As expected we have now entered Lock Down 3, this time a proper lock down like we had back in March last year, and so it's back to local birding only.
The weather has been pretty good of late too, dry and cold and frosty which has made a nice change but I haven't had a chance to get out and about due to work and life stuff.
Wednesday 6th January and we finally got to have our Christmas dinner day, roast pheasent and partridge with vegetables from the allotment, home made Christmas pudding with clotted cream and too much wine - it was bloody marvellous!
Thursday 7th January and it was off out for our usual post Christmas Dinner walk. We headed up to Burrator Reservoir on Dartmoor although we were not entirely sure that we would get there due to the lock down but we duly arrived without any issues along the way.
It was a beautiful day, cold and sunny and frosty with no breeze, and it wasn't too busy either. We had a lovely walk around the reservoir with a patrolling police car adding an air of lock down menace and the birding highlights were a Treecreeper feeding in a tree right beside the road and showing very well and a Marsh Tit coming to nuts and seeds put out by a togger at the back of his van.
Mallard, a Grey Heron, a Goldcrest, 2 Buzzard, 3 Song Thrush, a Raven, Long-tailed Tits, a Nuthatch and a Roe Deer were also noted along our walk. Arriving back home and a male Sparrowhawk being mobbed by Herring Gulls on a nearby roof was a nice end to the day.
Friday 8th January and it was time for a proper birding day out and so with lock down in full swing it was back to my usual River Plym and Saltram walk. It was another beautifully cold and frosty day and it was surprisingly quiet along my walk which was an added bonus.
It was a high low tide and by the time I arrived at Blaxton Meadow the water was just starting to come through the sluice gates. Out on the meadow were the usual birds including 11 Wigeon (6 males), Curlew, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Shelduck, Common Gull and 3 Greenshank. All the birds were being badgered by Carrion Crows with the Greenshank eventually having enough of it and flying off over to The Embankment to join 2 more Greenshank roosting with Dunlin, Redshank, Grey Heron and Little Egret.
A pair of Goosander were diving in the pool by the sluice gates as the water drained in to the meadow but were being harassed by Gulls and eventually they flew out onto the river where they joined another 6 male and 5 female birds.
3 Little Grebe, a Common Sandpiper, a Dipper, a Kingfisher, an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Grey Wagtail were also seen along the river while in the woodlands a pair of Bullfinch, a female Great Spotted Woodpecker, Ring-necked Parakeets, Goldcrest, Nuthatch and a Mistle Thrush were noted. Meadow Pipit, Rook and a pair of Stonechat were also seen on Chelson Meadow.
Arriving back home and I decided to have a quick walk around Plymouth Hoe. A Great Northern Diver showed very well as it dived for food just off the Sutton Harbour lock gates with another bird seen off Duttons Cafe, unfortunately this bird was tangled up in fishing gear.
A Common Sandpiper was a surprise sighting on the slipway by Teats Hill flats but there was no sign of the recently reported Black Redstart at Sutton Quay nor the 4 Purple Sandpipers reported at Tinside - a nice start to my birding year though.
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