River Plym and Rame Head

Thursday 12th April and while working a long day I received a text from local birder Russ that a ring ouzel was showing well near the River Plym - but unfortunately there was nothing I could do about it! The next day I headed out on a cool and gloomy morning for a look around and there was no sign of the ring ouzel as I expected but I had an enjoyable walk anyway.

I caught the bus to Marsh Mills and walked down river through Saltram Park to Laira Bridge from where I caught the bus back home and the highlight was my first swallow of the year which flew over a few times chittering away before flying off out of sight. Runner up highlight was the still present red necked grebe fishing mid channel off the Chelson Meadow Recycling Centre on the incoming tide, more distant views than on previous visits but good to see.

Red Necked Grebe

Other sightings included 1 greenshank, 1 curlew, 32 turnstone and 2 redshank along the river with 32 redshank on Blaxton Meadow, 11 common gulls (5 adults) on the mudflats amongst the herring, black headed and great black backed gulls, 7 stock doves feeding together and 2 roe deer resting on a grassy slope. Chiffchaffs, a green woodpecker and a great spotted woodpecker were heard with blackcaps seen and heard.

 Turnstones

 Roe Deer in the Gloom

Catkins

Monday 16th April and I headed off to Rame Head on the bus on a mostly sunny but suprisingly cool and breezey morning. The views of Whitsand Bay were stunning as I stepped off the bus and a quick scan around offshore revealed a gannet sat on the sea with a diving red throated diver in winter plumage and a guillemot nearby and a grey seal poking its head out of the water close to shore.

The walk to Rame Head along the coast path was accompanied by singing chiffchaffs and a swallow flew around overhead before heading off inland. Bloody nosed beetles were trundling along the path and a small pond by the path held a few small tadpoles. From the chapel at the headland a raven flew over carrying what looked like a golf ball while offshore a few gannets were flying past and a bit of scanning around revealed a guillemot flying east and 9 Manx shearwaters (2 together, 3 together and then 4 singles) heading west.

Heading inland towards Rame Church and 6 fallow deer does showed briefly on the cliffs before disappearing into the scrub while along the lane I found a skittish flock of buntings with at least 2 male and a female yellowhammer and 3 male and a female cirl bunting being noted as they flew around and skulked in bushes. A buzzard, a brief view of a butterfly species dashing past (small tortoiseshell?) and another (or the same?) swallow flying around overhead were also noted before I caught the bus back to Plymouth after an enjoyable mornings walk.

 Yellowhammer

Cirl Bunting