It was grey, mild and still as I headed out to Wembury on Friday 10th October and as I left the house to catch the 9:05am bus I saw The Squatter flying around, I'd seem him earlier in the week on the flat roof out the back and he has managed to injure his right foot (as Birdy 2023 did to his left foot) but he's obviously managing OK at the moment.
Despite the grey skies it really was a beautiful day and things started off very well with a Hobby flying over the main beach and heading straight out to sea and I watched its progress until I lost sight of it on the horizon - a late bird and presumably a juvenile although I didn't get any real plumage detail on it.
It then became a 3 Falcon day for me with sightings of a Kestrel hovering away around The Point and a Peregrine powering through over the fields above the sewage farm which scattered the Woodpigeons and around 50 Stock Doves that were feeding hidden amongst the stubble.
A Cetti's Warbler was calling in the valley to the beach, my first here for a few months now, and there had been a noticeable influx of Chiffchaffs with birds flitting about all along my walk. There was also a noticeable movement of Swallows moving east in small groups with around 60 birds seen in total.
The high tide was dropping and along the beach the 2 Bar-tailed Godwit were still present with 5 Ringed Plover, 7 Turnstone, 2 Curlew and Oystercatchers while Mediterranean Gull numbers were down to just 6 (3 adults, 2 2nd winters and a 1st winter). It was quiet offshore but a distant pair of Common Scoters were picked up flying west and around 6 even more distant Common Dolphins were moving west as well.
Bar-tailed Godwits
Bar-tailed Godwit
Ringed Plovers
Ivy Bees were again showy around the Ivy blooms and a Large White and 3 Red Admiral were seen flitting about despite the lack of sunshine. I was also pleased to finally find a Plymouth Pear at The Point, I knew they were present here and I've been regularly walking past one for years without realising!
Ivy Bees
Plymouth Pear
Plymouth Pear
I headed out to The Plym again on Sunday 12th October, it was a warm and sunny morning and I arrived at Blaxton Meadow about an hour before the high tide which was due at around 11am. The usual birds were present here with the highlights being a Kingfisher, 29 Curlew (including J7), a Dunlin, 3 Turnstone, 17 Oystercatcher, 2 Common Sandpiper, 4 Shelduck and 2 Black-tailed Godwit. I checked out all the Redshank present but still no sign of the recent Spotted, it must have moved on by now, and I didn't find either of the recent Curlew Sandpipers either.
It was quiet around The Park too with a Snipe, 3+ Stonechat, 6+ Meadow Pipit, 2 Jay, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood and a Grey Squirrel of note while along the River Plym a Little Grebe, a Grey Wagtail, 2 Wigeon, 12 Greenshank, 4 Mute Swan and 7 Cormorant were seen.
Speckled Wood
Wigeon
I saw a post on Bluesky about Plymouth Thistle being in flower on Plymouth Hoe, I'd heard about it before but never seen one and so we headed out for a walk on Monday 13th October to go for a look about. Using the photos in the Bluesky post we easily found the Plymouth Thistles with 4 plants in flower along the footpath edges, we've probably seen them before but never noticed them.
Plymouth Thistle
Plymouth Thistle
Turnstones - 10 of 12 back to winter on The Hoe, No Purple Sandpipers present though (as yet!)
I had planned a visit to The Scillies for a day trip on Wednesday 15th October but didn't feel up to it so we headed out to Burrator Reservoir for a walk instead. It was a grey and claggy day and notably cooler than of late and the water level of the reservoir was surprisingly low, according to the notice board outside the information centre it is only just over 50% full. It was all very quiet along our walk too with the highlights being 8 Cormorant, a Sparrowhawk overhead being mobbed by 2 Pied Wagtails, the 2 resident white farmyard Geese keeping themselves apart as usual and 2 Chiffchaff heard calling.
There were quite a range of fungi on show and after a tip off from my mate Mavis we found some Devils Fingers in the same area we saw them in 5 years ago.
Devils Fingers - weird and smelly
Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep
Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep
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