It was cold, clear, calm, icy and dark when I stepped off the bus at Wembury on Monday 5th January, the footpath and road were quite treacherous on the walk up to the church but I managed to get there in one piece as the sky gradually lightened. I tried my poor Tawny Owl impression again along the way but was unsuccessful this time - I guess it's a case of fool a Tawny Owl once, shame on you, fool a Tawny Owl twice, shame on the Owl.
I carried onwards from the church towards The Point to check out the high tide roost on the ebbing tide but my attention was diverted along the way as I again saw 2 Fox up on the hillside by the Pheasant field being watched by 2 Roe Deer and nervous looking Pheasants. The 2 Fox were keeping together and at one point had a bit of a spat with each other, rearing up on their hind legs and sparring together before continuing on their way. The Pheasants all flocked together and followed them from a safe distance, like Gazelles do with Cheetahs on the African savannah, and the 2 Roe Deer were equally as nervous with one of them eventually rushing towards the Foxes and chasing them away.
At The Point there were around 40 Turnstones feeding on the seaweed mass by the sewage pipe along with a Redshank and Gulls while a Curlew, 5 Little Egret and Oystercatchers were roosting nearby but there was no sign of any Purple Sandpipers. A Grey Seal was seen offshore with 2 adult Gannets flying east and 3 Fulmars flying around The Mewstone.
Amongst the Blackbirds and Song Thrushes feeding on Ivy berries nearby were a few skulky and skittish Redwings and 2 male Blackcaps while a Green Woodpecker and a Mistle Thrush were seen flying away over the trees. A Dartford Warbler flitting about in the Gorse showed very well but did not stay still for a second.
I spent some time looking for the Water Pipit along the beach and eventually found it after a bit of a search although it remained distant, it really is a subtle looking bird and it has now found its feet as it gave chase to any Rock Pipits that came too close. The Rock Pipit with the white head feathering was also seen again amongst the feeding Rock and Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails and along the cliffs a Firecrest, a pair of Stonechats and around 10 Chiffchaff were noted.
Amongst the obvious collybita Chiffchaffs was a Siberian tristis type, its silvery grey undeparts were especially noticeable along with its washed out brown upperparts with a hint of greeny- yellow in the wing feathers.
As I headed back towards the bus stop for the journey home I was pleased to see a straggly flock of around 60 Golden Plover flying over heading west and 2 Lapwing feeding together in the upper horse field. At the bus stop a further flock of around 70 Lapwing were seen flying over heading west followed by a another flock of around 20 birds that headed west before returning east.
The White-fronted and Bean Geese obviously reappeared at Bowling Green Marsh the day after my visit (!) but disappeared again the next day before reappearing at Exminster Marsh the day after and so I decided to try again to see them on Tuesday 6th January.
I wasn't very hopeful that the Geese would show so I caught the earliest train I could using my Railcard at 09:27am and costing just £7.65 return but I decided to treat myself and catch the bus to Exminster from Starcross for a change, arriving at the Marsh at just after 11am. It was another beautiful day, all cold and clear and crisp and I set off with my fingers crossed but as expected it didn't work as I failed to find any White-fronted or Bean Geese. I did see 2 Greylag Geese though amongst the Canada and Brent Geese present along with the Swan/Mucky Geese seen last week at Bowling Green Marsh and showing how mobile the Geese are around The Exe.
It was an enjoyable walk around the Marsh anyway despite dipping the Geese and the highlights were a male and female-type Marsh Harrier quartering over the Marsh, a pair of Pochard and a female Goldeneye on the lagoon where a Red Fox was spooking the ducks as it trotted around the lagoon edge and a Chiffchaff (collybita) flitting about along the railway line.
While waiting for the train back to Plymouth I had a scan about from Starcross railway station where the highlights were 6 Red-breasted Mergansers (4 males) diving away and 2 Greenshank and a Bar-tailed Godwit feeding out on the mud.
With the Yellow-browed Warbler at Efford Marsh in Plymouth still showing well and obviously surviving these freezing temperatures I decided to have a quick look for it on Wednesday 7th January. It was still feeling cold but warmer than of late and I quickly found the Yellow-browed Warbler busily feeding away in the same area I saw it in back in December. It was very feisty and regularly chased off any Chiffchaffs that came too close and despite it being constantly on the move I had some excellent views of it, certainly the best I've ever had of a Yellow-browed Warbler, and again I was surprised at how smart and bright it looked.
There were at least 2 Firecrest amongst the numerous Goldcrests also present along with at least 1 tristis type Chiffchaff amongst the numerous collybita types flitting about.
A Grey Wagtail, 2 Little Egret, a Nuthatch, 4 Redwing, a female Blackcap, 11 Teal (8 males) and a white farmyard type Mallard with the Mallards (probably the one seen on The Plym recently) were also of note along with some decent-ish views of a skulky Water Rail.
