The Plym, Wembury and a Trip to France

I had a gentle stroll around Saltram and The Plym on Wednesday 9th October, it was a mostly sunny and mild day and the wind had eased down considerably but it was still very quiet on the bird front with just the usual culprits seen.

I took a walk up The Dell to look for Mistle Thrush but unfortunately I didn't find any this time. I rarely walk along this path but with Chelson Meadow likely to be disappearing in the next year it may become a more regular walk to help compensate for the Meadows loss. A bonus sighting was a Treecreeper, my first here, and a Raven was heard calling overhead.

Blaxton Meadow was well flooded again on the high tide and there were now 7 Wigeon present here along with a Shelduck, 13 Greenshank, a Dunlin, 19 Oystercatcher, 2 Snipe, 35 Curlew and Redshanks. Out on the nearby river the family party of 4 Mute Swans were still present along with 2 Kingfisher, 3 female Goosander, a Grey Wagtail and a Common Sandpiper.

Mute Swans

Elsewhere around the Park the highlights were a Firecrest, 4 Goldcrest, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 3 Chiffchaff, 4 male and a female Blackcap, 2+ Nuthatch, 2 Coal Tit, a  Song Thrush and 3 noisey Buzzards soaring together overhead.

I caught the 7am bus out to Wembury on Thursday 10th October, it felt quite chilly at such an early hour but soon became a warm and pleasant morning. There wasn't much breeze but the swell was creating some good waves which the surfers were making full use of and the noise of the waves crashing onto the beach could be heard all the way up the valley at the bus stop.

Wembury Beach 

Wembury Rollers

I had considered visiting Wembury the previous day but chose The Plym instead, a big mistake as local birder Jenny had found a Yellow-browed Warbler at The Point and so we arranged to meet up to have a look for it today. As expected there was no sign of it but never mind, it was nice to be out on such a beautiful day.

It was all much the same though with a Firecrest near the church the highlight. I had brief flight views of a Dartford Warbler at The Point, it appeared to be a male bird, and a Cetti's Warbler was heard in the valley to the beach. A Green Woodpecker, 4 Chiffchaff, a female Blackcap, 7 Pheasant, 2 Buzzard and 2 Song Thrush were also of note and a interesting sighting was of 200+ noisey Linnet perched up on the telegraph wires over a Sunflower field before dropping down into cover.

There was a large flock of feeding birds offshore, a good 500+ birds but mostly distant and consisting of Gannets, Herring Gulls, Kittiwakes, Black-headed Gulls and Mediterranean Gulls. Unfortunately I hadn't brought my telescope with me and I couldn't find any Skuas or Cetaceans present.

A Grey Seal was poking its snout out of the water just off the beach and 2 Roe Deer were feeding in the stubble field while 3 Comma, a Painted Lady, a Wall Brown, Large White, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, a Small Copper, Small White, a Dark Bush Cricket, a Common Darter, a Long-winged Conehead and 2 Common Lizards were also seen making the most of the warm sunshine.

Common Lizard

Long-winged Conehead 

Dark Bush Cricket

Wall Brown

Roe Deer

It was off to France on Friday 11th October, our annual weekend away travelling with Brittany Ferries to Roscoff on a crossing from Plymouth on the Friday night, a stay in a hotel in Roscoff on the Saturday night and a crossing back to Plymouth on the Sunday morning.

Both crossings were very smooth but the weather in Roscoff was warm and wet although the rain had cleared through by lunchtime and we enjoyed our usual picnic at the benches by the beach. The usual wildlife was seen - Turnstone, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Greylag Goose, Cormorant, Grey Wagtail and Mallard to name a few - but the weather precluded sightings of any Common Darters or Hummingbird Hawkmoths this time.

The crossing back to Plymouth was eventful, not to the high standard of last years amazing crossing but pretty good none the less. The first hour out of Roscoff was as usual the best part with the expected Gannets regularly seen flying by but more unusual were Manx Shearwaters passing by too and also resting on the sea with 100+ birds seen. Best of all though were 11 Balearic Shearwaters hidden in amongst them. 

There were also 2 pods of Common Dolphins seen heading in to bow ride at the front of the boat, leaping out of the water as they raced to the ferry before being lost to view. Also seen were 2 Guillemot, Herring Gulls, Shags and Great Black-backed Gulls with 3 Meadow Pipits also flying around the ferry calling before I headed down to the cafe for lunch and a warm up. 

The Amorique coming into Roscoff as we left on the Pont Aven

Pont Aven Information Board

The middle part of the crossing was quiet with just the odd Gannet seen flying by from the cafe windows but as the Devon coast appeared on the horizon I headed up back on deck for the last leg of the trip. More Common Dolphins were seen along with Blue Fin Tuna and both were attracting in seabirds with a winter plumaged adult Mediterranean Gull, Gannets, Kittiwakes, a Guillemot, 2 Common Gulls and Herring Gulls seen but amongst them were a Manx Shearwater, a Sooty Shearwater and 2 Cory's Shearwaters, a nice end to our trip.

Kittiwakes

Plymouth Breakwater and The Mewstone

Back Home to Autumn

After all the heat and sunshine and bone dry conditions of Greece it was back to the cool, damp and greenery of October in Devon. It did feel very autumnal on Friday 4th October as I headed out to Wembury for my first post-holiday walk, high tide was at 7:30am but I had a lie-in and caught the 9:00am bus and arrived just as the tide was ebbing. It was sunny but cool with the brisk south-easterly breeze keeping the bird activity subdued and it didnt feel very birdy at all but it was good to be out for a walk at one of my favourite places.

Ongoing Erosion of the Main Beach Wall at Wembury

While we were away on holiday in Greece there had been some rough and windy weather here in Devon and the beach was well deposited with seaweed, the most I've seen so far this autumn but it didnt thwart the dog walkers who were busily traipsing up and down the beach and disturbing the roosting and feeding birds. 

Despite the disturbance I was pleased to find a Bar-tailed Godwit and 5 Turnstone roosting on the rocks along with the usual Oystercatchers, I also saw 3 single Curlew in 3 different places but with all the disturbance I have a feeling there was just the 1 bird present. Also along the beach were 8 Little Egret and 3 male and a female Mallard and amongst the feeding Rock Pipits and Pied Wagtails were 2 Meadow Pipits. There were surprisingly few Gulls around, just 3 adult Black-headed Gulls and 2 adult Great Black-backed Gulls with just a few Herring Gulls here and there. Offshore just 2 adult Gannets were seen.

It was quiet on land with the highlights being  9 flitty Cirl Buntings feeding in the stubble field, a male Blackcap in a village garden, Chiffchaffs flitting about here and there with 1 bird heard singing, the usual Stonechats along the coast path and 2 Kestrels, a Sparrowhawk and a Buzzard overhead.

Cirl Bunting

Despite the cool breeze there were butterflies about with good numbers of Speckled Wood seen along with Red Admiral, Large White, Small White and a Comma. A Long-winged Conehead and 5 Common Lizards were also making the most of the sunshine as they basked out of the wind on the wooden fence posts along the path. A few Ivy Bees were buzzing around the Ivy flowers as well.

Speckled Wood

Large White

Ivy Bee

It was sunny but cool and breezy again on Saturday 5th October as I headed out to Saltram and The Plym for a walk. High tide was at 8am but I had another lie-in and arrived at a very flooded Blaxton Meadow at around 10am. It still didn't feel very birdy and the brisk wind was continuing to hamper viewing but it was good to be out again at another one of my favourite places.  

Despite the high water levels on Blaxton Meadow the waders were roosting around the edges, probably due to all the disturbance from rowing boats along The Plym, and amongst the Redshank were 14 Greenshank, 4 Oystercatcher, 1 Dunlin and 22 Curlew (including the Dartmoor flagged bird). Also present were 4 Wigeon, my first here for the autumn, and 3 female Goosander were seen flying upriver towards Marsh Mills.

Blaxton Meadow Lake

A Firecrest was the highlight around The Park and also of note were a pair of Stonechat, a female Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaff, 11 Stock Dove and 4 Jay. A few Speckled Wood were flitting about out of the wind too.

A little bit late! A still active Wasp nest near to where I was stung (twice!) back in July this year

A Kingfisher and 2 Common Sandpiper were also seen along the river near the gas pipe as the tide dropped and 3 Little Grebe were back for the winter busily diving away nearby.

A Yellow-browed Warbler was found in Ford Park Cemetery on Sunday 6th October but I was unable to go and look for it until the next day. I've never had any luck with previous Yellow-browed Warblers at this site and so it proved to be again this time but never mind. Over the constant drone of grass strimmers the highlights were 2 Chiffchaffs with 1 bird occassionally singing, 2 Nuthatch noisily feeding in the trees and a Buzzard soaring overhead. A Raven and a Great Spotted Woodpecker were also heard only and there were 3 Blackbirds giving it welly in a tree, probably due to the presence of a Tawny Owl but I couldn't find it amongst the leaves and branches if indeed it was actually there.

Poignant and Beautiful Headstones 

A Comma, a Red Admiral, a Large White and Speckled Woods were flitting about in the weakly warm sunny spells and 2 Common Darter were also seen before I gave up and headed into town to meet David for lunch. 

Comma

Common Darter