River Plym Walks

A year of living with COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions has passed and what a year it has been. I have missed being able to travel further afield for my birdwatching trips but exploring local sites and enjoying their wildlife has been fascinating to say the least, there is so much to see so close to home and I am very lucky to live where I do. And one of the local sites I have visited more regularly than usual is the River Plym and Saltram Park, an amazing area with plenty of wildlife interest and only a 30 minute walk from my front door and yet somewhere I always used to overlook when planning a day out.

I have finally joined the modern age and have signed up to Birdtrack, a BTO app for recording bird sightings (and mammals and dragonflies) and this has inspired me to try and see 100 species of birds in 2021 around Saltram Park and the adjacent River Plym Estuary. And with this goal on mind I headed out for my usual walk on Wednesday 24th March with a few birds in mind to add to my year list.

It was cloudy when I left the house but it soon brightened up and became a very warm day indeed, too warm to be wearing my winter coat but at least I had remembered to bring a hat with me this time.

It was relatively quiet bird wise but I did manage to add Starling, Mute Swan, Sparrowhawk and Shag to my River Plym and Saltram 2021 list. Unfortunately there was no sign of the Crossbills found the previous day.

A pair of Mandarin, a female Goosander, a singing Chiffchaff, 26 Turnstone and 2 Rook were the only other birds of note with a Rabbit, a Brown Rat and 15 Roe Deer being the mammalian highlights. A flyby Small Tortoiseshell was also noted.

Mandarin Ducks

Thursday 25th March and I decided to head out to the River Plym again for a walk on another sunny but cooler day. A Black Redstart had been found the previous day and as expected there was no sign of it on todays visit but I did add Blackcap to my 2021 list with a male heard singing and later a male seen having a good old preen in a blossom laden Sloe Bush. 

3 Greenshank, a female Goosander, 8 Oystercatcher, 3 Curlew and a Common Sandpiper were seen along the River on the low tide with Canada Geese, a Grey Heron, 4 Little Egret, Common Gull, Redshank and a 1st summer Mediterranean Gull also noted. 

The woods and Park held the usual birds - Stock Dove, Ring-necked Parakeet, Skylark, Rook, Chiffchaff, Nuthatch, etc. - and it was good to see 2 Peacock, a Small Tortoiseshell and a Small White. Lots of Bees and flies were buzzing around in the warm sunshine too. 

HoverFly

BumbleBee

Back to work on Saturday 27th March but only a short shift (07:30 to 14:00) and after finally leaving at 14:30 I stopped off at Marsh Mills on the way home to have a quick look at the high tide roost on Blaxton Meadow. I only had my little travel binoculars with me but soon found 2 of the 3 Black-tailed Godwits reported from yesterday, a summer plumaged bird and a winter plumaged bird which were regularly disturbed by the usual mischevious Carrion Crows and squabbling Oystercatchers (7) and Shelducks (25) also present. A Greenshank, 5 Little Egret, a pair of Mandarin, Redshanks and 3 Stock Dove were also seen and a Chiffchaff was heard in the hour I was there before I headed home for a nice cup of tea.

March Doldrums

Mid-march is here and it's that weird time when winter birds depart and summer birds are yet to arrive and things are expectantly stagnant. 

Sunday 7th March and a morning walk around Plmouth Hoe before the crowds arrived was Purple Sandpiper-less but the female Long-tailed Duck was still present in The Cattewater, distant and active as usual.

Thursday 11th March and another Plymouth Hoe walk was Long-tailed Duck-less in choppy seas but the Purple Sandpiper showed well along with 6 Turnstones at Rusty Anchor.

Purple Sandpiper

Friday 12th March was showery and breezy but despite the low tide I headed out to Saltram and the River Plym for a walk. It was a very low tide but out on the water and mudflats of the Plym I found an unringed adult winter plumaged Mediterranean Gull amongst the Herring, Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls present along with a notable increase in Common and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. A Greenshank, a redhead Goosander, a Curlew and a few Redshank were also seen.

The female Red-crested Pochard was back on the duck pond along with 22 Mandarin Duck (12 males, 10 females) and assorted Feral Ducks and Moorhens.

Red-crested Pochard

Mandarin Duck

The usual birds were seen in Saltram Park  - Stock Dove, Goldcrest, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, Greenfinch, Nuthatch, Kestrel, Peregrine, Ring-necked Parakeet and Pheasant the best - but the highlight was a Reed Bunting found and pointed out to me by local birders Pete and Ian and only my second Plymouth sighting of one. 

It was good to see the pair of Stonechat again and showing very well by the main footpath heading down from the house to the beach. The female was absent during the very cold spell we had recently so it was good to see her back with the male, presuming it is indeed the same female. 

Stonechat - male

Stonechat - female

Sunday 14th March was Mothers Day and with it being a dry and mostly sunny day I decided to avoid the crowds and potter about the house doing chores with just a short trip out to Sainsburys to break the day up.  However on returning home from shopping I checked out the sightings pages to see a report of a Sandwich Tern in The Cattewater and so after quickly eating my lunch I headed down to Duttons Cafe on The Hoe for a look. Needless to say there was no sign of it but the female Long-tailed Duck was still present, distant and mobile and rarely at the surface for very long as usual.

Spring is beginning to arrive! 

River Plym Walk

Wednesday February 6th and I decided to stay local and take a walk along the River Plym, firstly a return walk from Marsh Mills to Plym Bridge and then a return walk from Marsh Mills to Saltram Park.

It was mild and sunny after the recent cold snap and with all the snow/sleet/rain we have had the footpaths especially from Marsh Mills to Plym Bridge were a complete mudfest but it was a very enjoyable walk.

I checked the river from the bridge as I alighted off the bus at Marsh Mills and was pleased to find a dipper busily feeding along the river bank - this one had no leg rings so a different bird to the one I saw here last year. Heading upriver along the footpath I also found a smart common sandpiper feeding and a grey wagtail busily preening in the sunshine.

Common Sandpiper

The trees held siskins, coal tits, blue tits, nuthatch, great tits, long tailed tits and goldfinch but I failed to find any marsh tits while along the river I had brief views of 1 or possibly 2 kingfishers but better views of 6 male and a female mallard and 5 male and 6 female mandarin ducks.

Mandarin Ducks

Mandarin Ducks

Back to Marsh Mills and the walk downriver to Saltram was a little less muddy and on the low tide out on the estuary were 3 greenshank, redshank, curlew, around 60 dunlin, 2 adult winter plumaged Mediterranean gulls amongst the common, black headed, herring, lesser black backed and great black backed gulls. 3 male and 5 female goosander, a pair of red breasted mergansers and 3 male and 4 female wigeon.

The wigeon were sleeping by the waters edge and had probably been disturbed from Blaxton Meadow by a birder out on the wall path despite the No Entry signs and barriers in place but after he left they were back feeding on the Meadow. Viewing the top end of the estuary is now difficult and I hope that a better viewing area can be provided in the future but it is no excuse to go out on the wall and disturb the birds especially as they are now using the Meadow more and more.

 Blaxton Meadow

Saltram Park was full of birds too with both green and great spotted woodpeckers and stock doves heard and 2 mistle thrush, 3 skylark, Canada geese, rook, a jay and 3 ring necked parakeets (1 blue) all seen. I tried to look for snipe and Jack snipe in the usual place but it was extremely wet and boggy and without my wellington boots there was no way I could access the area.

Snowdrops and violets were in flower and new signage by The National Trust hints at the possibility of pearl bordered fritillaries maybe being found here in the future.

Snowdrops

Snowdrops

New National Trust Signage

Pearl-bordered Fritillary Close-up

I walked back to Marsh Mills to buy some lunch from Sainsburys and then caught the bus for the short ride home and it had been a very enjoyable if muddy walk - and I am always amazed at the wildlife that can be found just a short distance from my house.

More Local Birding - River Plym Walk and Lesser Scaup at Dozmary Pool

Saturday 25th February and my plan to catch the train to Hayle and Penzance for a days birding were changed yet again due to the weather - yesterday at Slapton it was dry and still and mild and sunny at times, today it was misty and breezey and cool and dull with rain forecast for the afternoon - and so I stayed local and caught the bus to Marsh Mills for a walk along the River Plym.

I started off by walking upriver from the Plympton road bridge at Marsh Mills, getting some nice views of 8 male and 5 female mandarin ducks with a mute swan and a pair of mallard right by the bridge. The mandarins were quite vocal and were displaying and jostling with each other and were also appreciative of bread being thrown into the water by 2 old ladies with a neurotic dog.

 Male Mandarin Duck

Mandarin Duck

Mandarin Duck

I had a search through the trees along the riverside for treecreepers but had no luck but I did find 3 mistle thrush, goldcrests and a few redwings eating ivy berries with some blackbirds along with the usual woodland birds. The river proved much more interesting with good views of a common sandpiper, a pair of grey wagtail, a kingfisher, a dipper and a pair of goosander.

 Common Sandpiper

 Common Sandpiper

Male Goosander

Heading back downriver and after walking under the A38 flyover I soon found a moorhen, a winter plumaged little grebe and a little egret and further downriver a pair of summer plumaged little grebes. Blaxton Meadow was empty due to the low tide but out on the estuary mudflats I found a male wigeon and 2 greenshanks with 6 adult common gulls and quite a few adult lesser black backed gulls amongst the roosting gull flock but I couldn't find any white wingers.

A look around the woods in Saltram Park again failed to provide any treecreeper sightings and I only found goldcrests and no firecrests before I headed back to Blaxton Meadow for a look as the tide (and birds) came in. It was nice to see the wintering flock of 100+ dunlin arrive to roost with redshanks, curlews and 3 greenshanks and the male wigeon also appeared with shelducks along with gulls and a little egret. 2 stock doves flew over and I found a male red breasted merganser on the river (my first of the winter on the Plym) before the weather started to deteriorate and I headed home, arriving just as the forecast rain began to fall.

 Wood Anenome

Snowdrops

Monday 27th February and the last day of my leave and again a grotty day of weather - windy, sunny spells, hail, rain and cold temperatures - and so we had a drive to Dozmary Pool on Bodmin Moor where I immediately picked out the wintering male lesser scaup with tufted ducks, 4 female pochard, a male and 2 female goldeneye, teal and 4 little grebe. The views of the lesser scaup weren't bad, the best I have had here at the Pool, but it spent little time at the surface as it continually dived and gradually moved further away along the shoreline and into the occassional bright spells of sunshine. I didn't stay long as it was bitterly cold in the wind, especially when the sun disappeared behind yet more rain clouds, and we drove back home via a quick look at Siblyback Reservoir which was looking much fuller now than back in September, Tamar View Garden Centre for lunch and another mugging at the tills in Waitrose.

 Male Lesser Scaup (left)

Lesser Scaup

 Lesser Scaup (left)

 Lesser Scaup (left) with Tufted Duck

Lesser Scaup (front left)

And so not a bad end to my week off work despite the less than ideal weather at times - desert wheatear, white fronted goose, lesser- and greater scaup, black necked grebe, water pipit, harbour porpoise, roe deer, grey seal and a humpback whale all within 50 miles of my home - not bad at all.

Dartmoor Day 2016 and Deja vu at Bude

Monday May 23rd and the last day of my holiday and it was off to Dartmoor for the day with Mavis - no Mike again as he is still having health issues and with Mavis having some mobility issues too we had a slightly different day than usual.

A juvenile lammergier (a first for the UK) had been found on Dartmoor while I was away on the Isle of Wight last week but was proving to be elusive and mobile. We kept our eyes open for it throughout the day but with no luck - it had decided to head down to Bodmin Moor in Cornwall! Never mind.

It was sunny but breezey and cool as seems to be the theme this spring but we had an excellent day despite this. We started off at Yarner Wood with 3 male and a female mandarin duck showing well from the hide feeding on seeds on the ground dropped from the bird feeders - the female was quite aggressive and regularly chased off the males. Watching the feeders and marsh tit, blue tit, great tit and coal tit were seen along with great spotted woodpecker, nuthatch, siskin and chaffinch.

Male Mandarin Duck

We walked up the footpath into the woods and Mavis found a nice spotted flycatcher feeding in the canopy. A wood warbler was singing away nearby and we had some good views although it stayed up in the canopy and was constantly on the move. It had a silver ring above a yellow ring on its left leg and a green ring over an orange ring on its right. A pair of redstarts showed well with the male heard singing for brief periods and pied flycatchers were also heard with good views of both  male and females amongst the trees and around the nest boxes.

 Male Redstart

Pied Flycatcher

We walked up to the heathland, hearing noisey great spotted woodpeckers chicks in their nest in a dead tree by the footpath along the way and seeing the female come in with a beakful of food - while looking up at the nest hole a hobby flew over the trees, something we would have otherwise missed.

On the heatland we had nice views of a songflighting tree pipit, a male whitethroat, a "cha-cha-cha-ing" redpoll, stonechat and a green woodpecker.

A few butterflies were on the wing - green veined white, a very tatty peacock and male and female brimstones.

A very tatty Peacock Butterfly

We had lunch at a cafe in Widdecombe which was very nice before heading to Challacombe Farm. Mavis was struggling a bit with walking by this time so we had a gentle stroll around the farm, seeing a female redstart, a male reed bunting, a stock dove, a male kestrel and 2 spotted flycatchers along with the usual birds. 2 garden warblers were heard singing but didn't show themselves and swallows and house martins were flitting about over the stream.

Marsh Marigolds, Challacombe Farm

We had a chat with the lady who runs the farm and she had seen the wandering lammergier 3 times over the past week including a great view of it as it perched in pine trees opposite the farm house - we were not the slightest bit jealous!

Moving on to Warren House Inn in the car and whinchats and wheatears showed well along the roadside while an unseen cucko called regularly.

 Male Whinchat

Male Whinchat

At Warren House we heard another cuckoo and eventually found it in the top of a tree before it flew off, a distant view but a nice end to our day. No lammergier but a great day none the less.

Wednesday May 25th and it was off to Bude for the day for a bit of deja vu. Having put up the awning and sorting out the caravan a few weeks ago we had to do it all again - the stitching on the awning had come undone and so everything was packed away and the awning taken down (not by us) for it to be repaired. It was cool but sunny and did warm up as the day went on and eventually it was all sorted out (again).

A quick look at Maer Lake and 2 singing chiffchaffs, a male gadwall, 2 black tailed godwits and 2 shelducks mating were the highlights while at the caravan a songflighting whitethroat, a male bullfinch and 2 adult robins feeding a fledgling were seen.

A large white and a male orange tip were seen and there were 3 moths in the toilet block - a pale tussock and 2 white ermine - but with new LED lights being installed in the toilet blocks I guess I will be seeing less moths in them in the future.

Pale Tussock

White Ermine

Yellow Browed Warbler Hide and Seek, River Plym

A few hours free and a sunny day on the 23rd January and so I had another game of hide and seek with the yellow browed warbler near Blagdons Meadow by the River Plym which has been showing for a while now despite the rather frosty weather we are experiencing. The warbler hid, I seeked and  - I lost ! After 2 hours I gave up, having seen some very wary bullfinches in the bushes along with 2 ringed plovers, a common sandpiper and a very energetic little egret chasing after small fish in the nearby Creek.

The yellow browed warbler is frequenting a very difficult area to view, being right by a busy main road, a noisey cement works and a noisey boatyard and along a busy cycle/footpath, covered with some dense vegetation on hilly terrain and with no obvious vantage point to scan from. Being silent it is like looking for a needle in a haystack and it seems to be down to luck to see it.

January 24th and I had planned to travel down to Penzance to look for the reported Pacific diver but I felt too knackered and so headed off to Plymbridge Woods for a walk in the sunshine and crisp air. I got off the bus at Marsh Mills and walked to the Cann Quarry viaduct and back along the Riverside Caravan Park side of the River Plym. It was very muddy in places but I had a very pleasant walk although searching for treecreepers and goosanders drew a blank. Highlights were a flyover raven, at least 2 dippers along the River, 5 male and 4 female Mandarin ducks, a marsh tit feeding on seed at the bird feeding station at Cann Quarry and another seen in a mixed tit flock feeding in the trees, some showy nuthatches and a very smart looking male great spotted woodpecker feeding in a tree against a clear blue sky, looking stunning in the bright sunshine.

 Pair of Mandarin Ducks

 Dipper

 Dipping Dipper

Fungus sp. on Rotten Wood



Heading back home and I decided to have another hide and seek session with the yellow browed warbler, my third game with it and another game I lost - no sight or sound of it in the hour I searched for it. I did see a greenshank on the River at a very low tide and it was interesting to see a mass of smashed cockle shells along the footpath having been dropped on the hard concrete by carrion crows to smash them open.

 Cockle Graveyard, Blagdons Meadow

Smashed Cockles at Blagdons Meadow by the River Plym



I'm bored of playing hide and seek now - but maybe I'll give it one more chance?