My first bird of 2017 was a robin busily singing away at 4 O'clock in the morning as I lay in bed trying to get back to sleep but with my working a long day on New Years Day where I left for work in the dark and arrived back home in the dark my year listing opportunities for the day were going to be limited. I did glance out of the windows at work during the course of the morning but saw nothing on a grey, wet and miserable day. I chatted to (or bored) a patient about birds and year listing and 10 minutes after leaving her room her call bell rang and I went to answer it, expecting it to be something that needed to be done, but I was delighted as I was ushered in to see a female sparrowhawk perched on the roof railings just outside her window, looking bedraggled in the rain but still gorgeous. She had seen it fly across the roof and land on the railings and had at first thought it was a pigeon but then realised it was something unusual and had very thoughtfully rung her bell for me to see my first bird of the year.
I added feral pigeon to my year list from the staff room window as I ate my lunch but that was the sum total of the days birds but the following day I worked an early shift and on the journey home I added a few more birds to the year list - herring and black headed gull, magpie, carrion crow, blackbird, woodpigeon, house sparrow and pied wagtail.
Tuesday 3rd January and the start of a few days off and it was bright but freezing cold, a beautiful winters day with frost on the ground. I headed off to Beaumont Park to have a look for the yellow browed warblers but there was no sight or sound of them after an hours wandering around. I did see a nuthatch, a coal tit and a goldcrest along with the usual birds. I was about to head home when I thought I would check out the trees near the lodge and I quickly found a yellow browed warbler high in the tree tops, it was very mobile and active and was obviously coping with the freezing overnight temperatures.
Wednesday 4th and I headed off to Marsh Mills for a walk along the River Plym and around Saltram Park. It was grey and cold and breezey but dry and I had a really good time just wandering around. A common sandpiper and a grey wagtail were seen at Marsh Mills at the start of the walk but there was no sign of any goosanders. Only 2 little grebes were along the river by the A38 flyover, usually there are more along here, maybe numbers are lower due to the mild winter? Interestingly though the snowdrops in the woods near here have not yet appeared unlike this time last year.
Blaxton Meadow was well flooded on a very high tide and for once covered in birds roosting, feeding and bathing - 2 male and 3 female wigeon, 40+ dunlin, 3 greenshank, 4 adult common gull, an adult lesser black backed gull, a kingfisher and a common sandpiper being the highlights with a pair of stock doves cooing and displaying in the nearby trees.
Kingfisher
I headed up through the woods and eventually found a firecrest in the bushes near to where I saw the 2 birds last week, very active and mobile but some lovely views as it hovered at times underneath the branches. A nuthatch was also seen along with goldcrest, wren and robin.
Robin
There were 6 little egrets feeding in the cattle field along with starlings, song thrush, blackbird, pied wagtail and good numbers of redwings, higher numbers than last week due to the freezing weather. There was no sign of the cattle egrets but eventually I found one perched high in a large dead tree before it flew down to the ground to feed where it gave some very good views.
Cattle Egret
Cattle Egret
Cattle Egret
Cattle Egret
Cattle Egret
Little- and Cattle Egret
Little Egret
Rooks, jackdaws, Canada geese, goldfinch and a male pheasent were also seen in the fields before I headed off towards Laira Bridge and the bus home, seeing a very confiding greenshank catching small fish along a creek near the beach and a lone little grebe by the bridge.
Greenshank
Greenshank
Greenshank
Greenshank
Black-headed Gull in almost full Summer Plumage
I had a quick look in Beaumont Park on the way home and quickly found the yellow browed warbler in the treetops at the south end of the park again. I had a look around the north end of the park too where I have usually seen one but there was no sign - maybe the bird from the north end has moved down to the south end or maybe the bird at the south end is the second bird that was present and the north end bird has moved on?
And so a nice start to my birding year, I hope it is a good year for wildlife again as I think it is going to be another rocky year for family health issues.
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