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.

watched from 17:15 till 20:15

was just watching a Green sandpiper from the hide at bowling green marsh when a txt from James Diamond of a Juvenile White winged black tern on Exminster marsh came through so made way to the Goat walk and after a short while managed to get the bird as it flew up and down the canal a Devon tick for me thanks James.

back round to the hide and  the first Curlew sandpiper of the year a nice adult popped in, 4 knot, 2 spotted redshank( adult and juv), 16+ bar tailed godwits, 550+ black tailed godwits, 300+ redshanks, 15 lapwing, 1 common sandpiper 7+ grey plover , 40+ whimbrel, 450+ curlew, 4 snipe, 8 little egrets, 60+ teal, 1 gadwall, 3 tufted duck, 1 buzzard, 2 grey heron, 1 possible wood sandpiper flyover call only 

a really good evenings birding 

17 little terns feeding in and near greysands pt + 1 common tern.Little ringed plover alighted briefly before moving to tip pool possibly with another as both took off at least one calling.Both species seen from 19:30-20:00.Also 10 knot 5 whimbrel grey plover(bp),50 curlew,70 oystercatchers,5 med gulls 3ads,2 juvs

16.30 > 19.00

218 Mediterranean Gulls including 31 Juv's on R.Caen.

142 Black headed Gulls + 7 juv,s.

On the beach seaward, two Ring Plovers were seen and photographed, they were among 5 to 6 Pid wagtails

Ring Plover - Mount Batten - 14-08-15

Not the only person around Mountbatten today it seems.

Clear signs of early migration with good numbers of swallows as well as an unusual small flighty flock of 6 common sandpipers on Ireland Bay shoreline. 1 adult Med Gull present as well

A dry and pleasent walk this evening. Great views of 15+ Little Terns feeding on the Taw on the in coming tide. Also 20+ Ringed Plover, 2 Greenshank and one Wheatear. Plus 100+ noisy Canada Geese  flying around the estuary. 

A very photogenic Juvenile Buzzard at Ford Park Cemetery this morning but little else apart form the usual Crows and Magpies.

A couple of Mallard and a Robin along with a small mix of B-H Gulls & Herring Gulls at Hooe Lake.

At Mount Batten Beach about half a dozen Pied Wagtail and a pair of Ringed Plover.

Late afternoon walk down to the Marsh was quite productive, especially if you like Canada Geese. Didn't get an accurate count but 250+ moving off towards the Great field in small groups until the farmer put the remainder up while he was changing a battery for his fence. Around the pond were 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpipers and a Wood Sandpiper, which flew off with one of the Green towards Braunton Marsh. Also a single Ruff. Several Teal on the pond with a couple of Little Grebes. Over on the Pill, a Common Sandpiper, and at least a 3-figure count of Mediterranean Gulls. I hope Rob will post later with an accurate count - he was on the west side of the river with a telescope.

 3 spl Black Terns, Med Gulls and Sandwich Terns. [Vic Tucker]

Mudbank - still one Black Tern off Mudbank all morning with at least 15 Common Tern and several Sandwich Tern. Much greater number of waders around too with 8 Grey Plover, 16 Bar-tailed Godwit and 5 Greenshank fresh in. Many other wader sp too far off to ID in horrible wet conditions. Lee Collins reports 7 Little Tern, 3 Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff and 89 Common Tern at the Warren so plenty of stuff is on the move.

watched from the hide 17:00 till 19:10

2 spotted redshank ( 1 adult and 1 juv), 350+ redshanks, 23+ greenshanks, 585+ black tailed godwits( inclused 6+ juv) , 14+ bar tailed godwits(included 3 juv's), 160+ dunlin( included 20+ juv's) 25+ ringed plover, 1 knot, 487+ curlew, 35+ whimbrel , 12+ lapwing, 9+ little egrets, good numbers of reed warblers and 4+ sedge warblers, 2 wigeon, 3 tufted duck, 30+ teal.

while waiting for bus at topsham quay a group of 47+ sandwich terns flew up the river before heading back towards the goatwalk 

First Whinchat of the autumn this evening along with 5 Wheatear, the Little owl and, for the site, a scarce bird in the shape of a Reed Bunting

Mudbank - Wood Sandpiper - 1 from 1600 - 1633 when it flew off East. Also 4 Black Tern off there along with several Sandwich Tern, c10+ Common Tern, 134 Mallard, 2 Teal, 8 Mediterranean Gull, 9 Redshank, 24+ Ringed Plover, 18+ Dunlin, 25+ Whimbrel, 11Turnstone, 30+ Sanderling, 1 Knot and 1 Grey Wagtail.

Two photographs submitted of a Knot and Little Stint taken at Braunton Burrows on 25 Sept 2010 did not have photographer's initials added to the file name - we would like to use the phtographs  - can any one help??

The camera used was a Canon EOS 7D with a 700mm lens later edited in photoshop CS6.

 14 Little Terns feeding over fish in estuary with 21 med gulls on skern, 17 ads,1 ss,1fs,2 juvs,5 blackwits 07:00

5000+gulls over northam burrows this evening gorging on the ants.42 med gulls found of those that landed.25 adults,4ss,4fs,9 juvs,3 blackwits,4 whimbrel 9 redshank,17:40-18:45.Looking up the taw many thousands gulls participating.

5 Wheater, 7 Ringed Plover, 4 Sanderling (one in full summer plumage) seen between 10.00 - 11.00 on the shingle beach between the middle car park and Torcross. Nil seen on the return walk 14.00-15.00 due to people walking the tide line and dogs on the beach.  At least two 2nd year Med Gulls in the gull flock.  Sand Martins, House Martins and Swallows feeding in mixed flock of approx 100 birds over the Lower Ley. 

While ringing in the reserve yesterday, I trapped and ringed a Green Sandpiper. The first Swallows of the year were ringed and a late Swift flew over too.

ENE winds produced a reasonable morning with single Hobby, 40 House Martin, 95 Swallow, single Redstart & Wheatear, 11 Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap and 20 Willow Warbler.

Butterflies inc.3 Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, also 3m Emperor Dargonfles & Common Blue Damselfly.

Behind cricket ground 5 meds 2 adult,fs,2 juvs,crow pt area 7 kestrels 2 buzzards,17 swifts over main road north of instow 14:30-16:00

An increase to 6 Wheatears this evening, 3 Whitethroat and a White Wagtail amongst the 30 or so Pieds. 70 Swallows, 10 House Martin and the Little Owl showing in its usual place.

6 birders braved the horrendous weather to attend this meeting at West Charleton marsh.  A grey heron and 2 little egrets were soon visible inspite of the heavy rain as we made our way to the splendid hide, accompanied by the sound of several cirl bunting calling.  Once out of wet coats we surveyed both marsh and sea.  The tide rose quite quickly and we soon spotted a whimbrel as well as curlew and a variety of gulls.  One redshank was feeding on the mud.

Excellent views of a willow warbler and cirl bunting were had over the marsh and a green sandpiper was spotted on the scrape.  A visiter from Leeds was lucky to see the flash of a kingfisher.  When we had retraced our steps to the sewage works a grey wagtail and 3 chiffchaff were seen by all and most saw a great spotted woodpecker that had been heard.Overall 40 different species of bird had been seen-not bad in view of the weather  

A good early afternoon visit to the Stokenham end of Slapton Ley on, around the scrub ground good numbers of Linnet, a Whitethroat was showing well but periodically. Female Kestrel and calling young Buzzards.

Over the sea the only interest was a Sandwich Tern working just off the shoreline, a gathering of some 70 plus Gulls gave two observed ringed birds a Herring Gull and a juvenile Great Black Backed Gull. The Herring Gulls ring number being 2FP2 on a white ring.

Two Ringed Plover were a pleasant surprise sat on a raised sand bar.

The Ley itself had a good gathering of birds, over 70 Mute Swan, 23 plus Great Crested Grebe including three juveniles (a clutch of 1 and 2) good numbers of Tufted, Pochard and Mallard Duck, huge numbers of Coot, two Black Swan

Back home at South Brent around the garden feeders, Jay, Coal Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, the late evenings long into the night are giving almost constant calling from Tawny owls with at times five individuals calling.

Saw a flock of 30 Mistle Thrushes over Escot this afternoon, moving from tree to tree. Another sign of impending Autumn?

Seawatching (in very mist conditions) 0615-0915hrs: 47 Balearic Shearwaters, 904 Manx shearwaters, 1 Pomarine Skua (0715hrs), 3 Bonxie, 17 Common Tern, 2 Arctic Tern, 3 Sandwich Tern,138 Kittiwake (23 juvs), 6 juv Mediterranean Gulls, 2 juv Yellow-legged Gulls .Also off-shore 2 pods of Common Dolphin numbering about 22 and 4 Harbour Porpoise.

Photos:     Bonxie                                                          Common Dolphins                                                 

Spent an hour in the hide at West Charleton on the high tide at midday. Couple of Peregrines overhead and in the bay single Greenshank, Whimbrel and Common Sandpiper. 3 adult Mediterranean Gulls amongst the small number of Black-headed Gulls. Grey Wagtail seen in the sewage works.

Two Kingfishers, a pair of Common Sandpipers, 5 Med gulls (4 juv)

Several Curlew and Little Egrets along the channel on an incoming tide.

Nice views of kingfishers

Common Sandpiper

Nice collection of sandpipers (wood, green and common) feeding among 150-160 black-headed gulls, with grey heron and little egret in attendance. More common sp's along the river with 7 redshank and at least 4 reed warblers still present.

Saturday - went out on a dolphin watching trip, but unfortunately not a single dolphin to be seen. 35- 40 Manx shearwaters, 2 poss balearics, gannet. Fulmar, kittiwake & guillemot. A small flock of Common Terns sat on the water was unusual to see. Luckily around 18-20 Harbour Porpoises made up for the dolphins.

Manx Shearwater

Common Terns

Kittiwake

watched from 12:25 till 16:00

1 spotted redshank, 250+ redshanks, 420+ black tailed godwits, 17 whimbrel, 5+ bar tailed godwits, 6 oystercatchers, 12+ greenshanks, 8+ little egret, 1 tufted duck, 1 juv yellow legged gull, 1 adult Mediterranean gull among 700+ black headed gulls.

from the viewing platform another 30+ whimbrel, the 1st summer little gull now moulting into 2nd winter put in a brief appearance away from topsham rec , and another adult Mediterranean gull. 

About midday near Lee Moor - Cadover Bridge area, there is a pond named Big Pond on the edge of the China clay pits, this is where I saw a Wheatear (F) and a Juvenile as well, also around the area were Meadow Pipits and on the pond about 6 Goosaders

This juvenile Cuckoo spent at least two hours around this particular Oak on Powderham Marshes yesterday. From Jean Millen

Cuckoo favoured tree (c) J Millen

Cuckoo (c) J Millen

Cuckoo (c) J Millen

Some pictures from last night. Additional to Mike's list were one or two kittiwakes, and a few gannets, fulmars and auks, the latter mostly guillemot but including at least 1 razorbill.

Manx shearwater

Balearic shearwater - a dark individual

Common dolphin

After two years of searching the local woods finally found a Pied Flycatcher, feeding on ants in my back garden this morning ! Migration seems to have started.

Last nights boat trip from Brixham with Nigel Smallbones was great with an almost mirror like Lyme bay hundreds of Manx shearwaters were feeding and rafting anongst them 7-8 Balearic shearwaters 3 of which came in to feed on the chum thrown off the back of the boat. Many more Manx were seen together with at least 1 juv Yellow-legged 1 juv Mediterranean Gull, 3 'commic' terns 2 sat on sea. The highlight of the evening was a pod of about 40 Common Dolphin bow riding our boat 6 miles due E of Berry Hd with another pod of 10+ noted during our return. 3-4 harbour porpoise and a grey seal were also noted

Yesterday afternoon there was a Pied Flycatcher in the trees literally above the visitor centre (a rare 'autumn' passage occurrence here), plus a family of Spotted Flycatchers.