Pre-Lock-Down Dipping

My year list currently stands at 199, quite an achievement for me in any year but a surprise this year considering the COVID-19 restrictions that have been in place for some of it.

Wednesday 4th November was a glorious day with clear blue skies, no breeze, sunshine and an early morning frost and I wanted to have a good day out as we start another 4 week lock down tomorrow. And I also wanted to try and reach the magic 200 for my year list before the lock down starts. 

I decided to visit the River Exe, starting at Exmouth to look for an American Wigeon amongst the Eurasian Wigeon flock. The tide was just starting to ebb and out on the water and close to the path was a mass of birds - Wigeon, Brent Geese, Pintail, Mallard, Shelduck, Teal and Mute Swan - but try as I might I couldn't find the American Wigeon amongst them. As the tide receded the birds began moving out to the mudflats and flying upriver to feed and eventually it was time to call it a day and head on to Dawlish Warren.

Brent Geese and Wigeon, Exmouth

It was much quieter at Dawlish Warren on arriving there than it had been on my last visit during Half Term Holiday Hell and with the tide low I concentrated my efforts in the bushes and woodland to look for a reported Yellow-browed Warbler. Needless to say I didn't see or hear it but it was pleasant wandering around in the warm sunshine.

6 Swallow flying east were a surprise while at least 4 Chiffchaff feeding in the bushes were not so much. A pair of Shoveler, a Little Grebe, Moorhen and a feral male Mallard with a female were on the Main Pond and a Water Rail was heard squealing with another bird seen briefly dashing across a gap in the reeds, my first Water Rail sighting of the year after hearing them just about everywhere this year.

Male Shoveler, Dawlish Warren

A Goldcrest, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, Coal, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits, Stonechat and Goldfinch were also seen with flyover Shelduck, Cormorant, Meadow Pipit and a few Woodpigeon.

A nice day out despite the double dip and a year list still on 199 before a 4 week lock down in November but there's still time yet - just got to get through the next couple of weeks as life goes back to eat, sleep, work, limited birding and repeat, such fun.

Wet and Windy Dipping Week Off Work

With a week of annual leave I had plans for some birding trips but the weather pretty much put paid to this with rain and very strong winds courtesy of Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis.

Monday 10th February saw us heading down to Padstow in Cornwall for an overnight stay with the plan being to firstly have a walk along the coast at nearby Trevose Head. However it was incredibly windy with squally hail and rain showers following Storm Ciaras arrival the day before and while David stayed in the car I braved the elements. I managed 30 minutes before giving up and returning to the car, struggling to stay upright on the muddy paths and in the strong winds and getting soaked in the process. I did see a lone gannet offshore struggling in the gales and a few rooks and skylarks in the fields but frustratingly I did see a bunting species fly up from a stubble field with a few skylarks before it disappeared from sight like a bullet from a gun as it shot across the headland in the wind. It gave a difficult to hear twittering call as it flew up from the stubble but with snow and Lapland buntings being seen here recently and being unfamiliar with either of their calls I wasn't sure what it was - probably a Lapland bunting but I didn't get any plumage details on it either, very frustrating indeed.

A Bonapartes Gull had been found at Padstow on Sunday 9th February and so I kept a look out for it during our stay there but without any luck. I did see a noticeably smaller gull than nearby black-headed gulls feeding out on the Doom Bar as the tide receded on Tuesday 11th February but it was too far away to get much on it other than its smaller size and I think it was probably just a runty black-headed gull rather than the Bonapartes gull.

It was onwards to Bude for the day on Tuesday 11th February before returning to Plymouth but the weather was still wet and windy and so I gave Maer Lake and Lower Tamar Lake a miss but I did hear 2 male blackcaps quietly singing in cover in a sheltered area at a garden centre in Wadebridge along the way.

Wednesday 12th February was dry and calm with rain forecast for later in the afternoon and so I headed off to Wacker Quay on the River Lynher near Torpoint for a look around and the hope of seeing spoonbill and spotted redshank being reported here this winter. On arriving the tide was just starting to ebb out but as expected there was no sign of either spoonbill or spotted redshank. I did see 2 great northern divers downriver near the naval school along with quite a few great crested grebes plus the usual teal, wigeon, shelduck and mallard.  Also 2 greenshank were roosting together with redshank, curlew and lapwing and a flock of 12 knot and 6 grey plover flew in to feed on the exposed mudflats.

I returned to Torpoint to have a look off Marine Drive and immediately picked up a flick of 7 pale bellied brent geese feeding out on the mudflats with around 200 dunlin, 3 turnstone, oystercatcher, redshank and curlew.

Pale-bellied Brent Geese, Marine Drive, Torpoint

Pale-bellied Brent Geese

Pale-bellied Brent Geese with Common Gull and Mediterranean Gull

Great crested grebes were diving for fish along with a little grebe and a pair of red breasted mergansers and 2 immature male and a female eider were a surprise sighting too. 2 adult Mediterranean gulls were roosting out on the mud amongst the common gulls but with the rain beginning to arrive it was time to head back home.

Thursday 13th February was very windy but dry and we headed off to Exeter for the day before an overnight stay at Exeter Airport. The airport hotel was originally booked before our early morning flight to Edinburgh last November but was not needed when Flybe cancelled the flight and rebooked us on the afternoon flight instead. The hotel was non-refundable but we were able to change the date hence our journey there for the night.

Friday 14th February was calm and dry and after our stay at the airport we travelled onwards to Topsham for me to have some birdwatching time and for David to look around the antiques shops. The tide was ebbing out when I arrived at the hide at Bowling Green Marsh and with the long-billed dowitcher having been reported there that morning I was hopeful of catching up with it at last. However there was no sign of it yet again but I did see 2 greenshank, 2 greylag geese, a male and female tufted duck, a little grebe and 3 male and 2 female pochard amongst the usual waders and wildfowl.

Shoveler and Wigeon, Bowling Green Marsh

Wigeon, Shoveler and Moorhen, Bowling Green Marsh

Stock dove, buzzard, redwing, great spotted woodpecker and a pair of stonechat were also noted before we had a walk over to nearby Darts Farm for lunch where I saw a few more redwings with some fieldfares from the bird hide. Time was marching on and it was soon time to head back home to Plymouth on the train as the gales and rain arrived yet again on what has been mostly a wet, windy and dippy week of birding.

Burrator and a River Exe Boat Trip

Tuesday 21st January and we finally got to have our New Years walk around Burrator Reservoir on what was a sunny, calm and frosty morning. Considering the good weather it wasn't too busy and I managed to see some good birds on our walk

The reservoir was full with a trickle of water flowing over the dam and out on the water were a cormorant, 2 Canada geese, a white farmyard goose, mallards, 4 black-headed gulls and 3 male, 2 female mandarin ducks.

Mandarins, Burrator Reservoir

The woods held more interest with a marsh tit and a treecreeper seen along with the usual goldcrest, coal tit, nuthatch, great tit, blue tit, wren, siskin, robin and chaffinch. The highlights though were a brambling feeding on pine cone seeds high up in the trees amongst the chaffinches before it flew off out of sight and 2 singing crossbills unfortunately heard only as they sang out of sight in the tree tops. I did however get a brief flight view of a male crossbill as it flew over calling and I also heard another bird fly over but couldn't locate it.

Brambling (Honest!), Burrator

Wednesday 22nd January and it was time again to head up to Exmouth with Mavis for our annual River Exe cruise with Stuart Lines. The clear skies and sunshine from the day before had been replaced with dull and grey mist and a bit of drizzle, not ideal at all, but the boat trip was as good as ever and the mist did eventually clear a little allowing some good views of the birds in eerie and atmospheric conditions.

Waders were well represented with avocet, black-tailed godwit, knot, dunlin, oystercatcher, curlew, redshank, sanderling, snipe, greenshank, bar-tailed godwit, grey plover, lapwing, golden plover, turnstone and ringed plover all seen. Herbert the Slavonian grebe was in the usual place with a little grebe for company and great crested grebes were seen all along the river including a loose group of 12 birds. Wigeon, pintail, mallard, shelduck, teal and red-breasted merganser were also on show and a pair of black swans at Topsham Quay were very exotic looking on a murky and cold day in Devon.

 Avocets in the Mist, River Exe

 Shelduck, River Exe

 Sanderling, River Exe

Black-tailed Godwits and Black-headed Gulls, River Exe

After the boat trip we had out usual stop off at Bowling Green Marsh on the drive back to Plymouth and it still had large patches of the open water covered in ice. However out on the Marsh we found pintail, coot, wigeon, teal, mallard, shoveler and moorhen along with 2 male, 2 female pochard and a male scaup, my first sighting of one on the Marsh. A few curlew, a snipe and a few redshank were seen along with Canada geese and greylag geese while brent geese flew over between Darts Farm and the estuary in noisy flocks. A quick look off the River Clyst viewing platform on the incoming tide and we found 3 greenshank and a lone snipe looking a bit out of place on the mudflats amongst the usual waders.

 Shoveler, Bowling Green Marsh

Pintail, Bowling Green Marsh

There was no sign of the long-billed dowitcher on the marsh or on the estuary but a nice surprise was a female type marsh harrier which flew in to the marsh as the light began to fade and after circling over the reedbeds for a few minutes it disappeared into the reeds to presumably roost for the night.

Stock dove, chiffchaff, mistle thrush and long-tailed tit were all seen along the lane as well and as we began the drive home after a great day out we had seen 60 species of birds, not bad at all.

An Early House Martin

Wednesday 27th February and the continuing unseasonal warm and sunny weather saw us head off for a walk at Lopwell Dam near Plymouth. We stopped off first at the allotment at Pennycomequick to pick some parsnips for tea and while digging them up a small tortoiseshell flew past, my first butterfly of the year. On arrival at the car park at Lopwell Dam a brimstone also flew over and on the walk I saw a few more dark butterflies whizz past but they were too quick and/or distant to confidentally ID.

The tide was beginning to recede and along the estuary 5 little grebes and a great crested grebe were seen along with curlew, redshank, shelduck, around 100 dunlin in a tight flock, little egrets, 2 common sandpipers and Canada geese.

A stock dove was cooing in the woodland while overhead at least 5 ravens were displaying and cronking with at least 5 displaying and mewing buzzards and while enjoying tea and cake on the terrace at the cafe by the dam a great spotted woodpecker was heard drumming and a grey wagtail fed along the waters edge with a pied wagtail.

There were plenty of pheasants in the fields and while driving along the road down towards the dam a single red legged partridge ran across the road. On the return journey 2 red legged partridge were seen feeding together along the verge but all are unfortunately targets for shooting parties held in the area.

Saturday 2nd March and it was time for my annual River Exe boat trip with Mavis, cancelled from last month due to the snow and ice and rescheduled for today. It was mild and sunny on arriving in Exmouth but with wind and rain forecasted for later in the day and after enjoying breakfast at The Dockers cafe we set sail along the estuary.

The usual birds were seen - curlew, redshank, dunlin, sanderling, black-tailed godwit, turnstone, bar-tailed godwit, oystercatcher, golden plover, avocet, grey plover and greenshank representing the waders and wigeon, pintail, mallard, shelduck, red-breasted merganser and teal representing the ducks with 3 immature male eiders also seen resting on the sandbanks. Herbert the Slavonian grebe showed very well in winter plumage off Cockwood and a few great crested grebes were seen along the river. Common, lesser and great black backed, herring and black headed gulls, little egrets, brent geese, cormorants and shags were also noted.

 Cormorant with Eiders, River Exe

Avocets, River Exe

 Brent Geese, River Exe

Brent Geese, River Exe

After the cruise we drove to Darts Farm at Topsham for a walk around Goosemoor to Bowling Green Marsh in increasingly cloudy skies. From the hide at Bowling Green there were plenty of ducks out on the very wet marsh where water levels were still very high - tufted duck, shoveler, teal, wigeon, pintail, shelduck, wigeon and mallard were all seen along with snipe, coot, moorhen and 3 greylag geese while redshank, curlew, black-tailed godwit, a lapwing, a knot, an avocet, dunlin and a greenshank were all seen in the high tide roost.

Shovelers, Bowling Green Marsh

Curlew, Goosemoor

With the recent warm weather summer migrants have been trickling in and I managed to pick up 2 sand martins hawking insects over the tree tops at the back of the marsh, distant views but great to see and I think my earliest ever. A third bird joined them but looked different and as it twisted and turned over the trees it showed a nice white rump and black upper parts, a house martin no less and definently my earliest ever in the UK, an unexpected but nice surprise. We watched them for a while although they remained distant and mobile before they headed towards the hide and then off towards the river never to be seen again - a nice end to a good day and just before the forecasted rain arrived.

Another Red Necked Grebe

Easter Monday April 2nd was as expected for an early Easter cold and grey with spots of rain but I managed to drag myself off the sofa and headed off for a quick walk along the River Plym from Marsh Mills to Blaxton Meadow and back.

The tide was dropping but Blaxton Meadow was totally flooded so all the birds were out on the estuary mudflats and included 5 greenshank, a common sandpiper, 7 common gulls amongst the bathing and roosting herring, black headed, great black backs and lesser black backs and 6 goosanders busily diving for fish (a pair together and 4 redheads further upriver).

 Goosanders, River Plym

Little Egret

A stock dove perched in the trees, 2 singing chiffchaffs and a songflighting greenfinch were also seen but the highlight was my first willow warbler of the year busily feeding in the trees under the A38 flyover.

 Stock Dove

 Wood Anenome

Primrose

Early (Danish) Scurvy Grass

Thursday April 5th was in contrast a bright and sunny day and I considered heading out to Wembury again but the thought of the muddy footpath and Easter holiday crowds made me change plans and head off to Dawlish Warren on the train instead. The trains were delayed and cram packed but after negotiating the tourist village at Dawlish Warren and walking on into the nature reserve it became all worthwhile as the crowds melted away and wildlife appeared.

A peacock butterfly was feeding on catkin flowers and later 2 were seen duelling together as they spiralled upwards with a brief flyby comma also noted.

Peacock, Dawlish Warren

The sand crocus were in flower, initially I found 3 in flower but later on my return I counted at least 50 flowers opened up in the sunshine.

 Sand Crocus

Sand Crocus

A great spotted woodpecker and a female bullfinch were seen in the woods and 2 singing chiffchaffs were heard (with 1 seen) around the main pond. A pair of shoveler were on the full and overflowing pond along with 2 pairs of Canada geese having a goose down while a little grebe was heard trilling and a male reed bunting was seen singing in the nearby trees, my first of the year.

 Shoveler

 Shovelers

 Canada Geese

Reed Bunting

From the hide on the high tide the only waders roosting were oystercatchers while upriver distant Sandwich terns were diving for fish and 2 pairs of red breasted mergansers were fishing off Cockwood. Unfortunately I had missed a fishing osprey in front of the hide by around 30 minutes but never mind.

Offshore Sandwich terns showed a little closer with 9 great crested grebes and an immature male eider on the sea and a red throated diver flew in and did a circuit of the bay before flying back out to sea.

Heading home on the 14:23 train (packed but at least on time) I checked the Devon birds website to find a red necked grebe had been reported on the River Plym off Arnolds Point. I wasn't sure where Arnolds Point was but on arriving home I received a text from local birder Russ who was watching the grebe from Laira Bridge so I headed off straight away for a look. There was no sign of the grebe from the bridge when I arrived and I soon found Russ who had last seen the grebe moving off down river but after another scan around I found it just below Laira Bridge before it moved back under the bridge and upriver on the incoming tide - some nice views of my 4th grebe species on the Plym and my 5th for the Plymouth area.

 Red Necked Grebe, River Plym

 Red Necked Grebe

 Red Necked Grebe

Oiled Mute Swan , River Plym

Dawlish Warren, Saturday December 23rd 2017

With a wildlife feeding frenzy having occured off Dawlish Warren on Friday 22nd December while I was having a particularly shite day at work I decided I needed some recovery time and so headed out to have a look around the next day. I felt knackered and cranky and it was dark and murky and mizzly on leaving the house but the train journey went smoothly and by the time I arrived at The Warren it was clear and dry but cloudy.

I walked over to the sea wall for a scan to be met with a sea full of birds - great northern divers, razorbills, great crested grebes, red throated divers, shags, gannets and gulls everywhere! The birds were mobile and active, diving and flying around and resting on the sea and difficult to count but there must have been 300+ gannets and 90+ great crested grebes present and I counted 7 red throated divers together with more also being present.

Onwards to The Bight and along the way a male cirl bunting was singing in a tree and a pair of bullfinch were feeding in the bushes, the male looking particularly stunning in the bright sunshine which had burst out from behind the clouds and raised the temperature to a very spring like level.

Male Cirl Bunting

In The Bight the usual birds were roosting at high tide - redshank, curlew, oystercatcher, dunlin, turnstone, knot, grey plover, bar tailed godwit, wigeon, shelduck, brent goose, cormorant and gulls - while offshore at the estuary mouth were 3 great northern divers busily diving and bringing crabs up to the surface to munch on.

Brent Geese on The Golf Course

Back towards the main pond and a birding group had found a firecrest in the bushes which gave some brief views before flying off out of sight and on the main pond a pair of mallard, a pair of shoveler, a little grebe and a moorhen were found along with a Jack snipe in the same spot I saw one back in March this year, presumably the same returning bird and still extremely difficult to find amongst the reeds and easily overlooked.

Male Shoveler

 Dawlish Warren - Main Pond

 Jack Snipe in the Reeds

Jack Snipe - Zoomed In

Back to the sea wall and the birds had moved further out offshore but there was still plenty of birds to see including guillemots and a distant dark skua species which barrelled into a group of feeding gannets and which I annoyingly lost sight of as I switched from binoculars to telescope (both Arctic and pomarine were reported that morning). Common dolphins were also seen, a little distant but showing well at the surface as they slowly moved south, and I also had 2 brief views of a harbour porpoise.

Onwards to Dawlish along the coast path and while waiting for the train I scanned the sea from the railway platform and had some close and good views of both great northern- and red throated divers along with a few kittiwakes. More common dolphins were also seen, some quite close to the beach and all swimming around quite languidly.

The train journey home wasn't so great with delays and cancelled trains and I ended up waiting at Newton Abbot station for an hour and a half, if I had known I would have stayed longer at Dawlish but never mind, it had still been a lovely day out.

Another Yellow Legged Gull at Dawlish, 13th December 2017

After Sundays aborted attempt I decided to head out to Dawlish Warren again on the train for a look around - and what a difference! All my trains ran on time, there were hardly any passengers on them and it still only cost me £7.60 return as I caught the 09:48 train, the first train out of Plymouth after 9am. The weather forecast wasn't great - cold, very breezy and showery - but I headed out anyway for a short walk and despite the odd heavy shower it wasn't too bad.

I alighted at Dawlish and after a quick look at the stream heading down to the beach where I saw a grey wagtail and a pair of black swans with 3 fluffy cygnets I walked off along the coast path to Dawlish Warren. Scanning the sea along the way I managed to find 3 male common scoter diving quite close in to the beach with at least 12 great crested grebes across the Bay and numerous gannets moving around further offshore.

Black Swan with Cygnets, Dawlish

From the lifeguard hut on the seawall at The Warren I managed to find a red throated diver offshore, a bird I hoped to see after my very brief view of one at The Warren back in October. It was a little distant and after a few minutes it dived and despite searching I couldn't refind it. At least 8 great crested grebes were also present but they were flighty and mobile at times, and gannets were still moving around offshore with a few quite close in.

I headed off along the dune ridge towards the hide but got caught in a heavy and blustery shower and so I remained on the ridge in the shelter of the dunes and viewed The Bight from there where brent geese, curlew, redshank, dunlin, a ringed plover, 2 knot, grey plover, oystercatcher, turnstone, shelduck, wigeon, a pair of mallard and a flyover greenshank were seen.

Rainbow over Dawlish Warren Golf Course

Heading back to the Main Pond and a female stonechat was feeding from the bramble tops despite the wind and on the pond a nice male shoveler with 3 females and a little grebe were noted.

Shoveler

I had another quick look offshore from the lifeguard hut but I failed to refind the red throated diver again, however a nice purple sandpiper flying by was a nice compensation.

Walking back to Dawlish along the coast path and I picked up a red throated diver flying in towards the beach before it landed on the sea and promptly dived due to the attentions of an over inquisitive passing gannet. I did manage to refind it at the surface but it didn't hang around for long before it flew back off towards Torbay. 2 guillemots and a common scoter were also picked up flying towards Torbay, an adult Mediterranean gull was feeding offshore with some herring gulls and I had a brief view of a distant great northern diver flapping its wings on the water before it dived and was lost from sight.

A dark backed gull roosting on the jetty amongst herring gulls caught my eye as I arrived at Dawlish, it stood out amongst the other gulls and I managed a few record shots before the flock was disturbed by walkers. My initial thought was an argentatus type herring gull but its head was very white looking in the strong sunshine and I thought there was a hint of red orbital rings despite the distant views - yet another yellow legged gull to add to the years sightings!

 Yellow Legged Gull , Dawlish

Yellow Legged Gull, Dawlish

Yellow Legged Gull, Dawlish

While eating my chips for lunch from the railway platform at Dawlish I noticed a group of gannets were circling around quite close to shore and searching underneath them revealed a pod of at least 5 harbour porpoise - they were very close to the beach and moved even closer, at one point showing just off the jetty before they moved away, but a nice end to my short day out.