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.

A Black-tailed Gpwit on Blaxton Meadow, 71 Redshanks, 2 Greenshanks, Common Sandpiper, Grey Wagtail, 2nd-s Mediterranean Gull & 4 juv Shelducks.

Watched from 11:50 till 16:20 covering the high tide

An exceptional day for Mediterranean Gulls with at least 223+ seen most were in shutterton creek (185+) and 20+ on bull hill birds were still flying in off the sea and heading into the estuary in small groups making up the rest of the total the majority were adults and 2nd summer birds but also at least 35+ juvs an and was amazing few hours 

Also seen were 1 Roseate tern , 5+ common tern , 60+ sandwich tern , small parties of swift moving through with 80+ over the afternoon with at least 35+ swallow on walk back along the beach  a nice party of 7 summer plumage sanderling and 40+ gannet in the bay , 1 common scoter was off the sea wall 

Never get tired of Spotted Flycatchers.  3 (one pair) this morning in the plantation on the south side nearest to the car park.  Same location I found the species last year.  Also Gt spotted Woodpecker, family of young Goldfinch and others.  Family of 5 Stonechat on the open common.

A very unseasonal, possibly immature, Red-throated Diver off Hollicombe Beach this morning.

Also a sighting yesterday morning, at Marine Parade, of the Colour-ringed adult Med Gull, Green RLN4. The bird's sightings record and previous posters, show that the bird has wintered in the Bay each year from 2016 to 2019. It was ringed as a chick at Jablines in France, east of Paris, in June 2015.

Immature(?) Red-throated Diver.

Adult Med Gull Green RLN4.

Hobby and female Sparrow Hawk seen at Mill Farm, Powderham this morning.

Back home at South Brent, Tawny owls calling during the night and a fly over from a Peregrine late morning.

Tawny owl dead on the Old A38 at Haldon

Female Sparrow Hawk collected from local vets having been picked up at Kingskerswell, bird is in partial moult from immature to adult plumage.

Tawny owl seen flying around bircham car park on the Derriford hospital site last night.

Two new species for me at the weekend - Herald - a common moth that I cannot believe has taken eight years to get on my list and the less common micro moth Endotricha flammealis.

           
                    Herald                                  Endotricha flammealis

Evening gull pre-roost count:

Broadsands: 89 Mediterranean Gulls (including 38 juvs), 1 Yellow-legged Gull (juv),74 Black-headed Gulls

Goodrington: 13 Mediterranean Gulls (including 7 juvs)

Preston: 20 Mediterranean Gulls (including 7 juvs)

Late post.  Magpie seen along the Tarka trail between Anchor Wood and Fremington.

Magpie

A good morning at Plymbridge, several Grey Wagtails,a solitary Dipper, a very obliging Jay,an overfly of Peregrines and a lovely juvenile Robin.A hen Green Woodpecker seen with a juvenile at Piles Copse yesterday.

Jay, Juvenile Robin, Green Woodpeckers, hen & juvenile

Lower Tamar Lake this morning.

1 Kingfisher, 5 Willow Tit, 10 Coal Tit, 20 Blue Tit, 12 Chaffinch, 2 Mute Swan, 3m Tufted Duck, c30 Mallard, 4 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker,11 Canada Geese, 2 Marsh Tit, 13 Great Tit.

A pair of Nightjar presented well on Aylesbeare Common last evening with first calls and song at 21.35. Further birds churring at a distance and another on Hawkerland.

Brief fly-past at 21.54, churring from 21.55-21.57, then bird circled around me, at a distance of 3 metres, before vanishing. Then nothing until I left at 22.45. One bird involved?

06.30 to 09.30: Perfect still, warm conditions for enjoying some classic July post-breeding dispersal and early migration. It really did feel like the first real day of ornithological autumn. Highlight was a steady eastbound movement of Swifts along the cliff-tops, totalling 93 birds. Whether this was migration proper, or a feeding commute, is hard to say, though the sustained, directional movement suggested the former – perhaps birds of pre-breeding age, or failed breeders. Also 16 Swallow, 7 Sand Martin, 6 House Martin and a flock of 4 Grey Heron. Small groups of Black-headed Gulls (27 in total), 1 Mediterranean Gull and 2 Sandwich Tern heading west – all very much passage migrants at this site. A prominent feature was dispersing juvenile Great Spotted Woodpeckers – at least 5; one on exposed telegraph poles by the coastguards, others looking similarly out of place in coastal scrub, including one in a gorse thicket!

The highlight of this morning's WeBS count were 2 Roseate Terns on the mud for a few minutes (apologies for the awful digiscope image - lots of heat haze!) and 22 Mediterranean Gulls.  The Slavonian Grebe was still at Cockwood.  I crudely estimated about 3000 Marsh Helleborine spikes in Greenland Lake - an amazing sight.

Looked around the wheat fields west of Starcross, where Dave Glaves heard a Quail calling yesterday.  'Only' a Cirl Bunting singing while I was there.

Roseate Terns (juv Med Gull on right)      Marsh Helleborine       Short-winged Conehead (female, saltmarsh)

Kayak trip to Lundy (and back) from Hartland Quay

15 Puffin, all within five miles of Lundy

plus 15 Common Dolphin, 8 Harbour Porpoise, 2 Sunfish

Puffin                                     Puffin                                 Puffin

Flying ants above the houses attracted a flock of around 200 herring gulls late afternoon, with this sparrowhawk briefly soaring among them.

Sparrowhawk and Herring gull

09:12 - 13:21

Roseate Tern x2, Sandwich Tern x60+, Mediterranean Gull, Yellow Wagtail, Dunlin, Sanderling and a Golden-ringed Dragonfly were the highlights.

9 Greenshanks from the kayak in South Pool Creek this morning.

Female Goosander and 3 almost fully grown juvs first thing. 

Goosanders

24 Swifts around Florence Cottages.

A pod of folphins south off the beach being harassed by a large rib, not good.

Quite a surprise this morning, Brown Hare in the garden close to the house. We see them quite frequently in local fields and have often followed one in the car until a gateway, but on the lawn is a first for me after 20 years here.

Young Fallow Deer having a practice rut

Mixed flock of Herring ,Black headed gulls including 1 Juv Yellow legged Gull and 1 Juv Med Gull, over Oakland park and boat cove, Dawlish

Leucistic palmate newt theis afternoon in our garden pond. We had a golden newt tadpole 2 or 3 years back - this might be the same individual returning.

This isn't strictly wildlife but we have the best comet in years currently visible low in the NE before dawn, best viewed between 2 and 3.30 am. Visible to the unaided eye, nice in binoculars. It should be visible for the next week or two. For further details and finder charts see -

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/comet-neowise-delights-at-dawn/

Comet NEOWISE, 02.27 am BST

Comet NEOWISE, 3.22 am BST

A single juvenile Dunlin on the beach this morning. 9 Med Gulls of various ages on the rocks at Preston, together with 4 Sandwich Terns, including one juvenile being fed by an adult.

Juvenile Dunlin.

Juvenile Sandwich Tern.

11 Common Sandpipers  at the north end of the estuary and a juvenile Med Gull.

09:22 - 12:52

Great Northern Diver out to sea along with Gannet; Dunlin; plenty of Oystercatcher, Med. Gull and Curlew, 12 Sandwich Tern and a distant Slavonian Grebe. 

A male Stonechat with 3 juvs, a female Great Spotted Woodpecker with a juv, Green Woodpecker, Greenshank, 32 Curlews, 50+ Redshanks, 3 Common Sandpipers, 2nd-s Mediterranean Gull & 2 Roe Deer. 

A good view of a Male Yellowhammer, other wildlife, Graylings are starting to show, and a large Skipper, Roborough Down at present is very quite for any birdlife.

Yellowhammer

Grayling

Large Skipper

Re: Dave and Sue's observation, I do wonder how many roof nesting pairs are overlooked in the county as there may be fewer instances than in more urbanised counties to look down onto flat roofs from adjacent taller buildings? A pair of oystercatchers were certainly breeding on an industrial unit roof beside DevonBirds' own Bradiford reserve (Pottington Ind. Est.) when I surveyed there in 2016, adults collecting food from the reserve itself. The fact the chicks are fed this way rather than self feeding is of course what makes roof nesting feasible for the species.

In what promised so much, given the conditions ... South west 4-5 winds, with mist to the horizon, a seawatch from 6.45 till 12.45, testing on the eyes, looking for feet projections etc ...

34 Balearic amongst 2467 Manx Shearwaters; and 3 Sooty Shearwaters ( my first this autumn); 579 plus Gannets ( 2/3rds immature)  and 35 Auks ( both Gulllemots and Razorbills) 15 Common Svoter eats and 2 Med. Gulls- a 1st summer and an adult summer. Also of note 140 plus Herring Gulls flying west.

Sue saw a pair of noisy Oystercatchers in Kingsteignton today. We returned this evening and found them with a large chick.  One adult (sometimes the pair) was on the far (eastern) end of Bookers' roof in Pottery Road, Kingsteignton Industrial Estate, the other flying out low to collect food on Newton Abbot Racecourse.  The chick, almost fully grown, had an injured leg and remained close to the end of Bookers' building, next to a large (aircon?) unit where there was room for it to hide underneath if necessary.  I suspect there was at least one more chick on Bookers' roof, where I'm guessing they nested during the peace and quiet of the Covid-19 lockdown.  I'm also guessing that the chick has somehow fallen to the ground, maybe injuring its leg in doing so. The roof in question has a very shallow angle and so is not strictly a flat roof.

According to New Scientist (2005): "Oystercatchers nest on flat, gravel-covered roofs in Britain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Northern Germany and Belgium. ... Aberdeen has about 220 pairs nesting on roofs in the city and a few pairs nesting on the ground in car parks, industrial yards and flowerbeds. They feed the young on earthworms obtained from playing fields and other grassy areas near the buildings... The birds can exploit the roofs because they are one of the few wading birds that carry food to their young. Interestingly, about 24 towns in Scotland have a few pairs nesting on roofs, but only about six towns in England."

This is the first roof-top nesting I'm aware of this part of the world.

Flock of maybe 80 Common Scoter heading West off the Pier today, they could turn up at Baggy / Downend.  Lots of Manx Shearwaters to be seen for weeks now with huge numbers headed Up channel on Tues with counts of well over 200 birds passing per min. 16 Ad Med Gulls and the odd Skua sp seen most days during recent rough weather.

I've had a look through the Gulls near Barnstaple Old Bridge last Wk I was surprised how many had been leg ringed, a bit annoying as I couldn't get close enough for any decent photos. 

Common Scoters

Good numbers of screaming swifts above the village over the last two evenings, max 35 counted.

Malcolm Burgess checked nest boxes on two thatched rows of cottages on either side of the square/churchyard with very positive results. From 22 nest boxes installed under thatch eaves, 17 were occupied by breeding pairs and contained 35 chicks and a late pair incubating eggs. Each year since 2012 most adults are trapped and ringed, and due to high site faithfulness and swifts being long lived, for nearly all of the 24 adults caught this week, we have detailed histories. As the colony has grown (by gradual colonisation of increasing numbers of nest boxes) we find a small number of new breeders fledged from the village or from another similarly monitored colony 3 km due west. This usually occurs many years later, but this year one recruited aged only 2 years. Three breeders caught this week are at least 8 years old and most at least 5 years old.

At least 18 adult Med Gulls in Otter Estuary from 9.30 today.

15 Mediterranean Gulls on the rocks this morning, 9 adults, 2 second summer, 2 first summer and 2 juveniles.

7 Sandwich Terns also present, including 1 juvenile and 12 Black-headed Gulls including 2 juveniles.

A female Tufted Duck with 4 ducklings also seen at Youngs Park, Goodrington.

Sandwich Tern(adult) centre & Black-headed Gull(adult) bottom left.

Femaie Tufted Duck and ducklings.

Seawatch 0620-0820: 1 Pomarine Skua ad pale > N, 2 Mediterranean Gulls (inc 1 juv my first of the summer), 303 Manx Shearwaters, 2 Balearic Shearwaters also 6+ Harbour Porpoise and 20+ Common Dolphin. An ad Peregrine brought in  in an ad tern (I picked up the falcon a long way out but came straight over my head), the close scope views led me to believe it was a Roseate Tern - full black cap, all black bill and pale grey drooping wing with grey wedge, I didn't see any other terns during the mornings watch! A juvenile Tawny Owl was roosting in the quarry again.

              Manx Shearwaters                                        Harbour Porpoise                       Juv Tawny Owl

Juvenile Marsh Harrier seen hunting over the marsh around 6pm. 

Vic and Sylvia Tucker passed on the sad news that Steve Madge passed away on Monday after a long illness. A great birdwatcher, tour leader and author of several books including the Helm guides to Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse also the  Wildfowl identification Guide and The Handbook of bird identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic. Although he lived just the other side of the Tamar in Cornwall many Devon Birders will have know Steve very well. 

This afternoon on a low tide:

4 Grey heron, 11 Curlew, 2 Common Sandpiper, Chiffchaff, Swallow and 16 Swift under the low cloud.