White Billed Diver in Brixham, Devon - Part 2

January 4th was my first free day of 2014 to go out birding and with a break in the heavy rain and gales we are currently experiencing I decided to head off to Brixham again as the white billed diver is still showing very well.

 I caught the train and bus this time and took my telescope with me and spent around 5 very happy hours wandering around the harbour enjoying the great birds on view.

The white billed diver was a lot more distant and elusive than on my last visit, probably due to birders hiring out boats in the harbour and chasing after the birds and causing unnecessary disturbance. At one point it was spooked by a shag which surfaced very close to it, raising itself out of the water with wings open and paddling at the surface with its feet, either aggression or display.

 White billed Diver - more distant than on the 28th December

White Billed Diver



The great northern divers again showed very well, they seemed to be everywhere again and were very mobile on the water and in the air, estimates from other birders watching the area indicate up to 80 birds are present in the Bay area. 3 black throated divers were seen, a lone adult and the pale juvenile and adult associating together. A female/juvenile type long tailed duck flew along the Breakwater and across the Bay and a female eider was diving close to the beach near the Breakwater. Purple sandpipers were feeding on the seaweed covered rocks along the Breakwater or on the derelict pier building, being very confiding but also very mobile.

 Great Northern Diver

Great Northern Diver



A red necked grebe was seen right out in the Bay before moving closer to shore, passing the Harbour mouth as it headed towards Broadsands, and a second bird gave amazing close views in the Harbour and definitely a different bird with much more yellow on its bill.

 Red Necked Grebe - my first in Devon

 Red Necked Grebe

Red Necked Grebe



2 black guillemots were seen in the Harbour, one giving amazing close views as it dived amongst the yachts in the marina right by the harbour side path,  it could be seen underwater searching for food amongst the seaweed and rocks.

 Black Guillemot in The Marina

 Black Guillemot - check out those red legs

Black Guillemot at the Harbour Mouth



I had a look for a recently reported Iceland gull without any luck although it was reported that day but I did find a few adult Winter plumaged kittiwakes along with common gulls amongst the herring, black headed and great black backs.

Grey Seal from The Breakwater



And so it had been a great days birding with some good sightings including my 4th red necked grebe sighting ever and my first for Devon, a good start to the year.

White Billed Diver at Brixham, Devon

After my trip to Topsham and as 2013 drew to a close I did very little wildlife watching mainly due to the appalling weather but also due to work, Christmas stuff and a general lack of any wildlife sightings being reported - most probably a lack of reported sightings due to work, the appalling weather and Christmas stuff!

Highlights were:- a peregrine flying over Charles Cross church and spooking all the gulls and pigeons as I walked home from a Christmas shopping trip in Plymouth on the 19th; what I thought was a kingfisher calling on a very windy walk around Sutton Harbour on the 19th as I was watching 2 little grebes; a brief view of a kingfisher flying low over the water before disappearing from view amongst the yachts at Sutton Harbour on the 24th, my first sighting here; and a common sandpiper and a greenshank on a sunny but muddy walk along the River Plym on the 26th.

With some good counts of divers in Torbay recently a very lucky birder found a white billed diver at Brixham on Christmas Day and I managed to persuade David to drive me there on the 28th for a look. Within a few minutes of arriving at the Quayside I saw the bird along with quite a crowd of birders and it showed very well and very close in the sunshine and flat sea, a very beautiful bird indeed.

There were lots of turnstones around the harbour side, very tame as they scavenged scraps of food dropped by messy humans, and both myself and David chuckled as the mass of birders with their huge telescopes and huge camera lenses scurried around the harbour side too chasing the diver between dives despite it being only around 15 metres away! Some even had camouflaged coverings on the legs of their tripods (WTF!) and there was a palpable air of excitement and tension as they all desperately tried to get closer to the bird despite their huge optical equipment. I managed to get a few decent snaps on my little lumix point and press camera so why they had to chase after the bird I don't know.

 White Billed Diver - a Devon tick

White Billed Diver



Looking around the harbour and the Bay there were great northern divers everywhere with some giving great close up views and amongst them were at least 4 black throated divers including an adult and juvenile bird together, the juvenile being quite pale looking and very red throated diver looking on first impressions.

 Black Throated Diver

 Black Throated Divers

Black Throated Diver - a pale looking juvenile just about to dive



Razorbills, guillemots, purple sandpipers and shags were a supporting cast and a juvenile black guillemot gave some great views at the harbour mouth despite spending very little time at the waters surface.

 A very tame juvenile Shag

 Guillemot

Black Guillemot - a Devon tick



The following day (29th) and we had a quick walk around Burrator reservoir where I saw 2 male and 4 female goosander, around 10 teal, 3 male and 2 female Mandarin ducks (my first sightings here) and 16 Canada geese, but I failed to see the recently reported elusive female ring necked duck.

And so 2013 came to an end with my UK year list standing at 213 (or 211 if I disallow the brief flight view of the wryneck at Ford Park Cemetery and what may not have been 100% hooded crows in Scotland), easily surpassing my 200 species target for the year and the first time I have achieved this. It has taken quite a lot of effort and hard work to achieve this but it has been fun too.

And so on to 2014 and I am hoping that it will be as good a year as 2013 has been - I am hoping to concentrate on seeing new British birds for my British list and those scarce or uncommon birds that I have only seen in the UK on a few occasions before. Fingers crossed!