The Year Begins to End

I met up with my work colleague Sue at Saltram on Thursday 15th December for a walk with her dog Daisy, it was a very cold and frosty morning again and I arrived at Marsh Mills at around 8:15 to have a look at Blaxton Meadow on the incoming tide before meeting her at the car park at 9am.

It was a glorious morning despite the cold weather and I began my walk with a clear blue sky and the sun beginning to appear above the horizon. 

A Cormorant was having a massive struggle trying to swallow a huge fish it had caught just above Long Bridge, unfortunately I didn't have the time to linger to see if it eventually managed to swallow it.

As I reached Blaxton Meadow 5 Lapwing flew over heading east and out on the Meadow as the tide began to head in through the sluices were the usual waders (Curlew, Redshank, Dunlin, Oystercatcher) with 3 Turnstone, 10 Greenshank and a Grey Plover. Also present were 2 Teal and 8 Wigeon with Mallards and Shelduck.

The female Red Crested Pochard was on the duck pond with 2 Teal, presumably the 2 from Blaxton Meadow, while in the Park 4 Redwing, 3 Ring-necked Parakeet and a Green Woodpecker were noted.

Red-crested Pochard

Sue and I put the world to rights while Daisy sniffed around and ignored us and then after dropping off Daisy at home we headed up to the picket line at Derriford Hospital for the RCN nurses strike, the largest strike by nurses in the RCN's 106 year history.  I started working on a permanent contract as a Registered Nurse at Derriford Hospital 25 years ago to the day, I never imagined then that it would come to this but nursing in the NHS really isn't great anymore. 

RCN Picket Line

I'm not an RCN member (I'm in Unison), it was my day off and my area of work (chemotherapy) is derogated (exempt) from strike action but I went along anyway to show my support. It was an odd experience and a freezing cold one too but I'm glad I went along and I imagine it is just the start of things to come.

Friday 16th December saw us heading down to Truro for the day before staying overnight at nearby Nancarrow Farm for a festive feast. There was a dusting of snow on the higher ground and along the roadside verges out of the sunshine on the drive down to Truro and it was another very cold but sunny day. A Snipe flying high over the road was an odd sight as we passed by St.Austell.

Truro Cathedral

Truro was very festive and not too busy and we enjoyed a wander around before heading on to the Farm and on arrival I had a short walk around in the fading light and managed to see 2 Raven, a male Bullfinch, Redwings and 2 Fieldfare before it got too dark. 

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

The feast was lovely and we had a great time, it was freezing cold outside but very cosy in the large barn where we had our meal and it was very enjoyably Christmassy.

We headed back to Plymouth the next morning and it was still very cold with patches of black ice on some of the smaller roads but we arrived home safely. It was high tide on the Plym mid-morning and so I decided to clear my festive tipple head and take a short walk around Saltram in the chilly sunshine. 

Blaxton held the usual roosting birds with 5 Turnstone, 2 Greenshank, 9 Wigeon, 9 adult Common Gull and the Grey Plover amongst them. A Little Grebe and 2 pairs of Goosander were also noted out on the river despite disturbance by a paddle boarder. 

Around the Park 3 Buzzards were mewing overhead and Redwings were busily feeding away and allowing close approach. A female Stonechat was feeding along the fence by the road leading down from the car park and the female Red- Crested Pochard was still in residence on the duck pond. 

Redwing

I had a quick scan of the small pond in the field by the wet wood as I always do, more in hope than expectation, and was very pleased to finally see a Water Rail feeding there, its only taken me nearly 2 years to see one here! 

Water Rail

Water Rail

I also had a quick look around the Wet Wood and found 2 female Teal quietly feeding away in the small stream. 

Teal

An enjoyable walk that helped clear my thick head from the night before and I'm now up to 110 species for The Plym and Saltram for the year. 

Brrrrr!!!

My pre-Christmas break had to come to an end at some point and so it was back to work on a night shift on Saturday 10th December but not before a Plym/Saltram walk in the morning. 

It was bitterly cold and I was wrapped up in plenty of warm clothes as a Plymouth rarity showed very well - a hard frost! The ground and roofs were dusted with icing sugar frost along with all the vegetation and grass and it all looked very pretty but it was blooming cold, the coldest I've known it in Plymouth for some time.

Blaxton Meadow Frost

Frosty

Frosty Leaf

I started at Marsh Mills but I had missed the high tide and the mudflats were starting to become exposed resulting in very few birds present on Blaxton Meadow - 2 Curlew, a Turnstone, 9 Snipe and 46 Wigeon (24 male) were present along with Mallard, Shelduck, a few Redshank and a few Herring Gulls.

A walk around the Park was quiet too with a Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker seen along with 2 female Stonechat, a Lapwing, a Buzzard, at least 7 Redwing and a high count of at least 14 Song Thrush.

Along The Plym 2 male Red-breasted Merganser, a Little Grebe, a Great Crested Grebe, 5 Goosander (2 male), a Kingfisher, a Grey Plover and a Common Sandpiper were seen and a Grey Wagtail was found feeding along the waters edge underneath the A38 flyover.

Brown Rat

I was glad to get back home and into the warmth though, it was a beautiful day to be out with some lovely light but it was bloody freezing! 

I survived my 2 night shifts (it was much warmer at work than in my house!) and so on my next day off on Tuesday 13th December I headed out to Wembury for a walk. It was grey and dank and there was no frost on the ground when I stepped off the bus but it was still bitterly cold.

Wembury

As I walked down the road to the main beach I found a pair of Blackcap, a Fieldfare and a Redwing amongst the 20+ Blackbirds feeding on fallen apples in one of the gardens with the Fieldfare regularly chasing off any Blackbirds that came too near. 

Offshore there were Kittiwakes and Gannets milling around, all adults except for a single juvenile Gannet. An adult Common Gull flew in towards the beach, circled around the roosting Gulls and then flew back out to sea which was a nice surprise. A Great Northern Diver was picked up flying across the Bay before landing on the sea and promptly disappearing under the water, later it was seen flying up the River Yealm, and 2 Razorbills were also  feeding off the beach although they were rarely at the surface for long and were quite difficult to track between dives.

A flock of 14 Golden Plover flew over heading east and along the beach 2 Turnstone, 3 Curlew, Oystercatchers, 6 male and 3 female Mallard, 4 Little Egret and a Grey Heron were seen. Amongst the Gulls roosting on the rocks were 8 adult Mediterranean Gulls including a ringed bird (3EXH in black on a white ring on the left leg, ringed in 2013 in Belgium). 

Black-headed and Mediterranean Gulls

Ringed Mediterranean Gull - 3EXH

The sea weed mass along the beach was very busy with feeding birds and amongst the Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Blackbird, Pied Wagtail, Rock Pipit and Meadow Pipit present were 2 Grey Wagtail, a pair of Stonechat and a flitty and mobile Water Pipit, presumably last months bird which hopefully will now overwinter. 

Water Pipit with a Rock Pipit

It was soon time to catch the bus home and get back into the warm but it had been a very enjoyable and productive walk, a perfect antedote to the ongoing Christmas nonsense.