Lock Down 3 Birding

As expected we have now entered Lock Down 3, this time a proper lock down like we had back in March last year, and so it's back to local birding only. 

The weather has been pretty good of late too, dry and cold and frosty which has made a nice change but I haven't had a chance to get out and about due to work and life stuff.

Wednesday 6th January and we finally got to have our Christmas dinner day, roast pheasent and partridge with vegetables from the allotment, home made Christmas pudding with clotted cream and too much wine - it was bloody marvellous!

Thursday 7th January and it was off out for our usual post Christmas Dinner walk. We headed up to Burrator Reservoir on Dartmoor although we were not entirely sure that we would get there due to the lock down but we duly arrived without any issues along the way.

It was a beautiful day, cold and sunny and frosty with no breeze, and it wasn't too busy either. We had a lovely walk around the reservoir with a patrolling police car adding an air of lock down menace and the birding highlights were a Treecreeper feeding in a tree right beside the road and showing very well and a Marsh Tit coming to nuts and seeds put out by a togger at the back of his van. 

Mallard, a Grey Heron, a Goldcrest, 2 Buzzard, 3 Song Thrush, a Raven, Long-tailed Tits, a Nuthatch and a Roe Deer were also noted along our walk. Arriving back home and a male Sparrowhawk being mobbed by Herring Gulls on a nearby roof was a nice end to the day. 

Friday 8th January and it was time for a proper birding day out and so with lock down in full swing it was back to my usual River Plym and Saltram walk. It was another beautifully cold and frosty day and it was surprisingly quiet along my walk which was an added bonus. 

Robin, Saltram

Great Tit, Saltram

It was a high low tide and by the time I arrived at Blaxton Meadow the water was just starting to come through the sluice gates. Out on the meadow were the usual birds including 11 Wigeon (6 males), Curlew, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Shelduck, Common Gull and 3 Greenshank. All the birds were being badgered by Carrion Crows with the Greenshank eventually having enough of it and flying off over to The Embankment to join 2 more Greenshank roosting with Dunlin, Redshank, Grey Heron and Little Egret. 

A pair of Goosander were diving in the pool by the sluice gates as the water drained in to the meadow but were being harassed by Gulls and eventually they flew out onto the river where they joined another 6 male and 5 female birds. 

3 Little Grebe, a Common Sandpiper, a Dipper, a Kingfisher, an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Grey Wagtail were also seen along the river while in the woodlands a pair of Bullfinch, a female Great Spotted Woodpecker, Ring-necked Parakeets, Goldcrest, Nuthatch and a Mistle Thrush were noted. Meadow Pipit, Rook and a pair of Stonechat were also seen on Chelson Meadow. 

Dipper

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Arriving back home and I decided to have a quick walk around Plymouth Hoe. A Great Northern Diver showed very well as it dived for food just off the Sutton Harbour lock gates with another bird seen off Duttons Cafe, unfortunately this bird was tangled up in fishing gear. 

Great Northern Diver, Plymouth Hoe

A Common Sandpiper was a surprise sighting on the slipway by Teats Hill flats but there was no sign of the recently reported Black Redstart at Sutton Quay nor the 4 Purple Sandpipers reported at Tinside - a nice start to my birding year though.

Meadow Pipit, Plymouth Hoe

River Plym and River Exe Trips

Sunday 26th January was dull and wet but as I had been able to buy a weekly bus pass again I wanted to make full use of it and so I headed off anyway on the bus to Marsh Mills for a walk. It was very wet and very muddy underfoot as I began my walk towards Plymbridge from Marsh Mills but it did eventually stop raining.

Stepping off the bus at Marsh Mills and from the bridge I quickly found a dipper feeding along the waters edge but by the time I had gotten my binoculars out of their case it had flown off. However I did get better views later of 2 or possibly 3 birds on the walk back to Marsh Mills, firstly an unringed bird bathing and preening before it flew off upriver and then a sighting of a ringed bird with an unringed bird before they too flew off upriver and out of sight.

 Dipper, River Plym

 Dipper with leg rings, River Plym

Dipper

While carefully negotiating the very muddy footpath along the river I also found 5 pairs of Mandarin Ducks and a female Goosander on the water while in the trees I saw 2 Goldcrest feeding with Long-tailed Tits, a Treecreeper and 2 Nuthatch along with a Marsh Tit heard but not seen.

Goosander, River Plym

Arriving back at Marsh Mills and with the rain having abated I decided to have a wander downriver on the ebbing tide to the Saltram Folly and back. On Blaxton Meadow 7 male and 6 female Wigeon were busily feeding while on the river 2 pairs of Mandarin Ducks were feeding with Mallards and a male and 2 female Goosanders were busily diving for food. Ring-necked Parakeets were squawking in the trees in Saltram Park but I couldn't find them amongst the branches and with my feet wet and muddy it was time to call it a day and head back home for a cup of tea.

Goosander, River Plym

Snowdrops, Saltram

Saturday 1st February and it was off on the train to Bowling Green Marsh at Topsham for the high tide wader roost and a look for the wintering Long-billed Dowitcher which has become a little more erratic in its sightings. The weather was mild and sunny with a brisk breeze, the train journey was uneventful and a flock of around 20 Fieldfare seen from the train flying over a stubble field just outside Topsham was a nice sighting.

The hide was busy on arriving at around 11:15am but it was good to see a large roost of waders out on the Marsh, mainly Black-tailed Godwits with Redshank and Curlew, a lone Dunlin and 7 Greenshanks but alas there was no sign of the Dowitcher.

Teal, Shoveler, Pintail, Mallard, Wigeon, Greylag Geese, Shelduck, Coot, Moorhen and Canada Geese were also seen with 2 pairs of Pochard and 2 male and a female Tufted Duck but a surprise were 2 Egyptian Geese roosting amongst the assorted wildfowl, my first for the Marsh.

 Wigeon, Bowling Green Marsh

 Pintail

 Pintail

 Teal

 Teal

Shoveler and Teal

As the tide receded the waders headed out to the estuary but the only other waders of note seen from the River Clyst Viewing Platform and The Goat Walk were a few Avocets and Bar-tailed Godwits.

I decided to catch the train back to Plymouth with a stop off at Starcross to look for a reported Red-necked Grebe, walking under the railway line at Bishops Arch to scan the river out of the breeze in the shelter of the sea wall. There was as expected no sign of the Red-necked Grebe nor of Herbert the Slavonian Grebe but I did find at least 17 Great-crested Grebes feeding out on the water with a few Red-breasted Mergansers and a male and 2 female Goldeneye.

Dunlin, Starcross

Back at Starcross station and while waiting for the 16:15pm train back to Plymouth I scanned the sandbanks upriver and found a distant pre-roost gathering of 25 Cattle Egrets, the most I have seen together in the UK. It was interesting to watch them foraging along the shoreline and catching small crabs while being harrassed by nearby Herring Gulls who kept trying to steal their catch, sometimes successfully - a nice end to a good day out.

Cattle Egrets, Starcross

No Garganey but more of the Red Necked Grebe

Saturday 7th April was again cold and grey and mizzly but with 3 garganey having been reported on the River Plym the previous day (while I was working a long day!) I decided to head out to look for them. I didn't hold out much hope and indeed there was no sign of them but I had a pleasent walk anyway.

On getting off the bus at Plympton I had a quick look off the road bridge where a dipper was feeding along the waters edge, the lowest point of the Plym that I have seen a dipper before. It was sporting coloured leg rings and flew up into some branches overhanging the water where it sang briefly before flying upriver.

 Dipper - cropped shot showing leg rings

Dipper

The tide was high but Blaxton Meadow wasn't flooded this time and so 3 curlew, a greenshank, 4 little egrets, redshanks, shelducks and mallards were resting and feeding there. A stock dove flew over, a mistle thrush was rattling away in a tree top, nuthatch and jay were calling in the nearby woods and 2 chiffchaffs were singing with a 3rd non singing bird seen. 2 willow warblers were also seen feeding together in the trees by the A38 flyover.

I walked downriver along The Embankment to Blagdons Meadow where another willow warbler was seen feeding in the hedgerow, a smart male wheatear was feeding on the grass before it was chased off by a dog and a skylark sang away overhead.

Wheatear, Blagdons Meadow

Onwards to Laira Bridge and there was no sign of the red necked grebe still being reported but just as I was about to head home on the bus I found it just below the bridge in exactly the same place I had seen it on Thursday - it must have been out of sight along Pomphlett Creek and appeared on the main river on the outgoing tide. It gave some nice views again as it busily dived, spending little time at the surface as it headed upstream under the bridge and out of sight.

 Red Necked Grebe

 Red Necked Grebe

 Red Necked Grebe

Red Necked Grebe

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?

Dippers and Dipping

Spring migrants continue to trickle rather than flow in despite the dry and sunny but cool weather but I have not had much free time to get out and about anyway.

April 12th and on a walk at Plymbridge Woods I finally saw my first dippers of the year along with 3 male and 1 female mandarin ducks, a male peregrine, a male kestrel, a male sparrowhawk, buzzards, songflighting siskins, a raven and a nuthatch. I had hoped to see brimstone butterfly but only managed a sighting of a lone speckled wood.

 Dipper

Dipper showing its nictitating membranes



April 16th and we headed off to Bude with the Outlaws to sort out the caravan for the summer. It was a bit of a disaster as we had forgotten the caravan key, the petrol strimmer to cut the grass with wouldn't work and the awning stitching was coming undone on the roof seams and so we packed up and headed back to Plymouth having achieved nothing.

A male green winged teal had been reported at nearby Maer Lake the previous day and so I had a quick look for it while the car was being packed up for the drive back to Plymouth. I did see 4 male and 9 female Eurasian teal along with a male mallard, 2 shelduck, 3 black tailed godwit (1 of which was in full summer plumage) and a summer plumaged dunlin but there was no sign of the green winged teal - a big old dip.

Just as I was about to leave I heard an unusual call and had a brief view of a small wader flying over the Lake before landing out of sight and so I scanned the shoreline and I eventually found the bird and it was what I had suspected it to be -  a very smart little ringed plover and a nice compensation for dipping the green winged teal.

April 19th and we headed off to Bude again and this time successfully sorted out the caravan. The green winged teal hadn't been reported since the April 15th but I checked out Maer Lake anyway and again didn't find it but the Eurasian teal were all still present along with 3 male mallard, 2 shelduck and now just 2 black tailed godwits. It was nice to see a few house martins with the swallows and sand martins and a curlew flew in briefly to bathe but there was no sign of the little ringed plover from a few days previously.

The toilet block at the caravan site had a few moths inside -  a brimstone moth, 2 Hebrew characters, a common quaker and an early grey, one of my favourite moths. And on driving home along the A38 near Saltash some early purple orchids were flowering on the grass verge.

 Unknown Micro Moth Sp.

 Early Grey

Common Quaker



April 20th and I headed off to Wembury for a walk, hoping to be home before the forecasted rain arrived but I was out of luck and ended up cold and wet but it was worth it as there were some nice migrants around to see. At least 6 male whitethroats were singing and songflighting despite the weather and a bedraggled looking female wheatear was feeding along the beach. A lone Sandwich tern was seen flying West along the shoreline and 11 summer plumaged dunlin were seen flying East. At Wembury Point 19 oystercatchers were roosting on the rocks with 4 whimbrel, a common sandpiper and 5 little egrets. Blackcaps and chiffchaffs were seen and heard and I thought I heard a brief snatch of a willow warbler singing too. A female cirl bunting, 3 song thrush, 2 swallows around the horse stables and a pair of stonechat were good to see too.

The toilet block held a Hebrew character but with the bad weather there were no butterflies on the wing although a few bloody nosed beetles were slowly shuffling along by the footpath and a few bumble bees were buzzing around.

 Hebrew Character

Lackey Moth Caterpillars

And as I waited at the bus stop for the bus ride home a flock of 9 whimbrel flew over helping to take my mind off my cold and wet feet.