 Blackcaps, 8+ Meadow Pipts, 3+ Alba Wagtails, 

Nice to see the first Purple Sandpiper of the autumn on the Lead Stone.  

Good day for vis mig: 1180 Woodpigeon (800E 380W), 141 Jackdaw (106E 35W), 16 Jay (16E 3W), Skylark 330 (160E & 170 grounded), Song Thrush 5 (2E 3W), Chaffinch 70E. Also: male Merlin, Sparrowhawk, 3 Great Spotted Woodpecker - migrants, 90 Robin (also 47 at E Soar yesterday), 18 Blackbird, 35 Goldfinch, 2 Blackcap, 5 Chiffchaff, 2 Swallow, 4 Bullfinch & 20 Teal on lagoons.

Non-avian highlight: coming face to face with huge Sika stag!!

On Friday 15 on my post regarding Anchor wood, it appears that I had forgotten to include photos of the Goosanders and the Lapwing.

Goosander

Lapwing

Two Woodcock flew from verge at Junction of Colley lane and A380 at 7.20am yesterday morning

Following my visit to Fremington pill I decided to walk along the river adjacent to Anchor wood where for the second day running I've seen three Goosander and a single Lapwing. 

This afternoon I popped over to Fremington Pill were the Glossy Ibis was showing well and a ringed Curlew presented itself. Orange ring above the left knee (no clear marking) and a Black ring above the right knee (number 92) in white.

Glossy Ibis

Curlew

Hoped to be earlier but thick fog, so starting 10.30

Cadover-  Redwings (over in Brisworthy's fields- noting lack of holly berries this year)
Goldcrest, stone chat, pippits, robin, great/blue tit, woodpigeon, pied wagtail, grey wagtail, crow, green woodpecker. A first for me, a kingfisher, fishing further upstream towards the farm. 

Walking around to top of legis tor then to ringmoor down. 

Kestrel on top of legis tor being mobbed by the pippits, multiple ravens, sky larks passing by, golden plovers, at max one time easily 300+ birds, an initial startle from a member of the public caused them to fly, break into smaller groups and spread out, but came back to gather on ringmoor down allowing a nice photoshoot with my laying in amongst the grasses.
Also stonechat, female yellowhammer, magpie, g.s woodpecker at the plantation, robins, and buzzard. 

Counted 17 Buzzards in the field with me whilst Ploughing today.Maybe more hiding in the trees.Estimate 700 gulls after the same worms as the Buzzards.Mostly Juveniles but what surprised me was the majority of the adults were LBB Gulls with the rest being Herring Gulls.That presumably meant that there were likely to be about 500 LBB's in one group.The Gulls find the plough so quickly in the morning do some of them carry mobiles?!!!

High tide: 160 Redshank, 10 Greenshank, 2 Common gull, 1 Mediterranean gull, Black headed gull with 2J21 leg ring still present, 2 Kingfisher, 13 Grey Heron roosting on the embankment. 4 Ring necked Parakeet overhead, Jays busy gathering acorns.

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A quiet morning with Firecrest, Grey Wagtail, 38 Siskin, 145 Skylark, Sparrowhawk, 18 Yellowhammer, 20 Cirl Bunting, 47 Robin, 13 Blackbird (first influx), Blackcap, 6 Chiffchaff, 4 Swallow, 18 Jackdaw west.

early am: 15 Goosander on the reservoir, lots of Redwings and several Jays about, 1 Crossbill over.

2 male 1 female ring ouzel, 4 siskin, 4 cirl buntings. Modest viz mig - 30 plus meadow pipit, handful of skylarks and a jay.

1 Purple Sandpiper

plus 15ish Common Dolphins

Purple Sandpiper

Common Dolphin

Redwings 200+ Crossbills 18 ,1 Redpoll.

At least 130 Redwing, 60 Blackbird and 30 Song Thrush in Brisworthy Burrows first thing. Most gone by 08:30.

A very out of context 'pwing' call caught my attention - Bearded Tit! it was calling from the top of a sycamore tree beside the woods and meadow. My first for the site and Torbay. Also around site: 3 Firecrest, Spotted Flycatcher, 11 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap.

Other birds included overhead:  4 Redwing,  4 Song thrush, 1 House Martin, 22 Skylark

                                                             Bearded Tit - Berry Head

Bowling Green Marsh & Goosemoor at lunchtime. Spotted Redshank Juv (GM), Ruff, 210+ Redshank, 33 Dunlin, 530+ Blackwits, 34 Greenshank (GM), 19 Lapwing, 190+ Pintail, 235 Teal, 165+ Wigeon, 3 Shoveler, 2 Snipe & a Kingfisher 

Viewed from old tin workings north of Trowlesworthy Warren house, large flock of Golden Plover approx 300 flying & settling just east of Legis Tor.

Also viewed Redwings (4), Blackbirds (6) no Ring Ouzels as yet, Green Woodpeckers, Bullfinch, Mistle Thrushes, Kestrel.

Seen from A380 by Passage House Inn, Yesterday at 5pm

Highlights - Whimbrel, 2+ Redwing heard over, 11 Little Grebe, 12 Teal, 11 Redshank, 12 Curlew, 4 Stock Dove, 2 Chiffchaff, Mistle Thrush, 2 Raven, Nuthatch, GS Woodpecker and 9 Little Egret

Today between 18.00 and 18.30 hours the Spotted Redshank appeared and was showing well between the sluice and upper pill.

Spotted Redshank

26 Dark-bellied Brent Geese in a pool at low tide (16:30)

8 Cattle Egrets roosting , 4 Greenshanks , 1 Glossy Ibis , 1 Spotted Redshank , 1 Grey Plover , 2 Shovelers & 4 Snipe .

On the bank on the other side of the Plym by the railway bridge between Longbridge & Saltram, a lone Roe deer browsing. While photographing that, 2 Common Sandpiper flying downstream and a Kingfisher darting down then up stream ten mins later, 2 Grey Wagtails.

I didn't count but At Blaxton meadow, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Greenshank, Dunlin,  Little Egret, Grey Heron.

Roe Deer (doe)

Roe Deer (doe)

Out early to catch Fallow action, apart from alpha no other male was being so eager just yet, but soon. 

However was treated to a holly busy with lots of firecrests, about 4 in one, and could hear more in other locations. 

Also today had, Golddcrests, tree creepers, gs woodpeckers, 4 buzzards, lots of jays active,  blue/great/long tail tit,  robin, wren, pheasant crow, raven, jackdaw, song thrush, woodpigeon, stock dove, 

Also treated to a fox running across my path

Late Whinchat at top of Crownhill Down this morning.

Whinchat

Best bird today at Tamar Lakes was a surprise Black-necked Grebe on Upper Tamar Lake. A few Marsh Tits and, eventually, a vocal Willow Tit were at the feeders at Lower Lake.

On Friday, October 8, Exminster Marshes gave us a young Hobby, a juvenile Marsh Harrier, a Great Egret and 50 Golden Plovers. Across the water, at Bowling Green Marsh, highlights included a Spotted Redshank, a Ruff, Kingfisher, Peregrine and around 150 Pintail.

A Yellow Browed Warbler in the willows around the pond at 9. 30 this morning.

07:50 - 09:30

Yellow-browed Warbler in Dead Dolphin Wood. Calling but mobile.

Great sunlight and light winds on the warren today with plenty to see but did become a little busy. Grey plover, Ringed plover, Sanderling, Dunlin, plenty of Sandwich Terns, med gull, plus Blackcap, Greenfinch, Cirl buntings etc but hi-lights of the day were the bold little Dartford Warbler in the sunshine and display of cattle egrets on the wreck at Starcross.   

Question please....When will the Warren bird hide be re-opened?

Dartford warbler

ship wrecked cattle \egrets

Hobby seen flying over Radford Park Woods this afternoon.

This afternoon I had a quick visit to Fremington Pill. Sue Ambler and I saw the Glossy Ibis so it's returned at last.  On the quay side of the iron bridge was a single Greenshank.

Glossy Ibis

Greenshank

Looks like a Radde's Warbler was found at Starehole today,

I was driving slowly southbound in traffic on the A380 flyover, across the River Teign, at 12.45.  I glanced to my left and down, and saw a Great White Egret, mid-channel in a creek, south of Passage House. 

Thankfully, the bird was seen by others soon after and I got decent views of it again at 14.40, just 125m or so east of Passage House.   

On the drive up to Shipley from South Brent two Redwings.

From Shipley car park to the dam and back across the moors gave a total of 28 species, despite glorious weather bird life was a bit sparse, the recently seen flocks of Thrush sp, Meadow Pipit and Goldfinch were not in evidence.

No sign of any Ring Ouzels and the birders I spoke to said they had blanked as well, as previous post it has been a poor rowan berry year up there.

On the plus side a brilliant day for birds of prey, with numerous Kestrel sightings, male Sparrowhawk passed over, two Buzzards and fly pasts from both Peregrine and Hen Harrier.

A female Goosander sat on the bottom step of the Dam, Pied and Grey Wagtails, Jays, Raven, male Bullfinch, small numbers of Stonechat and Meadow Pipit.

An unexpected Wheatear on edge of the moor on the way back.

Early on lots of Godwits out on the scrape, but as I can only see their heads difficult to get a proper count. Ringed another juvenile Kingfisher plus Goldcrest and Blackcap. Most interesting was a Great Spotted Woodpecker with a ring that wasn't mine, or Chris Dee's either.

This morning at the Lake,

4 Willow Tit, 2 Marsh Tit, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Cormorant, 3 Coot, 3 Jay, 2 Grey Hero, 3 Moorhen, 3 Nut Hatch.

10 Jays heading north over Slapton Bridge, same number of Greenfinch in bush beside the ley. Small mixed flock of waders on the beach containing 10 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plover and a Sanderling.

Messed up the images on the original post !!!!

Rose-coloured Starling

The Paignton Rose coloured Starling continues to show well off of the  Kings Ash Hill / Fernicombe Road area of Paignton, the bird is with a flock of around 40 Starlings which are using a garden feeding station in Pimm Road.

All birds put up by a soaring Sparrowhawk.

Rose-coloured Starling

Rose-coloured Starling

An early morning visit before first light produced 4 Tawny Owls. Other birds of note were 41 Curlew, 167 Redshank, 11 Greenshank, 1 Bar -tailed Godwit, 3 Dunlin, 1 Snipe, 1 Kingfisher, 5 Stonechat, 30+ Meadow Pipit, 24 Stock Dove and a Grey Wagtail.

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Please encourage others to do the same.

Great White Egret from Clyst viewing platform at 7.30 this morning. Flew towards Goosemoor or beyond. Otherwise Ruff, 210+ Pintail, 165+ Teal, 12 Shoveler, 20+ Wigeon, 4 Little Grebe, Water Rail and plenty of waders but poor light meant no count. 

No sign of vireo & no Ring Ouzels! White Wagtail 27, Skylark 110, Robin 40, 15 Chiffchaff, Water Rail, 13 Blackcap, 3 Song Thrush, 2 Bullfinch, 3 Great Spotted Woodpecker moving, four Ravens flying east, 2 Swallow && another 8 Jay - makes 66 since late Sep!

Osprey over Raymonds Hill, Axminster at 8.15 this morning, being mobbed by a local buzzard.

Flock of 31 jays, over Exeter road approx 10.30am approx 20 Canada geese , and female sparrow hawk 

Yesterday's visit to Wrafton pond was a little disappointing, just the Swan family, two Moorhens and a juvenile Little Grebe.  On the Scrape was a little better, 22 Black tailed Godwits and a few Teal. In the river by the bridge was a Magpie taking a shower.

Black-tailed Godwit

Magpie