As the usual Christmas hyper-frenzy whips itself up into a spumey froth COVID continues to rear its ugly head with the new Omicron variant rampaging through the populace at a frightening pace and threatening a Christmas lock down again. At least I have my wildlife as a soothing antedote to all the current nonsense.
Despite the grey skies we had a quick walk around Plymouth Hoe on Tuesday 14th December to look for Purple Sandpiper and very luckily we found 2 feeding on the rocks below the Pier One Cafe along with 3 Turnstones.
Purple Sandpiper, Plymouth Hoe
Purple Sandpiper
Thursday 16th December and I took a walk around Saltram and along the River Plym. It felt quite mild but I was still surprised to see a Red Admiral flying around. Less surprising was a male Winter Moth on the wall of the underpass at Marsh Mills.
Winter Moth - my first moth of 2021 and probably my last of 2021
I had a gentle saunter around and spent a bit of time looking for the reported Water Rail at the Wet Wood but without any luck. However the male Teal was still present on the duck pond with the Moorhens, Mallards and Mandarins and had now been joined by the wandering female Red-crested Pochard.
Red-crested Pochard, Saltram
Male Teal, Saltram
Male Chaffinch with Fringilla papillomavirus on its feet
Chaffinch with Fringilla papillomavirus
Out on the Estuary a male and 4 female Goosander and 9 Wigeon were seen along with a Common Sandpiper, 3 Little Egret and 3 Grey Heron.
With the tide heading in Blaxton Meadow was full of roosting birds and amongst the Dunlin, Redshank, Shelduck and Gulls were a Greenshank, a Black-tailed Godwit and a single adult Common Gull.
That evening we headed out to the Plymouth Christmas Market for a look at the lights and decorations and very Christmassy it felt too, the first time I have felt festive this year although it may have been down to imbibing a little Christmas spirit.
Christmas Drinkies in The Bread and Roses sat next to this beast of a tree!
The plan had been to head off the next morning to Exmouth with Mavis for our usual Stuart Lines bird cruise on the River Exe but with COVID issues growing fast Mavis felt uncomfortable about going so unfortunately we decided to cancel. This resulted in me imbibing a little too much Christmas spirit the night before and so I had a bit of a thick head the next morning for my early start to catch the train to Torbay for a day's birding.
My Birding Mojo is still flat but with the very real potential of another lock down coming I wanted to make the most of the current freedom and dragged myself out of bed, hangover headache or not. I arrived at Paignton at around 9:00 and decided to walk along the coast towards Broadsands and save myself the £5 bus fare and also to get rid of some of my Pre-Christmas blubber. The conditions weren't great as I had feared but also as I had expected, the recent calm weather and occasional sunny spells had gone and it was grey, dank and dull with a brisk Easterly breeze and swelly and choppy seas.
I stopped off first at Saltern Cove and set up my scope from the beach and immediately picked up a probable Pomarine Skua distantly offshore hassling Kittiwakes but it quickly settled on the sea and was never seen again. I also found a smart Black-throated Diver closer in as it appeared and disappeared in the swell but it dived and then also wasn't refound.
I carried on along the coast path towards Broadsands but stopped off at a bench on the cliff top before reaching there for a better scan about although it was quite exposed and quite chilly in the breeze. Gannets, Kittiwakes, Shag, Fulmar, Razorbill and Guillemots were all seen along with very brief views of 3 Great Northern Divers and more prolonged views of a Red-throated Diver. A flyover Peregrine, Sparrowhawk and Raven along with 2 Brent Geese flying west added some variety and interest.
Torbay not looking at its best from my clifftop bench - Brixham is in the distance
I headed back to Goodrington where offshore a Black-throated Diver and a dark looking Great Crested Grebe were seen and a look at the boating lake revealed 6 male and 3 female Tufted Duck and a Coot amongst the Mallards and Gulls.
Tufted Duck, Goodrington Boating Lake
Male Mallard with Angel Wing
I picked out a very white headed juvenile Gull, a 2nd winter Yellow-legged Gull, resting on the side of the lake amongst the assorted Gulls present and noticed it had a yellow ring on its right leg with black letters just as it decided to drop down onto the water before I could read it properly. It sat around on the water for a while before flying off out to sea and I never did get a proper read on its ring.
Yellow-legged Gull hiding its right leg ring (Yellow with black letters)
Yellow-legged Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
I carried on to nearby Clennon Lakes to play hide and seek with a Yellow-Browed Warbler but the Warbler won and I failed to see it although I think I did hear it calling a few times. I did however see up to 4 Chiffchaff, a Firecrest, Goldcrests, a male Bullfinch, a male Gadwall, a Little Grebe and a Little Egret and I heard a Water Rail squealing and a Great Spotted Woodpecker chipping away before I gave up and headed home.
Male Gadwall, Clennon Lakes
My train to Plymouth from Newton Abbot was cancelled and so I sat on the platform for an hour waiting for the next one, not the best end to a so-so birding day but in keeping with my general mood at the moment.
Saturday 18th December and back to work with another busy shift as it always is these days but it was brightened up by a female type Black Redstart flitting about the rooftops as viewed from the staff room window when I grabbed myself a quick cup of tea.
After working two very busy long days over the weekend and with a night shift then looming large on Monday 20th December I had planned for a quiet day but with news of a male Pochard on the River Plym I headed out to Marsh Mills for a quick look. Needless to say I didn't see it but it was good to be out for a bit of exercise despite the cold and grey conditions.
I did see a few good birds though on my hour and a half visit with the highlights being a Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Common Sandpiper, 8 Goosander (4 males), 8 Little Grebe, a Kingfisher, a Jay and a Greenshank.
A Kingfisher in the gloom, River Plym
I was very knackered after a busy night shift with no break following on from my 2 busy day shifts but I headed out for a repeat walk along the River Plym and around Saltram Park on Wednesday December 22nd. It was another cold and grey day but I did briefly see something rare - the sun! - and it was good to get out for some fresh air and exercise despite feeling so tired.
Little Egret - with reflection!
The usual birds were seen again - the Red-crested Pochard on the duck pond ( but no sign of the male Teal), 4 noisey Ring-necked Parakeets, a Greenshank, a Black-tailed Godwit, just 2 Common Sandpipers, a Kingfisher, a Grey Wagtail, 4 Little Grebe and a male and 2 female Goosander.
Red-crested Pochard
Mandarin Ducks on the River Plym including the male with the unusual head pattern
A Peregrine was seen flying over and spooking all the Gulls out on the estuary including 3 adult Common Gull. Also seen were 3 male Red-breasted Mergansers, 2 Goldcrest, at least 8 Redwing and 27 Wigeon (10 males). Unfortunately a stake out of the Wet Wood didn't provide a sighting of the Water Rail again.
It's unlikely I'll get any more birding in between now and New Year what with Christmas and work and stuff but I've enjoyed all the wildlife distractions on the lead up to the "Big Day" itself. And I'm getting excited to see what next year will bring on the wildlife front.
