Wednesday 22nd February and we headed off to Dartmoor for an overnight stay at the Two Bridges Hotel which was very nice with amazing food and a very restful and relaxed ambience. However the weather was a different matter with heavy fog on the high moor as we drove up to the hotel so there was no walking and birding for me. Storm Doris arrived overnight, Devon was on the edge of the storm so missed the worst of it, but Thursday 23rd was very windy although dry and with sunny spells and so after a very good cooked breakfast at the hotel we headed off to Warren House for a walk. I kept my eyes open for the wintering great grey shrike still being reported in the area but there was no sign of it in the strong winds, even in the more sheltered areas. I did see a green woodpecker which was new for the year with a second bird (or possibly the same mobile bird) seen later and 2 roe deer slinking off amongst the pine trees were a good find but that was about it. I did hear what I think was a flyover crossbill but I didn't see it and couldn't be sure in the wind and the background noise from the swaying pine trees.
Friday 24th February and with a whale having been reported off the beach at Slapton, first reported as a minke whale and then confirmed as a humpback whale, we headed off for a look. As we drove down the hill to the car parking area by the bridge I saw the whale blow and then roll into a dive very close to the beach, a most surreal sight in Devon in February and a new whale species for me!
We parked up and walked down to the beach and watched the whale from the memorial car park moving along the shoreline towards Blackpool Sands - large and dark with a noticeable blow and showing its tail flukes with white undersides at times when it dived. It often spent long periods underwater and trying to guess where it would resurface was fun and frustrating in equal measure. At times it only showed briefly at the surface with just a quick blow before sinking underwater without a roll but it was lovely to watch it amongst the large and appreciative crowd gathered on the beach.
Humpback Whale, Start Bay
Humpback Whale
Humpback Whale
Humpback Whale
Humpback Whale
I had to tear myself away, I could have stayed on the beach watching it all day, and so we walked along the Ley and over to Beesands for lunch. Along the way I had a few scans of The Ley, noting a female goosander, a female goldeneye and a female and 2 male scaup amongst the gadwall, tufted duck, mallard, pochard, coot and wigeon. It was interesting to see the wigeon following the coot and trying to grab at the weed the coot were bringing to the surface, a behaviour I have seen in gadwall but not in wigeon.
I also scanned offshore and a summer plumaged black necked grebe very close to the beach was a very nice sight in the bright sunlight although it spent little time at the surface and there were a few gannets diving for fish very close to the beach too along with an adult kittiwake.
Harbour porpoise were also noticeable offshore, giving their usual blink and you miss it surface rolls, but there must have been at least 10 individuals dotted around the Bay and at times the views were very good, especially from the clifftops between Torcross and Beesands on a flat calm sea.
I also saw my first butterfly of the year, a red admiral flying along the beach at Torcross, and a butterfly also briefly seen along the beach at Beesands was most likely a peacock but I couldn't be sure.
Mute Swan, Slapton Beach
Carrion Crow, Slapton Beach
After lunch at Beesands we walked back towards the car at Slapton bridge. I dropped David off at the Start Bay Inn at Torcross for a pint and headed off along the beach to the memorial car park to rejoin the crowds admiring the whale and again I had some good views before David met me and it was time to go home. An amazing day, quite surreal and reminding me of watching southern right whales just off the beach in Cape Town with Table Mountain in the background a few years ago now, an experience I didn't think I would emulate in South Devon.
Humpback Whale
Humpback Whale
Humpback Whale
Humpback Whale
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