Happy New Year

Many thanks to all observers that have already submitted their records for 2019, both through Birdtrack and Devon Birds. This is much appreciated.

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Best wishes and good birding for 2020

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Pretty quiet on the falling tide this pm.

Dunlin 86, Redshank 109, Common Sandpiper 3, Wigeon 5, Greenshank 3, Grey Heron 12 and Ring-necked Parakeet 2.

Female Goosander on the Ley this afternoon. Also 7 Teals and a pair of Tufted Ducks. 70 Mute swans probably a site record.

1115-1145

Black Redstart (Female Type}, 3 Stonechat, 1 Rock Pipit, 1 Pied Wagtail,  4 Med Gull ( 3 Ad, 1 2w), 1 Common Gull (Ad), 2 Shag.

No sign of the Velvet Scoters at Broadsands this afternoon or anything else much on the sea there apart from an adult Med Gull offshore. The 2 Eiders were still at Goodrington.

River Teign above Shaldon bridge 40+ Oyster Catcher

Cockwood overlooking the Exe 2 Slavonian Grebe, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Goldeneye duck, Shag, Little Egret, 2 Red Breasted Merganser, numerous Shell duck and Brent Geese, a single Greenshank, Common Gulls, reasonable numbers of Redshank, Curlew, Oyster Catcher, flocks of Dunlin moving up and down the mud flats.

A good walk around the Eastdon area failed to locate the Waxwings reported in the week despite a good crop of berries at the location.

River Exe above Powderham ~ gale force cold winds (no wonder sheltered Cockwood had such an abundance of birds) large flock of Brent Geese, 12 Red Breasted Merganser, Curlew, Oyster Catcher, 50+ Dunlin, Godwits, 20+ Grey Plover and a single Sanderling.

Buckfastleigh WTW ~ Goldcrest, 3 Siberian Chiffchaff, Meadow Pipit , numerous  Pied Wagtail, 3 Black Headed Gull and one Wren.

I had a look for the scaup between 0900 and 1000 this morning. No sign of the Greater Scaup but what looked like a pretty good candidate for a Lesser Scaup was still there but way too distant for me to get a look at it's bill. Most of the waterfowl seem to have worked out exactly where they should be to have the smallest chance of being properly grilled by birders.............

First spring migrant, pristine male White Wagtail inSoar Mill Cove with 2 Pied Wagtail, 3 Black Redstart & 6 Rock Pipit. Offshore 35 Gannet & one Fulmar. Also: 3 Lapwing, 2 Snipe, 307 Skylark, 140 Linnet & 20 Cirl Bunting.

2 Cattle Egrets still at Hillhead Farm, Brixham in sheep field viewable from near roundabout.  The Cattle Egret also still  just south of Waddeton on the Galmpton Road showing very well with cows by road- also 1 Little Egret there earlier 

Two Slavonian Grebes and 2 male Red Breasted Merganser fishing.

  
Slavonian Grebe                                 Slavonian Grebe                       Red-breasted Merganser

A Marsh Harrier harassing the the Teal in the gale. Also a flock of c450 Golden Plover. 

  
Golden Plover                     Marsh Harrier and Teal                     Marsh Harrier

1015 -1215

In blustery conditions:  

c150 Dunlin, c30 Black Tailed Godwit, 1 Great Crested Grebe, were the pick in amongst the more common species.

In the woodland:

1 Firecrest (poss 2) in with a roaming flock of Long tailed Tits and Goldcrests

c10 Redwing, 1 Marsh Tit.

Yellow-browed Warbler, Red-breasted Mergansers, male and female, Goldeneye all showing well

  
Yellow-browed Warbler                Red-breasted Merganser                          Long-tailed Duck

Visited about 14.30, low tide, very strong gale and rain. Unique distribution of birds, in good numbers, given the lack of dogwalkers but awful conditions. Gulls and Lapwings in particular were unusually close to the tarmac driveway allowing close views from car. On the grassy area NW of the Skern were most of the Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Curlew and Dunlin. Also Starlings, Skylark and Meadow Pipit taking cover wherever possible. Another tight Oystercatcher flock on the rocky headland. Golden Plover flocks were broken up into tens rather than hundreds, scattered around site. Out on intertidal a very nice Wigeon flock and separately a good Shelduck flock (metal ring on one of these but no colour rings). Everything a lot less willing to fly, some nut with a dog off lead went right by the Wigeon flock but only a couple bothered to fly off. On the river mouth a flock of at least 7 Eider but wind and rain had basically written off my binoculars for the day by then. No sign of Snow Buntings in usual place.

1 cattle egret still feeding beneath the wind turbine at 4.00 today.

11.30am. A flock of 42 Snipe, out in the open, feeding presumably on the worms being brought to the surface in this cold, wet and windy weather. Only other waders, 2 black tailed godwit, 1 dunlin and 6 oystercatchers.

2 eider ducks 1 male and I female close to shore off Goodrington at 2.45

Buckfastleigh WTW ~ Goldcrest, Siberian Chiffchaff , Meadow Pipit , numerous  Pied Wagtail and one Grey, Black Headed Gull and one Wren.

Matford the American Wigeon found in the Wigeon flock.

Topsham Rec Yellow Browed Warbler showing as previous reports along with large numbers of Goldfinch, two Mistle Thrush and a few Redwings.

On the river four Golden Eye, one drake and three duck, nine Red Breasted Mergansers, double figures of Common Gull, two Greylag geese, Godwits, Redshanks, Dunlin all in all very productive an busy with a variety of bird life.

Bowling Marsh Green just on tick over but worth the visit, two Snipe tucked away in long cover.

From the viewing platform 24 Curlew and two Golden Plover everything else generally very distant.

The Goat Walk provided an avian spectacle with a large flock of Avocet possibly as many as 300 plus birds talking repeatedly to the air along with a large number of Black Tailed Godwits and a smaller number of Bar Tailed and flocks of Dunlin, 45 Curlew, a small number of Grey Plover, looking across towards Exminster marsh huge flocks of Lapwing and Starlings lifting and circling around in clouds.

Lunchtime visit to Topsham Rec, much more interesting than the Yellow-browed Warbler in the play park, was this Cormorant who bit off more than he could swallow with this enormous flounder.  Despite getting very close it proved just too much to swallow.  I saw exactly the same thing just up river a few years back, but with a Kingfisher and a Flounder just over an inch wide!

This afternoon on Ilfracombe Pier a Northern Herring Gull, darker plumage with a heavily streaked head.  On the 'supermarket' roof unusual to see a single Kittiwake with 6 Common Gulls among 100 Herring gulls.  Also recently @ Morte Point 12+ GND.

There are still two Firecrests behind the Exmouth Cricket Pavilion feeding in the trees and scrub, great views late this afternoon. Best location to view them is from the top footpath. Both calling so fairly easy to find. Photos a bit grainy due to poor light.

  
One of two Firecrests, very mobile, always nice to see Firecrests

A dull day in the garden brightened by this little visitor.

Two Hen Harriers (adult male + ringtail) flew south near Forest Inn at 8.45 this morning.

Dartbridge ~ Kingfisher

Buckfastleigh WTW ~ 5+ Goldcrest, 3 Chiffchaff , 1 Meadow Pipit , 5+ Pied Wagtail, 2 Black Headed Gull and 2 Song Thrush.

Staverton WTW ~ Peregrine overhead, 4 Long Tailed Tit, 2 Goldcrest, 2 Chiffchaff, 3 Pied Wagail.

Broadhempston ~ 2 Mute Swan, 2 Canadian Geese, 2 Moorhen, 12 Mallard on a private pond.

Staverton Bridge ~ 3+ Nuthatch, Siskin flock feeding on alders, 3+ Goldcrest, 3 Long Tailed Tit, 5 Goosander

(2M -3F) Treecreeper, Dipper, Buzzard and Little Grebe.

The Marsh Harrier was perched up in the middle of the marsh again this lunchtime. Still there at 1.40 at least.

6 Ring Necked Parakeets inc a blue one at 930am in Central Park, Plymouth

Apologies for late post but over the weekend....

7th Jan: the 2 Cattle Egrets still in Saltram with the cows; also 11 Little Egrets and 93 Dunlins on Blaxton Pool. But no sign of the Plymstock Waxwing mid morning nor early afternoon.

8th Jan: Yellow-browed Warbler still in Beaumont Park, also 2+ Goldcrests and Nuthatch. But again no sign of the Waxwing early morning nor early afternoon.

Highlight was a Bittern seen briefly in the Higher Ley from the bridge at 09:35. Still plenty of waterfowl around, eg 27 Wigeons, 132 Gadwalls, 8 Shovelers , 210 Tufted Ducks, 8 Pochards, 7 Goldeneyes and 12 Little Grebes. Had a good look from the Stokeley hide for last weeks possible Lesser Scaup but could only find a distant adult male Scaup. Good numbers of gulls as well, 500+ Black-headed Gulls in Ireland Bay included at least 4 Mediterranean Gulls. The sea was fairly quiet except for a couple Great Northern Divers just off the memorial car park.

A quiet early morning at Broadsands but a small flock of gannets diving on the anchovy shoals out in the bay were kept busy. The predators beneath were busy too, I could see the splashes of them attacking. quite clearly.

P.L. Fairclough

Good numbers of Golden & Grey Plover, Oyster Catchers, Dunlin, Lapwing,  Curlew, Redshank & ShelDuck , reduced numbers of Wigeon & Brent Geese,  also saw 1 Kingfisher&  a few Pintail & Teal plus a few Cormorant  & a Little Egret.

First chance, after returning from annual Scottish holiday, to look for the two Cattle Egrets at Saltram Park. They were present, but distant, with five Little Egrets and this Mediterranean Gull with lots of Black-heads beside the cows.

Cattle egret                                      Med Gull ad.wpl

Nine Red Breasted Merganser (5m 4f) feeding just above New Bridge at 15.30 this afternoon.

Early afternoon:

250+ Common Scoter
2 LT Duck
1 GN Diver
25+ Common Dolphin offshore

Very low water levels today, more like September after a hot summer.

On the water - a male goosander, 4 male tufted duck, 3 male and 2 female teal, 4 cormorants (2 juvs and 2 adults, 1 in full summer plumage with white speckled head and white thigh patch), a muscovy duck, a little grebe, mallards and 3 white farmyard geese with a few black headed gulls.

In the woodland a very pale buzzard, a marsh tit (with mixed tit flock in trees at northern car park), 2 nuthatches and a few siskins

Flock of approx 2500 Golden Plover on & above Bassett's Ridge on the Taw Estuary this morning. During the aft this flock which had been moved on by the incoming tide was seen by another observer resting on Horsey Island.

Some pictures from this mornings excellent trip around Torbay

 
One of the two groups of Velvet Scooters, 8 in this group                     Guillemots

The long tailed duck and goldeneye(s?) are still off Topsham rec - visible from the boat slipways at the north end towards the motorway bridge. I had a water rail fly past too! At Goosemoor the spotted redshank was very close to the viewing screen with redshanks and greenshank for comparison :)

8 Velvet Scoter (only 7 initially but 8 by 11:00); 1 B-n Grebe (c. 10:55); 33 " scopeable" Razorbill; 1 Shelduck (circling over Broadsands, c.10:00); 1 Med Gull [2nd w, green ring on left tarsal, RNL4] (on roost, c. !0:00).

6-8 Cirl Bunting (1f + 1-2 heard, seafront, 3m, 2f on seed); 1 Reed Bunting + Chaffinches & Greenfinches (on seed).

1 Sib Chiffchaff (Alders between car parks, c.13:00); 2 Chiffchaff (collybita).

Sometimes it is worth opening the nets before it gets light. Today was one of those days!

Much bird activity on the marshes: Peregrine Falcon, Buzzard, Pied Wagtails, Grey Heron, Lapwings, Wigeon, Canada Geese, Greylag, Long Tailed Tits, Starlings, Curlew, Black Tailed Godwits, Shoveller, Song Thrush, Goldfinch & Bullfinch. On the estuary plenty of Avocet, Bar Tailed Godwits, Shelduck, Lapwings, Sanderlings, Redshank & Mallard.

Long-tailed Duck still present along with 4 Goosander (1 Male, 3 female). Also other birds of note include 100+ Dunlin and large flocks of Lapwing.

This mornings boat trip was a very good .  The bay has large shoals of anchovies hence large numbers of birds feeding. Berry Head colony had 900+ Guillemots on the cliffs. Traveling back into Torbay 50+ Razorbill, 50+ Gannet , Kittiwake, Common Gull 2, Great Black-backed Gull and 1 Harbour Porpoise. Once in the Bay birds ranged from 1 Common Scoter , 8 Velvet Scoter, 3 Velvet Scoter (separate birds from the 8), 1 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Eider, 28 Fulmar, 2 Purple Sandpiper and 1 Black Redstart on Brixham fish quay railings just before we started the trip. 2 grey seals in Brixham harbor.

Next trips are every Sunday in February starting on the 5th. if interested call 07866202576. 

2 Cattle egret still around, showing well, with feeding cattle at 1230. Seen together with 4 Little egret, in the field at the top of the steps.

Seen in a private garden in the Teign Valley.