Devon Birds would like to thank the many members and other birdwatchers who complied with the restrictions during the recent Lockdown and stayed in their local area (village, town or part of city) to birdwatch while exercising (and later) taking recreation. We hope that, despite the obvious frustrations, you found some respite in watching wildlife in your local area and perhaps discovered some birds close to home, that you might otherwise not have seen! As always, please submit sightings to the County recorder and / or BirdTrack. 

 

Please continue to follow the Covid related requirements (currently "rule of six outside, social distancing etc) while enjoying the new freedoms to extend your birdwatching. Some hides will remain closed for the time being and where you find one open, please follow Government guidelines on keeping yourself & others safe: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/social-distancing/what-you-need-to-do/

 

Thank you from

Devon Birds News site editors & members of the Records Committee

Please think very carefully before posting any information on scarce or rare breeding species both here and elsewhere online.

A list of ‘at risk’ species in the county can be found here. Please note that Wood Warbler should now also be treated as on the list. All species included need to be protected - many receive full legal protection under Schedule 1 and/or are rare in the county and may be vulnerable to persecution/disturbance. It is an offence to intentionally disturb any of the Schedule 1 species during the breeding season without a valid licence. This also applies to anyone taking photographs of these species at or near the nest or whilst feeding dependant young.

Some species may be found breeding at numerous locations however please keep information on these species limited to well-known sites (e.g. Labrador Bay for Cirl Bunting, Aylesbeare Common for Dartford Warbler). Others may be found as obvious migrants and as such can also be posted eg coastal Ring Ouzel and passage waders, or raptors eg Little Ringed Plover, Red Kite or Marsh Harrier.

If you have any doubts and think there is a chance there may be breeding, either because of the habitat or behaviour of the bird(s) then do not post, but please submit your records to the County Recorder and the RSPB.

Please be aware that egg collecting and other forms of persecution remain very real hazards for some of Devon’s birds.

Posts which breach these guidelines are likely to be not admitted / removed althogether, rather than edited.  

As noted in the minutes of the Oct 2020 DBRC meeting, Tim Jones is standing down after serving as a member of the Committee for an extended sixth year. Tim has been an active member of the Committee, and his consistently pragmatic approach to assessing records has proved invaluable. The Society would like to thank him for his contribution over the past six years and wish him well in the future.

In the hope of maintaining a geographic spread across the Committee, DBRC approached Dean Jones to fill the vacancy. Dean grew up birding and ringing in Antrim and Lothian, before a tour of various European islands, including Lundy where he has been the Warden now for the past four years.

His experience and knowledge from ringing and birdwatching around Europe will be especially useful to Devon Birds and the Records Committee.

Unless the County Recorder receives any other applications before 15th April 2021, Dean will be formally elected to fill the vacancy for a five year period.

For more information and/or an application form please contact:

Kevin Rylands, County Recorder.   Email: recorder@devonbirds.org 

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

The Yellow Browed-Warbler showed very well again between 12 and 12.30 along with the 2 Siberian Chiffchaffs in the usual place (managed to capture a few reasonable images in perfect conditions).Later at Broadsands, whilst watching the large rig being towed into the bay, chanced upon a Kingfisher agan allowing a closer than usual (for me) camera shot. 2 Great Northern Divers close in. Soon time to start going to Prawle !  

A pair of Tree Sparrows at Powderham Park, by the railway where it was recently flooded at around 3pm. Luckily I was with two other birders, one from Northumberland, who instantly confirmed identification. Watched for a minute or so within 15 feet...just brilliant

Something different to see -a Black Swan today with the Mute Swans.

Pair of Dipper on the Rv Avon just outside South Brent and a single Goldcrest

Around the farmland edge of Slapton Ley, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Long tailed / Great & Blue Tits, Song Thrush, Wren, numerous Robins, two Warblers seen on one of the reed beds but only brief glimpses and unable to be more specific, Grey Wagtail.

Single great Northern Diver off of the beach

Little / Black Necked & Great Crested Grebe on the Ley, considerable numbers of Coot

Frogmore creek two Green Shank & one Red Shank

Two Common Sandpiper at Aveton Gifford showing and calling well, count of 31 Mute Swan

Lower Tamar Lake 10:50

39 Goosander 18m 21f, 14 Tufted Duck 5m 9f, 4 Coot, 2 G.C.Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 8 Teal, 3 Little Grebe, c25 Mallard, 1 Wren, 12 Snipe, 1 Bullfinch.

Early doors for a slow ringing session, but one of the female Marsh Harriers was perched on a tree in Sherpa marsh for the first couple of hours I was there.

Later finally managed to track down (with a lot of help from some alarming Chaffinches and Blackbirds) both Tawny Owls high in the Macrocarpus.

The Goldeneye, Goosanders & Brent Geese that Maurice counted yesterday were still showing well this morning.

A single female Brambling with mixed finches in bushes near the viewing platform

Plenty of ducks still from the hide this lunchtime, including a pair of Gadwall amongst the usual. Also present, 1 Shelduck, 1 Snipe and a Coot which has been fairly rare here of late! Small flocks of Brent Geese were slowly gathering in the field next to the hide although everything was disturbed by a low flying helicopter just before I left.

In fine calm conditions I wasn't really expecting to see much off Berry Head but around 1100 the White-billed turned up in front of the sea watch point . Later I watched it feeding off the cliffs fro m the top, still in the area at 1220 when I left.Not much else except about 150 auks now on the sea.

Earlier the Black Guillemot and two Black-throated Divers off AstraZeneca carpark.

1 Siberian Chiffchaff in Marsh. 31 Cirl buntings and 6 Reed Buntings on seed in 2nd car park - cold frosty early mornings always produce good counts of buntings!

Walked across Croyde beach this afternoon on the way to Baggy Point. In amongst the Gull roost were 30+ Common Gulls and a lone adult winter Mediterranean Gull.

Baggy was birdless, but windy.

Not enough time to do a full count but 231 Avocet roosting. 3 Pochard, 2 Gadwall and 6 Pintail as well as the Long-tailed Duck showing well amongst the usual wildfowl.

2 female goosander by Topsham Bridge & 2 dipper on river through Woodleigh Woods. Also: 21 raven & 4 buzzard. 

The Long-tailed Duck still present this lunchtime until about 1.45. Good numbers of ducks on the marsh today including impressive numbers of Shoveler. Waders were resticted to Redshank, Lapwing and Curlew.

0945 - 1145

Common Gull 1; Dunlin c250; Grey Plover 5; Lapwing c1500; Ringed Plover 1; Shelduck 6; Little Grebe 1; Little Egret 3; Bullfinch 2; Goldeneye 1(female in area to rear of RGB); Dark-bellied Brent 252 plus 3 Pale-bellied; Goosander 2 (1m,1f) and Red-breasted Merganser 1f.

Good numbers of Gulls this morning on the Teign at low tide although no sign of the Glaucous Gull. 6 Greenshanks, 8 Redshanks, 3 Red Breasted Mergansers and 2 feeding Avocets by Red Rock.

Managed to find very little before the heavy rain set in - but a single Dunlin had joined the 3 Greenshanks on the pool. Just 38 Curlews here (presumably the rest heading straight to Saltram in anticipation of the very high water levels on the pool of late).

Also on Friday - a Black Redstart on the Hoe (by the bowling green) and still a Great Northern Diver in the Sound.

No sign of the White-billed Diver despite many divers forced back in the harbour and off Shoalstone, so perhaps Dave's Berry Head sighting on Friday was the last!

Totals: 17 Great Northern Divers, 3 Black-throated Diver (2 ads 1 juv), Black Guillemot and the juv Iceland Gull (seen heading out towards Berry Head twice).

A seawatch 1200-1400 hrs in fresh to strong S winds and heavy cloud produced Great Skua, Iceland Gull first winter  (presumably the Brixham harbour bird), Red-breasted Merganser, Common Scoter and Great Northern Diver all heading south. Four Great Northern Divers feeding in the lee of the quarry but no sign of the White-billed.  

At least 13 med gulls, 12 ad, sw amongst 2,000 black headed.

16:00-16:35

Plenty to see today, my list is 1 Slav, 3 Red-necked Grebes, 11 GND, 4 BTD, 12+GCG, 1 Black Guillemot and Gannet, Fulmar,Guillemot,Heron,Kittiwake also showing well.

5 Goosanders (1 male + 4 females) & with the female Goosanders 1 female Red breasted Merganser.

2 Whooper Swans still present this morning in fields besides the Torridge. Also 4 adult Mutes with 2 I matures.

Just to confirm that there are 7 Spoonbills at Yelland

2 Photos one of 6 and another all alone

Just to confirm that they are7 Spoonbills on the RSPB Site Yelland, 2 photos one showing 6 the other alone

0850-1030

Before the rain comes in this afternoon, managed to see: 32 Teal, 17 Shelduck, 41 Oystercatcher, 43 Avocet, 11 Curlew, 13 Wigeon, 1 Gadwall, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 3 Great Crested Grebe flew up river, and lots of Herring and Black Headed gulls On the mud.

Had a look at the sea from Torcross for Jason's Surf Scoter but nothing doing, not even any Common's. Present were 2 Slavonian Grebes and a Great Northern Diver. Another Great Northern was just off the midway car park with a Red-Throated Diver and 2 Common Scoters. Best was a Black-throated Diver which flew south just offshore.

Unbelievably a big fat zero all around for the WeBS count this morning, just think, anyone doing a count on the moon this afternoon would do no worse than me. Guess there might have been a Moorhen or something sheltering in the reeds if i'd given it a few hours.

After many failed attempts, I've finally found a large murmuration of starlings in Devon. They're currently just outside Uffculme, but are very skittish and have moved short distances further up the road out of the village three times in the last week.

A female type Black Redstart was on my roof and garden in Kingsteignton this morning. At Decoy Country Park the drake Scaup remains with 31 Tufted Duck, 23 Mute Swan and singles of Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe and Marsh Tit also noted

An enjoyable day with the Topsham Birdwatching and Naturalists Society started at Broadsands with 2 Siberian Chiffchaffs and 1 collybita Chiffchaff, 5 -6 Cirl buntings and 5 Reed Bunting. on the sea 1 Black-necked Grebe, 3 Great Northern Divers and 30+ Great Crested Grebes.

Brixham: 2 Black Guillemots (1 off Shoalstone Carpark the other half way along the Breakwater) 15+ Purple Sandpipers, 1 Black-throated Diver, 1 Slavonian Grebe, 2 Great Northern Divers, 2 Common Scoter.

Berry Head: 4 Great Northern Divers (including one with a very pale neck!) , juv Iceland Gull > South at 3.30pm and 4 or more Harbour Porpoises.

12.30-14.45

4 Red-Legged Partridges in field beyond the stream on the edge of the nature trail through the meadow.  Also 10+ Pied Wagtails, 6 Redwings, 2 Ravens, 2 Jays, Bullfinch, Green Woodpecker, 5 Buzzards, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel. Feeders very busy with mixed Tit flock and Nuthatch.

Walked around the lake with the family this morning. In between jumping in puddles I saw 1 male and 1 female Goosander, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Little Grebe, a few Snipe and 3 Great Crested Grebes including 1 pair displaying.

First Avocet that I have spotted on the Taw Estuary and another rarity, 

8 Spoonbills counted today Sat 11/01/14

Avocet

Just had an email from Jason Smart, who had a (pos 1w) male Surf Scoter off the Torcross beach car park 12:30-13:00, but not at 15:00.

The bird was last seen associating with a small group of female-type Common Scoter (c8 birds), but at this stage had become distant.

Did a bit of ringing in the reserve this morning, details on the forum later. Saw Cetti's and Water Rail. Heard Tawny Owl.

This evening I was out Owling on the Great Field/Marsh, and on cue a pair of Little Owls popped up onto a barn, started calling and then mating! Later heard but didn't see a Barn Owl.

A Slavonian Grebe was off Breakwater beach and a Black Guillemot still off the breakwater. Otherwise much quieter than recent visits though difficult to be very thorough with my 2 yr old along for the ride!

Charleton Marsh / Bay,  13:50-15:40, high tide.

Great Northern Diver, Little Grebe, 5 Great Crested Grebe, 83 Shelduck, 400+ Wigeon, 5 Pintail, 3 Shoveler, 8 Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Water Rail, 150 Dunlin, Turnstone, 120 Curlew, 3 Chiffchaff ( sewage works ).

Cattle Egret settled back in field with cattle this afternoon even when tractor was in the field feeding. Sparrowhawk overhead but real bonus was a single male brambling along the Yalberton /Long Road lane above the orchard.

No sign of the Spoonbills when I arrived at Isley Marsh at 10am this morning, then after an hour or so, 1 appeared, then shortly after, the other 5 flew in giving me great views.

One is the usual bird we get here each year.

Spoonbill

The Black Redstart is still easily seen by the path N along the river, look by the white upturned boat. It flies into the gardens when approached but soon reappears. Surprised to see a Water Pipit also this morning - likely the same as the Nov/Dec bird it's been missing for about three weeks.

Black Redstart - Topsham 11/1/2014

The Cattle Egret again this morning, but very flighty and nervous and disappeared when the cows were taken back into the farmyard at 9.20am. Good numbers of Redwing and Pied Wagtails in the fields.

The Yellow-browed Warbler showed well early afternoon in usual place 200m W of YMCA also 1 Siberian Chiffchaff there too. 

Having heard that divers were starting to leave Brixham Harbour in calming weather, I walked round Berry Head quarry instead. Over a hundred auks were on the sea, some unfortunately showing signs of oil. At about 1310 I was watching four Great Northern Divers from the concrete platform used by anglers, when a big pale diver surfaced beside them and turned to show that now-familiar head profile of the White-billed Diver . It fed with the other divers for 45 mins or so until they all drifted further out into the bay and I lost them. As I turned away I was taken by surprise as a white-winged gull flew overhead and disappeared round the headland. The quick shot I managed looks like an adult Iceland Gull. I made my way back to the breakwater late pm to check for more white-winged gulls following returning trawlers, without success. However several boats were still fishing off the head towards dusk. The Black Guillemot and Slavonian Grebe were still showing on the sea from the breakwater.   

08:15-14:00

3 Black-necked Grebes, 3 Great Crested Grebes, 18 Little Grebes, 83 Canada Geese, 84 Wigeon, 150 Gadwall, 13 Shoveler ( including a leucistic white bird with some buff / gingery markings ), 288 Tufted Duck, 29 Pochard, 2 Scaup ( m,f ), Red-crested Pochard x Tufted Duck hybrid, 10 Goldeneye & 347 Coot.

Fairly quiet out in the bay , settled were single Red-throated & Great Northern Diver, another Great Crested Grebe and 2 Common Scoter. In addition 2 Red throated Divers and 37 Common Scoter ( flocks of 30 & 7 ) flew south.

Round 2.30pm saw a good sized flock of mixed finches landing in the canopy of a mature ash tree, was able to make a rough count of 43 birds of which 17 were confirmed as Green Finch, a few Chaffinch the remainder being Gold Finch, this flock lifted off and flew down towards South Brent village.

No sooner had they gone I saw another flock coming into the same tree from the opposite direction and was able to do a count of 40 birds of which 22 were identified as Green Finch the remainder being Gold Finch.

The really good turn out for the Brent Birders intro last evening gave me the incentive to have a deeper look at my home ground today, first highlight was flushing two very small birds from a thicket only able to follow one which confirmed my belief that there were both Chiffchaffs I have never seen them here in the winter months before, followed by 5 meadow Pipits which showed well, 7 Bullfinch (six males and one hen) which I saw again later in the day, Nuthatch and Greater Spotted Woodpecker showing well,  Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush and Redwings showing, another highlight was finding a small foraging mix of Blue Tits and Gold Crests (at least 3). Raven and Buzzard (3) showing well.

At 2.30pm did a count of 118 Herring Gull passing over head across the village away from the moors towards Totnes in general

Obvious pairs of Great Tit, Blackbird, Nuthatch, Song Thrush, Robin (several singing from high spots) and Raven.

Today in the park:

5 Goosander (2 males), 3 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Little Grebe, female Mandarin, 3 Pochard, 5 Tufted Duck, 4 Water Rail, 1 Kingfisher, Common Snipe

Bittern reported flying across the northern marsh at lunchtime, Siskin, 5 Crossbill,Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming, 4 Marsh Tit,  Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush singing.

(Jon Avon)

Hundreds of Brent Geese in the field between the hide and the viewing platform this lunchtime, but I couldn't pick anything unusual out of them. Very few waders from the viewing platform over a high tide included Avocets, Grey Plover, Redshank and Dunlin along with a few Common Gulls. A couple of Mistle Thrush flew over.

Twice a year I do a survey inside the RMB Chivenor. It's good for Skylarks, but only in the spring apparently - didn't see any today! It does give an opportunity to look at the Chivenor bank of the Taw usually only visible from the other side of the estuary. Good counts of Wigeon (350), Lapwing (800) and Golden Plover (5000?) which were on the sandbank mid-stream. Also able to scope teh 6 Spoonbills at Isley, which won't count on the Chivenor survey!

Thursday AM, 2 x RLP's between Waddeton and Galmpton, in the road at the very top of the hill leading out of Galmpton towards Stoke Gabriel. 4 x field entrances there, sometimes seen in all 4 fields. Late in the day, at dusk,  in the Waddeton dip, large bird of prey flew out of tree, reminded me of snipe in flight, rapid changes of direction, then flew parrallel with road, and looked like a double sized kestrel....any thoughts ?...Also (late this, as wifey broke her shoulder at the weekend), at least 50 Common Scoter off Preston beach, on Sunday, fairly well out, accurate count difficult, due to large swell.

Quick look round the reserve (water levels falling - hooray!) and great views of a female Marsh Harrier over the Sherpa reed-bed.

The long staying Black Brant today at Starcross, Oak Meadow Golf Course in amongst the Dark-bellied Brent Geese and 2 Pale-bellied Brent Geese. Click photo for video

Fewer birds than the last few days but still plenty about. 2 great northern divers and a blackthroated diver in the harbour, with another 2 great northern divers outside the breakwater, along with a slavonian grebe. The iceland gull dropped in on to its favoured spot on the NW side of the the fish quay late afternoon. A late surprise was a glaucous gull which followed a day trawler into the harbour before flying back out to sea, found by a visiting birder from Bristol.

On a walk from Torcross to the bridge between the Lower and Higher Ley today a large raft of wildfowl were on the Ley at Torcross - amongst the numerous coot, gadwall, mallard, tufted duck and pochard I found 4 black-necked grebes, a male and female scaup, 3 male and 2 female goldeneye with the males busily displaying, a pair of wigeon and the male tufted duck/red crested pochard hybrid.

At the back of Ireland Bay were another 3 black necked grebes. From the Bridge 2 water rails were calling and I managed a brief view of 1 amongst the reeds. A Cettis warbler was heard singing and gave a brief flight view.

On the sea a great northern diver was feeding close to the shore with a red throated diver further out. 2 guillemots and a male and 8 female common scoters were also seen in the Bay.

Amongst the gulls bathing on the Ley were 8 adult lesser black backed gulls, showing a variation in sizes and back colouring with some birds much paler looking.

Not a bad day out in the bright sunshine with not a drop of rain in sight for a change.

Cattle Egret present all day in fields at Yalberton Farm today. It went to roost in an apple tree at about 14:30 so it seems like it's spending a lot of time here.

Video of the Egret taken a few weeks ago feeding with cattle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sETVWCdvk4

Walked fromn Ashford back to Braunton this morning - 5 Bar-tailed Godwits near the old hide (which is now overgrown and useless!) and a Greenshank at Heanton bend. 2 Dippers at the Velator bridge to the reserve. Later walked to Baggy Point where 4 Common Scoters bobbed gently, but no sign of the Eider. 2 Guillemots on the tide race further out. Good numbers (30-ish) of storm-driven Kittiwakes feeding close in and going past the point.

A pair of Bar Headed Geese with a large flock of Canada Geese at high tide visible from the hide.

Just 5-6 Great Northern Divers this morning with 1 Red-throated Diver also 64 Great Crested Grebes.

In marsh 2 Siberian Chiffchaffs and 1 collybita Chiffchaff. 6 Cirl Buntings and 2 Reed Buntings on seed in 2nd car park.

Had good views of the Black Redstart at Topsham Rec this lunchtime. It disappeared into a nearby garden when I arrived but came back after a couple of minutes. I then had good views of it on the path and wall by an upturned white boat. Also a Grey Wagtail, a couple of Common Gulls and a female Red-breasted Merganser.

Juvenile Great Crested Grebe enjoying the calm sheltered waters of the Taw Estuary.

I would like to add my observation of the Spoonbill LA('left, above the 'knee'')YRM, RARYfG currently being discussed. My partner photographed the same bird at Yelland on 31st October 2013. It was with the long-returning individual mentioned below.

Footage here of the White-billed Diver in company with Great-northern Divers, the Iceland Gull makes an appearance too. All the recently reported birds still on show...

http://youtu.be/yXz5-wh3Atg

Great to still see so many birders from around the country coming to Brixham to see the variety of birds on offer

Iceland Gull J.Marshall

Lunchtime in the hide today until about 1.15 as the wet weather set in. The Long-tailed Duck was showing well at times. Also good to see some waders here with Avocet, Bar-tailed Godwits outnumbering the Black-tailed Godwits, Redshank, Dunlin and 1 Curlew. Also a few male Pintail and the female Red-breasted Merganser.

Video from yesterday
Click on photo below to view

No Scoters at Downend but 4 female Common Scoters & 1 Eider still at Baggy Point.

Also 1 Merlin showing an interest in the Meadow Pipits,2 Red throated Divers & 4 Kittiwakes inc 2 juveniles feeding with the Black - headed Gulls & Common Gulls at the treated sewage outfall. 6 Fulmars at Baggy point.

The recent accumulations of seabirds sheltering in the southern half of Torbay are clearly a reflection of the exceptionally difficult feeding conditions along much of our coastline, which will inevitably have caused some casualties. I found a very weak looking Razorbill at Brixham breakwater slipway, and after some enquiries managed to get hold of RSPCA wildlife rescue on 0300 1234 999. It sounded as if they were very busy picking up seabird casualties in the South Hams so unfortunately were unable to get this way for a couple of hours, by which time I had lost track of the bird, but it is worth having the number for future use. T

The 2 Glossy Ibis still mid morning in the first field north of the cricket pitch opposite the hide.