Wembury Visits

It was grey, claggy and warm on Tuesday 15th October as I headed out to Wembury on the 9am bus for a walk. The coastal footpath is beginning to become its usual winter mudfest after all the recent rain but it wasn't too bad and I had a pleasant walk.

Seaweed covered beach at The Sewage Pipe

Low tide was around 11am and Gulls were roosting out on the rocks, mostly Herring Gulls but amongst them were a few Great Black-backed Gulls, a Black-headed Gull and 3 Mediterranean Gulls (an adult, a 1st winter and a 2nd winter). I was pleased to see the Bar-tailed Godwit was still present and feeding in the rock pools along with 3 Turnstones and Oystercatchers, also present were 3 Little Egret and around 40 Mallards.

Elsewhere it was quiet with a Firecrest in the village gardens, a Green Woodpecker and a Great Spotted Woodpecker at The Point and 4 Chiffchaffs, a female Blackcap, a Kestrel, a Coal Tit and 2 Ravens the highlights.

A Grey Seal was again poking its snout out of the water just off shore, 2 Speckled Wood and 3 Large White were flitting about and a Square-headed Wasp was seen resting on a fence post.

Square-headed Wasp (Ectemnius continuus?)

With Saturday 19th October forecasted to be the best day of weather for the week I had considered having a birding day out somewhere further afield but with very little about at the moment I decided to stay local. I also had this wretched tooth of mine finally removed on Thursday 17th October and I wasn't feeling too great although better than I have been feeling over the past few months and so I ended up heading out to Wembury again for a walk.

The Sewage Pipe Beach without seaweed - showing just how dynamic the tide action can be within just 4 days

It was a beautiful day, warm and still with sunny skies and I enjoyed a gentle stroll along the muddy footpath to The Point before returning along the beach on the low tide. It was very quiet with the usual birds seen but the highlight was an Arctic Skua casually flying low over the beach heading west and getting hassled by the occassional Carrion Crow along the way, a dark phased juvenile bird looking stunning in the bright sunshine and totally unexpected.

Otherwise the highlights were a Curlew, 7 Turnstone, 9 Little Egret and an adult and 1st winter Mediterranean Gull along the beach, a Chiffchaff, a Goldcrest and a Great Spotted Woodpecker at The Point and 2 Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk and a Buzzard overhead. There were regular sightings of  Woodpigeons, Skylarks and Meadow Pipits passing overhead in small numbers too and generally moving west but they appeared to be local birds rather than birds migrating through.