A Plym Spoonbill

The first day of November saw me heading up to Plymouth Hoe first thing to look for Grey Phalaropes following the rain and strong southerly winds the previous day. They say hope springs eternal but as I expected it wasn't meant to be although a bonus was seeing 5 Plymouth Thistle plants still in flower.

Plymouth Thistle

I then decided to head over to Saltram and The Plym for a walk despite the forecast for heavy showers, it felt quite mild especially in the occassional sunny spells but heavy showers did pass through which meant there were some nice rainbows to be seen. 

Saltram Rainbow

I arrived off the bus at Marsh Mills at around 10:30am and walked down to Blaxton Meadow, along the way I had some good views of 5 Goosanders and 3 Little Grebes plus a flypast Kingfisher and Dipper.

Goosanders

Goosander (Immature Male)

Goosanders

High tide wasn't due until around 1:45pm but with it being a neap tide most of the estuary mudflats were already covered in water and the usual birds were roosting and feeding on Blaxton Meadow including 3 Turnstone, a Common Sandpiper, an adult and 1st winter Mediterranean Gull and the seemingly now resident Curlew J7.

Mediterranean Gulls with Black-headed Gulls

Curlew J7

The female Red-crested Pochard was back on the duck pond along with a male Teal but there was still no sign of any Mandarin Ducks. There were no Redwings either on a look around the Park but I did find some Siskins feeding in the tops of the Alder trees at the Wet Wood with Goldfinch and Blue Tit.

Teal and Red-crested Pochard

On the walk back to Marsh Mills to catch the bus home I had another quick look at Blaxton Meadow and was very pleased to find that a juvenile Spoonbill had arrived and was roosting along the back wall amongst the Little Egrets and Grey Herons, my first for The Plym and a welcome sighting for what has been a bit of a bogey bird here for me. It looked a bit tatty and seemed a bit peed off, probably due to the showery rain, but I was very glad to finally see a Plym Spoonbill (and later that afternoon, after I had returned home, a report came through that it had been joined by an adult bird!).

Spoonbill! (Record shots)

It was grey, claggy and breezy on Monday 3rd November as I headed out to Wembury on the 7am bus for a walk and a look about. Birdwise it was all very much the same with the highlights being a 2nd winter Mediterranean Gull along the beach with 2 Little Egrets and a Curlew, a Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk overhead, 3 Firecrests feeding together in the bushes near the Church and Gannets moving west offshore.

Stonechat

I had a look for a Water Pipit along the beach and a Purple Sandpiper out on the rocks, November is usually the best month for seeing both these species at Wembury but I had no luck today although the strong breeze, dropping tide and constant disturbance from dog walkers wasn't helpful for my search. There were still plenty of Pheasants around though, all of them totally oblivious to what is lurking in store for them.

Spotted Ray Egg Case