I was awake very early on Thursday 16th October and so decided to head out to Wembury for a walk. I was thinking of catching the 6:30am bus but ended up catching the 7:00am bus instead which was just as well as it was only just getting light when I arrived at Wembury at 7:30am.
I headed up to the church on what was an overcast morning with a fresh easterly breeze and I had hoped to see a bit of vis-mig going on but it was very quiet with just a few Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Chaffinch flying overhead which seemed to be local birds flying around rather than birds passing through. I'd hoped for some Siskins too but it wasn't meant to be, however I did much better than that with a Grey Heron flying up the valley to the beach which was shortly followed by a Cattle Egret, my first Wembury sighting of one. At first I thought it was a Little Egret until I got a look at its black feet and yellow bill and it was a good start to my mornings walk as it flew over the village and headed inland. A Cattle Egret had been reported at Wembury a few days ago so maybe this is the same bird and it had possibly roosted with the Grey Heron somewhere nearby.
I headed off along the cliff path towards Noss Mayo and checked out the ponds by the farm where I saw 2 Moorhen and heard a third one. Even better though was a Merlin dashing low over the ground and chasing after a charm of Goldfinch, unfortunately a brief but good view and my first at Wembury for some time now. A Kestrel was also hovering away over the nearby fields and it was another 3 Falcon species day for me with 3 Peregrines also seen, an adult bird powering through across the fields and 2 juveniles soaring together overhead and engaging in the occassional tussle with each other.
Back at the church a pair of Firecrest came extremely close to me as they checked out my phishing before dashing back into cover and it was odd to see Sloes in flower here too, presumably due to the recent warm weather we've had.
Out on the rocks on the low tide at The Point a nice find was a Grey Plover which was hunkered down and easily overlooked, it eventually woke up and showed well amongst the Oystercatchers also present. A Curlew, a Turnstone and a Bar-tailed Godwit were also seen along with 2 Little Egret and a Kingfisher which was getting constantly harrassed by a very persistent Rock Pipit.
A ringed 2nd winter Great Black-backed Gull was also seen out on the rocks but it flew off before I could get closer for a better photo. I have had a very prompt reply regarding its history though, it was ringed on 1st July 2024 on Guernsey and has since been reported from Calvados in France and now the UK.
Otherwise the usual birds were seen including a Sparrowhawk and 2 Buzzards, Linnets, Stonechats, Cirl Buntings and Chiffchaffs, 2 Swallows heading east, plenty of Pheasants ready for the upcoming shooting parties, a Goldcrest, a Song Thrush and 3 Ravens. The workmen are back too as the footpath from the main beach towards The Point continues to be upgraded.
I decided to check out the Plymouth Pear again as I could find no further information about them being present at Wembury Point other than in the leaflet produced by National Trust. Like the Sloes the tree was in flower in places and they certainly didn't look like Plymouth Pear flowers which are small, they also didn't smell like Plymouth Pear flowers which are supposed to smell like rotten Scampi - nice!. Another Pear tree nearby was bearing large, normal looking Pears and again unlike Plymouth Pear fruit so I think they are Pear Trees near Plymouth rather than Plymouth Pear Trees. Never mind, at least I have seen a genuine Plymouth Pear before at Derriford Hospital.
We headed out to Shipley Bridge on Friday 17th October for a walk up to the Avon Dam and back in the hope of catching up with some Ring Ouzels. Reports of them have been sparse so far this autumn but one was seen here on Wednesday so I kept my fingers crossed. It was a grey and claggy day but the sun started to appear from behind the clouds just as we were leaving to head to Ashburton for lunch.
It was very quiet along the walk, the river was quite low so it was much less noisy than usual and there were surprisingly few birds around. The Hawthorn bushes were overloaded with Haws but the Rowan trees were totally bare of berries and as a result no Ring Ouzels were seen, in fact the only thrushes seen on the walk were a Mistle Thrush and 4 Blackbird.
Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Robin, Stonechat, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Coal Tit, a Great Tit, Carrion Crow, a Kestrel, 2 Dunnock and 2 Buzzard were the only other birds seen and there was no water coming over the reservoir dam after a very dry summer and autumn (so far).
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