Tuesday, 11 February 2025

Stover and a Return to The Exe

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.

Out on the lake amongst the Mallard, Coot and Moorhen were 9 quite tame Tufted Ducks (6 males), 6 quite tame Goosanders (3 pairs), a twitchy pair of Wigeon, 2 Canada Geese, 2 Cormorants and 4 Mute Swans.

Tufted Duck

Goosanders

It was sunny but cold in a biting easterly wind as I headed off to Exminster Marsh on Friday 7th February. I caught the train to Starcross and on arriving I decided to ditch the bus and walk to the Marsh instead so saving me some money and shifting some of my post-Christmas lard in the process.

The walk was heavy going in the cold wind and eventually the clouds rolled in making it feel even colder especially along the seawall from Powderham to Turf. It was surprisingly sheltered though when I finally arrived at the lock gates and I quickly found the Long-billed Dowitcher here happily feeding out on the mud and quite close to the path.

Long-billed Dowitcher 

Long-billed Dowitcher 

Long-billed Dowitcher 

It was busily feeding away on its own along the shoreline and rarely stopped for more than a few seconds and at times it came very close. It seems to have settled here for the moment as it continues to overwinter in various spots around The Exe but the views today were by far the best I've ever had. It was an interesting bird to watch, like a cross between a Snipe and a Bar-tailed Godwit, and appearing to be quite plain too until a close up look revealed beautifully intricate plumage details.

I continued my walk up along the canal to the viewing platform, the wind was evil here so I didn't stay long but I did manage to see the wintering male Scaup out on the lagoon amongst Tufted Ducks and a pair of Pochard. It was now in adult plumage and looking much smarter than when I saw it at Bowling Green Marsh in December, sadly though it was fast asleep and only occassionally and very briefly woke up before returning to its slumbers.

I soon had enough of the cold wind so I returned to the sheltered lock gates for another look at the Long-billed Dowitcher. It was still happily feeding away out on the mud and was a little closer again as the tide headed in and this time it was keeping company with an equally confiding Greenshank.

Greenshank and Long-billed Dowitcher 

Greenshank and Long-billed Dowitcher 

Greenshank and Long-billed Dowitcher

All the usual birds were seen along my walk too including Grey Plover, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Avocet, Pintail, Shoveler, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Curlew, Dunlin, Redshank and Brent Geese. Also of note were a Rock Pipit at the lock gates, a Little Grebe on the lagoon, a Snipe, a Kestrel, a male Red-breasted Merganser and 3 Stonechat (2 males).

Brent Goose

The walk back to Starcross was just as windblown but this time I walked along the sheltered cycle path instead of the exposed footpath which was much more pleasant. Along the way the Fallow Deer were showing well in Powderham Park and the Grey Herons were back on their treetop nests despite the wind. Eventually I arrived back at Starcross and caught the train back to Plymouth, I had considered stopping off at Dawlish Warren for a quick look about but the wind and choppy seas put me off that idea and I headed straight home instead. A good day out though despite the conditions and all for the princely sum of £7.30 on the train (with my Devon and Cornwall Railcard).

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.

Reed Bunting

Other sightings of note were a Firecrest and a Grey Squirrel in a village garden, a female Sparrowhawk hunting along the footpath at The Point, 2 Chiffchaff flycatching along the beach and a Blue Tit nest prospecting a hole in a telegraph pole.

It was a cold and frosty but sunny start on Wednesday 5th February as I caught the bus out to Plympton to rendezvous with my mate Mavis for a birding day out at Topsham. After getting off the bus at St.Marys Bridge in Plympton I had a look along the stream as I walked up to our meeting point, there were no Dippers present but I did find 3 noisy Grey Wagtails and a female Goosander.

The drive up to Bowling Green Marsh was uneventful and we were ensconced in the quiet bird hide by 09:45am as the tide was heading in. There were lots of birds out on the Marsh and with the rising tide small flocks of waders began to appear to roost and we had a great time scanning through them.

Highlights were a Ruff, 2 Spotted Redshanks, 200+ Avocets, 5+ Snipe and 2 male Tufted Ducks amongst the usual Redshank, Lapwing, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit, Greenshank, Teal, Wigeon, Pintail, Shelduck, Mallard and Shoveler. Amongst the Canada Geese were 7+ Greylag Geese and 2 Swan Geese and a few Brent Geese were seen flying over to the estuary.

Shovelers

Pintails

Canada Geese

Swan Geese 

Spotted Redshank amongst the Redshank

We headed over to the viewing platform as the tide began to drop and as we scanned across the slowly appearing mud the waders from the Marsh arrived and we had some great views of the Ruff, a Spotted Redshank, Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits and we also found a few Curlew, an Oystercatcher and 2 Bar-tailed Godwits. Out on the river we also found 5 Red-breasted Mergansers with the 3 males busily displaying away to the 2 females present with them. An all too brief view of a Marsh Harrier was had as it flew over the reedbeds and up The Clyst and a Chiffchaff was seen flitting about in the brambles.

Redshank and Spotted Redshank

Onwards to The Goat Walk where we had lovely views of feeding Avocets along with distant Grey and Golden Plovers and Brent Geese. A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers flew upriver with 5 Turnstones and in the nearby fields we had some nice views of Redwings and a male Kestrel. 

Avocet

Kestrel

A great day out as always with some good birds seen, helped by the mostly sunny and calm weather and the high tide, and it was good to catch up with Mavis and share Christmas Cake and a bit of a laugh.

Monday, 3 February 2025

A Brilliant Day Trip to Slimbridge

Whooper Swan, Slimbridge

It was an early start on Saturday 1st February as I headed off to Slimbridge for the day, a trip postponed from December last year. As I made myself a cup of tea in the kitchen at the back of the house I was delighted to finally hear my first garden Robin of this winter  quietly singing away in the darkness outside despite it being the ungodly hour of 5:30am. Even better was a Robin singing away on the next door neighbours roof as I left the house to walk to the train station, it was brighter at the front of the house with the streetlamps and pub lights blazing away and the Robin was absolutely belting it out in the darkness, a joy to see and hear at last.

Robin (seen at Slimbridge)

I caught the train from Plymouth to Cam & Dursley as usual and with the return fare costing £95.50 I used Split Ticketing again and got the price down to £47.45! I caught exactly the same trains at exactly the same times but it was cheaper because I purchased 4 separate return tickets instead of the one, ie, Plymouth to Tiverton, Tiverton to Taunton, Taunton to Yate and Yate to Cam & Dursley returns - a totally ridiculous situation!

The journey went smoothly and to time and instead of booking (expensive) taxis to and from the station to WWT Slimbridge I registered for The Robin service with Gloucester County Council and arranged for a community minibus to transport me instead. It only cost me the grand sum of £6.00 return so saving me a good £35.00, a fantastic bargain!

The Robin ran to time too and I arrived at Slimbridge at around 9:45am to find it packed with people. It's quite busy on a Saturday in December when I usually visit but this was much more so and with it being a cold and grey but dry and calm day there were lots of families present with lots of kids running around everywhere, all hopefully the birders of the future. However they mostly kept to the collection areas so there wasn't too much disturbance in the birding areas but there were a lot of birders present too and the space in the hides was a bit tight at times.

Ring-necked Duck from the collection

Despite all this I ended up having a brilliant visit and managed to see all of my target birds bar one (Green-winged Teal) with the highlights being as follows:- 

Estuary Tower - a Little Stint and a Ringed Plover showed very well feeding on one of the small islands out on The Dumbles scrape before flying off. A Ross's Goose was feeding amongst the Feral flock of Barnacle Geese but I didn't pay much attention to it although I did find a distant Barnacle Goose sporting a white neck ring with black characters that unfortunately I couldn't read. A distant Peregrine was perched up on a fence and a Kestrel hovered overhead. 

South Lake Discovery Hide - a Spoonbill was asleep here before being seen later very much awake on The Tack Piece. The Green-winged Teal was reported from here but I failed to find it although 11 Avocet and a Great Crested Grebe showed very nicely.

Spoonbill - feeding on The Tack Piece

Kingfisher Hide - a Treecreeper, a Coal Tit and a pair of Siskins were seen around the bird feeders along with Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits. There were 2 Little Grebe on the pool in front of the Kingfisher nesting bank with a few Gadwalls, Mallards and Shovelers. Around 30 European White-fronted Geese flew into the fields having been seen earlier as part of a larger flock on The Tack Piece.

Siskin

Willow Hide - a Water Rail showed very well beneath the bird feeders and a Grey Squirrel was trying to chew into the containers to steal the food.

Water Rail

The Tack Piece - it was quite the spectacle here with birds everywhere but the highlight for me were 2 Whooper Swans in amongst the Bewick's Swans, my first at Slimbridge. One had recently been captured and ringed with the unfortunate letters ASS and had then been joined by another unringed bird.

Whooper Swan ASS

Sleepy ASS

Whooper Swans

There were quite a few ringed Bewick's Swans present too but sadly there are no cygnets present this year and the number of wintering adults is down too.

Bewick's Swans with assorted leg bling

Whoopers and a Bewick's Swan

A Whooper and Bewick's Swans

Whooper (l) and Bewick's (r)

Whoopers and a Bewick's Swan 

A Whooper and Bewick's Swans 

A Buzzard was sat up in a bare tree at the back of The Tack Piece much to the consternation of the Golden Plover, Lapwing and Dunlin flock present which regularly took to the air in spectacular fashion. The Redshank, 4 Curlew, 5 Snipe and 20+ Ruff present weren't so fussed and stayed put as did the 6 Common Cranes, 2 of which were ringed.

Ruff, Redshank, Shelduck and Lapwing

A Red Kite flying over also caused mayhem but a more distant Marsh Harrier hunting over the fields to the north went unnoticed. A Little Egret flew over too but looked tiny in comparison to the 3 Great White Egrets which flew over together, one bird flew low and slowly in an almost territorial style flight as the 2 higher birds powered through above it.

Pochard, Shoveler and Pintail were all year ticks here too and 3 Roe Deer were seen feeding along the hedgerow amongst the European White-fronted Goose flock.

Pintail

Tufted Duck

Wigeon

All too soon it was time to catch The Robin minibus back to Cam & Dursley station to start the journey home to Plymouth but before being picked up I had a look for a reported Glossy Ibis in the fields outside of the main entrance and I very luckily caught a sight of it before it flew off into the reserve.

Glossy Ibis - a record shot before it flew off!

The journey home ran just as smoothly as the mornings did and I arrived home tired but very happy after a great day's birding. Slimbridge is probably the furthest I travel on public transport for a days birding, it's a shame it isn't closer to Plymouth as I would love to visit it more often despite it always having a whiff of plastic-ness about it.

Friday, 31 January 2025

Double Dipping!

With a Pacific Diver being reported off Marazion and the Booted Eagle still being present in the surrounding area I bit the bullet and headed down to Penzance on the train for a look about on Saturday 25th January. I decided to concentrate on just birding the Marazion area and to see how things panned out, I wasn't expecting too much but as ever I was realistically optimistic.

I arrived in Penzance at around 9:30am on what was a cold and fresh and mostly sunny day and I started off by having a quick look offshore from the bus station but there was very little to see out on the water. I also failed to find any Black Redstart here but there were 2 Purple Sandpipers feeding amongst a small flock of Turnstones down on the rocks, the first time I think I've seem them here before. 

I caught the 10am bus to Marazion and had a look around the Marsh from the roadside viewing area, there were good numbers of Teal, Snipe, Mallard, Canada Goose, Moorhen and Grey Heron present along with 3 male Wigeon, a pair of Stonechat, a Chiffchaff and 2 Little Egret. A loose group of 5 Raven showed very well close to the path as they fed on something unseen in the long grass but there was no sign of the Booted Eagle.

Raven

Raven

Marazion Marsh - the Booted Eagle was being seen over the Pine trees in the distance

News came through of the Pacific Diver being seen nearby on the east side of St.Michaels Mount so I headed over there for a look. Viewing into the harsh and hazy light proved difficult and there was quite a swell still after Storm Eowyn moved through the previous day, I had a brief sighting of possibly the Pacific Diver and also a brief sighting of a probable Black-throated Diver amongst the 20+Great Northern Divers present but I couldn't confirm either of them.

A large flock of Gulls were feeding in the swell close to the beach, mostly Herring and Black-headed Gulls with a few Common and Mediterranean amongst them. The tide was heading in and roosting out on the rocks were 8 Redshank, Turnstones, Sanderlings and 7 Purple Sandpiper while a female type Black Redstart was catching flies along the beach and 4 Chiffchaffs were feeding in a village garden.

A consolation for dipping the Pacific Diver was having a Philps pasty for lunch from the shop in Marazion, I bought a standard sized one but it was massive and with it being hotter than a nuclear reactor it took me a little while to eat it - it was a tough job but I managed it!

While I was not seeing the Pacific Diver at St.Michaels Mount the Booted Eagle was putting in appearances at Marazion Marsh and so I headed back there for another look about, the same birds were seen again along with a Sparrowhawk overhead but there was no Booted Eagle. A Marsh Harrier hunting over the reed beds was a surprise find though, my first one ever at this site but it unfortunately disappeared as quickly as it arrived.

Marsh Harrier

Despite further sightings of the Booted Eagle coming through on the bird news channels I failed to see it (and further sightings of the Pacific Diver had been reported too!) but with time marching on and the light fading I had to pack up and catch the bus back to Penzance.

Before catching the train back to Plymouth I had a quick look around Penzance, again there was very little offshore but there were Turnstones, 24 Purple Sandpiper and 23 Sanderling roosting at the Jubilee Pool, a nice sighting to end a double dip day. The Booted Eagle was also reported again after I had left Marazion, some days the birding God's do not smile down on me, but despite the double dipping it had been a very enjoyable day out.

Turnstone

Purple Sandpiper

Sanderling

It was grey and windy on Tuesday 28th January but I headed out anyway for a walk along The Plym despite the ominous looking clouds. There had been an accident along The Embankment and the road was closed off so I caught the bus to Laira Bridge and walked up to Blaxton Meadow and back, getting increasingly wet as the grey clouds started to produce heavy showers which then eventually turned into rain. 

Blaxton Meadow

The tide was low but heading in and as I scanned across the water I found a Great Northern Diver, a Shag, 2 Little Grebe, 5 Goosander (2 males, 3 females), 2 immature Mute Swans and a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers. The usual birds were feeding and roosting out on the mudflats too - Curlew, Oystercatcher, Shelduck, Redshank and Gulls but just 4 Dunlin - while Blaxton Meadow was full of water despite the low tide and only contained a small flock of hunkered down Wigeon.

It was cold and sunny on Thursday 30th January which made for a nice change after all the wind and rain we've had recently due to Storms Eowyn, Herminia and Ivo having rattled through in quick succession. I decided to make the most of the change in the weather and caught the train down to Newquay for the day, a trip I've only ever made once before back in 2014, and I had forgotten how scenic the journey is from Par to Newquay but also how slow the journey is. I also hadn't realised how tight the connection was in Par, only 7 minutes, and with the Plymouth to Par train getting progressively later and later I only just made it otherwise I would have had to have waited another 2 hours for the next train!

On arriving in Newquay I headed down to the boating lake to look for the long-staying Long-tailed Duck which I quickly found busily diving away, my first sighting of one since 2021. At times it came very close to the path and gave some great views but it was never at the surface for more than a few seconds before diving again.

Long-tailed Duck

Long-tailed Duck

Long-tailed Duck

Long-tailed Duck

I then headed up to the golf course near Fistral Beach, Choughs are often seen here but I was out of luck today. A good day of weather for birding is also a good day for golf and the small course was very busy with golfers but there were plenty of Jackdaw about along with a few Carrion Crow, 2 Magpies, House Sparrows, Starlings, a Kestrel and a male Stonechat as I walked around the perimeter footpath.

I walked over to the nearby Headland Hotel where there were good numbers of Gannets diving away quite close to shore and also present were Shags, Kittiwakes and Guillemots but there was no sign of the recently reported Humpback Whales. A female Stonechat, 2 Raven, a Rock Pipit and a Greenfinch were seen along the cliff path and on the rocks 2 Turnstone and 4 Oystercatcher were also noted.

And so it had been an interesting day out, Newquay is a lot bigger than I remembered but the town is not a pretty place despite its stunning location. I was pleased to get some nice views of the Long-tailed Duck but not so pleased to experience another double dip day with no sightings of Chough or Humpback Whale to be had, some days you really just can't have it all.