Birdy Returns (Briefly) and Green Sandpipers at Bowling Green Marsh

Thursday 26th July and while tidying up the back yard we were visited by Birdy who dropped in to have a preen, a drink of water from the bowl we had placed on the flat roof for the young birds and a snooze while also watching intently what we were doing and making lots of noise. He did get a feed from one of the adults who flew in and yakked up something very unappetising looking and it was nice to see Birdy again but he had disappeared by the evening and has yet to return again.

Friday 27th July and after all the hot and sunny and dry weather which has been good for butterflies I needed a bird fix and so I decided to fork out the cash (£20.80!) and head off to Topsham on the early train for the high tide roost at Bowling Green Marsh.

Grey skies and mizzle on the train ride to Topsham were a welcome surprise and at times there were some heavy showers during the course of the day which were actually very pleasent to be out in. On arriving at the hide at 08:45 hrs there were plenty of waders roosting on the marsh and amongst the curlews and black tailed godwits I picked out a redshank, a few lapwing, a bar-tailed godwit and a few whimbrel. The highlight though were 2 green sandpipers, surprisingly my first of the year, which gave some great views in front of the hide.

Black-tailed Godwit - Winter Plumage

 Black-tailed Godwit - Summer Plumage

Also seen were a winter plumaged adult Mediterranean gull and an adult lesser black backed gull amongst the herring and black headed gulls, 4 young tufted duck, a little grebe, 3 grey herons, a wigeon, a few teal and 4 stock doves.

As the tide dropped I headed over to the River Clyst viewing platform where redshanks, greenshanks and dunlins were seen with whimbrel, oystercatcher, curlew and black tailed godwits along with 2 shelduck and 5 fluffy chicks. I scanned around for the osprey which has been hanging around the Exe for a while but with no luck.

Onwards to Dawlish Warren for a quick look around and from the train on the journey there I saw Herbert the Slavonian grebe diving off Cockwood. At Dawlish Warren in the misty gloom offshore I picked out a few gannets and Sandwich terns while in Greenland Lake there were a few marsh helleborines in flower and six spot burnet moths feeding on thistle flowers.

 Marsh Helleborine

Marsh Helleborine

The weather worsened and so I headed home, seeing 4 common sandpipers together along the River Teign from the train and enjoying a complimentary ice lolly on arriving off the train in Plymouth which was very enjoyable despite the cool and wet weather.

Caspian Gull at Minsmere

Sunday 13th May and it was off on the long drive to Suffolk for a few days away visiting family and doing a bit of birding. The journey was uneventful with the usual road kill seen along the way - roe deer, fox, pheasent, badger, rabbit, hedgehog, woodpigeon, muntjac deer, etc. - but more pleasant fare were swifts overhead, brimstones fluttering along the verges, a red legged partridge in a field along the A303 and 3 red kites (1 over the M3 and 2 together over the M25).

Monday 14th May and we visited the National Trust house and gardens at Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge with Mum and cousin Claire who was celebrating her birthday. We visited Anglesey Abbey a few years ago on a winters day when we only saw a small part of the gardens and a few rooms in the house and so it was nice to revisit for a better look around.

The wildflower meadow in the house grounds was full of cowslips while the surrounding woods held a few holly blues, my first of the year. 2 muntjac deer were as surprised to see us as we were to see them as they ran across the footpath in front of us before disappearing into the trees giving a dog like bark as they went.

 Cowslip, Anglesey Abbey

 Holly Blue

Fungus Sp.

Tuesday 15th May and I managed to wangle a day at Minsmere, well 3 and a half hours anyway. David dropped me off at the reserves reception at 11:30, a little later than I had hoped for, and I was picked up at 3pm but I made the most of my short time and enjoyed some great birding.

I began my walk along the North Wall to the East Hide, seeing sand martins hawking overhead and hearing reed warblers chuntering in the reeds on the way. At the East Hide 2 green hairstreaks were flitting about in the trees by the path, looking stunning in the bright sunshine but chilly wind and creating quite a bit of interest from passers by.

Green Hairstreak, Minsmere

A cacophony of sound from the nesting black headed gulls on the scrape greeted me as I sat in the East hide scanning around. Waders present were a female ruff, avocets, black tailed godwits, a common sandpiper, redshanks, lapwings, a ringed plover and 3 dunlin with gadwall, shelduck and shoveler representing the ducks. Kittiwake, black headed gulls, Mediterranean gulls looking stonking in the sunshine with jet black heads, bright red bills and ghostly white bodies, lesser black backed gulls, greater black backed gulls and herring gulls were noted but there was no sign of the reported little gull. Common terns were flying around with 3 little terns also seen - a pair with the male busily catching fish to feed to the female resting nearby with both birds vigorously chasing off another passing bird.

The Scrape, Minsmere

Black Tailed Godwit

Avocet

Redshank

Gadwall

Common Tern

Common Tern

Common Tern

Little Tern

The highlight was a 1st summer Caspian gull which was flying around and resting on the islands, a striking bird but not as much as the 2 other birds I have seen in the past and with a smaller looking bill. It kept to itself and lesser black backed gulls nearby kept out of its way when it came near to them before I lost track of it amongst all the birds flying around.

Caspian Gull

Caspian Gull

Caspian Gull

Caspian Gull

Carrying on around the Scrape to the South and West hides added a flyover grey plover, a bar tailed godwit, 5 knot, 2 turnstone and 2 oystercatcher to the wader tally and mallard, a male teal and a male wigeon to the duck list along with greylag, Canada and barnacle geese and 4 Sandwich tern.

From the Island Mere hide 5 hobbies were dashing around catching insects and 2 singing sedge warblers showed very well from bushes amongst the reeds. Also seen were 2 pairs of marsh harrier flying over the reed bed, a good view of a flyby bittern before it landed in cover and a few brief flight views of pinging bearded tits over the reed tops before it was time to head back to the reception for my lift home.

Sedge warbler

I could have done with more time but it had been a very productive visit with a small copper, a calling cuckoo, sticklebacks, hairy dragonfly, large red damselfly and ant lion larva devouring hapless insects in their sand pit traps adding to the great sightings of the day.

Small Copper

Pheasent

Pheasent

Stilt Dip but a Gull Bonus

Tuesday May 1st and it was off to the River Exe for the day on the train, starting at Bowling Green Marsh at Topsham. I caught the 07:25 train from Plymouth, paying an eye-watering £20.80 for the privilege (it costs £9.70 after 9am!), and I arrived at the hide at Bowling Green Marsh at around 09:15 where local birder Dave Boult had found an adult summer plumaged Bonaparte's gull roosting amongst the black headed gulls right in front of the hide, presumably the regular wintering bird that has been around the Exe for a few years now. Quite a start to the day although viewing was difficult looking into the sun but I still had some nice views and got a few rubbish record shots too - smaller, black headed and darker grey upperparts than the nearby black headed gulls with a shorter, all dark bill and bubble gum pink legs but surprisingly easy to overlook and variable depending on the light and angle of view.

 Bonaparte's Gull with Black Headed Gull, Bowling Green Marsh

 Bonaparte's Gull

Bonaparte's Gull with Black Headed Gull

Also amongst the small group of roosting gulls were a 1st summer Mediterranean gull and 3+ 1st summer common gulls until 2 adult lesser black backed gulls flew in which proved too much for the Bonaparte's and it flew off towards the estuary never to be seen again.

Also seen were 4 ruff, 7 knot and 3 whimbrel amongst the black tailed godwits and redshanks along with 2 pairs of tufted duck and a few teal, shoveler and wigeon. A Cetti's warbler was heard calling along with singing chiffchaff and blackcap and a single sand martin flew overhead, surprisingly my first of the year.

 Black Tailed Godwit, Bowling Green Marsh

Black Tailed Godwit

I had planned to catch the ferry across the Exe from Topsham to Exminster Marsh but it isn't running yet (although it doesn't run on Tuesdays anyway, a fact I wasn't aware of) and so a quick dash to the train station ensued and I caught the train to Starcross and then the bus to The Swans Nest instead.

With a black winged stilt having been found on Exminster Marsh the previous day I was hopeful it might still be around but there was no sign of it today - black winged stilt is a bit of a bogey bird for me, I've seen plenty on my foreign travels but never in the UK and have dipped a few along the way including birds at Exminster Marsh back in 2012.

I did however see some good birds despite the clouding over skies, showers and strengthening winds with reed and sedge warblers being very vocal but very skulking along the walk. I did manage to get a few brief views of both species as they sang in cover or flitted between bushes but not the usual good views I normally get. A whitethroat and a chiffchaff were seen with blackcaps, chiffchaffs, Cetti's warbler and a lesser whitethroat also heard while over the marsh 2 swifts, a house martin, swallows and sand martins were hawking insects. Whimbrel, 2 oystercatcher, lapwing, a dunlin and a common sandpiper were also out on the marsh with little egrets, Canada geese, mute swans, mallards, coot, moorhen and teal but the best find was a female whinchat feeding from a barbed wire fence, distant views but nice to find at this time of year away from Dartmoor.

Nesting Mute Swan, Exminster Marsh

Onwards to Powderham Marsh where 2 barnacle geese, 2 greylag geese and a snow goose were amongst the Canada geese while 2 little ringed plovers were feeding out on the muddy scrapes although they were a little distant.

Orange tip and peacock were on the wing along with lots of St.Marks flies and a single large red damselfly and it was nice to see plenty of cuckoo flower dotted around, perfect food for orange tip larva.

 Orange Tip

St.Marks Flies making more St.Marks Flies

It was soon time to head back to Starcross on the bus to catch the train back to Plymouth but I had had a great day out despite yet another black winged stilt dip.