The weather this summer hasn't been that great compared to recent years, it's been cool and cloudy and more reminiscent of the usual British summers of yesteryear. This has had an impact on wildlife and wildlife watching, most noticeably butterfly watching, but what has been more frustrating is the poor weather forecasting that's gone with it. I guess it hasn't been easy to predict the weather this summer with the lack of high pressure systems causing unsettled weather but sometimes the weather forecasting has been really bad.
A case in point was Thursday 5th September with the weather forecast before I went to bed that night giving heavy rain and yellow warnings of potential flooding for the next day. However on waking up on the morning of Friday 6th September it was dry and the sun was shining and on checking the weather forecast again it was going to remain so for the rest of the day! Very annoying as I would have been up and out early to catch the 6:30am bus to Wembury for a walk, even more annoying were sightings of Knot, Sand Martin, Yellow Wagtail and Whinchat being reported there that morning (all year ticks for me at Wembury!). Never mind.
Anyway, I decided to abandon my planned day at home and headed out to The Plym for a walk, high tide was around 8:30am but due to my late awakening I didn't arrive at Blaxton Meadow until after 9:30am to find it was still well flooded. A Common Tern had been seen here over the previous 2 days but there was no sign of it so I concentrated on the roosting waders, noting 31 Curlew, 12 Greenshank, 4 Oystercatcher and 2 Dunlin amongst the Redshank flock. Even better was a Black-tailed Godwit asleep amongst them, hidden in plain sight, but after a group of 5 Little Egrets had a hissy fit amongst the roosting waders and flushed them I lost sight of it and it didn't return to roost when the wader flock came back.
Blaxton Meadow Viewing Platform - in need of a bit of a trim back
I noticed what looked like feathers floating on the water and a closer look through my scope revealed it to be the Common Tern, now sadly deceased (apparently it had been oiled). It's black cap and pale grey upperparts were showing at the surface and when it was unceremoniously flushed down the sluice gate and out into the river I caught a brief glimpse of its red bill.
Common Tern (deceased) heading towards the sluice gates
It was quiet on Chelson Meadow too, no Whinchats this time but 3 Stonechats (2 male, 1 juvenile) were present along with a male Blackcap, a Chiffchaff, a Jay, 3 Skylark and 2 Buzzard while a Green Woodpecker was heard and Swallows and House Martins fed overhead. A bizarre sight was a Dunlin flushed out of the grass by the track, it flew off calling and at first I thought it was a Snipe until I caught sight of its downcurved bill and my brain eventually registered it's call correctly.
Otherwise the usual birds were seen including 2 Common Sandpipers and 4 Cormorant along the river, Mandarins on the duck pond, Ring-necked Parakeets screeching away in the trees, a Sparrowhawk being mobbed by a Swallow overhead and a Kingfisher perched up in the bushes by the Blaxton Meadow sluice gate.
The Fields are currently being Mob Grazed by Cows - hopefully a passing Yellow Wagtail will be attracted in to join them
Silver Y - 1 of 2 seen in the Marsh Mills underpass
I headed out to Wembury for walk on Saturday 7th September, the weather forecast was for sunny spells with rain arriving in the afternoon and so it proved to be for a change! I caught the 7am bus (there is no 6:30am bus on a Saturday) and with the high tide at 9am I hoped to get to The Point to look for waders before there was too much disturbance but I was foiled by dog walkers, wild swimmers, fishermen (on the rocks and in a boat), walkers, spear fishers and toggers, not surprising on a Saturday morning in September with fair weather. Despite this I did see a Whimbrel, a Ringed Plover, a Dunlin, a Common Sandpiper, 4 Curlew, 10 Turnstones and Oystercatchers, not bad considering all the disturbance and the lack of washed up seaweed along the beach at the moment.
Dunlin
The usual Mediterranean Gulls were present too amongst the roosting Gulls, I counted at least 40 birds out on the rocks but more were undoubtedly present. I had a good look for any ringed birds but couldn't find any on this visit. Offshore the usual Gannets were milling around and diving for fish, a small feeding frenzy was also going on and underneath them was a small pod of feeding Common Dolphins moving swiftly west. Later the Common Dolphins were seen slowly moving east, no doubt stuffed full of fish. A small pod of Harbour Porpoise were also seen much closer in to shore, they were being quite splashy at the surface which appeared to be some kind of interaction between them and at times I could see the spray of their exhaled breath. Also seen offshore were 2 Common Scoters flying west along along with 2 Sandwich Terns.
Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Stonechat, Cirl Bunting and Blackcap were flitting about in the scrub and I managed brief views of 2 Willow Warblers and also a Whinchat which flew up into a dead tree before being chased off by a Chiffchaff, never to be seen again. Wheatears were also seen with 1 in the stubble field and 2 at The Point. I also bumped into Jenny again and she picked up 2 Mute Swan flying past and heading towards The Yealm, my first for Wembury this year. We also picked up Sand Martins feeding overhead with Swallows and House Martins, at least 4 were seen amongst the flock feeding high over the sea out near The Mewstone.
Whinchat
I then returned to the main beach and then headed up the cliff path towards The Yealm, I wasnt expecting much but a Feral Pigeon flying over towards the village was a surprise, not an easy bird to see at Wembury. Despite this I then saw yet another one, unfortunately this one was being chased by an adult and juvenile Peregrine and was eventually caught by the juvenile bird (and probably the reason I rarely see Feral Pigeon at Wembury!). Stonechat, Chiffchaff and Whitethroat were seen along the path and overhead Swallows were flitting about but the biggest surprise was a very tardy Swift feeding amongst them. Sadly the fields were still cow-less and so there were no Yellow Wagtails present either.
Green-veined White
It began to spit with rain and so it was time to head home but it had been an enjoyable walk despite the worse than usual disturbance along the beach at high tide.
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