Wednesday 13th January and after a morning of household chores and taking down the Christmas tree I was crawling the walls and so we took a walk around Plymouth Hoe for some fresh air and exercise. It was a cold and dank afternoon but was considerably brightened up by finding 2 Purple Sandpipers feeding on the rocks below the Pier One cafe along with 4 Turnstones.
They allowed very close approach as they fed on the slime covered concrete by the waters edge but one bird was very nervy and flighty at times while the other bird was much more chilled out as it hopped along on one leg (although it's other leg seemed fine).
Its been quite a few years now since I last saw Purple Sandpiper on Plymouth Hoe, they used to be regular winterers but just disappeared (as they have at Wembury too) so it was very nice to see them. Not so nice was slipping over in front of passers by on the slimey surface of the concrete when I tried to get closer to them, I got very wet and dirty (and the slime had a very fishy odour) but a breakfast bap and a coffee from the cafe helped ease my wounded pride.
Thursday 14th January and another dank and mizzley day saw me heading off for my usual River Plym and Saltram walk. It was surprisingly relatively quiet again with low numbers of walkers and cyclists but it was also relatively quiet bird wise too.
I added Siskin, Moorhen, Kestrel and Mandarin Duck to my year list and saw the usual stuff including 6 Goosander (3 male), 20 Wigeon (10 male), 3 Little Grebe, Grey Wagtail, Common Sandpiper, 2 Goldcrest, Nuthatch and a pair of Stonechat.
Greenshank and Ring-necked Parakeets were heard only and out on the mudflats on the low tide a few adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls were roosting amongst the Common, Black-headed, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls.
A Winter Moth found in the underpass at Marsh Mills roundabout also became my first moth of 2021 (as it was last year and in the same place).
It was good to see the Snowdrops flowering in the woodlands too, Spring is not too far away now.
Friday 15th January and another cold and mostly grey day and do I decided to have a walk over to Ford Park Cemetery for a look about. I stopped off at the small area of grass, shrubs and trees on the Plymouth University Campus along North Hill where Chiffchaffs (and Siberian Chiffchaffs) sometimes overwinter but there was no sign of any there today although a very skulky male Blackcap was a nice bonus.
At Ford Park Cemetery there were quite a few people feeding the birds with bread and seeds and what looked like meat scraps, all of which were attracting lots of Herring Gulls, Carrion Crows and Magpies along with 2 Raven and a male Pheasant. Blue, Great and Coal Tits were flitting about in the trees with Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Robins but there was no sign of any Black Redstarts.
I walked back to the Plymouth University Campus to check out the trees along Portland Villas where 2 Firecrest were being seen back in November last year and sure enough within a few minutes I found them busily feeding in the branches and showing very well before disappearing off into deeper cover. Presumably they are the same birds I saw back in November although when I saw them back then there was a lot of aggressive interaction between them but today they were feeding quite happily together.
Onwards to Plymouth Hoe and despite searching on the very low low tide there was no sign of the Purple Sandpipers seen on Wednesday but a Great Northern Diver showed very well close to shore and a Harbour Porpoise out in The Sound was a very nice bonus find too.
David duly arrived to join me and we enjoyed another coffee and breakfast bap from the cafe before we walked back home, a very nice and local lockdown wildlife walk.
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