I was at work on a Long Day shift on Sunday 5th March when news came through on the sightings pages of a Black Guillemot being seen off Plymouth Hoe and so the next morning I headed out for a look.
It was grey and cold again and very still with a calm sea and no breeze and I had a look for Purple Sandpipers on the exposed rocks on the low tide along my walk but with no luck although I did see 3 Turnstones.
The Black Guillemot had been seen that morning off Duttons Cafe but there was no sign of it when I arrived despite regular scanning across the water. I carried on walking towards Tinside Pool, regularly scanning the sea along the way, and eventually I found it close to the shore just off Rusty Anchor where I finally managed to get some very nice views of it as it constantly dived for food.
It spent very little time at the surface and gradually drifted east back towards Duttons Cafe before flying back to Rusty Anchor to start again, flashing its white wing patches in flight as it skimmed low over the water. It also regularly flapped its wings at the surface between dives, the white wing patches again giving its position away.
I enjoyed much better views of the Black Guillemot this time than I did of the bird I saw in May last year off Drakes Island and maybe this is that same bird? Whatever the case, it was very nice to see an uncommon Devon bird again and so close to home.
I had another look for it on Thursday 9th March but there was no sign of it, nor were there any Purple Sandpipers or Black Redstarts. I did however see a single Turnstone at Rusty Anchor and a low flyover adult Lesser Black-backed Gull seemed to cause some consternation amongst the Black-headed Gulls present on the water.
I also had a look around Sutton Harbour where the summer plumaged Little Grebe was still present along with 4 Canada Geese, 21 Mute Swan, 3 male and a female Mallard and 5 Turnstone.
Friday 10th March was cold and grey as we headed out to Burrator Reservoir for a walk. The weather has finally changed with some wet and windy conditions here in Devon but for a lot of the UK there has been heavy snow and freezing overnight temperatures. It was certainly cold on our walk with the car temperature gauge reading 3°c when we arrived at the reservoir but the walk was enjoyable, fresh and invigorating.
Despite the cold I managed a few nice sightings with 7+ Crossbill being the highlight, they were busily feeding on cones in the tree tops before flying down to the reservoir edge for a drink, they were vocal and flitty and there were at least 3 males present with at least 4 females.
Other highlights were a smart looking adult Lesser Black-backed Gull roosting amongst the Herring Gulls on the line of buoys across the reservoir near the road dam, a Mistle Thrush feeding in a field with around 15 Redwing, a further 2 Mistle Thrush feeding together on the other dam, a Green Woodpecker heard yaffling, a Great Spotted Woodpecker heard drumming and 4 Ravens flying over and displaying together.
The water level had dropped since our last visit and there was no water going over the dam this time but there was plenty of water flowing into the reservoir following the recent heavy rain and with more rain forecasted it will probably be flowing over the dam again very soon.
