Social media gets a lot of bad press these days but it also has a positive side too as I found out on Sunday 18th August. There had been various Twitter/X, Devon Birds website and WhatsApp reports the previous day of a flock of White Storks heading east along the coast into Devon, presumably birds from the reintroduction scheme at Knepp in Sussex, and on Sunday afternoon WhatsApp messages came through of the flock circling over Plymouth Hoe before heading inland. I had a quick look out of my living room window and there they were, heading east right over my house!
I estimated there were around 60 birds soaring together with Herring Gulls mixed in with them too as they headed towards The Plym. I lost sight of them but other local birders got onto them via continuing social media reports with sightings coming in later from birders in Cornwall as they continued their journey westwards.
Without social media I and many others wouldn't have seen them and getting real time posts meant we were able to get onto them very quickly. An interesting sighting indeed and a very unexpected house tick (although they are technically feral birds!).
I had a good look at my photos later and in one photo counted 65 birds so my estimate of 60 wasn't too far off although there were undoubtedly a few more than 65 present. Herring Gulls were also present in the Stork flock and despite their noticeably smaller size they did hamper counting as they swirled around overhead in amongst the Storks.
I caught the 7am bus out to Wembury for a walk on Tuesday 20th August, it was grey and breezy but did become sunny as the morning wore on. On arriving I headed up to the church and then walked up along the cliff path to the first group of houses where I set my scope up for a look about offshore. Through my binoculars I had picked up Gannets and Gulls flying about but with my scope I found Manx Shearwaters and Kittiwakes flying around too. There was a large feeding feenzy going on out past The Mewstone, there weren't any Common Dolphins present this time but amongst the thronging birds I picked up a fast moving pale phase Arctic Skua and a more languid Cory's Shearwater both moving west while further offshore again 6 Common Scoter flew west too. Not a bad little sea watch!
I headed back down to the main car park where I bumped into Jenny and Carol again (the third time in a week!) before meeting up with my mate Mavis to begin our walk out to The Point. The tide was just on the turn and heading out and along the beach we found 2 Little Egret, 2 Common Sandpipers, 5 Turnstone (1 in summer plumage), Mediterranean Gulls and Oystercatchers.
Cirl Bunting, Stonechat and Whitethroat were also seen along the footpath with a noisy young Buzzard attracting the attentions of Carrion Crows as it flew along the back of the wheat field.
A Long-winged Conehead, 2 Dark Bush Crickets, a male Beautiful Demoiselle, 3 Bee Wolf (1 with Bee prey), a Holly Blue and very fresh looking Speckled Woods were also of note before we finished off our walk at the cafe for a cup of tea and a pasty lunch.
A quick walk around Burrator Reservoir on Wednesday 21st August was very quiet with 4 redhead Goosanders out on the water, an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull with 15 Cormorants roosting near the dam and Sundews by the roadside the highlights. We did have a wander around the arboretum for the first time ever and found the dragonfly ponds but with it being overcast and cool there were no dragonflies to be seen.
The following day was going to be wet and windy so I decided to head out to Wembury for a proper seawatch. I caught the 6:30 bus and on arriving at Wembury I walked out to The Point in the grey and windy conditions to set up my scope at my usual bench. The visibility wasn't great but at least it was dry although the rain front duly arrived at around 8:30 when visibility really dropped.
As usual most birds were too far out past The Mewstone to call with the poor visibility not helping either but closer in there was a constant trickle of Gannets and Manx Shearwaters flying west into the strong wind, the Gannets a mix of adults and varying plumaged juveniles and the Manx Shearwaters mostly in little groups. A few Fulmar, Kittiwake and Mediterranean Gull were picked up too but the highlights were 5 Cory's, 4 Sooty and 2 Balearic Shearwaters, nothing like the totals seen at nearby Penlee Point but very pleasing none the less.
The rain came and went over the course of the morning and visibility waxed and waned, when it was really bad I would take a wander about before returning to the bench when it improved. During my wanderings in the worst periods of weather I checked out the Gulls roosting along the beach, I didn't find any Yellow-legged Gulls but amongst the usual Herring, Black-headed, Great Black-backed and Mediterranean Gulls I did find a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a 1st winter Common Gull.
Also seen along the beach were 4 Little Egret, a Curlew and a Whimbrel along with the usual noisy Oystercatchers. Other birds of note were 2 Buzzard overhead, a bedraggled looking male Stonechat and the usual Cirl Buntings being very skulky although one male was heard singing away despite the dire weather.
The rain cleared through and the wind eased at around 12:30 and the birds offshore melted away and so it was time to head back home. As I walked back to the bus stop the sun did eventually appear and 4 Speckled Wood and 3 Common Lizards were seen along the way.
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