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.

at least 25 ?common scoter in a ragged line offshore Sidmouth seafront this afternoon about 3pm

Four Whinchats with two young today at Firth bridge area

30-40 Mistle Thrushes , inc. many juveniles, feeding in bracken above Moor Farm, Throwleigh. Accompanied by similar number of blackbirds and a family of G-S woodpeckers. Always a good area for Mistles, seems to have been a very successful breeding season.

Sea Holly, Skylark & Fragrant Orchid.

75 Common Scoter south past Torcross this morning.

East and Mid Devon members may recall that we jointly commenced a survey of NT farmland earlier this year and that this came to a halt due to the pandemic. The NT staff were mostly furloughed but I have visited the farm twice recently and made some observations of the birdlife so that this season is not lost totally.   I was pleased to find a pair of Spotted Flycatchers and a very vocal Sedge Warbler in the woodland section.  To date we have over 50 species counted.   It is to be hoped that we may be able to restart the survey and others at some time in the future.  The below pictures show the woodland section and the damp meadow where the above birds were present.  Very different pictures to how we found it in the winter.

Tufted Duck with 2 x 1/4 juvs, Great-crested Grebe with 3x 3/4 juvs Stokeley Bay, 1 Little Egret, commoner in Yorkshire, 5 Cetti's Warblers.

Garden wildlife today.

Heron and Great-spotted Woodpecker feeding.

Hobby hunting hirundines - unsuccessfully this morning.

Juvenile Yellow-legged Gull at Passage House late morning.

Unringed Roseate Tern on the beach at 07:30 this morning with two Sandwich Terns, a Mediterranean Gull and a Black-headed Gull.

11 Crossbills flew west at 8.45am

This morning at the lake

1 Kingfisher, 5 Jays looks to be a family, 2 Mute Swan, 1 Grey Wagtail.

A male Stonechat with a juv, Green Woodpecker, 47 Redshanks, 27 Curlews, 7 Little Egrets & 2 Roe Deer.

From the hide over the high tide (7am-9.15am)- 4 adult Roseate Terns (3 metal Ringed), Fs Arctic Tern, 10 Common Terns (inc 1 fs), 5 Sandwich Terns and 20+ Med Gulls showing well on the posts on the island. 

Another productive walk this afternoon with a juvenile Little Gull being both a surprise and star bird. The Mediterranean Gull was still present along with a Little Egret, 4 Oystercatchers, 3 Shags, a number of Black Headed Gulls, a couple of Great Black Back Gulls and at one point several hundred Herring Gulls. 

Combined totals with other observers (to 14.30): Balearic Shearwater 222 & Manx Shearwater 380. Also: 52 Common Scoters, 2 Bonxies, Arctic Skua, 5 Mediterranean Gulls, Sandwich Tern & 3 Harbour Porpoises.

Persistent  Heron in by the reserve pond must be finding something there! Still a few singing Reed Warblers and the Grebes seem to be peaceful today. Around Sherpa Marsh good numbers of House Martins, several Swifts and a few Sand Martins. No Swallows. 19 Swans plus a female with three very recently hatched cygnets. a lone drake Tufted Duck the only Duck of note.  A lone Black-tailed Godwit just outside the reserve near the scrape. Back home an adult male Sparrowhawk in the garden unsuccessfully chased a Blackbird. Still a Blackcap singing on a daily basis.

The Exe estuary resident Slavonian grebe gave good views just off Cockwood harbour bridge early yesterday afternoon. Would have been a lot closer if it hadn't swum out to avoid a dinghy coming into the harbour!

Slavonian grebe

A low tide visit, so wader numbers lower than Martin's this morning, but in addition - Green Woodpecker, 2nd-summer Mediterranean Gull, & 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers. 

Little Grebes. A couple of weeks ago was the last time I saw an adult Little Grebe on the pond in the reserve. The 2 juveniles seem to be doing just fine feeding well and growing into pretty much full size now. Today when I arrived I thought heard a Grebe trilling and then saw 2 Grebes, one of which morphed into an adult when I got a better view. He (presumably) then started giving the juveniles a right run around chasing them everywhere. Does this mean another brood is imminent? Where's he been for 2 weeks? Shouldn't be down the pub - they're all closed!

A few weeks back I put up a long perch nailed to a tree trunk which reaches out about 15 feet over the pond. It's designed for Kingfishers. So a bit frustrating to have a juvenile Heron landing on it! Today, however a Kingfisher did land on it but the resulting photos weren't worth sharing. Will try harder next time.

A brief lunchtime visit produced a Great Crested Grebe and 18 Crossbill.

Kittewake colony on Straight Point (Sandy Bay) is thriving.  Difficult to count the birds as they are both flying en masse and visiting the nests, but estimate at least 400+.    Between 180 & 200 nests with one or two fledglings on some and many still incubating.   This is as good as we've seen it over the last 8 years.   

Photos by Derek Carter

Part of the colony

On this mornings high tide wader numbers have increased. 35 Curlew, 51 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 9 Common Sandpipers and a Kingfisher.

Lower Tamar Lake.

9 Willow Tit, c25 Swifts, c20 House Martin, 4 Swallow, 2 Collared Doves, 2 Mute Swan, 17 Great Tit, 23 Blue Tit, 9 Coal Tit, 20 Chaffinch, 3 Great Crested Grebe.

Curlews creeping up in number - now 24 on Blaxton Meadow. Also, Common Sandpiper, 2nd-s Mediterranean Gull, Mallard with at least 8 small ducklings & 6 Roe Deer.

14:56 - 16:58

Greenshank x5; Curlew x60+; Black-tailed Godwit x18; Shelduck pair with 2 chicks were the highlights.

Long distance shot of a Cuckoo at Stover lake, taken from the hide to the opposite bank, not a good shot but a record shot, Kingfisher seen hovering, and 2 Great Crested Grebes making a nest

First large movement of outgoing Swifts with 240 moving SW across the farm this morning

Sand Wasp (Ammophila) & Dark Green Fritillary present.

Several House Martins swooping low over the beach, good numbers of House Sparrows, a calling Greenfinch, about half a dozen Shags and a solitary Mediterranean Gull.

Kingfisher, 2 Common Sandpipers, 3 Mediterranean Gulls (2 1st-summers & a 2nd-summer), Shag, 16 Mandarin Ducks, Mallard with 10 tiny ducklings, Green Woodpecker & 6 Roe Deer. 

This comma obliged by staying put for several minutes whlst I took a few shots. The setting and lighting were perfect, showing the beauty of this little creature. Fantastic.

Comma on euphorbia

Comm on euphorbia

I'm very sad to announce that Robin Khan died yesterday at the age of 86. Robin was a stalwart of DBWPS and will be greatly missed.