I arranged to meet up with my mate Mavis for a walk at Wembury on Thursday 11th December, I arrived early to have a walk along the cliff path to the farm ponds before rendezvousing with Mavis at 9am and it was surprisingly windy with the waves crashing into the shore.
I only heard a hidden Moorhen at one of the ponds but on the other pond there were 2 Moorhen out on the water before they scuttled into cover and a Chiffchaff was flitting about in the pondside Willows. Overhead an unkindness of 11 Ravens flew east, presumably having roosted together somewhere nearby, and a flock of around 10 Redwing flew west over the valley to the beach.
I met up with Mavis but the wind was still blowing strongly so we ditched our Wembury plans and headed over to Saltram instead, figuring it would be more sheltered from the wind there and indeed it was.
There was no sign of the Red-crested Pochard or any Mandarins on the duck pond at Saltram and there were also far fewer Mallards present, probably because the National Trust have realised there is a bit of a Brown Rat problem around the pond and feeding of the ducks has temporarily ceased.
It was high tide and from the viewing platform we enjoyed scanning through the roosting birds out on Blaxton Meadow where the mobile female Red-crested Pochard was found swimming about on the water. The usual birds were seen too - Curlew. Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Wigeon, Shelduck, Greenshank, Canada Geese and Gulls - while out on the river a male Red-breasted Merganser was pointed out to us by local birders Pete and Martin who were already at the platform when we arrived there.
We then had a walk along the river to the sewage farm, we hoped to find a Firecrest but were out of luck although there were quite a few Goldcrest seen along with Chiffchaffs, a Coal Tit, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits and a Blackcap. Along the river a Kingfisher, 2 Mute Swan, a Little Grebe and a male Goosander showed very well and later along the river on my walk back to Marsh Mills to catch my bus home I saw a female Goosander and a Grey Wagtail.
I returned to Wembury on Saturday 13th December, it was really cold when I stepped off the bus at around 7:30am and it was only just getting light but the sky was clear and there was a gentle breeze blowing. As the sun got going over the course of the morning it did warm up a little, so much so that I even saw a Butterfly flit past which I think was a Painted Lady.
A Purple Sandpiper had been seen the previous day near the sewage pipe but despite a good search I only found a Curlew, around 21 Turnstone and the usual Oystercatchers present along with 4 Little Egret. I also had a look for the Water Pipit along the beach and was very pleased to refind it in the same spot as before, it's quite a subtle looking bird and also less aggressive than previous birds I've seen here as it was regularly chased off by nearby Rock Pipits. It was still very flitty and mobile though, not helped by regular disturbance from walkers and dogs along the beach, but I managed to get some good views of it and its white outer tail feathers when it took to the air.
A big surprise were 4 Snipe flushed out of the seaweed mass on the beach and flying off east, only my fourth ever sighting of Snipe at Wembury.
A Chiffchaff and a pair of Blackcap were also seen along the beach while at The Point a male Dartford Warbler showed very nicely in the sunshine. I had a look for a reported Yellow-browed Warbler at the Heybrook Bay tennis court but with the sighting being over 3 weeks ago I unsurprisingly didn't find it but a male and at least 2 female Blackcaps were present.
The footpath upgrade has been completed and a new fence installed along the wheatfield edge, its a horrible looking metal fence but at least the cliff edge hasn't been fenced off too so I can still view the birds along the beach from the path. I only hope they are going to replant some kind of hedgerow along the metal fence but I don't think I'll be seeing any Common Lizards here again.
There were Pheasants everywhere again but a shooting party arrived on the hillside above the wheatfield and began blasting away so I guess there will be a few less on my next visit.
Otherwise the usual sightings were had with the highlights being a Raven and 3 Buzzards and a Kestrel overhead, Cirl Buntings and Skylarks in the wheatfield, Fulmars back on The Mewstone, a Green Woodpecker and a Great Spotted Woodpecker heard in the valley to the beach and a Goldcrest and a Coal Tit in a village garden. A surprise sighting were 2 Fox seen up on the hillside above the wheatfield before the shooting party arrived, at one point they were sat together grooming each other so maybe a pair or a female and her cub.
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