Wembury, May 5th 2017

A cool and cloudy and breezey morning saw me heading off on the bus to Wembury for a walk, the clouds did eventually break a little and there were some decent spells of sunshine but the easterly wind picked up even more and it became very windy indeed.

A willow warbler was heard singing in a garden as a I walked down to the beach from the bus stop and in the valley to the beach a song thrush was seen singing away in a tree, the most varied and beautiful song I have ever heard from a song thrush, while a second unseen bird sang nearby. Even better was a sedge warbler heard singing and then eventually seen singing from the top of the willow trees before it sallied upwards on a song flight before disappearing into cover - I see sedge warblers occasionally at Wembury, quietly singing and skulky in the spring and just skulky in the autumn so to see one so well and singing so strongly was a treat, maybe it will stay and hold a territory and breed.

 Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler

The beach held a lot of interest too - a little egret, 2 shelduck, 6 male and 2 female mallard, 30+ oystercatchers, 4 whimbrel, a partial summer plumaged grey plover (heard first and then seen), a partial summer plumaged dunlin and 4 bar tailed godwits (2 in partial summer plumage).

 Whimbrel

Bar Tailed Godwit

Other birds of note were 3 male cirl buntings (1 heard, 2 seen), 4 Canada geese feeding on the young shoots in the wheat field, whitethroats singing just about everywhere, blackcap and chiffchaff heard, 2 swifts battling against the wind coming in off the sea (my first of the year), a willow warbler at The Point flitting about  in the bushes, swallows over, gannets and fulmars offshore, stonechats including a pair with 2 fledglings, a buzzard being mobbed by a carrion crow and 2 fledgling robins.

 Goldfinch

Chaffinch

 Robin

Fledgling Robin

When the sun appeared so did a holly blue, a peacock and 3 red admirals while in the toilet block I found a rusty dot pearl and a common marbled carpet. Ragged Robin was in flower by the stream in the valley to the beach but the yellow flag iris is still yet to flower.

 Peacock

 Rusty Dot Pearl

 Common Marbled Carpet

 Common Marbled Carpet

Ragged Robin