A Quiet October Continues

My least favourite month of the year is in full swing (and thankfully now over half way through), I have never liked October very much although the birding can be quite good, unfortunately this year it hasn't been too exciting (yet).

Monday 16th October was grey and claggy but with some grotty weather forecasted for the rest of the week we headed out for a walk to the Avon Dam. There had been recent reports of Ring Ouzels here but as expected it was a Rouzel-less walk with very little else seen either - the only things of note were a flyover Raven and 2 Siskins, a Red Admiral flying by and a few furtive Blackbirds snaffling down Hawthorn berrys.

Tuesday 17th October was dry, overcast and very windy with a strong easterly breeze blowing and so I headed out to The Plym for a short walk on the morning high tide. Rain was forecasted for later in the day but it actually remained dry. It was a very high tide and Blaxton Meadow was well flooded but trying to roost with the Redshank were 32 Curlew, 3 Dunlin, 11 Greenshank and a Black-tailed Godwit. There were 8 Canada Geese and Mallards enjoying the feeding on the waterlogged grass and it was good to see the return of 4 Shelduck and 8 Wigeon (3 male) to the Meadow.

Wigeon

Elsewhere it was a 4 raptor day with singles of Buzzard, Kestrel, Peregrine and Sparrowhawk overhead and flight views only of a Green Woodpecker, 3 Jay, Skylarks and Meadow Pipits. A Chiffchaff was seen feeding with a mixed Tit flock which included a single Coal Tit and another Chiffchaff was heard only. A Common Sandpiper and a Grey Wagtail were along the river but a sad sight was a Convolvulous Hawkmoth larva found squashed on the footpath, still alive but only just although it would eventually have succumbed to the British winter anyway.

Convolvulous Hawkmoth Caterpillar

With news of a Cattle Egret roosting on Blaxton Meadow coming through on Whats App on the morning of Thursday 19th October I decided to head out for a quick look before a dentists appointment. Sadly it was not meant to be due to 2 workmen walking along the Meadow wall just as arrived on site and disturbing all the birds roosting on the high tide. However there was a Mute Swan and a redhead Goosander floating around on the floodwater of the Meadow and 10 Greenshank roosting on the sluice gate despite the disturbance. The usual Little Egret, Curlew, Redshank, Mallard and Canada Geese were present too but I couldn't linger for long and had to get back for my visit to the dentists.

We had a walk around Saltram on Friday 20th October, it was warm and sunny but eventually turned to some very heavy showers. I kept an eye out for the Cattle Egret but there was no sign of it but there were 9 Wigeon, a Shelduck and a Black-tailed Godwit on Blaxton Meadow amongst the usual roosting birds and a group of 5 Ring-necked Parakeets were screeching over the tree tops. 

I had found a Walnut tree in Saltram Park recently and so we went to investigate and managed to find a few Walnuts down on the ground, getting the nuts out of their green cases was fairly easy but it didn't half stain our hands! We are going to have a go at drying them but if it's not successful then the Grey Squirrels in Beaumont park are in for a treat!