So far the weather in 2023 has been mostly vile with what seems to have been constant strong winds and heavy rain and this combined with work, train strikes and life stuff has meant very little birding time.
After the excitement of the Little Gull off Plymouth Hoe on New Year's Day I have kept my eyes open on our regular Plymouth Hoe walks for any other wind-blown strays but it has been very quiet with just a single Kittiwake the highlight. There has been no sign of any Purple Sandpipers either and the Turnstones seemed to have disappeared also.
Sunday 15th January was windy again with heavy showers but after working 2 night shifts I wanted to get out for a walk and so headed out to the River Plym and Saltram. I started my walk at Marsh Mills and checked out all the Alder trees in the area for Redpoll which have been increasingly reported here but there was no sign of any although a mobile and vocal flock of around 20 Siskin did show very nicely.
I carried on to the viewing platform overlooking the high tide on Blaxton Meadow but it was evil there in the cold and strong breeze and so I headed over to the hide where it was more sheltered. The Meadow held the usual birds and it was good to see the Grey Plover was still in residence amongst the usual waders. Common Gull numbers had dropped since my last visit but 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls were found amongst the Gulls along with an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. Snipe were hunkered down in the long grass but were being flushed out by the usual mischievous Carrion Crows, I counted a maximum of 14 birds but more were present as per other birders on site.
I had planned to walk further but I wasn't really in the zone and so headed home earlier than planned but it was nice to get out birding even for such a short time.
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