It was off to Wembury for my first visit of the year on Tuesday 7th January on what was a cold but sunny morning with occassional light showers. On arriving off the bus it was nice to find very few people and dogs out and about despite the decentish weather and the paths while very muddy were not as bad as I expected them to be after all the recent rain we have had.
It was a high spring tide and along the beach amongst the roosting Oystercatchers were a Curlew, 31 Turnstone, 7 Little Egret and 14 Mallard (9 males) along with a lone Redshank which was a bit of a surprise. A single Canada Goose flew past towards The Yealm and offshore just 1 Fulmar was seen flying around with none present on The Mewstone.
A very smart looking male Bullfinch and an equally smart looking Firecrest at The Point were nice finds while Skylarks were heard half-heartedly singing overhead. Later another Firecrest was found in the wood near the riding stables in the company of a Goldcrest which it regularly chased off and a female Bullfinch was also found in a village garden in the company of a Chiffchaff and a male Blackcap.
There was no sight nor sound of any Cirl Buntings, not unusual at this time of year, but 3 pairs of Stonechats, 2 Grey Wagtails and 4 Song Thrush were of note. A good check through all the Pipits feeding along the beach revealed only Rock and Meadow varieties with no sign of any Water Pipit amongst them.
A brief flyby Red Admiral was an early year first and a surprise in the chilly conditions although it was seen in a sunny and sheltered spot and 2 Rabbits were found in the horse fields nibbling away on the grass.
It was a cold, frosty and sunny day on Thursday 9th January as I headed out to Saltram and The Plym for a look about on the incoming tide. On stepping off the bus at Marsh Mills at around 10:30am I was pleased to find 2 Dippers at Longbridge in either courtship or territorial display as they called and chased after each other before disappearing off downriver. Also seen along the river on the walk down to Blaxton Meadow were a Kingfisher, 2 Common Sandpiper, 4 Little Grebe and a juvenile Mute Swan, presumably one of last years fledglings. A Firecrest, 2 Coal Tit and 3 Goldcrest were also seen in the riverside vegetation.
I met up with my mate Mavis at the bird hide overlooking Blaxton Meadow, the tide was coming in and amongst all the usual birds present were 2 adult Common Gull, an adult Mediterranean Gull, a male Teal, a Kingfisher, an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull and a female Goosander. A Curlew with a yellow leg ring was also seen, I couldn't read it but assume it is the usual Dartmoor bird.
There was a large flock of Dunlin feeding out on the mud right in front of the hide, I set up my scope to have a good look through them in the hope of finding the recently reported Curlew Sandpiper amongst them but with no luck, they were very nervous and flighty and eventually flew over towards the viewing platform to feed on the mud there. I carried on scanning through them as they continued to feed and fly around and eventually I found the Curlew Sandpiper amongst them. I kept losing it in amongst the Dunlin but eventually it flew nearer and fed alone along the waters edge where we had some good views of it before it merged back in with the flock.
We then wandered down towards the Amphitheatre where we had some good views of a Great Northern Diver diving away and bringing up crabs to eat at the surface. We carried on downriver and found 2 female Goosanders also diving away along with a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers before we returned to the Amphitheatre for coffee and a (very delicious) home made cheese scone (courtesy of Mavis). While sitting there admiring the snow covered hills of Dartmoor in the distance we had some great views of 3 Great Northern Divers along with the pair of Red-breasted Mergansers which had now moved upriver.
The light was starting to fade and it was beginning to get noticeably colder so it was time to head off home but it had been a very enjoyable catch up and birding session on what had been a lovely and sunny but cold day.
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