We headed out to Stover for a visit on Thursday 6th February, it was cool and sunny and the walk was not too muddy underfoot. The highlight was a Marsh Tit at the feeders with Coal, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits although it took a bit of a wait to finally catch sight of it. Also present around the feeders were 2 Stock Doves, a male Pheasant, a Buzzard, 2 Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Robin and some very plump Grey Squirrels.
Stuart's Wildlife Diary
Tuesday, 11 February 2025
Stover and a Return to The Exe
Saturday, 8 February 2025
Wembury and The Exe
After all the excitement of Slimbridge it was back to more usual local fare on Monday 3rd February as I caught the 9:05am bus out to Wembury for a walk. It was a sunny and fresh morning and surprisingly quiet at Wembury again with only a few people and dogs about (not that I'm complaining), it was also quiet on the birding front too but I managed a few interesting sightings.
It was high tide when I arrived and Oystercatchers were roosting out on the rocks while 17 Turnstone were feeding on the seaweed mass at the top of the beach. There were 9 Little Egrets roosting in the wheatfield with Herring Gulls and Black-headed Gulls and amongst them I picked out an adult Mediterranean Gull and an adult Common Gull. Later there were 3 adult and a 1st winter Common Gull feeding together offshore but again I couldn't find any Gannets passing by.
I had a look in the sunflower field at The Point following reports of Reed Bunting and Brambling being seen there amongst the finches and buntings. The field seemed empty at first except for a very smart male Reed Bunting perched up on a dead sunflower head, only my 3rd sighting of one at Wembury, but I could see small flocks of birds flying about at the back of the field before dropping out of view so I went to investigate. Eventually I found around 100 Linnet and 70 Chaffinch, the numbers being noticeably lower than on my last visit, and there were also Skylarks, Cirl Buntings and Goldfinch mixed in with them along with the/a male Reed Bunting. A Kestrel perched up on the telegraph wires was keeping an eye on their activities too.