After all the heat and sunshine and bone dry conditions of Greece it was back to the cool, damp and greenery of October in Devon. It did feel very autumnal on Friday 4th October as I headed out to Wembury for my first post-holiday walk, high tide was at 7:30am but I had a lie-in and caught the 9:00am bus and arrived just as the tide was ebbing. It was sunny but cool with the brisk south-easterly breeze keeping the bird activity subdued and it didnt feel very birdy at all but it was good to be out for a walk at one of my favourite places.
While we were away on holiday in Greece there had been some rough and windy weather here in Devon and the beach was well deposited with seaweed, the most I've seen so far this autumn but it didnt thwart the dog walkers who were busily traipsing up and down the beach and disturbing the roosting and feeding birds.
Despite the disturbance I was pleased to find a Bar-tailed Godwit and 5 Turnstone roosting on the rocks along with the usual Oystercatchers, I also saw 3 single Curlew in 3 different places but with all the disturbance I have a feeling there was just the 1 bird present. Also along the beach were 8 Little Egret and 3 male and a female Mallard and amongst the feeding Rock Pipits and Pied Wagtails were 2 Meadow Pipits. There were surprisingly few Gulls around, just 3 adult Black-headed Gulls and 2 adult Great Black-backed Gulls with just a few Herring Gulls here and there. Offshore just 2 adult Gannets were seen.
It was quiet on land with the highlights being 9 flitty Cirl Buntings feeding in the stubble field, a male Blackcap in a village garden, Chiffchaffs flitting about here and there with 1 bird heard singing, the usual Stonechats along the coast path and 2 Kestrels, a Sparrowhawk and a Buzzard overhead.
Despite the cool breeze there were butterflies about with good numbers of Speckled Wood seen along with Red Admiral, Large White, Small White and a Comma. A Long-winged Conehead and 5 Common Lizards were also making the most of the sunshine as they basked out of the wind on the wooden fence posts along the path. A few Ivy Bees were buzzing around the Ivy flowers as well.
It was sunny but cool and breezy again on Saturday 5th October as I headed out to Saltram and The Plym for a walk. High tide was at 8am but I had another lie-in and arrived at a very flooded Blaxton Meadow at around 10am. It still didn't feel very birdy and the brisk wind was continuing to hamper viewing but it was good to be out again at another one of my favourite places.
Despite the high water levels on Blaxton Meadow the waders were roosting around the edges, probably due to all the disturbance from rowing boats along The Plym, and amongst the Redshank were 14 Greenshank, 4 Oystercatcher, 1 Dunlin and 22 Curlew (including the Dartmoor flagged bird). Also present were 4 Wigeon, my first here for the autumn, and 3 female Goosander were seen flying upriver towards Marsh Mills.
A Firecrest was the highlight around The Park and also of note were a pair of Stonechat, a female Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaff, 11 Stock Dove and 4 Jay. A few Speckled Wood were flitting about out of the wind too.
A Kingfisher and 2 Common Sandpiper were also seen along the river near the gas pipe as the tide dropped and 3 Little Grebe were back for the winter busily diving away nearby.
A Yellow-browed Warbler was found in Ford Park Cemetery on Sunday 6th October but I was unable to go and look for it until the next day. I've never had any luck with previous Yellow-browed Warblers at this site and so it proved to be again this time but never mind. Over the constant drone of grass strimmers the highlights were 2 Chiffchaffs with 1 bird occassionally singing, 2 Nuthatch noisily feeding in the trees and a Buzzard soaring overhead. A Raven and a Great Spotted Woodpecker were also heard only and there were 3 Blackbirds giving it welly in a tree, probably due to the presence of a Tawny Owl but I couldn't find it amongst the leaves and branches if indeed it was actually there.
A Comma, a Red Admiral, a Large White and Speckled Woods were flitting about in the weakly warm sunny spells and 2 Common Darter were also seen before I gave up and headed into town to meet David for lunch.
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