August Bank Holiday

We were very lucky with the weather for our ferry trip to Spain and had smooth crossings both ways but on arriving back in Plymouth the weather finally turned and I awoke the next morning (Saturday 29th August) to wind and rain, much more usual fare for an August Bank Holiday in Devon although it still felt warm and humid.

I decided to head out to Wembury Point for a sea watch but after a very tiring trip over the ocean I didn't wake up very early and caught the 9am bus, later than planned but never mind. I was all togged up in my wet weather gear and certainly needed it on arriving off the bus but by the time I headed home the rain had mostly cleared through.

Visibility at The Point was variable but there were Gannets on the move along with a steady trickle of Manx Shearwater with all mostly heading west into the wind and rain. Along the beach there were 13 Ringed Plover, 3 Sanderling, a Curlew, 3 Little Egrets and Oystercatchers and I counted a maximum of 12 mobile Mediterranean Gulls but more were undoubtedly present. The only other bird of note was a Feral Pigeon flying overhead as I waited at the bus stop for the bus back to Plymouth.

I may have been a bit of a soggy mess by the time I arrived back home but the rain we have had here in Devon this past week has already revitalised the parched grass which is now turning green again. The heatwaves and drought already seem distant memories but there is still a lot of rain needed to recover the water levels after the very dry summer.

It was warm, humid, breezey and mostly sunny as I headed out to The Plym on Bank Holiday Monday 31st August, my plan had been to head out early for the high tide at around 8:30am but I was feeling crap and decided to give it a miss, however news of a Wryneck came through and I decided against all my better judgement to go and look for it. I have had zero luck in either finding a Wryneck or catching up with birds found by others on Chelson Meadow and today, as expected, continued that duck but one day.........

While looking for the Wryneck I did see a Whinchat, a juvenile Willow Warbler, 2 Skylark, a Robin, a Song Thrush, a Linnet and a Blackcap along with Small Heath, a Small Copper, Common Blue and Clouded Yellow including an helice type. At one point all the Gulls out on the estuary on the dropping tide took to the air, presumably an Osprey had arrived to fish but despite scanning the skies from the Meadow I didn't find one in the air and by the time I arrived back at The Ride the Gulls had all resettled on the mud.

Great Black-backed Gull with a large Fish for lunch

Common Smooth-hound - found washed up near the slipway at Laira Bridge

River Plym from near Blagdons Meadow

A scan across the mudflats from The Ride revealed 5 small waders by the rowing club on the opposite bank and so I decided to walk over to Blagdons Meadow via Laira Bridge for a closer look. After a bit of a search I eventually found 10 Turnstone and 3 Ringed Plover feeding near the rowing club slipway and easily overlooked amongst the seaweed and rocks, surprisingly the Turnstone were my first on The Plym this year.

Turnstone

Ringed Plover

There were Clouded Yellows flitting about over the Meadow and following the recent rain it too was showing small signs of greening up. I had a search about and eventually found quite a few Autumn Lady's-Tresses in flower amongst the browned vegetation and looking tiny but vibrant.

Autumn Lady's-Tresses 

Autumn Lady's-Tresses

And with that August is now over for another year, it's been a busy month but a good month as usual and one with a range of interesting sightings despite the erratic weather.

River Plym, Wembury and a Ferry Trip to Spain

With some good birds being reported around The Plym I headed off for a lookabout on Sunday 23rd August and arrived off the bus at Marsh Mills at around 8:30am. It was low tide but I was more interested in land birds on this visit and things started well with a Spotted Flycatcher flitting about in the trees in the same area as last weeks sightings.

I headed on to Chelson Meadow where 2 Whinchat and a Wheatear had been seen, I failed to find the Wheatear but eventually I caught up with the Whinchat which were flitty and mobile around the site. The previous days reported Tree Pipits and Sedge Warbler were no shows and I also missed an Osprey flying over with a fish but never mind. There had also been 4 Ringed Plover reported on the Plym mudflats and as I had a scan about from The Ride I eventually found them in the company of 2 Dunlin.

Ringed Plovers

Ringed Plover and Dunlin

Ringed Plover

Dunlin

It was off to Wembury on the 7am bus on Monday 24th August for a lookabout, when I arrived it was sunny but cool in a fresh easterly breeze and while it warmed up over the course of the morning the breeze became stronger and birding became a bit trickier.

Clouded Yellow - still plenty around at Wembury despite the wind and the lack of flowers

There was no sign of the male Common Scoter which has presumably finished his moult and moved on. The usual mobile Mediterranean Gulls were still present though, all adult and 2nd winter birds in non-breeding plumage with one adult bird sporting a white ring with black coding but too far away to read without a scope. There were also 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls out on the rocks but the best Gull was a smart looking juvenile Kittiwake which patrolled along the shoreline for a few minutes before flying off east.

The usual Oystercatchers were present and with them was a Little Egret, a Turnstone and an adult and a juvenile Ringed Plover while offshore there were Gannets flying around along with a single Fulmar and 2 Sandwich Tern. A pair of Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk, 2 Raven, Swallows and House Martins were seen overhead and the usual Cirl Buntings, Linnets and Stonechats were seen along the footpath. A juvenile Wheatear sat out on the rocks amongst the Gulls was a strange sight, it stayed there for some time facing into the breeze and probably wondering what the big expanse of water was in front of it and whether to fly off over it.

The highlight of my walk was a Spotted Flycatcher in the Pine tree by the steps leading up to the radar station, it was very mobile amongst the tangle of branches but I watched it for a while before it flew over towards the 2 rows of Pine trees where I eventually refound it and enjoyed better views of it. Also in the Pine trees here were a juvenile Willow Warbler, a Coal Tit, a Goldcrest, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff and Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit.

Sunflowers growing in the field above The Point

It was off to Santander in Spain on the Pont Aven ferry on Wednesday 26th August, a there-and-back mini-cruise with the hope of seeing some cetaceans and sea birds along the way. I missed the trip last year as I wasn't feeling very well and decided not to go, I wasn't feeling great this year either but decided to just go for it anyway and I ended up having an enjoyable and interesting trip. The weather and sea conditions were kind to us although I wished I was feeling a little better, the ferry was also very busy as the August Bank Holiday approaches and the viewing deck was often packed out hampering viewing but I still had a good range of wildlife sightings.

We left Plymouth at around 4pm and I stayed up on deck until 7pm but it was very quiet with only a Guillemot, a Sandwich Tern, an adult Great Black-backed Gull, Gannets, Herring Gulls and Manx Shearwaters seen with the highlight being a Great Skua. A distant Tuna feeding frenzy was also seen but I had no cetacean sightings.

I didn't head up to the decks until around 8:30am the following morning and watched until we arrived into Santander at around 12:00pm and again I didn't have a single cetacean sighting although sightings were being called, I just never managed to get onto them in time. More Tuna were seen and quite a few Portuguese Man-o'war but no bird sightings were had until we approached Santander when Yellow-legged Gulls began to appear and on docking in Santander I ruminated on my first ever Bay of Biscay crossing without a single cetacean sighting and hoped the afternoons return crossing would prove to be more productive.

The Bay of Biscay from the Pont Aven

With the gantry in Santander out of action and bus transfers needed to and from the immigration building along with the longer EU entry and exit procedures we decided to stay on board the ferry, the time ashore is always short and these obstacles would mean even less time ashore than usual. While waiting onboard for the ferry to depart I did some birding from the ferry decks and I managed to see a Swift, Woodpigeons, Feral Pigeons, an Oystercatcher, Mediterranean Gulls, a juvenile Peregrine, a juvenile Marsh Harrier and Yellow-legged Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls and surprisingly 2 adult Herring Gulls.

Yellow-legged Gull, Santander Quay

The ferry left Santander at around 3:00pm as rain showers appeared from the skies, they soon passed but a big storm arrived at around 7:00pm which quickly curtailed all deck watching. There was rain and plenty of lightning flashes in the clouds which lasted well into the night although strangely the sea state remained fairly calm. Before the storm arrived I did manage to see some distant Dolphins, probably Striped, so at least I hadn't repeated my Bay of Biscay cetacean duck and there were more Tuna and Portuguese Man-o'war sightings as well. No sea birds were seen again apart from a few juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls although 8 Pintail flying west way out in the Bay was an odd and out of place sighting.

The Bay of Biscay

Again I didn't get up on deck the next morning until around 8:30am but things had already started very well as while I was having breakfast in the cafe at the front of the ferry we passed through a large feeding frenzy of Common Dolphins with attendant Gannets and Manx, Great and Sooty Shearwaters.

From the outside deck things got even better with 2 or possibly 3 Fin Whales seen, their blows were huge and were slow to dissipate and at times I could see their backs and fins as the rolled at the waters surface even though they were distant. More Common Dolphins and Tuna were seen along with lovely views of Manx, Great and Sooty Shearwaters and I also saw 3 Fulmar and another Great Skua. A small wader was also seen flying low over the waves amongst a group of Manx Shearwaters, at first I thought it was a Ringed Plover but I finally realised it was a Grey Phalarope, a nice bird to end our trip with.

The Eddystone Lighthouse

I've had a look through my notebooks and I've now crossed the Bay of Biscay 9 times by ferry since 2006, travelling from Plymouth to Santander and from Portsmouth to both Santander and Bilbao, and each trip has been different. It has always been an interesting and varied trip with good views of sea birds and cetaceans but one thing that has become noticeable over the years is the apparent decline in sightings of Fin Whales so I was very pleased to see them on this voyage even if it was in The English Channel and not in the Bay of Biscay itself.