Balearic Shearwaters, more Yellow Wagtails and another Osprey

Tuesday 31st August was dull and grey and with Anglia Windows due to visit for some window repair work a quiet day at home was on the cards. However the repair visit was unfortunately cancelled at lunchtime and so we made the most of it and headed out to Saltram for a walk, parking in a layby along The Ride and walking to Blaxton Meadow and back.

Yellow Wagtails had been reported at Saltram over the previous few days and I was keen to catch up with them as not only are they one of my favourite birds but they would also become the 100th bird species I've seen this year for the Plym/Saltram and would complete the second of my 3 100 challenges for this year.

On my visit to Saltram last week I had noted cattle feeding in the grass field by the footpath near the "wet wood" and with a good showing of Yellow Wagtails occurring this autumn I thought it looked like a good spot for them. Despite a quick scan of the field I drew a blank but the grass was very long and Yellow Wagtails could have been silently lurking amongst it.

I assumed that the recent sightings had been from this field but when we arrived at the field the grass had been well and truly munched and the cows had gone! However I could see a few cows through the trees in a field near the children's playground and so we walked over there for a look. 

There were plenty of Swallows and House Martins hawking over the cows as they disturbed insects from the grass and eventually I managed to find a Yellow Wagtail poking its head out of the long grass with a second bird heard calling briefly nearby. The bird I could see then flew up into a small dead tree where it was joined by 3 others before they all dropped down into the long grass and out of sight, strangely remaining quiet the whole time. 

Yellow Wagtail

Also seen on our walk were the 2 juvenile Shelduck feeding together out on the estuary, 6 Little Egret, a Grey Heron and 6 Oystercatcher on Blaxton Meadow on the dropping tide, 21 Mandarin Duck and 7 Moorhen on the duck pond and a Sparrowhawk flying over Laira Bridge.

Curlew

Thursday 2nd September and I had hoped to visit Hayle or Exminster by train for some wader action but with the trains all messed up due to a damaged rail bridge in Plymouth my plans were kind of scuppered. It was dull and breezy and so I decided to visit Wembury for a walk instead and fortunately I took my telescope with me, a very good decision.

As it turned out there was a good bit of wader action along the beach at Wembury despite the constant disturbance by walkers and dogs and I had maximum counts of 24 Turnstone, 13 Ringed Plover, 12 Dunlin, 3 Sanderling, 2 Redshank and a Bar-tailed Godwit along with the usual Oystercatchers. 

Redshank

Mediterranean Gulls were also present along the beach with the Herring, Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls but with the disturbance I didnt count them although at least 3 juveniles were present including a bird moulting well into 1st winter plumage.

While scanning along the beach near the sewage pipe the Gulls suddenly all flew up into the air with very little noise and the waders all stopped feeding and looked skywards and eventually I found the cause, a very nice if distant Osprey circling over the mouth of the River Yealm before it drifted east along the coast towards Stoke Point, only my second sighting of one at Wembury.

I then spent some time scanning offshore with my telescope and found a distant Sandwich Tern along with quite a few Gannet including a small group diving together which on closer inspection were diving over a feeding pod of 6+ Harbour Porpoise which were moving swiftly west before being lost from sight.

A small flock of waders, presumably Dunlin, were picked up flying east low over the waves too but the highlight were 2 distant Balearic Shearwater flying east together, my first of the year.

Also seen were 2 Whitethroat, 4 Swallow, 4 Chiffchaff, 4 Wheatear, 5 Cirl Buntings, Stonechats, a noisey juvenile Bullfinch and the first 2 flyover Meadow Pipits of the autumn. A good count of 187 Canada Geese were also resting in the stubble field before noisely flying off east.

Wheatear

Wheatear

Wheatear

Canada Geese Flock

Common Lizards, 3 Long-winged Coneheads, good numbers of Small White and a few Large White, Red Admiral and Meadow Brown were also seen.

Long-winged Conehead

Large White

Smew and Shorelark Dipping in Suffolk

Sunday 17th March and with a week's annual leave from work we headed off on the train to Suffolk for a few days away visiting family. The journey to Ipswich was uneventful and along the way we saw the usual red kites between Westbury and Paddington (but only brief and/or distant views) along with brent geese and red-breasted mergansers on the River Exe, a few roe deer and a lone muntjac deer in fields and a fly over great spotted woodpecker.

Monday 18th March and I had hoped to visit Bawdsey on the Suffolk coast where 4 shorelarks have been overwintering but with Mum having a chiropody appointment booked for the Wednesday at nearby Woodbridge plans were made to visit Bawdsey then instead. And so after visiting friends at Yoxford I managed to wangle an hour at nearby RSPB Minsmere and with Mum and David enjoying refreshments at the cafe I had a quick look around from the North Hide, the closest hide to the visitors centre and a good spot to look for the male and 2 female smew overwintering on the reserve. As expected there was no sign of the smew but I did get a distant view of a male marsh harrier over the reedbeds while smart looking summer plumaged Mediterranean gulls flew around calling and displaying amongst the black headed gulls. Also seen were avocets, 2 dunlin, a curlew, black-tailed godwits, a snipe, lapwings, a pair of wigeon, teal, shoveler and a little egret amongst the usual birds.

 Minsmere Scrape from the North Hide

Sizewell B from Minsmere

Tuesday 19th March and we visited the National Trust owned Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk for the day. Driving there and back through the Suffolk and Norfolk countryside revealed plenty of pheasants,  woodpigeons, stock doves, rooks, buzzards and red-legged partridges but the wildlife highlight was a large pike seen in the moat of the Hall.

 Feral Pigeon, Oxburgh Hall

Pike, Oxburgh Hall

Wednesday 20th March and after visiting The Walled Garden where a brimstone butterfly flitted past in the sunshine we headed off to Bawdsey for me to have a look for the shorelarks. I was hopeful but had noted the previous night that there was an almost full moon in clear skies and a gentle westerly breeze and it felt like the right conditions for birds to migrate across the North Sea. And unfortunately there was no sign of the shorelarks along the beach (although they had been seen on both the Monday and Tuesday), presumably they had decided to up and leave as I had suspected.

I did manage to see a few good birds though - plenty of mobile and vocal reed buntings in the reeds and stubble fields, songflighting skylarks, chiffchaff and Cetti's warbler both heard, pochard, tufted duck, little grebe and gadwall on the freshwater pools and a smart male wheatear on the rocky shore. A seal also briefly popped its head out of the water close to shore but never reappeared.

We headed off to Woodbridge for Mums appointment and while waiting for Mum I had a short walk along the nearby River Deben where on the exposed mudflats I had some good views of redshanks, black-tailed godwits, teal, wigeon, curlew and oystercatchers while a water rail squealed in the reeds and a green woodpecker yaffled away in some nearby fields

 Redshank, River Deben

Black-tailed Godwit, River Deben

Thursday 21st March and it was time to head back to Plymouth on the train and along the journey I saw more red kites but again mostly brief and/or distant views and despite my 2 major dips it had been a very enjoyable trip away (and as a footnote the shorelarks were seen again on March 25th !! and the smew were seen on March 21st!!).