Friday 5th April was planned to be a day of chores but with news received of a Willow Warbler having been seen along The Plym my interest was piqued and so I decided to ditch the chores and head out for a look.
I caught the bus out to Marsh Mills at around Midday, it was cool, grey and breezy but dry and with rain not forecast until later in the afternoon I hoped to be home again before it arrived.
Along the river from Marsh Mills to Blaxton Meadow I found a Common Sandpiper and a male Goosander while Chiffchaffs were heard yammering away in the trees. A Collared Dove feeding along along the shoreline was a surprise find, it flew up into the trees by the footpath and showed very well before eventually flying off.
The tide was heading in and on Blaxton Meadow the usual birds were coming in to roost - a Curlew, 10 Oystercatcher, 7 Greenshank, a Snipe and 59 Redshank with Herring Gulls and 3 Black-headed, 2 Common, 5 Lesser Black-backed-backed and a Great Black-backed also present.
A look at the Duck Pond revealed a Coal Tit feeding on seed with Blue and Great Tits and 4 male Mandarin out on the water. A Swallow occassionally dashed about overhead and in the bushes I found 2 very smart looking Willow Warblers flitting about and showing very well.
Onwards towards the Wet Wood and another Willow Warbler was seen feeding in the trees by the dipping pond and also quietly singing to itself while at the Wet Wood at least another 3 Willow Warblers were found with quiet singing again heard.
A further Willow Warbler was found on Chelson Meadow but my attention was drawn to the sight of at least 8 Wheatear feeding on the grassy slopes out of the breeze.
An interesting walk and at last some bird movement, hopefully the gates have now been opened, and I arrived safely back home before it began raining yet again.
With Storm Kathleen heading our way for Saturday 6th April I planned to have a quiet day at home but with mentions on Twitter/X of seawatching I decided on waking up in the morning to head out to Wembury for a look about. Unfortunately I didn't wake up early enough to catch the first bus of the day so didn't arrive at Wembury until 9:45am but never mind.
It was very windy but not as bad as forecasted, it remained dry with spells of sunshine and as expected there was very little going on offshore, the highlights being 2 adult Common Gulls, 2 Sandwich Tern and 4 Guillemots amongst the usual Gulls, Gannet, Fulmar, Shag and Cormorant.
More interesting was a Grey Seal hauled up on the beach, it looked like it had missed the tide turning and was stuck until the tide headed back in. It seemed OK though and I was very pleased that walkers along the beach and especially those with dogs were very sensible and kept their distance whilst I was there.
I may not have seen any Manx Shearwaters offshore but I did find a dead one washed up on the beach. Even sadder was the washed up corpse of a Risso's Dolphin, its tail was missing so presumably a victim of bycatch but it was providing a meal for a pair of Ravens and a pair of Great Black-backed Gulls.
Otherwise the usual birds were present on my walk with Chiffchaffs, a Blackcap and a Cettis Warbler all heard, 2 Little Egrets feeding along the beach, Oystercatchers feeding out on the rocks and a pair of Canada Geese out on The Mewstone the highlights.
