Stilt Dip but a Gull Bonus

Tuesday May 1st and it was off to the River Exe for the day on the train, starting at Bowling Green Marsh at Topsham. I caught the 07:25 train from Plymouth, paying an eye-watering £20.80 for the privilege (it costs £9.70 after 9am!), and I arrived at the hide at Bowling Green Marsh at around 09:15 where local birder Dave Boult had found an adult summer plumaged Bonaparte's gull roosting amongst the black headed gulls right in front of the hide, presumably the regular wintering bird that has been around the Exe for a few years now. Quite a start to the day although viewing was difficult looking into the sun but I still had some nice views and got a few rubbish record shots too - smaller, black headed and darker grey upperparts than the nearby black headed gulls with a shorter, all dark bill and bubble gum pink legs but surprisingly easy to overlook and variable depending on the light and angle of view.

 Bonaparte's Gull with Black Headed Gull, Bowling Green Marsh

 Bonaparte's Gull

Bonaparte's Gull with Black Headed Gull

Also amongst the small group of roosting gulls were a 1st summer Mediterranean gull and 3+ 1st summer common gulls until 2 adult lesser black backed gulls flew in which proved too much for the Bonaparte's and it flew off towards the estuary never to be seen again.

Also seen were 4 ruff, 7 knot and 3 whimbrel amongst the black tailed godwits and redshanks along with 2 pairs of tufted duck and a few teal, shoveler and wigeon. A Cetti's warbler was heard calling along with singing chiffchaff and blackcap and a single sand martin flew overhead, surprisingly my first of the year.

 Black Tailed Godwit, Bowling Green Marsh

Black Tailed Godwit

I had planned to catch the ferry across the Exe from Topsham to Exminster Marsh but it isn't running yet (although it doesn't run on Tuesdays anyway, a fact I wasn't aware of) and so a quick dash to the train station ensued and I caught the train to Starcross and then the bus to The Swans Nest instead.

With a black winged stilt having been found on Exminster Marsh the previous day I was hopeful it might still be around but there was no sign of it today - black winged stilt is a bit of a bogey bird for me, I've seen plenty on my foreign travels but never in the UK and have dipped a few along the way including birds at Exminster Marsh back in 2012.

I did however see some good birds despite the clouding over skies, showers and strengthening winds with reed and sedge warblers being very vocal but very skulking along the walk. I did manage to get a few brief views of both species as they sang in cover or flitted between bushes but not the usual good views I normally get. A whitethroat and a chiffchaff were seen with blackcaps, chiffchaffs, Cetti's warbler and a lesser whitethroat also heard while over the marsh 2 swifts, a house martin, swallows and sand martins were hawking insects. Whimbrel, 2 oystercatcher, lapwing, a dunlin and a common sandpiper were also out on the marsh with little egrets, Canada geese, mute swans, mallards, coot, moorhen and teal but the best find was a female whinchat feeding from a barbed wire fence, distant views but nice to find at this time of year away from Dartmoor.

Nesting Mute Swan, Exminster Marsh

Onwards to Powderham Marsh where 2 barnacle geese, 2 greylag geese and a snow goose were amongst the Canada geese while 2 little ringed plovers were feeding out on the muddy scrapes although they were a little distant.

Orange tip and peacock were on the wing along with lots of St.Marks flies and a single large red damselfly and it was nice to see plenty of cuckoo flower dotted around, perfect food for orange tip larva.

 Orange Tip

St.Marks Flies making more St.Marks Flies

It was soon time to head back to Starcross on the bus to catch the train back to Plymouth but I had had a great day out despite yet another black winged stilt dip.