A Plymouth Rarity

Storm Emma arrived in Devon from the south on March 1st and duly slammed into The Beast from the East, a large high pressure system over Europe bringing Siberian conditions to the UK, and the result was something very rare here in Plymouth - snow!

Snow from my Bedroom window!

The conditions were pretty awful although it was much worse in the rest of Devon and it meant some impressive cold weather movement of birds.

Beaumont Park in the snow

We headed up to Plymouth Hoe in the afternoon as the snow began to arrive and it was gelid - freezing cold, a biting easterly wind that felt evil and snow mizzle that swirled around in vicious bursts. We didn't stay out for long but on the walk I managed to find 2 redwing, 11fieldfare, 1 song thrush, a lapwing, 5 meadow pipit and 7 golden plover (my first Plymouth sighting) and all unusual fare for Plymouth Hoe in March (I even had redwings and a lapwing flying over the house).

 Herring Gull hunkering down on The Barbican

Herring Gull

The following day we headed back for another look and the conditions were not much better with the snow mizzle being more snow dust in nature but there were more birds around than the previous day all desperately trying to find food in the awful conditions. Redwings and fieldfares were very mobile all around The Hoe with numbers difficult to assess due to their constant movement with 5 skylark and 10 linnet also seen along with a few meadow pipits. Lapwings and golden plovers were also flying around and trying to feed on the frozen grassy areas with most looking in a bit of a bad way, especially the golden plovers. One bird looked very poorly which broke my heart as I was unable to do anything for it - the weather may have produced some interesting birding but the reality is deadly serious and often fatal for the birds themselves, a situation mirrored across Devon.

 Fieldfare, Plymouth Hoe

 Fieldfare

 Redwing, Plymouth Hoe

 Redwing

 Lapwing, Plymouth Hoe

 Golden Plover, Plymouth Hoe

Golden Plover

 Golden Plover

 Golden Plover

Golden Plover

Saturday 3rd March and overnight rain had cleared all the snow and ice in Plymouth although it remains cold and the only reminder of the bad weather was a lone lapwing feeding on the grass near Derriford Hospital as I caught the bus home after my night shift - hopefully the improving weather will enable some of the displaced birds to have a chance of survival.