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 

Wet and Windy Dipping Week Off Work

With a week of annual leave I had plans for some birding trips but the weather pretty much put paid to this with rain and very strong winds courtesy of Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis.

Monday 10th February saw us heading down to Padstow in Cornwall for an overnight stay with the plan being to firstly have a walk along the coast at nearby Trevose Head. However it was incredibly windy with squally hail and rain showers following Storm Ciaras arrival the day before and while David stayed in the car I braved the elements. I managed 30 minutes before giving up and returning to the car, struggling to stay upright on the muddy paths and in the strong winds and getting soaked in the process. I did see a lone gannet offshore struggling in the gales and a few rooks and skylarks in the fields but frustratingly I did see a bunting species fly up from a stubble field with a few skylarks before it disappeared from sight like a bullet from a gun as it shot across the headland in the wind. It gave a difficult to hear twittering call as it flew up from the stubble but with snow and Lapland buntings being seen here recently and being unfamiliar with either of their calls I wasn't sure what it was - probably a Lapland bunting but I didn't get any plumage details on it either, very frustrating indeed.

A Bonapartes Gull had been found at Padstow on Sunday 9th February and so I kept a look out for it during our stay there but without any luck. I did see a noticeably smaller gull than nearby black-headed gulls feeding out on the Doom Bar as the tide receded on Tuesday 11th February but it was too far away to get much on it other than its smaller size and I think it was probably just a runty black-headed gull rather than the Bonapartes gull.

It was onwards to Bude for the day on Tuesday 11th February before returning to Plymouth but the weather was still wet and windy and so I gave Maer Lake and Lower Tamar Lake a miss but I did hear 2 male blackcaps quietly singing in cover in a sheltered area at a garden centre in Wadebridge along the way.

Wednesday 12th February was dry and calm with rain forecast for later in the afternoon and so I headed off to Wacker Quay on the River Lynher near Torpoint for a look around and the hope of seeing spoonbill and spotted redshank being reported here this winter. On arriving the tide was just starting to ebb out but as expected there was no sign of either spoonbill or spotted redshank. I did see 2 great northern divers downriver near the naval school along with quite a few great crested grebes plus the usual teal, wigeon, shelduck and mallard.  Also 2 greenshank were roosting together with redshank, curlew and lapwing and a flock of 12 knot and 6 grey plover flew in to feed on the exposed mudflats.

I returned to Torpoint to have a look off Marine Drive and immediately picked up a flick of 7 pale bellied brent geese feeding out on the mudflats with around 200 dunlin, 3 turnstone, oystercatcher, redshank and curlew.

Pale-bellied Brent Geese, Marine Drive, Torpoint

Pale-bellied Brent Geese

Pale-bellied Brent Geese with Common Gull and Mediterranean Gull

Great crested grebes were diving for fish along with a little grebe and a pair of red breasted mergansers and 2 immature male and a female eider were a surprise sighting too. 2 adult Mediterranean gulls were roosting out on the mud amongst the common gulls but with the rain beginning to arrive it was time to head back home.

Thursday 13th February was very windy but dry and we headed off to Exeter for the day before an overnight stay at Exeter Airport. The airport hotel was originally booked before our early morning flight to Edinburgh last November but was not needed when Flybe cancelled the flight and rebooked us on the afternoon flight instead. The hotel was non-refundable but we were able to change the date hence our journey there for the night.

Friday 14th February was calm and dry and after our stay at the airport we travelled onwards to Topsham for me to have some birdwatching time and for David to look around the antiques shops. The tide was ebbing out when I arrived at the hide at Bowling Green Marsh and with the long-billed dowitcher having been reported there that morning I was hopeful of catching up with it at last. However there was no sign of it yet again but I did see 2 greenshank, 2 greylag geese, a male and female tufted duck, a little grebe and 3 male and 2 female pochard amongst the usual waders and wildfowl.

Shoveler and Wigeon, Bowling Green Marsh

Wigeon, Shoveler and Moorhen, Bowling Green Marsh

Stock dove, buzzard, redwing, great spotted woodpecker and a pair of stonechat were also noted before we had a walk over to nearby Darts Farm for lunch where I saw a few more redwings with some fieldfares from the bird hide. Time was marching on and it was soon time to head back home to Plymouth on the train as the gales and rain arrived yet again on what has been mostly a wet, windy and dippy week of birding.