I was invited out on 2 day trips on Tuesday 27th August, one with Mavis to The Exe to look for Osprey and one with Dave to Chudleigh Knighton to look for Brown Hairstreak, but with a mornings dentist appointment (for this ongoing wretched tooth of mine) I sadly had to decline both offers. To add insult to injury as I was leaving the house for my dentist appointment a message came through that a Pale-bellied Brent Goose had been found on The Plym!
On returning home from the dentists I wasn't sure what to do with the rest of my day but another message came through with news of a male Red-backed Shrike on Chelson Meadow - decision made!
I caught the bus to Laira Bridge and then walked up The Ride, the tide was almost high and out on the water there were 2 adult and a juvenile Shag. On arriving at the Meadow local birders were on site watching the Shrike and I quickly found it perched up on a bramble bush where it sat for a good 15 minutes looking very, very smart although it was a little distant. This is now the third Red-backed Shrike I've seen here and they have all been males, it's also my 100th bird species for The Plym for 2024.
I headed over to Blaxton Meadow for the high tide in the forlorn hope that the Brent Goose may have joined the roosting Canada Geese but it was not to be. The usual birds were present though - 12 Greenshank, 12 Dunlin, 16 Oystercatcher, Redshank, Curlew, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Gulls including an adult Mediterranean Gull, a Kingfisher and Mandarin Ducks. A tardy Swift was noted overhead and a male Beautiful Demoiselle wàs flitting about in the shrubbery.
I headed out to Wembury on the 7am bus on Thursday 29th August, it was clear and chilly and a beautiful autumnal feeling morning but it soon became a hot and sunny day. On arriving at Wembury I headed up to the church and then walked along the clifftop path towards The Yealm, I was hoping a herd of cows would be present in the fields along the path to lure in any passing Yellow Wagtails but the cows weren't there and the fields were Yellow Wagtail-less. However a Spotted Flycatcher, a Willow Warbler, at least 5 Bullfinch, a male Blackcap, Chiffchaffs, Whitethroats, 2 Meadow Pipit and a flyby Grey Heron were some compensation. The Spotted Flycatcher was trying to feed in a Pine tree but kept getting hassled by Chiffchaffs and Robins and eventually it disappeared and I tried to turn the Meadow Pipits into Tree Pipits but they were definently Meadows!
I headed back to the church and then on to The Point, the tide was ebbing and there were Gulls roosting out on the rocks and feeding in the stubble field, at least 40 Mediterranean Gulls were present in with the usual Black-headed, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls along with an adult and a juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull. Oystercatchers were present along the beach too with 3 Canada Geese and 2 Little Egrets.
Overhead 4 Swallows, 2 Buzzards, a Sparrowhawk and 3 Kestrels (1 male, 2 juveniles) were seen and offshore a single adult Gannet headed east. The usual Stonechats, Linnets and Cirl Buntings were seen with a juvenile Wheatear found in the horse field and a Green Woodpecker in the nearby Pine trees.
A Hornet Robberfly was too quick for the camera along with a Hummingbird Hawkmoth but a Painted Lady was more obliging. A few Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood, Red Admiral and Common Blue were on the wing along with a single Peacock, 3 Small Copper, a Small White, 2 Large White and a Green-veined White but I am still waiting to find that elusive first Clouded Yellow of the year.
It was forecasted to be a dry and warm day on Saturday 31st August and so I decided to visit Exmouth on the train. Exmouth has a bit of a reputation with me for being a very dippy place and I tend to keep it off my radar because of this but every autumn it always attracts good numbers of Yellow Wagtails in the coastal fields outside of the town and I've always wanted to go and have a look for them.
Being a Saturday the trains were cheaper and with my Devon and Cornwall Railcard the fare was only £9.30 return, a bargain, and I set off on the 07:25 train from Plymouth.
On arriving in Exmouth I walked to Maer Lane to search the grassy fields for Yellow Wagtails but the fields were cow-less although fresh cowpats and chewed grass were evidence of their recent prescence. I eventually found 2 fields containing cows, one with 4 distant bullocks sitting down in the long grass and another nearby with a herd of young cows and a farmer in amongst them and so there were no Yellow Wagtails to be seen.
A noisy Peregrine, a Sand Martin flying over amongst the Swallows, a singing Chiffchaff, a flyover Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Golden-ringed Dragonfly and a Southern Hawker provided some interest while I staked out the fields. I also saw a small brown and orange butterfly/moth flitting about a few times in some Ash trees, very similar to what I saw at Chudleigh Knighton. It never settled and always disappeared from sight, I'm not sure if it was a Brown Hairstreak but there was Blackthorn in the nearby hedges close to the Ash trees.
I waited around enjoying the scenic views over The Exe towards Dawlish Warren, the farmer eventually left the cow field and the bullocks eventually stood up and started feeding and finally I heard that delightful call as 5 Yellow Wagtails flew in, landed in a tree and then flew into the field with the young cows. As I watched them in the field 5 became 6, 6 became 9, 9 became 11 and then at least 20 were present, where they came from I don't know. I managed some good views but it was difficult at times due to the long grass and the cows getting in the way but they were a delight to watch as always, very smart looking birds and totally neurotic.
They were then all spooked by something and flew over to the bullock field where they showed a little closer but viewing was still tricky.
It was soon time to tear myself away and head back to Exmouth for the next part of my birding day. I grabbed some lunch from M & S and then walked along the footpath to view The Exe off Mudbank, settling down on a bench to eat my sandwich and setting up my scope for a scan of the estuary on the incoming tide.
Amongst the Dunlin, Oystercatcher and Ringed Plover out on the mud were 2 Sanderling, 2 Turnstone, a Whimbrel and a Bar-tailed Godwit. However my attentions were more focused on the upper river and eventually I picked up 2 Ospreys hunting over the water off Topsham and Turf. I lost track of one of them but followed the other with my scope as it successfully caught a fish on its third attempt and flew off high to the east. The views were sadly distant but I was very pleased to see them and it was a nice end to my day out, at least Exmouth didn't live up to its dippy reputation this time.
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