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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Yesterday and again today this juvenile Bar-headed Goose turned up with the Canada flock. It has the yellowy bill & legs as expected, and no head cross bars of an adult. bar-headed.  It however appears as big as the Canadas and overall brown/grey rather than ash grey, could it be a xCanada hybrid?

Bar-headed Goose juv

Bar-headed Goose juv

Bar-headed Goose juv

Late Post -13/08/2019.  Small flock of 41 Knot on passage having just arrived back from the high arctic enjoying a rest, wash & preen after foraging along the shoreline.

In the reserve late this evening tape-luring Swallows. Monday night  - 1, Tuesday night - 85, Tonight 35. Year total now over 400. Also ringed Kingfisher no 12, another juvenile. Flying over were at least 12 Swifts.

By the bridge to the reserve one, occasionally 2 Dipper these last few days.

No migrants - best were 22 Med Gulls in Starehole Bay and 400 Linnet.

Encounter with a juvenile cuckoo near Laughter Tor on Dartmoor yesterday. Landed in a rowan sapling right in front of me; not very concerned about my presence. If only I had a half decent camera. 

Three brown-head goosanders roosting this morning. Had gone by 0630. Checked weekly, and these were first since 22 Jun. Would be interested to hear of any other goosanders in Devon over the next month or so at preay6960@gmail.com.

Spotted Flycatchers at Avon Mill Garden Centre yesterday, In the Trees by the river, catching flies, for a youngster.

Two Avocets on the estuary this evening - A rare bird on the Otter and only my 3rd sighting in 10 years.
Also Green Sandpiper, 10+ Dunlin, 3 Ringed Plover and an obliging Cetti's Warbler.

7 Black Tailed Godwits, 2 Whimbrel, 6 Ringed Plover and2 Dunlin.this afternoon.

Two pied flycatchers in small hawthorns on Brent Hill this morning, presumed migrants or at least dispersing juvs (over 3 km to nearest known breeding site). Otherwise just a whitethroat and a few chiffs and willows.

At Knighton Road, Plymouth an unusual Brown Magpie seen and Photo'd at 10.35am

Brown Magpie

Late evening visit to try and boost the Swallow catch - only caught one! But also ringed another Kingfisher, and retrapped one from a few weeks back. (I saw two Kingfishers in the reserve earlier on today). In the field next to the one south of the reserve, the farmer has cut the grass and there were several hundred Swallows chasing insects there for a while. Only a few came and inspected the tape recorder. Over the reserve were 5 Swift, the first I've seen in several days.

A Black-tailed Godwit for it's third day out on the scrape.

Best bird was a male Marsh Harrier, which flew south from the reserve towards the reed-bed.

Few Birds to be seen, conditions had improved too much. 2 flocks of 5 Sanderlings 1 Manxie 6 Gannets, one Juv looking a bit worse for wear. Compensated for by spending an hour watching European Storm Petrels, albeit at a fair distance, feeding over static fishing gear buoy ropes. Max 5 in view at the same time. 

Storm Petrel, just about!

Hitching a ride.

9 ringneck parakeet at the roost at douglas avenue

This morning:

c100 Herring Gull, 12 Little Egret, 10 Common Sandpiper, 5 Whimbrel, 3 Grey Heron feeding on flatfish, 2 Greenshank on Ernesettle creek, 2 Greenfinch, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Whitethroat. Trees heaving with red apples and berries.

11 Sanderling,19 Ringed Plover and 2 Turnstone on the beach this afternoon.

Seawatch, 06:00 - 15:00 predictably slow with only 10 Manx & 6 Balearic Shearwaters all day, & 3-4 Med Gulls.

Constant trickle of Painted Ladies, together with 2 Migrant Hawkers in off the sea.

Usual Harbour Porpoises, at least 3, close in at first; c.20 Common Dolphin, mid am; but highlight of the day, at least 3 Bottle-nosed Dolphins close in c.midday.

06.30 to 08.50: juv Shelduck 7, European Storm-petrel 2, Fulmar 37, Manx Shearwater 5, Gannet 39, Common Sandpiper 1, Lesser Black-backed Gull 16, Sandwich Tern 3, Great Skua 1, Guilllemot 1. All heading W out of Bristol Channel, except for Gannet flocks feeding over four Harbour Porpoise and an Ocean Sunfish (presumed same as yesterday; appeared similar size).

mear valley 9 ringneck parakeet

At a rain- and gale-lashed Hartland Point from 08.00 to 13.00 Tim Davis & Tim Jones recorded 532 Gannets, 1352 Manx Shearwaters, 111 Fulmars, 14 Kittiwakes, an Arctic Skua, a Sandwich Tern, and three Whimbrels. All were heading W out of Barnstaple/Bideford Bay.

From Lundy during the morning and early afternoon Dean Jones counted 212 Gannets, 2991 Manx Shearwaters, 22 Fulmars, 19 Kittiwakes, a Ringed Plover and two Turnstones.

Off Watermouth in the late afternoon Tim Jones encountered small numbers of Gannets,Manx Shearwaters, Fulmars and Kittiwakes continuing to fly W out of the Bristol Channel, where Gannets have been seen upstream today at least as far as Lydney and Sharpness in the Upper Severn Estuary. Also off Watermouth, two Harbour Porpoises and an Ocean Sunfish.

Over a low high tide 14.00 - 15.00.  1 Little Egret, 31 Ringed Plover, 1 Turnstone, c250 Dunlin, 4 Sanderling, 5 Knot, 3 Redshank, 1 Greenshank 2 Whimbrel, 18 Curlew, 43 Common Tern, 2 Little Tern, 4 Sandwich Tern.. what a difference a bit of wind makes!

On 8th June driving out of Rgb I spotted 2 pairs among the nesting Lesser bb and Herring Gulls, so there may have been more. Hope they are successful as the Ilfracombe pairs I'm aware of always seem destined to fail. I also surveyed Mullacote ind estate for nesting Gulls which is easy cos there isn't any. Probably a bit too exposed up there. 

This morning off Ilfracombe a Basking Shark and several feeding Grey Seals were attracting lots of Gulls. Some good birds were present as well. 2+ Storm Petrels were close to the anchored Trinity ship. A Great Skua and 2 flocks of 4/5 Whimbrels were making their way down channel. 

young Seal enjoying a tasty breakfast.

Little offshore except reasonable numbers of Fulmars and Kittiwakes flying south. Over the ley at Torcross  250 plus House Martins, 20 Sand Martins and 6 Swifts. Also Little Grebe, 61 Tufted Ducks and 5 Pochards ( 3M ).

Seawatch 05:30-10:00 Fairly slow, only 33 Manx Shearwater and 9 Balearic. Highlights were a Sooty Shearwater south at 06:45 and a pale phase adult Pomarine Skua south at 08:30. Also 1 Bonxie, 100+Kittiwake, 4 Sandwich tern, 1 Common Tern, 3+ 'Commic' Tern, 6+ swift.

flock of swallows feeding over farmland above copythorne rd yesterday morning

A ninety-minute seawatch late morning produced Gannets passing at a rate per ten minutes of 10-25, Manx Shearwaters of 5-15, and Fulmars of 1-2, plus 5 Common Scoter, and a Great Skua. No Auks or Kittewakes.

On the way home, 10 minutes at BGM produced the Spotted Redshank and singles of Common and Green Sandpipers.

Cormorant (over) and single escapee Bar-headed Goose (the regular bird here) seen just outside of the site in fields adjacent to Nomansland Cross - both common birds on the lakes at Shobrooke, but, to our knowledge, this is the first time that they have been seen here in the Sandford and Upton Hellions Nature Group (SUHNG) recording area, which borders the park. 

Some lovely waders on the beach at South Milton, Sanderling, turnstones, Dunlin and ringed plover.

Turnstone                               Sanderling                                Dunlin

An hours watch from the shelter near Lime Kiln car park (11am -12noon) produced:  28 Gannet, 3 Balearic Shearwater, 12 Manx, 2 GBB Gulls and 5 Oystercatcher.  All flying west. Variable weather conditions with visibility from horizon down to half a mile.  Two of the Balearics came in within several hundred yards.  

Quick look between folk music sessions in deteriorating condition lots of Herring gulls, a few,BH Gulls, one Oyster Catcher on the rock armour and one Turnstone on the rocks near Jacob's Ladder. Visibility down to about 50 yards offshore.

Turnstone

Surveying the Bradiford site for DevonBirds in 2017, I noted that an oystercatcher pair were collecting food from the pond mud on Bradiford and flying to the roofs of the industrial unit 'nextdoor', which strongly implied successful hatching. I wonder if this year's nestling has jumped down from there, or they've moved to lower ground because of the gulls.

Black-tailed Godwit 7; Bar-tailed Godwit 1; Med Gull 1A; Redshank 1 and 3 Dunlin flying up-river.

A surprise sighting was that of an Oystercatcher chick still in down feathers on the concrete bank between Bradiford Water and the rear of RGB. It was being attended to by 2 adults. In the 30-odd years that I have been birding along this stretch of the river, this is the first time that I have ever known Oystercatchers to be breeding here. The chick was incapable of flight and could not have come far.

First returning Little Grebe and autumn Wheatear. Also: 2 Turnstones, Whimbrel, 4 Greenshanks, Dunlin, Common Sandpiper, 32 Curlews, 1st-s Mediterranean Gull, Shelduck pair with 2 juvs, 27 Mandarin Ducks, 2 Shags, 4 Stock Doves & 2 Swifts.