After all the excitement of our stay at Harvey it was back to more normal fare with a walk at Wembury on Saturday 4th December. The footpath was a complete quagmire but it was a cold and dry morning with occasional sunny spells as I negotiated the muddy route to The Point and back.
I was feeling flat and listless and I wasn't really in the birding zone but figured the walk would do me good after all the food and drink consumed during our time away at Harvey.
The usual birds were seen with Cirl Buntings and Stonechats continuing to be very showy indeed along the coast path. A Jay was found skulking in the trees behind The Stables where a Great Spotted Woodpecker was also heard "chipping" away. Another Great Spotted Woodpecker was also heard at The Pines where a female Sparrowhawk briefly perched up before continuing over the bracken covered slope in full hunting mode.
Mallard, Oystercatcher, 2 Curlew and 2 Little Egret were out on the rocks with Gannets flying around offshore and around 12 Fulmar back around The Mewstone after completing their wing moult out at sea. A Grey Seal was also briefly seen surfacing close to the rocks but wasn't refound.
I decided to have a look for the Water Pipit along the beach but there was no sign of it this time. There was less seaweed washed up on the beach than on my previous visit and also fewer Rock Pipits but there were still good numbers of Meadow Pipit present. A big surprise was a colour ringed Rock Pipit which allowed a fairly close approach before eventually flying off and on checking out the excellent cr-birding.org website it is a "Scandinavian" Rock Pipit (littoralis) from a Finnish ringing scheme.
Hopefully it will stay for the winter but Pipit numbers along the beach at Wembury are very fluid depending on the amount of seaweed washed up on the beach from winter storms.
Finding the colour ringed Rock Pipit certainly brightened up my walk and added a bit of interest and excitement to my indifferent mood. A flyover Peregrine while waiting at the bus stop for the journey home was a nice end to my visit too.
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