Well, Christmas 2024 came and Christmas 2024 went and while it was quite a pleasant experience for a change I am glad it is all over for another 12 months.
We spent "The Big Day" itself in Suffolk with my Mum which involved lots of food, drink and TV and it was all very restful, cosy and enjoyable, not so restful was the drive back to Plymouth afterwards. It was just a 6 hour journey on the way up to Suffolk on Christmas Eve with sunny skies, mostly clear roads and lots of Red Kites soaring overhead but the return journey on Friday 27th December was an utter shocker with mist, mizzle, crawling traffic on chockablock roads and no Red Kites and it took an exhausting 9 hours to get back home.
Anyway, 2025 has begun and with New Years Day being a wet, wild and windy affair there was no birding for me and so we stayed home and had our Christmas Dinner Day instead. My first bird of the year was Ring-necked Parakeet with birds heard flying overhead from their nearby roost as I made an early morning cup of tea in the kitchen. Unusually we don't have a Robin holding territory in the back yard this winter so there was no mournful singing at 4 O'clock in the morning as in previous years but we do have a wintering Wren which put in an appearance as it searched for food in the undergrowth. I also saw Herring Gulls, Feral Pigeons, Woodpigeons and a Magpie on occassional looks out of the windows during the course of the day.
Thursday 2nd January was a total contrast in weather conditions, all cold and crisp and sunny and so we headed out to Burrator for a walk where it would be less wet and muddy underfoot following yesterday's rain. It was very busy with people and cars though but we had an enjoyable walk all the same although there were very few birds on show as often seems to be the case these days on a winters walk here.
The white Feral Goose was present with the Mallards out on the water and had been joined by a second bird although they were keeping well apart. There were 4 Cormorants resting on the floating chain bridge along with a few Herring Gulls while a single Black-headed Gull was seen flying around overhead. A Wren, a Great Tit and a few Robins were the only small birds seen with a few Magpie and Carrion Crow noted too before we headed home to escape the building crowds.
Saturday 4th January was cold, frosty, calm and overcast but with rain forecasted for later in the day I headed out early(ish) on the bus to Saltram and The Plym for my first proper days birding of the year. High tide was around 8:30am and on arriving at Blaxton Meadow it was well flooded on the spring tide and waders were struggling to find a spot out of the water to roost on. Curlew, Redshank and Oystercatcher were present though along with 8 Greenshank but there were no Dunlins to be seen. However the Ducks were enjoying the high water levels and amongst the feeding Mallards and Wigeon were a male Teal and the nomadic female Red-crested Pochard.
Around the Park the usual birds were seen with the highlights being a Chiffchaff, a Treecreeper, a Green Woodpecker, a pair of Stonechat, around 10 Siskins feeding in the tops of the Alders, a male Great Spotted Woodpecker and 5 Bullfinch. A single Grey Squirrel was my first mammal of the year.
Out on the river on the dropping tide I was pleased to get some good views of 3 Great Northern Divers, a female Goosander, 3 Little Grebes, 2 Shags, 3 Turnstones and 2 Common Sandpipers but there was no sign of the recently reported Red-breasted Mergansers. I eventually found a feeding flock of Dunlin but there was also no sign of the recently reported Curlew Sandpiper amongst them either (presumably last years bird returning for the winter).
With a total of 59 species seen it was a good start to the year list and it was nice to be out and about birding after a 2 week hiatus despite all the people and dogs present around the Park, even nicer was getting home before the rain arrived.
