Stuart's Wildlife Diary: Balearic Shearwaters, more Yellow Wagtails and another Osprey

Saturday, 4 September 2021

Balearic Shearwaters, more Yellow Wagtails and another Osprey

Tuesday 31st August was dull and grey and with Anglia Windows due to visit for some window repair work a quiet day at home was on the cards. However the repair visit was unfortunately cancelled at lunchtime and so we made the most of it and headed out to Saltram for a walk, parking in a layby along The Ride and walking to Blaxton Meadow and back.

Yellow Wagtails had been reported at Saltram over the previous few days and I was keen to catch up with them as not only are they one of my favourite birds but they would also become the 100th bird species I've seen this year for the Plym/Saltram and would complete the second of my 3 100 challenges for this year.

On my visit to Saltram last week I had noted cattle feeding in the grass field by the footpath near the "wet wood" and with a good showing of Yellow Wagtails occurring this autumn I thought it looked like a good spot for them. Despite a quick scan of the field I drew a blank but the grass was very long and Yellow Wagtails could have been silently lurking amongst it.

I assumed that the recent sightings had been from this field but when we arrived at the field the grass had been well and truly munched and the cows had gone! However I could see a few cows through the trees in a field near the children's playground and so we walked over there for a look.

There were plenty of Swallows and House Martins hawking over the cows as they disturbed insects from the grass and eventually I managed to find a Yellow Wagtail poking its head out of the long grass with a second bird heard calling briefly nearby. The bird I could see then flew up into a small dead tree where it was joined by 3 others before they all dropped down into the long grass and out of sight, strangely remaining quiet the whole time.

Yellow Wagtail

Also seen on our walk were the 2 juvenile Shelduck feeding together out on the estuary, 6 Little Egret, a Grey Heron and 6 Oystercatcher on Blaxton Meadow on the dropping tide, 21 Mandarin Duck and 7 Moorhen on the duck pond and a Sparrowhawk flying over Laira Bridge.

Curlew

Thursday 2nd September and I had hoped to visit Hayle or Exminster by train for some wader action but with the trains all messed up due to a damaged rail bridge in Plymouth my plans were kind of scuppered. It was dull and breezy and so I decided to visit Wembury for a walk instead and fortunately I took my telescope with me, a very good decision.

As it turned out there was a good bit of wader action along the beach at Wembury despite the constant disturbance by walkers and dogs and I had maximum counts of 24 Turnstone, 13 Ringed Plover, 12 Dunlin, 3 Sanderling, 2 Redshank and a Bar-tailed Godwit along with the usual Oystercatchers.

Redshank

Mediterranean Gulls were also present along the beach with the Herring, Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls but with the disturbance I didnt count them although at least 3 juveniles were present including a bird moulting well into 1st winter plumage.

While scanning along the beach near the sewage pipe the Gulls suddenly all flew up into the air with very little noise and the waders all stopped feeding and looked skywards and eventually I found the cause, a very nice if distant Osprey circling over the mouth of the River Yealm before it drifted east along the coast towards Stoke Point, only my second sighting of one at Wembury.

I then spent some time scanning offshore with my telescope and found a distant Sandwich Tern along with quite a few Gannet including a small group diving together which on closer inspection were diving over a feeding pod of 6+ Harbour Porpoise which were moving swiftly west before being lost from sight.

A small flock of waders, presumably Dunlin, were picked up flying east low over the waves too but the highlight were 2 distant Balearic Shearwater flying east together, my first of the year.

Also seen were 2 Whitethroat, 4 Swallow, 4 Chiffchaff, 4 Wheatear, 5 Cirl Buntings, Stonechats, a noisey juvenile Bullfinch and the first 2 flyover Meadow Pipits of the autumn. A good count of 187 Canada Geese were also resting in the stubble field before noisely flying off east.