An Excellent Day at Slapton and Beesands Ley

Wednesday 7th February and I was up and out early to catch the first bus of the day from Plymouth to Torcross at 07:25hrs on a very cold and clear and still morning. The buses are no longer double deckers which is a shame as the views of the South Hams countryside from the top deck were stunning but I guess that is progress for you.

Arriving at Torcross at 09:16hrs and I was at first undecided as to what to do - Beesands Ley or Slapton Ley first? In the end I plumped for Beesands Ley first (which turned out to be the right decision) and I headed off along the clifftop path as the tide was in and too high to walk along the beach.

Arriving at the Ley and I scanned around for my target bird, a male ring necked duck which has been present for a while now but which has at times been frequenting nearby Slapton Ley, and eventually I found it with a group of tufted ducks - it gave some nice views but was regularly diving although it looked very smart in the bright sunshine when it stayed on the surface long enough to appreciate it.

Ring Necked Duck, Beesands Ley

Ring Necked Duck

Ring Necked Duck

Ring Necked Duck

Also seen were 2 male and a female pochard, 3 male and 2 female gadwall, coot, mallard, moorhen, mute swan and Canada goose on the water, a Cetti's warbler flitting about in the reeds by the leyside and on the walk back to Slapton Ley across the cliff tops a firecrest feeding in the hedgerow was a nice surprise. Not so nice but not a surprise was my slipping over in the mud and getting a wet and muddy arse!

Slapton Ley appeared to be quiet on the wildfowl front, certainly much lower numbers than usual, but there were birds around - mallard, coot, moorhen, tufted duck, wigeon, pochard, gadwall, mute swan and Canada geese - and amongst them were at least 4 male and 3 female goldeneye along with 2 black necked grebes. The goldeneyes were mobile and regularly diving when they weren't displaying to each other with the males looking stunning in the sun light and the black necked grebes looked very smart too with bright red eyes.

Black Necked Grebe, Slapton Ley

Black Necked Grebe

No otters were seen but I did see 3 water rails, 2 together at the duck feeding platform and 1 from the bridge, Cetti's warblers were vocal with a few brief glimpses had as they disappeared into the undergrowth and 2 stock doves flew over the back of the Ley with some woodpigeons.

Black Headed Gulls, Slapton Ley

Black Headed Gulls

Black Headed Gull

Coot Feet

Sleeping Mallard

Preening Mallard

Preened Mallard

Preening Mallards

The clouds were beginning to roll in and so I decided to head home earlier than planned, catching the 14:00 bus back to Plymouth and having enjoyed a very pleasant day out birding.