Another Saturday (15th October), another visit to Wembury, not the best day for a visit as it's usually busy at the weekends but with grey skies, a strong breeze and mizzle showers it was relatively quiet on the people front. The breeze unfortunately hampered the birding somewhat with the bushes being a bit blown out but I managed to see a Song Thrush, a pair of Blackcap, a singing Cirl Bunting and a Goldcrest along with the usual Stonechats, Goldfinch and Robins. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard in The Pines at The Point and a Raven and a Kestrel were noted overhead.
It was choppy offshore and Gannets were moving west into the wind. It was nice to see a few juveniles and immatures amongst them after the ravages of avian flu this summer although the corpse of an adult bird was sadly seen washed up on the beach.
The tide was high and roosting out on the rocks were around 60 Oystercatcher, 2 Curlew, a Whimbrel, a Common Sandpiper and 8 Little Egret and amongst the Gulls were an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull and 9 Mediterranean Gulls (3 adults, 3 1st winters and 3 2nd winters).
Unsurprisingly there were no butterflies on the wing but I did kick up a Rush Veneer from the grass and there were still a few Ivy Bees feeding on Ivy flowers that were tucked away out of the wind.
Ivy Bee
Ivy Bee
I had a pasty for my lunch, probably my last of the year here as the cafe on the beach winds down its opening times for the winter, and then headed home for a quiet afternoon to prepare myself for the daunting prospect of working 2 long days in a row beginning the next morning.
Tuesday 18th October was grey but mild and dry and I met up with Mavis for a birdy day out. We had planned to go to the Avon Dam to look for Ring Ousel but there have been no reports of them from there so far this month (although there are apparently lots of berries available this year) and so we switched plans and headed off to Bowling Green Marsh at Topsham instead. It did rain a little as we travelled along the A38 but then it cleared up and remained dry for the rest of the day and the sun even appeared from behind the clouds for short periods and when it did it was pleasently warm.
With the tide being low we started off at the Clyst Viewing Platform to scan the waders feeding and roosting out on the exposed mudflats. The tide was heading in but we hadn't realised it was to be a low high tide and so the birds remained mostly distant.
Amongst the Dunlin, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwit and Redshank we found a very nice juvenile Curlew Sandpiper busily feeding away. It was almost hidden in plain sight, easily lost amongst the feeding birds in the dull light but quite distinctive when picked up. A single Knot was a nice find too amongst the waders.
We scanned across the River Exe towards Powderham where a large flock of wildfowl were present and in the gloom we picked out 5 Black Swan along with Wigeon, Pintail, Mute Swan and Brent Goose. Also from the platform Little Egret, Common Gull, Kingfisher, Mistle Thrush and a male Stonechat were seen with 2 Cettis Warblers and a Water Rail also heard.
We walked back to the hide for the high tide but the waders didn't materialise to roost although a flock of Black-tailed Godwit were present and a flyover Greenshank was heard. There were plenty of Ducks present though with Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Pintail, Shoveler and Shelduck all noted and there were also plenty of Geese too with a Barnacle Goose, Greylag Goose, Snow Goose and at least 3 Egyptian Goose present amongst the large flock of Canada Geese.
Barnacle Goose - always in the company of a presumed Greylag/Canada Goose Hybrid
Greylag Goose with Canada Geese
Sleepy Snow Goose and Egyptian Geese
We walked back to The Goatwalk for a look around as the low high tide began to ebb and out on the mudflats on the opposite side of the river we picked out around 40 Golden Plover and around 15 Grey Plover amongst the usual waders and wildfowl. The sun appeared a few times while we were sitting here on a bench and it was beautifully warm out of the breeze.
Onwards to Darts Farm for toilets and refreshments and on the drive back to Plymouth we totalled up our days sightings and had achieved a list of just over 50 species including 6 species of Geese, not a bad days birding at all.
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