Exminster Marsh and Dawlish Warren

Monday 8th May and a glorious sunny day but I was stuck indoors all day due to the windows being replaced, Tuesday 9th May and another glorious day but I was working all day, but Wednesday 10th May and I finished work early at 3pm and as it was yet again a glorious sunny day I headed off to Blagdons Meadow by the River Plym with my day bus ticket for a quick look around. Despite the sun there was a cool easterly breeze which was blowing right across the river and the meadow and other than a lone male orange tip flying past I didn't see any other butterflies. A singing skylark and a flyover swallow were the avian highlights but it was good to see the early purple orchids still in flower along with my first southern marsh orchid of the year.

Southern Marsh Orchid, Blagdons Meadow

Thursday 11th May and my plan to visit Dunsford Woods to look for fritillary butterflies was abandoned with cloud and heavy showers forecast and so I headed off to Exminster Marshes instead to look for a reported lesser whitethroat. It was cloudy but dry on leaving Plymouth but as the train sped along towards Starcross it turned increasingly wet and mizzly and was still mizzly on getting off the bus at Exminster. It did dry up soon after I arrived but it remained cloudy although this didn't hamper my birding too much.

I headed off along the back path to look for the lesser whitethroat and soon heard it singing in the area where I have seen birds previously and it remained very vocal but very skulky and very flighty and I only managed brief flight views and obscured views in the foliage in the 45 minutes I spent trying to get a good view of it. A singing male whitethroat and sedge warbler nearby gave much better views and I also heard blackcap, chiffchaff and reed warbler singing while 2 swifts flew around overhead with swallows and house martins.

I carried on with my walk, noting a peregrine perched on the pylon along with shelduck, coot, mallard, lapwing, 3 male and a female wigeon and Canada goose out on the marsh and a black tailed godwit feeding with a whimbrel. Along the canal there were more showy sedge warblers and a Cettis warbler and skulky reed warblers were heard.

 Sedge Warbler, Exminster

Sedge Warbler

At the canal car park around 10 curlew were roosting before suddenly flying off to the estuary as the tide receded while 5 whimbrel remained and began to feed. The small pool by the roadside held a flock of around 50 variously plumaged black tailed godwits busily feeding and amongst them was a dark plumaged male ruff hopping around on one leg with the other leg held horizontally behind it. The waders were spooked by a man pushing a noisy baby buggy and flew off including the lame ruff and so I continued to the larger roadside pool where I could find nothing more exciting than black headed gulls. However a nearby birder pointed out 2 little ringed plover on the mud very close to the road which I had completely overlooked and I had some very nice views of them as they unobtrusively fed. While watching them a male ruff flew in to feed, a different bird to the one seen previously and looking like a minature summer plumaged spotted redshank with very black and spangly plumage.

 Ruff with a damaged leg

 Ruff, Black Tailed Godwit and Black Headed Gull

Black Tailed Godwit

 Little Ringed Plover

 Little Ringed Plover

 Little Ringed Plover

 Little Ringed Plover

 Little Ringed Plovers

 Ruff with Black Headed Gulls

 Ruff

Ruff

I had another look for the lesser whitethroat which continued to be very vocal but again very skulky and mobile and again I only managed to get brief views of it before it was time to leave to catch the bus to Starcross where I watched 26 turnstone feeding along the shoreline while waiting for the train to Dawlish Warren. Arriving at Dawlish Warren and it was wet and misty and murky and offshore I managed to pick out at least 5 Sandwich tern with a few gannets and a single fulmar.

A quick walk around the main pond gave me a very good view of a reed warbler with at least 3 males heard singing and in Greenland Lake I found around 20 southern marsh orchids beginning to flower. The weather was worsening and so it was time to catch the train back to Plymouth and as the train pulled away from the station the heavens opened but at least my time birding had been mostly dry.

 Southern Marsh Orchid, Dawlish Warren

Southern Marsh Orchid

Little Ringed Plover, River Plym

A last minute days annual leave on April 22nd and it was off to Bude with the Outlaws to sort out the caravan for the summer season. It was sunny but cool in a strong breeze which made putting up the awning with 2 80+year olds a lot of fun! Amongst all the usual sorting out the caravan shananigans I managed to hear a whimbrel calling overhead and I saw a flyover raven, hovering kestrel, a calling greenshank, swallows and sand martins.

A walk to nearby Maer Lake and a male pochard and a pair of shoveler were notable, the female shoveler being very pale looking. 2 shelduck were with the feeding teal and mallard and I also found a common sandpiper and 5 summer plumaged dunlin. A chiffchaff was singing away but a willow warbler was much more subdued, quietly singing brief snatches of song in a hedgerow out of sight.

The toilet block held 3 moths - a male pale tussock, a male brindled beauty and a new moth for me, a frosted green, ID'd with help from the Cornwall Moth Group e-forum.

Male Pale Tussock

Male Brindled Beauty

Frosted Green

Wembury beckoned on April 23rd, another sunny but breezey day. 17 whimbrel were along the beach with just 1 summer plumaged bar-tailed godwit. They were wary and flighty due to the high tide but gave some nice views. Whitethroats, chiffchaffs and blackcaps were vocal and showy and swallows flew past regularly. A willow warbler quietly sang deep in cover.

Goldfinch

At Wembury Point I quickly found a male Dartford warbler harrassing and chasing off a disgruntled looking male whitethroat. Further along the path I found a singing male Dartford warbler, active and mobile as usual, and I wonder if there are actually 2 males at the Point this year. There was no sign of any females though.

Another distant and blurry Dartford Warbler

Dartford Warbler

Dartford Warbler

2 common lizards, orange tips, green veined whites, a speckled yellow moth, a wall, holly blues and a ruby tiger moth were the non-avian highlights.

Wall

Ruby Tiger Moth

Green Veined White

Male Orangetip

On the bus journey back to Plymouth I decided to get off at Laira Bridge for a walk to Blaxton Meadow by the River Plym to have a look for a little ringed plover reported there yesterday. I soon found the bird feeding on the marshy ground very close to the footpath where it gave some great views. It was interesting to see it feeding in the same manner as the 3 birds I saw at the same site in March 2013 - shaking the vegetation with one foot and snatching at any insects disturbed. A very nice bird to see on the River Plym and a nice end to the day.

Little Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Speckled Wood, Saltram

Waders and Warblers

Despite the warm and sunny days it has been quite cool at night but I have had the moth box out twice and have had 5 species of moth - early grey, common quaker, light brown apple moth, Hebrew character and nut tree tussock.

Nut Tree Tussock

My sister Vikki has recently moved to Bristol and so we headed off for a visit on 16th April. On arrival we had a walk with the dog around the nearby Stoke Park in the warm sunshine. I could hear chiffchaffs and blackcaps singing and saw a green woodpecker and a male kestrel. Cowslips were flowering in profusion on the hillside overlooking the M32 and I saw my first orange tips of the year. A trip to the SS Great Britain in the Bristol Docks was very interesting and it was nice to spend some time with Vik and Nik and Jack who we don't see that often.

Kestrel, Stoke Park, Bristol

The next day I headed off by train and bus to Slimbridge for a days birding before the drive back to Plymouth. A hoopoe had been seen the previous day but despite searching all likely areas I didn't find it. A willow warbler singing in trees at Cam and Dursley railway station was a good start and at Slimbridge I heard my first reed warblers and sedge warblers of the year but only managed to see 2 skulking male sedge warblers lurking in the vegetation. Little ringed plovers were much more showy with at least 3 birds seen. A male ruff moulting in to black summer plumage was a nice find and there were around 120+ black tailed godwits feeding around the site, most in summer plumage. 8 avocets were sat on nests on an island in front of the Holden tower with birds seen feeding elsewhere on site. Lapwings, 2 oystercatchers and 5 redshanks completed the wader list for the day.

Little Ringed Plover, Slimbridge - distant record shot

Little Ringed Plover

A pink footed goose was a surprise, feeding with greylag geese and presumably the lone wild bird which turned up last autumn and now doesn't know where to go. A red breasted goose flying past the Zeiss hide with Canada geese was another goosey surprise, presumably an escaped bird but not one from the Slimbridge collection.

Pink Footed Goose

Chiffchaffs, blackcaps, singing but not seen Cettis warblers, 4 swallows, a kingfisher, a peregrine and 2 Mediterranean gulls were the other bird highlights and it was nice to see brimstones, orange tips, green veined whites and peacocks on the wing.

Mangy Robin with leg ring, Slimbridge

Mother and Baby Rat, Slimbridge

Cowslip, Slimbridge

Cowslip

Saturday April 18th and I headed off to Wembury for a walk. It was sunny but with a very strong easterly wind which hampered birding. It was good to see my first whimbrel of the year, around 18 birds in a loose and flighty flock along the beach and amongst the rocks. One bird had an orange plastic ring on its left leg and a silver metal ring on its right. Searching through them I found 2 very smart summer plumaged bar tailed godwits which were equally flighty.

Whimbrel and Bar Tailed Godwit, Wembury

Whimbrel with leg rings, Wembury

Bar Tailed Godwit, Wembury

Whimbrel, Wembury

After a bit of scanning around Wembury Point I found the male Dartford warbler, very active and mobile as usual but giving some nice views. He sang for brief periods before flying off out of sight but there was no sign of the female - hopefully she hasn't been snaffled by a sparrowhawk.

Male Dartford Warbler - another blurry, distant shot

A peregrine patrolled up and down the coast much to the consternation of the 4 swallows around the horse stables which flew up high calling noisely everytime the peregrine flew by. I managed to hear my first  2 male whitethroats of the year quietly singing amongst the sloe blossom and eventually saw a third male singing from the top of brambles before diving in to cover.

Male Whitethroat

Just 2 common lizards were seen basking in the sun and a dead slow worm by the footpath in the valley to the beach was a surprise sight. A male orange tip whizzed past in the strong wind and the toilet block held 3 pug moths - a double striped pug, an oak tree pug and an unknown pug species.

Oak Tree Pug

 



Lords and Ladies, Wembury

Having missed the bus back to Plymouth I walked up through the village and disturbed 2 red legged partridge near Traine Farm before eventually catching the next bus back to Plymouth, having had some nice sightings of a selection of waders and warblers amongst others over the last few days.

Dippers and Dipping

Spring migrants continue to trickle rather than flow in despite the dry and sunny but cool weather but I have not had much free time to get out and about anyway.

April 12th and on a walk at Plymbridge Woods I finally saw my first dippers of the year along with 3 male and 1 female mandarin ducks, a male peregrine, a male kestrel, a male sparrowhawk, buzzards, songflighting siskins, a raven and a nuthatch. I had hoped to see brimstone butterfly but only managed a sighting of a lone speckled wood.

 Dipper

Dipper showing its nictitating membranes



April 16th and we headed off to Bude with the Outlaws to sort out the caravan for the summer. It was a bit of a disaster as we had forgotten the caravan key, the petrol strimmer to cut the grass with wouldn't work and the awning stitching was coming undone on the roof seams and so we packed up and headed back to Plymouth having achieved nothing.

A male green winged teal had been reported at nearby Maer Lake the previous day and so I had a quick look for it while the car was being packed up for the drive back to Plymouth. I did see 4 male and 9 female Eurasian teal along with a male mallard, 2 shelduck, 3 black tailed godwit (1 of which was in full summer plumage) and a summer plumaged dunlin but there was no sign of the green winged teal - a big old dip.

Just as I was about to leave I heard an unusual call and had a brief view of a small wader flying over the Lake before landing out of sight and so I scanned the shoreline and I eventually found the bird and it was what I had suspected it to be -  a very smart little ringed plover and a nice compensation for dipping the green winged teal.

April 19th and we headed off to Bude again and this time successfully sorted out the caravan. The green winged teal hadn't been reported since the April 15th but I checked out Maer Lake anyway and again didn't find it but the Eurasian teal were all still present along with 3 male mallard, 2 shelduck and now just 2 black tailed godwits. It was nice to see a few house martins with the swallows and sand martins and a curlew flew in briefly to bathe but there was no sign of the little ringed plover from a few days previously.

The toilet block at the caravan site had a few moths inside -  a brimstone moth, 2 Hebrew characters, a common quaker and an early grey, one of my favourite moths. And on driving home along the A38 near Saltash some early purple orchids were flowering on the grass verge.

 Unknown Micro Moth Sp.

 Early Grey

Common Quaker



April 20th and I headed off to Wembury for a walk, hoping to be home before the forecasted rain arrived but I was out of luck and ended up cold and wet but it was worth it as there were some nice migrants around to see. At least 6 male whitethroats were singing and songflighting despite the weather and a bedraggled looking female wheatear was feeding along the beach. A lone Sandwich tern was seen flying West along the shoreline and 11 summer plumaged dunlin were seen flying East. At Wembury Point 19 oystercatchers were roosting on the rocks with 4 whimbrel, a common sandpiper and 5 little egrets. Blackcaps and chiffchaffs were seen and heard and I thought I heard a brief snatch of a willow warbler singing too. A female cirl bunting, 3 song thrush, 2 swallows around the horse stables and a pair of stonechat were good to see too.

The toilet block held a Hebrew character but with the bad weather there were no butterflies on the wing although a few bloody nosed beetles were slowly shuffling along by the footpath and a few bumble bees were buzzing around.

 Hebrew Character

Lackey Moth Caterpillars

And as I waited at the bus stop for the bus ride home a flock of 9 whimbrel flew over helping to take my mind off my cold and wet feet.