Exminster Marshes

Wednesday 12th May and it was off to Exminster Marshes for the day with Mavis. The weather forecast was for rain in the afternoon but on arriving at the RSPB car park at around 9am it was sunny and warm. However the forecasted rain did eventually arrive at around 2:30pm but we were very fortunately nearing the end of our walk by this time and managed to get back to the car before the rain really got going.

Our time on the Marsh was very productive with the highlight being a juvenile White-fronted Goose, presumably one of the family of wintering birds that has been left behind. 

White-fronted Goose

A Hobby flew through all too briefly while a male Kestrel showed very well hovering overhead and at one point it swooped down and carried off a small rodent.

Kestrel (Courtesy of Mavis) 

A partial summer plumaged Bar-tailed Godwit, a Whimbrel and 22 assorted plumaged Black-tailed Godwit were seen along with Lapwing, 2 Oystercatcher and 3 Little Ringed Plover. Mallard, Shelduck, 2 male and a female Wigeon and a pair of Tufted Duck were also seen along with Coot and Moorhen. The resident Snow Goose was found amongst the Canada Geese along with a pair of white feral farmyard Geese.

There were good numbers of Swifts and Swallows over the Marsh with a few House Martin and Sand Martin amongst them. Sedge Warblers and Reed Warblers were very vocal and showy along with Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Whitethroat but the Cettis Warblers while vocal kept themselves very well hidden.

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Green-veined White, a male Orange Tip and a Small Copper were also seen flitting about in the sunnier spells.

Orange Tip

A very enjoyable walk, my first at Exminster Marsh for 2 years, with a good range of birds seen despite the deteriorating weather. 

Yet Another Holiday-less Holiday!

Monday 15th March and yet again another period of annual leave from work begins during a Lock Down. However there seems to be light appearing at the end of what has been a very long and very dark tunnel as I have now had both my Pfizer COVID jabs, my weekly COVID swabs since October last year continue to be negative and the Nations road map out of Lock Down appears to be on track. 

Monday was a breezy but dry day with sunny spells and so I decided to do my usual River Plym and Saltram walk. The tide was ebbing and out on the mudflats were 5 Dunlin, 4 Greenshank, at least 10 Curlew, an Oystercatcher and Redshanks along with Common Gulls and 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls amongst the roosting Gull flock. A pair of Goosander were also busily diving for fish near the rowing club.

Little Egret

The park held the usual stuff but the highlight was a Green Woodpecker seen flying into the top of a tree, it was so nice to actual see one instead of just hearing the usual mocking yaffling.

Green Woodpecker

Stock Dove, Goldcrest, Song Thrush, Skylark, Buzzard and Ring-necked Parakeets were also noted along with a Meadow Pipit in the cow field and the pair of Stonechat in the same spot as last week. 

There was no sign of the Red-crested Pochard on the duck pond but there were 7 pairs of Mandarin Duck and an unpaired male present. A very smart looking male Pheasant was feeding around the pond side on the seed and bread being put down by passers-by along with a very confiding Dunnock.

Pheasant

Dunnock

5 Roe Deer were resting under a tree in the cow fields, the first time I have seen them here, a nice male with antlers and 4 females.

Roe Deer

There were flowers beginning to show all around the park with Sloe Blossom, Alexanders and Wood Anemones all noted along with the usual Daffodils, Primroses and Violets.

Sloe Blossom

Alexanders

Wood Anemone

White Poplar Catkins

Tuesday 16th March and we decided to head out to Stoke Point for a walk, something we only did once last year. It was a dry day with increasing cloud cover but it was as fantastic as always with the usual stunning views and interesting wildlife.

Chiffchaff and Blackcap were both heard singing away and a brief and flitty Peacock butterfly was a nice sight. Two Green Woodpeckers were heard with one seen in flight and a Marsh Tit showed well in the usual woodland area near the village of Noss Mayo. A male Kestrel, 2 Raven, Stonechats, Cirl Buntings, Yellowhammers, a Gannet, a Red-legged Partridge and Pheasants were all seen as well.

Yellowhammer

Cirl Bunting

Kestrel

There was as expected no sign of the recent Chough even though I checked out all the corvids I saw,  possibly it's still around in the area although with 3 patrolling Peregrines seen on the walk it may have moved on or may have ended up as a tasty meal.

Peregrine

A really enjoyable day out, unfortunately no lunch again in The Ship Inn for us but sandwiches, crisps and a glass of wine were just as tasty sat on a bench in the community orchard of Noss Mayo. And I felt so much happier that evening watching TV on the sofa after having done something normal for a change.

Wednesday 17th March was forecasted to be a warm and sunny day and so I headed out to the outskirts of Plymouth again to have another look for Goshawks. It was cooler and breezier and cloudier than expected but I had a successful walk and it was far less muddy than my previous visit. 

I had a brief and distant view of a Goshawk flying over the trees as I negotiated the country lanes and muddy footpaths towards my raised vantage point overlooking the valley and shortly after setting up my telescope at my watch point a pair of Goshawk circled overhead before drifting off with the noticeably smaller male having a half hearted skirmish with a Buzzard soaring nearby. 

Over the next couple of hours as I scanned over the treetops of the valley I had some distant scope views of 1 or 2 displaying Goshawks along with Buzzards, Ravens and Sparrowhawks. 2 Peregrines were also noted. 

Stock Doves, a Common Sandpiper, 4 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a Marsh Tit, Pheasants, Red-legged Partridge and Skylarks were also noted on the walk along with 2 Peacock butterflies. 

While watching a Red-legged Partridge feeding in a field as I neared the end of my walk the calls of Rooks overhead made me look up and amongst the crows and panicked Woodpigeon flying around I picked up a juvenile Goshawk flying through them, a distinctive looking bird with buff toned underparts and looking very Honey Buzzard-ish with an elongated looking head. It all to soon drifted off and out of sight but a very nice end to my walk. 

Red-legged Partridge

Thursday 18th March and a sunny but cool day saw me heading off to Wembury to meet Mavis for a walk. It wasn't too busy with people despite the good weather and the footpath was much less muddy than of late and we had an enjoyable walk.

The Bar-tailed Godwit was still present feeding on a sandy stretch of the beach with Oystercatchers and a 1st Winter/Summer Mediterranean Gull. At least 2 Curlew were out on the rocks with 2 Little Egret and a pair of Mallard were tucked down amongst the seaweed having a snooze.

Mediterranean Gull

Offshore a few Gannet were seen and on The Mewstone Fulmar were resting on the cliffs with Cormorant and Shag resting along the shoreline.

Stonechat, Cirl Bunting, Goldfinch, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Pheasant and 2 Long-tailed Tit were seen along the footpath along with 2 Canada Geese resting in the stubble field. A Chiffchaff was heard singing and 2 Buzzards were seen soaring overhead.

It was good to see my first Common Lizard of the year along with an Oil Beetle although not so nice to see 2 more Oil Beetles squashed on the footpath.

Common Lizard

Oil Beetle

St.Ives Trip

Tuesday 29th September was dry and sunny as we headed down to West Cornwall on the train for a 2 night stay at St.Ives although the weather didn't remain that way for long. I jumped off the train at Hayle for a bit of birding while David carried onwards to Penzance where we eventually met up again before carrying on to St.Ives.

The tide was out at Hayle and I found no small waders at all but I did see 5 Grey Plover and 8 Greenshank along with the usual Oystercatcher, Redshank, Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit. There were 5 Little Grebe on The Carnsew Pool along with 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls while out on the estuary there were more Mediterranean Gulls amongst the roosting Herring, Black-headed, Lesser Black-backed and Great Black-backed Gulls.

Ivy Bees were again seen feeding on Ivy flowers, many laden down with large amounts of pollen.

Ivy Bee, Hayle

Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, 4 Shelduck and Canada Geese were also feeding and roosting out on the estuary and I easily found the reported 7 Pink-footed Geese roosting out on the mudflats amongst them. The Geese had been present for a few days and I probably saw 3 of them on my visit to Hayle last Saturday, they were asleep on Ryan's Field amongst a large group of Canada Geese and on my cursory glance of them I passed them off as Greylag Geese before moving on, a rookie mistake although in my defence I hadn't seen any reports of them being present, they were very obscured by the other geese present and I wasn't expecting to see Pink-footed Geese in Cornwall in September!

Pink-footed Geese, Hayle

Pink-footed Geese

Pink-footed Geese

In Penzance a quick look at the rocks by the Jubilee Pool revealed a roosting flock of Dunlin, Turnstone and Ringed Plover but there was nothing out at sea in the flat calm conditions. 

Ringed Plover, Penzance

Onwards to St.Ives and a Hummingbird Hawkmoth was feeding on buddleia flowers just below the balcony of our hotel room. Another one (or the same) was later seen feeding on buddleia flowers on our walk into town. A few Large Whites and a Red Admiral were also seen flitting about during our stay.

Turnstone, Oystercatcher, 2 Sandwich Tern, a Little Egret, Gannets, a distant Manx(?) Shearwater, 2 Grey Seal and a pair of very confiding Kestrels were also noted.

Kestrel, St.Ives

Kestrel

Kestrel

A nice break although the weather wasn't great at times with rain and showers but it was good to get away in these COVID-19 times.

Choughs at The Lizard

Despite the less than ideal weather forecast for Wednesday 7th June, especially for the afternoon, we (Mavis, Mike and myself) headed down to The Lizard in Cornwall for a days birding. On arriving we bought some pasties for lunch in the village before driving down to the car park near the lighthouse to start our walk where the sky was increasingly darkening and the wind was increasingly strengthening.

We headed down to the watchpoint near the old lifeboat station, noting a raven, jackdaws, carrion crows and magpies along the way but no choughs. At the watchpoint the wildlife guide informed us that the choughs were no longer nesting in the cliffs above the lifeboat station but were now nesting in the cliffs to the east although they were occassionally seen flying over - not what we were expecting.

With the recent wet and windy weather and the strong breeze developing we did some scanning offshore and picked up a continous movement of Manx shearwaters heading west although later in the day smaller numbers were also noted heading east. Gannets of various ages and plumages, kittiwakes including a few immatures, fulmars and guillemots were also picked up while close to shore herring gulls, great black backed gulls, cormorants and shags were seen.

 Gannets

Gannets

Rock pipits were songflighting along the cliffs and a brief call overhead gave away the position of 2 choughs flying over and heading inland, distant views but we were very pleased to see them.

 Oystercatchers

 Mesembryanthemum on the cliffs

Mesembryanthemum

We walked west along the coastal footpath, noting a buzzard, a pair of stonechats, a collared dove, whitethroats, a male blackbird and linnets along the way and we managed to get another distant view of a flyover chough briefly calling and giving its position away.

Back at the watchpoint we found a bench overlooking the cliffs to eat our lunch and to admire the views and as we tucked in to our pasties 2 choughs flew over and landed on the cliffs to feed - result! We had some lovely views of them feeding on the cliffs just below the footpath where passing walkers were oblivious to their prescence, both appeared to be unringed birds and were unfortunately mostly silent before 1 bird flew off west which was soon followed by the second bird a few minutes later - but with a tasty pasty, stunning sea views with passing gannets and Manx shearwaters, good company and feeding choughs on the cliffs lunch doesn't get much better than that!

 Choughs

 Chough

 Chough

 Chough

Chough

We continued our walk along the clifftops to the east where a male kestrel was hunting below the lighthouse, holding stationary in the wind and not having to hover, and we saw more whitethroats and another male stonechat and a passing peregrine. We heard and then saw the 2 choughs again before they flew off inland and we had a chat with a chough watcher volunteer keeping an eye on the nest site - apparently there are 2 chicks this year in the nest and they are due to fledge fairly soon.

 Kestrel

 Kestrel

 Flyover Helicopter from  nearby RNAS Culdrose

 Choughs

 Choughs

Chough - record flight shot

We headed back to the car as the clouds looked increasingly rainy and as we drove home the heavens opened but we had had a great day out with some nice views of the choughs, one of my favourite birds.

 Interesting Chimney Pots at The Lighthouse

 Lizard Lighthouse

Chimney Pots