November Arrives

October has come to an end at last, my least favourite month of the year despite it usually being a good month for birding. This year it seems to have dragged on forever (like January sometimes does) but it has been a very good month for birds with Little Gull, Sooty Shearwater, Snow Bunting, Scaup, Arctic Tern, Pink-footed Goose, Storm Petrel and Black Redstart the highlights for me. Now October is over I have packed my moth box away and placed all my guide books back on the shelf except for my bird books as I hunker down to survive the oncoming Christmas festivities and await the start of 2027.

After yet another visit to the dentist on Monday 2nd November we headed out to Saltram for a walk and some lunch, it was sunny and felt warm in the sunshine when out of the chilly wind and it was high tide with actual water on Blaxton Meadow where 29 Curlew were roosting with Herring and Black-headed Gulls. Otherwise the usual birds were seen with a Mistle Thrush, a Common Sandpiper, 2 redhead Goosander, a Little Grebe and a Common Gull the highlights.

At Jennycliff on Tuesday 3rd November a Peregrine was seen circling high overhead on a walk with my friend Jan and the following day we decided to visit Buckland Abbey as we haven't been there for ages, however I should have checked the website before we left home as on arriving at the entrance it was closed until the weekend! I had left my membership card at home anyway so we diverted to Burrator Reservoir for a walk instead. It was overcast and cold in a chilly easterly wind and fairly quiet on the bird front with a flyover Siskin, 7 Cormorants resting on the string of buoys, a Muscovy Duck, the regular 2 white Farmyard Geese ignoring each other and 200+ Chaffinch feeding under the Beech trees the highlights.

With a pair of Shoveler, a Teal and a Goldeneye having being found on The Plym I headed out for a look for them on Thursday 5th November without too much hope and I wasn't disappointed with none of them seen. It was another overcast and cold day in the easterly wind and I wore my gloves and a scarf for the first time this winter.

The above mentioned ducks may have been a no-show but I did find a male and 6 redhead Goosander and 2 pairs of Wigeon out on the river along with 6 Little Grebe and 5 Mute Swan. There was also water on Blaxton Meadow again where 31 Curlew and a Dunlin were roosting with the Redshank and Gulls while amongst the weeds a Pied Wagtail, 2 Meadow Pipit and 7 Linnet were seen.

Goosander, Wigeon and Black-headed Gull

At the duck pond at least 5 Redwing showed well in the nearby Yew tree as the gobbled down berries with Blackbird, Song Thrush and a male Blackcap also present. A Green Woodpecker, at least 5 Jay, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and the usual noisy Ring-necked Parakeets were seen around the Park but it was soon time to get out of the cold and head home.

Robin

Black-headed Gull

Friday 6th November was a total contrast with sunshine, a gentle breeze and warm temperatures as I headed out to Wembury for a walk. The warm weather meant there were quite a few Red Admiral and Clouded Yellow still flitting about along with singles of Speckled Wood and Small White and there were 2 Common Darters by the stream in the valley to the beach.

Small White

Common Darter

The usual birds were seen along my walk with 4 Stock Dove, 3 Raven, 2 Chiffchaff and 2 Gannets of note. The neap tide was also heading in and out on the rocks were 3 Mediterranean Gull, 2 Curlew, 2 Little Egret, 2 Ringed Plover, 2 Dunlin, 13 Turnstone, a Grey Heron and Oystercatchers but the highlight was my first Wembury Purple Sandpiper of the year.

Purple Sandpiper

Little Gull at Wembury, Arctic Tern at Hayle and Snow Bunting at Slapton Ley

After a night of yet more South-westerly gales and rain I headed out to Wembury on the 7:00am bus on Tuesday 27th October to have a look about. With the clocks having gone back an hour the previous Sunday it was lovely and light when I arrived off the bus and it was sunny, windy and feeling quite mild. As I walked down to the beach the sea was churning as it crashed into the beach on the dropping high tide and quite a few foolhardy surfers were out in the waves on their surfboards.

Wembury

I headed straight out to The Point and scanned the beach and waves as I went but I found nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual Oystercatchers, a Curlew, 2 Little Egret, 11 Turnstones and 4 Mallard. I counted 8 Mediterranean Gulls (5 adults, 2 second winters and a 1st winter) all hidden amongst the Black-headed Gulls but they were all very mobile and I'm sure more than this number were present.

Mediterranean Gull

Small birds were keeping themselves hunkered down in the vegetation but I did have some nice views of Cirl Buntings in the more sheltered spots and up in the Pheasant Field above the sewage farm there were at least 7 Stock in amongst the Woodpigeons when they were all regularly spooked up into the air.

Cirl Bunting

From the sewage pipe I had a scan offshore and picked up 4 adult Gannets heading west  but closer in to the beach a small Gull caught my eye as it pattered over the waters surface. Closer inspection revealed it to be a juvenile/1st winter Little Gull and I had some lovely views of it but I only managed to get a few record shots in the strong winds and harsh light. It would fly low over the water surface into the wind, pattering it's feet and picking at food as it went before flying back to start again - a very nice bird to find and only my second ever sighting of one at Wembury.

Little Gull

Little Gull

Little Gull

Little Gull

I had taken my telescope with me but had trouble actually using it, something has come loose in the main body of the scope, a square piece of black metal or plastic with a large circular hole cut out of it, it keeps moving around and obstructs some or all of the view and rattles when I move the scope. I've sent it back to Swarovski in Austria via the Plymouth branch of London Camera Exchange and feel quite lost without it but I don't know if it is fixable, when I'll get it back or how much it will cost me. To add to my woes my camera lens is playing up too, I've only had the camera for 18 months but it is out of warranty and it will need to go off to Panasonic for repair, again I don't know if it is fixable or how much it will cost me.

Anyway, having received my refund from GWR for my abandoned train journey to St.Ives last week and still with a hankering for a trip down into Cornwall I caught the train down to Penzance on Wednesday 28th October for a look about. I took my travel Nikon telescope with me and caught the 8:09am train using split ticketing for the journey to save a bit of money and arrived in Penzance on time to sunny skies, mild temperatures and a gentle breeze.

With a smattering of Snow Buntings being found across Cornwall and Devon recently I decided to walk along the seawall to Eastern Green Beach to look for the 2 reported birds there and where I saw a single bird 2 years ago. It was very busy with dogs and walkers along both the sea wall and beach, not surprising on a sunny day in the half term school holidays, but despite wandering around and back and forth I couldn't find the Snow Buntings. However I did find a nice female-type Black Redstart catching Flies amongst the boulders and offshore a flock of 6 Great Northern Diver were sat out on the water with 4 of them moulting out of summer plumage and 2 of them juveniles or winter plumaged birds.

Black Redstart

I walked back to Penzance and caught the train to St.Erth for a walk along the Hayle estuary. The tide was out on arriving at the causeway bridge overlooking the estuary and out on the mudflats a Pink-footed Goose was a surprise find amongst the roosting birds, it was stood on its own before eventually sitting down and going to sleep with its head under its wings and I never saw it awake again.

There were good numbers of Teal, Wigeon, Lapwing and Gulls present too along with the usual birds and including 3 Grey Plover, a Shelduck, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit and 4 Greenshank.

Teal

 

Teal

At Ryans Field another 2 Bar-tailed Godwit were seen along with a Curlew devouring a crab, a pair of Carrion Crows feeding on the corpse of a Canada Goose, a Kingfisher and a very showy Rock Pipit.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Curlew

Rock Pipit

There were another 8 Bar-tailed Godwit feeding in the Carnsew Pool where a female-type Scaup had been reported and I soon found it busily diving away and spending little time at the surface. However the highlight at the Pool was a juvenile Arctic Tern resting on the mud before flying off to fish over the Pool and the nearby estuary and presumably a bird displaced by the recent storms.

Scaup

Arctic Tern

Arctic Tern

I had arranged with my mate Mave to have a birdy day out on Friday 30th October and with a beautiful day of weather forecasted our plan was to visit somewhere based on the bird news the evening before and so we ended up going to Slapton Ley to look for a reported Snow Bunting. It was indeed a beautiful day, all sunny skies and feeling mild but with a brisk breeze blowing in off the sea and with the road along the Ley still closed following last winters storms we arrived at the Memorial Car Park via Slapton Village at around 10am.

The Snow Bunting was being reported as being seen along the footpath 100m South of the car park and so off we went looking for it but without success. A restorative cheese scone and coffee break sat watching the waves crashing in on the beach gave us some nice views of a juvenile Kittiwake, an adult Mediterranean Gull,  2 adult Gannets and a few Shag before we started our walk back towards the car park.

We met another birder who hadn't found the Snow Bunting either but eventually it gave itself up on the footpath not far from the car park, certainly not 100m away, but we were very pleased to find it and had some lovely views of a smart looking and, as usual, very confiding bird.

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

The usual birds were also seen along and on the Ley with the highlights being 3 calling Cetti's Warblers heard only in the Leyside reeds and scrub and 5 Great Crested Grebes out on the water but a surprise was a juvenile Wheatear along the beach which had been present for a few days and seemed to be having trouble flying properly.

Red Admiral

After some lunch we headed back over Dartmoor to Burrator Reservoir to look for Devils Fingers but we were out of luck although we did see a few Redwing snaffling down Holly berries in the trees and at Yelverton I found a Feathered Thorn and a Red-line Quaker on a quick look at the toilet block lights before I caught the bus back to Plymouth, a nice end to a very lovely day out.

Feathered Thorn

Saturday 31st October was another beautiful autumn day as I headed out to Wembury on the 7am bus. It was cool, breezy and misty when I arrived but it soon burnt off and warmed up as the sunshine got going which meant Butterflies were on the wing with 5 Red Admiral, a Speckled Wood and 6 Clouded Yellow including an helice type all seen.

Clouded Yellow

It was high tide so I tried to get to The Point for the wader roost before the dog walkers arrived but despite the early hour I was out of luck, not surprising on a sunny Saturday in the half term school holidays, however I did manage to see 5 Little Egret, 15 Turnstone, Oystercatchers and 7 Mediterranean Gulls (6 adults, 1 1st winter).

Wembury Mewstone

Woodpigeons were milling around overhead, roosting in trees or feeding in fields but 5 flocks of 200+ birds each were clearly on the move and seen flying east with 2 of the flocks seen out over the sea. Also amongst the more local movement of Woodpigeons were at least 60 Stock Dove but more were undoubtedly present.

Woodpigeons on the move

The usual birds were seen on my walk with a Goldcrest, 2 Chiffchaff, a Peregrine and 2 Redwing of note but the highlight was a Fieldfare flying east over The Point before landing in a tree, at first I thought it was a Mistle Thrush as it flew past right in front of me until I got a view of it's grey rump as it flew away.