Storm Damage at Wembury and The Dowitcher at Topsham

The weather continues to be vile with what seems to be continuous strong winds and heavy rain but with a windy but dry window of weather forecast for the morning of Wednesday 19th February I headed out to Wembury for a walk. As expected the coast path at Wembury was a complete and utter mudfest but I did manage to get back to Plymouth before the rain arrived.

Along the walk from the main beach to the sewage pipe there was a lot of noticeable damage to the coastline with small cliff collapses all along the route and patches of beach that had been scoured clear and washed away. The roots of the small patches of phragmites reeds at the base of the cliffs were showing and I am not sure if the sea kale clump will have survived the onslaught of the waves.

Sadly there was a dead seal pup, a harbour porpoise and a common dolphin washed up along the tide line with the harbour porpoise providing a rather smelly meal to adult and immature great black-backed gulls.

Baby Seal, Wembury

Harbour Porpoise, Wembury

Harbour Porpoise Jaw

Common Dolphin, Wembury

Common Dolphin

It was quiet bird wise in the strong wind but a flock of around 10 nervous and flighty Cirl Buntings was nice to see in the stubble field with at least 2 males heard singing. A female kestrel was hovering over the hillside above the sewage farm and a buzzard was seen being mobbed by 2 ravens from the bus stop.

Cirl Bunting, Wembury

3 Little Egret, 2 male and a female mallard and roosting oystercatchers were seen along the beach with rock pipits and pied wagtails but there was no sign of the water pipit again. There was surprisingly very little seaweed along the beach considering the recent rough weather, presumably it had all been washed out to sea instead.

Oystercatchers, Wembury

Thursday 20th February and with the long billed dowitcher having put in an appearance on Bowling Green Marsh the previous day I decided to have another look for it, my fifth attempt of the year. The weather was as usual foul with wind and rain but with sunny skies forecast for the afternoon and with a high tide due at around 5pm I caught a late train to Topsham, arriving there at around 12:30pm as the rain began to clear.

I started off in the hide as the rain slowly abated and spent some time admiring all the ducks out on the very flooded Marsh, getting some great views of Teal, Wigeon, Mallard, Pintail and Shoveler along with 2 pairs of Tufted Duck and 3 male and 2 female Pochard. 4 Greylag geese were feeding out on the grass with Canada geese and a lone Greenshank was roosting amongst the ducks before noisely flying off.

Pintail and Shelduck, Bowling Green Marsh

Wigeon, Bowling Green Marsh

With the rain clearing I had a look off the Viewing Platform where a few grey plover were feeding with redshank, dunlin and a lone knot. A look off The Goatwalk was more productive with waders everywhere although all were very mobile and flighty across the mudflats, and with the redshank, curlew, knot, bar-tailed godwit, avocet, oystercatcher, black-tailed godwit, grey plover and dunlin were 3 turnstone and 2 sanderling. Lapwing and golden plover were seen flying over Exminster Marshes and a large flock of noisy brent geese flew in to bathe with their calls very evocative in the cold wind and sunshine.

I returned to the hide but there was still no sign of the Dowitcher and so I wandered back and forth along the lane between the railway line and viewing platform with occasional visits to the hide in the hope of catching up with it as the tide headed in. Time was marching on, the light was beginning to fade and I was beginning to give up hope when finally it was found feeding close to the road near the railway bridge. I managed to get some lovely views of it as it fed on the flooded grassy area with 3 Snipe and again I was struck by what a handsome and charismatic looking bird it is.

Long-billed Dowitcher, Bowling Green Marsh

Long-billed Dowitcher 

Long-billed Dowitcher 

Long-billed Dowitcher 

Long-billed Dowitcher 

Long-billed Dowitcher, Bowling Green Marsh

Saturday 19th October was sunny and mild and so I decided to finally head off to Bowling Green Marsh at Topsham for the high tide wader roost in the hope of catching up with the long-billed dowitcher that has been gracing the River Exe for a couple of weeks now. I saw my first and only long-billed dowitcher at Bowling Green Marsh back in 2007, poor and distant and obscured views amongst the wader roost and without the use of a telescope, and I was very keen to get some better views this time.

I felt tired and groggy after my night shift on Thursday but I was full of hope and expectation as I caught the 08:25 train from Plymouth, getting some nice views of ring-necked parakeets feeding in the trees opposite the station entrance before I caught my train.

 Ring-necked Parakeet

 Ring-necked Parakeet

Ring-necked Parakeet

I arrived in Topsham on time at 10:08 and walked down to the hide at Bowling Green Marsh but with the high tide due at 10:30 I was surprised to find it almost empty although it did get very busy and noisy later. There was already a large roost of waders out on the marsh but viewing was difficult in the poor light looking into the sun but amongst the curlew, redshank, lapwing, black-tailed godwits and bar-tailed godwits I did find a single dunlin and a lone whimbrel.

Wigeon, teal, mallard, pintail, shoveler, moorhen, a coot, a little grebe, 2 tufted duck, little egret and grey heron were all seen but despite searching I couldn't find the dowitcher amongst the waders. A sparrowhawk flew over twice putting up most of the waders but there was still no sign of the dowitcher amongst the waders when they eventually resettled on the marsh.

Waders were beginning to fly off towards the River Clyst as the tide turned and eventually I caught a very brief view of the dowitcher amongst the throng of waders but it was obscured and difficult to view before it promptly went to sleep with its head under its wing. It awoke a few times and moved position but still remained obscured before I eventually lost sight of it altogether but at least I had seen it.

I decided to head over to the viewing platform overlooking the River Clyst as the waders continued to fly off from the marsh in the hope that the dowitcher would be amongst them and within a few minutes of scanning through the waders feeding out on the increasingly exposed mud I found it amongst a group of redshanks and managed to get some great views of it. It was smaller than I expected and looked like the love child of a snipe and a godwit but it was a very attractive and charismatic looking bird and quite distinctive.

 Long-billed Dowitcher with Redshank

 Long-billed Dowitcher with Redshank

 Long-billed Dowitcher

Long-billed Dowitcher

It eventually flew upriver and was lost from view but my attention was taken by a lovely great white egret feeding in the river channel with little egrets, a very nice surprise and only my second ever sighting of one in Devon.

 Great White Egret with Litlle Egrets

Great White Egret

A kingfisher hovering over the water was nice to see, it landed on a post from where it dived and caught a fish before flying off, and eventually I refound the dowitcher feeding on the mud upriver with greenshanks and redshanks before it flew downriver again to feed on it's own opposite the viewing platform. It didn't stay for long before flying off again upriver, appearing to head over towards Bowling Green Marsh but I failed to refind it on a quick look from the hide on the walk back to the railway station in Topsham.

The journey home was subject to the usual problems with my train being cancelled from Newton Abbot resulting in a 50 minute delay but it had been a great day out and I was very pleased to see the long-billed dowitcher with the great white egret a nice bonus too.