During the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak the use of Devon Birds bird hides should be in line with Government guidelines to individuals on how to protect themselves.

Please follow NHS guidelines: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/social-distancing/what-you-need-to-do/

Thank you for your co-operation and stay safe.

This page was initially set up to give a concise news summary of birds of interest seen in Devon. Anyone noting interesting species, passage and counts could post the details to inform other birders what was going on around the county. Photos could also be added for interest and to enliven the posts. It was accepted that because other wildlife was of interest, this would also appear especially when included in a birding post.

However, in the last year, more posts have been appearing purely on subjects other than birds. Whilst of interest to some observers, this is detracting from the aim of the pages, i.e. principally bird sightings.

Devon Birds has therefore taken the decision to require contributors of other wildlife to post this in the Other Wildlife subject. However it’s accepted that occasional, exceptional, other wildlife seen during a birding outing justifies inclusion in the bird sightings post. This should, however, be a minor part of the post.

Photos are often appearing as a gallery, or even acting as a personal photo blog, rather than of county-wide sightings of interest. Devon Birds has a Gallery which members and other birders are welcome to submit their often stunning photos to, for others to see. Many of these photos need not then appear on this page. From now on, only two photos per post will be accepted to help keep posts more concise.

Devon Birds very much welcomes posts that already meet these criteria and those that will continue to do so. It would also be great to widen the input from keen birders who currently don’t contribute, including some old friends who have dropped out. Hopefully the changes will encourage wider participation, so if you look at the site but don’t post, please consider doing so.

Our aim is to provide a concise daily news summary of bird sightings around Devon, and these changes should fulfil this goal.

Below is a summary of the changes:

• Bird News (bird sightings of interest, with added occasional other wildlife) will be the default subject when visitors arrive at this page.
• Other Wildlife posts therefore won’t initially be shown unless visitors click Other Wildlife under Subjects on the right-hand side.
• Only two photos can now be submitted per post.
• General bird photos should be posted in our Gallery please.
• Co-authors should now only use the Submit a Blog Post form, to ensure a more consistent format for posts.

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.