A Plym Avocet

While I was not seeing a Caspian Gull at Brixham an Avocet was reported on Blaxton Meadow at Saltram but I didnt expect it to stick around. However on waking up early the next morning on Sunday 2nd February it was reported as still present and so I hastily got myself organised and headed out to The Plym for a look.

I caught the bus to Marsh Mills and then headed straight down to the viewing platform at Blaxton Meadow with fingers crossed. The tide was dropping and there was just one bird present out on The Meadow and it was the Avocet, busily feeding away in the water - result!

Avocet, Blaxton Meadow

It's only the third time I have seen Avocet on The Plym and it was interesting to see it heading out onto the nearby mud, having a poop and then returning to the water to continue feeding, a behaviour I have also seen in Spoonbills and a White-billed Diver. I enjoyed watching it for a while, it seemed quite settled but as more people and dogs began to arrive it appeared more nervous until it eventually flew off over to the estuary.

Avocet

I decided to walk down the river towards Laira Bridge and search for the Avocet along the way but unfortunately I couldn't refind it. However I did finally see the reported Bar-tailed Godwit feeding out on the mudflats near Laira Bridge while a surprise was a Water Rail heard squealing away in the boggy Brambles along The Ride.

House Sparrow, The Ride

Over the past week when walking around Sutton Harbour a surprise sighting has been a Moorhen feeding on an old wooden pontoon out on the water, first seen on 29th January and still there on 4th February. I've seen Coot at Sutton Harbour before when the weather has been very cold and icy but never a Moorhen and I assume it was blown in by the recent Storms. It seems to be surviving quite nicely though as it picks at the vegetation thriving there due to all the poop the roosting Shags and Cormorants deposit on it. Strange to see a Moorhen in a saline environment and with very little cover available and also for it to stay for so long as well.

Sutton Harbour Pontoon

Moorhen and Cormorant

I headed out to Wembury for a quick walk on Wednesday 4th February, the forecast was for heavy showers but it stayed dry right up until I got on the bus to head home when it absolutely chucked it down. It was quite breezy though and the birding was slow but I had an interesting walk anyway.

Wembury

I arrived off the bus at around 9:45am and headed off to The Point on the dropping tide. The new path was easy to traverse but the remaining original path was a complete and utter mudfest and there is yet more cliff collapse near to the sewage pipe, however I arrived in one piece and without slipping over for a change.

Cliff Slip, Wembury Beach

The usual Oystercatchers were seen roosting along the beach as they waited for the tide to ebb and with them were a Curlew, 3 Turnstone and 10 Little Egret. A 2nd Winter Mediterranean Gull was hidden in amongst the roosting Black-headed Gulls and an adult Great Black-backed Gull was tucking in to a dead Shag.

A lot of the seaweed has disappeared from the beach around the sewage pipe, I guess the Storms giveth and the Storms also taketh away, but I did find the Water Pipit feeding around the rock pools at the top of the tideline, it was quite confiding for a change but I still find it quite an odd looking bird

Water Pipit

Water Pipit

No Cirl Buntings were seen, not unusual for Wembury at this time of year and especially on a breezy day but not helped by the National Trust chopping down the Sloe hedgerows along the wheatfield footpath which they used to skulk in. Only 3 male Pheasants were seen, maybe more shooting parties have been busy bringing the numbers down, and a surprise sighting was a Green Woodpecker apparently feeding on fallen apples in a village garden or maybe on the insects inside them.

The Plym Avocet has surprisingly stuck around and was still present on the 6th February, I had hoped to try and get out to see it again but the weather, teeth problems and life admin have gotten in the way. I'm glad it has stayed for a while though as it has given local birders a chance to catch up with what is an uncommon visitor to The Plym.

Rain!

Yet another Storm arrived on Monday 26th January, this one was named Chandra and it brought yet more very wet and very windy weather with it.

We had a walk along The Plym the next day (Tuesday 27th January), it was still blowing a hoolie but the rain was now in the form of very heavy showers which we managed to dodge or shelter from along the way.

I kept a look out for Little Gulls amongst the numerous Black-headed Gulls feeding out over the water of The Plym on the high tide but I was out of luck. However I did find an adult Gannet sat out on the water and looking a little moribund although it did fly a short distance at one point and regularly flapped its wings in between sleeping. It was close in to The Embankment so the views from Saltram were a little distant but it is only the second time I've seen a Gannet on The Plym following an adult and juvenile bird in September 2022 and again after stormy weather.

Distant Gannet, River Plym

Blaxton Meadow was well flooded again and birds were roosting there on the high tide with all the usuals seen including Curlew, Redshank, Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Shelduck, 2 Grey Heron, a Little Egret, 8 Greenshank and 23 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls although I failed to find the reported Bar-tailed Godwit.

With possibly up to 4 juvenile Caspian Gulls being seen in Brixham Harbour recently I've been keen to go and have a look for them but with all the recent bad weather there have been big problems on the local rail network with cancellations and delays to services. The bad weather conditions haven't been very condusive for birding either and along with yet more dentistry problems I haven't made the trek out to Brixham to go look for them but with Saturday 31st January looking to be a decentish day of weather and the trains now running to schedule I set off with my fingers crossed.

Things didn't start off very well as I realised after I'd bought my train ticket at the self-service machine at Plymouth Station that I had picked up our Two Together Railcard and not my Devon and Cornwall Railcard so I had to pay an excess fare to upgrade to a full price ticket. Luckily I found out before I set off otherwise I could have potentially been fined but as it was I never had my ticket checked once on any of the 4 trains I travelled on!

I eventually arrived at Brixham Harbour at around 10am, news had come through on the sightings pages while I was on my train journey that a Caspian Gull was present but by the time I arrived in Brixham it had flown off and after nearly 5 hours of searching it never reappeared before I had to head home - drat! Caspian Gull may have been a no show but the star bird of the day was a very showy Black-throated Diver, certainly the best views of one I've ever had before as I watched it diving in the Harbour and later off the Breakwater.

Brixham Trawler from The Breakwater

Black-throated Diver - good views but a little too distant for my camera

Black-throated Diver

Black-throated Diver

Black-throated Diver

Great Northern Divers were literally littered across the Bay, they were everywhere you looked and amongst them were Shag, Guillemot (some im summer plumage), Cormorant, Razorbill and a single Red-throated Diver. There were also Gannets and Kittiwakes flying around over the water with the Gannets regularly seen diving for fish and the Kittiwakes occassionally calling.

Guillemot taking a break on The Breakwater

Guillemot

There were Grey Seals everywhere too - hauled out on pontoons or swimming about around The Breakwater and one was even hauled out on the nearby beach where volunteers were keeping a delighted public from getting too close to it.

Grey Seal

Grey Seal

Grey Seal

Grey Seal

An adult Mediterranean Gull was regularly seen patrolling along The Breakwater and 3 Purple Sandpiper were seen on the ruined pier while in The Harbour a pair of Mallard  were noted along with Mute Swans and Turnstones. 

Purple Sandpiper

A sorry sight was a Kittiwake that had taken the bait on a fishermans line and had gotten caught on the hook and tangled up, fortunately he was able to free it and it flew away but who knows what state its mouth and throat are in.

Ensnared Kittiwake

I enjoyed my time at Brixham but it was a shame a Caspian Gull didn't make an appearance for me today after the birds having been so showy over the past week but never mind. I've only ever seen Caspian Gull once before, a 1st winter bird in Suffolk in 2015 and a distant view only, I've also seen a few probables at Minsmere and Cromer too but it would have been nice to have gotten a better view of one and here in Devon where it is still quite uncommon. It certainly seems to be appearing more and more in the South West though, whether an increase in numbers, expansion of range or better observer coverage but hopefully I'll catch up with another one sometime soon.

And so January comes to a close with 2 dips already under my belt (Tundra Bean Goose and Caspian Gull) but my year list stands at 122 which is my highest January total ever so I can't complain in what has been a varied and interesting month of birding.