Lock Down (Again!)

And so Lock Down Part 2 has begun, initially for 4 weeks, and all my plans and holidays have gone out of the window yet again. I've managed to get vouchers or my money back for my trips to Germany, Czechia, Cornwall and Suffolk so that is something and as I have to remind myself I am healthy and still working which others are not in a position to say.

I had to attend Track and Trace for a (routine) COVID swab on Saturday 7th November, my 4th one and something I now have to do weekly for my job (and all negative so far). Afterwards we drove up to Burrator Reservoir on Dartmoor for a walk. However it was absolutely packed with people when we arrived, the busiest I have ever seen it, and so we carried on up onto the Moor where it was quieter and had a quick 30 minute walk before the rain arrived (again). 

Fungus Sp., Dartmoor

Monday 9th November and I met my work colleague Sue and her dog Daisy at Saltram for (a Lock Down allowed) walk. It was grey and cloudy but mild although as I headed home later the rain duly arrived again.

We had an enjoyable walk and a catch up and along the way saw a few birds too. The woodland held the usual Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits, Goldcrest, Wren, Goldfinch, etc, with a yaffling Green Woodpecker heard only and a Raven seen flying overhead cronking away.

The tide was coming in but it wasn't a very high tide and on Blaxton Meadow 3 Greenshank, a Grey Heron and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull were roosting with the usual Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Shelduck and Common, Black-headed, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls.

Along the River Plym at Marsh Mills 2 redhead Goosander busily diving for fish showed very well along with 2 Grey Wagtail, a Common Sandpiper, a Kingfisher, a pair of Mallard and a flyover Sparrowhawk.

Goosander, River Plym

I have also received some information back regarding 2 gulls with leg rings I saw at Wembury back in September this year. The first was a 2nd Calendar Year Great Black-backed Gull seen on 9/9/20 with a white plastic leg ring P04D and which was ringed at Portland, Dorset as a pullus on 27/6/19 and which was also seen in Dorset on 15/7/20.

GBBGull, Wembury, 9/9/20

The second was an adult Mediterranean Gull on 11/9/20 with a white plastic ring 3LKT and which was ringed as a pullus on 21/6/12 in The Netherlands. It had been seen at Wembury the year before on 17/9/19 and  had also been seen at Broadsands in Devon on 14/7/20 by local birder Bill Coulson (@billcoulson3).

Fascinating stuff and all made possible by ringing schemes, I must make more of an effort to read leg rings when I come across them (and gulls are big enough birds to read leg rings fairly easily). 

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.