Still no Purple

It was cold and sunny on Saturday 2nd March and there was a dusting of snow on the Dartmoor hilltops as viewed from the top deck of the bus as I travelled out to Wembury for a walk. The sunny skies eventually gave way to some heavy showers and later when I caught the bus back to Plymouth the snow on the Moors had all melted away.

Wembury (before the showers)

It was high tide and with it being a Saturday and the clifftop footpath being a complete quagmire there was a lot of disturbance along the beach but I did find the wintering Redshank, 6 Turnstone, 4 Little Egrets and Oystercatchers trying to roost, however 3 Mallards (2 males) had given up and were resting in the stubble field and 2 Canada Geese were in the cowfield.

Redshank

Canada Geese

I had a good scan of the rocky foreshore for any Purple Sandpipers as the tide headed out but there were none to be found, the mystery of where 70 Purple Sandpipers roosting at high tide on the nearby Plymouth Breakwater go when the tide heads out continues. Maybe they stay and feed on the Breakwater at low tide?

Rock Pipits and Pied Wagtails were feeding on the seaweed mass along the beach with a pair of Stonechats and 2 Chiffchaffs also present, there was no sign of the Water Pipit again which must have cleared out during the cold spell back in January but I did find a Scandinavian Rock Pipit coming into breeding plumage, the bold eyestripe, pink flush to the breast and blue tinge to the head very noticeable as it chased off any nearby Rock Pipits. 

The usual Gannets were diving for fish offshore and Fulmars were wheeling around The Mewstone with Cormorants and Shags flying back and forth to The Mewstone too. Another Chiffchaff was seen in the village gardens along with a very smart male Pheasant and there was just 1 Roe Deer this time feeding on the hillside above the wheatfield. 

Great Black-backed Gulls, Wembury

Tuesday 5th March was forecasted to be sunny with a gentle breeze and so I headed out to my usual place to look for Goshawks. It was indeed a beautiful sunny morning but became quite cloudy with an occassional shower of rain which was not what was forecast. 

When I first arrived at my lookout point there wasn't a cloud in the sky and I quickly found a pair of Goshawks displaying together. I watched them for around 20 minutes as they soared about overhead and flapped their wings in a nightjar-like style. A second female was also seen displaying and at one point she briefly joined the displaying pair before heading away. Neither of the female birds had any missing secondaries but I guess they would have regrown since my last visit on 16th February.

With the cloud arriving the displaying ceased and the pair quickly disappeared, never to be seen again, but later I did manage another brief view of the lone female as she circled around during a sunny spell being mobbed by a Carrion Crow.

Also on view overhead were the usual Ravens and Buzzards plus a displaying pair of Sparrowhawks. There were Woodpigeons and Redwings flying around too and the fields were full of Pheasants, Rooks and Jackdaws but I again failed to find any Red-legged Partridge.

Plenty of Sheep and Lambs in the fields

A look about in the wet wood was productive with a Fieldfare, a Marsh Tit, a Mistle Thrush, a Nuthatch, a Goldcrest and 3 Siskins (2 males) all seen along with Robin, Blackbird and Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits. Two Great Spotted Woodpeckers were heard drumming, Primroses were in flower and I finished my walk with a flock of around 50 Linnet feeding in a weedy field.

Not so good were very muddy and waterlogged paths resulting in very wet feet, also not so good was a 90 minute delay getting home, firstly due to my scheduled bus being cancelled due to a lack of staff and then delays to all further buses caused by a car accident blocking the roads.