River Exe Boat Trip 30th January

My annual boat trip on the River Exe from Exmouth to Topsham and back with Mavis and Mike on the Stuart Line Cruise Boat was a great way to end a great months birdwatching. The weather was perfect, clear sky and virtually no breeze but boy was it cold. A bacon buttie in the cafe by the docks set us up for the trip nicely.

A grey seal was seen poking its head out of the water just off Exmouth seafront as we picked up the tickets from the ticket office. A common seal was later seen from the boat hauled out on a sand bar, apparently it is a half blind female that has been around for a couple of years. Its eyes always look "cataracty" but seals eyes can have that funny look about them.

Bird wise it was an excellent trip, star birds being excellent views of 2 immature male and 4 female scaup, distant views of 1 slavonian grebe, excellent views of an immature male long tailed duck and excellent views of a redhead smew on the river at Topsham. All the usual waders and wildfowl were seen including 2 knot, avocets, black- and bar-tailed godwits, 1 female pintail, 3 coot, 1 great crested grebe, little grebe and brent geese.




Wigeon feeding in front of the hide at Bowling Green Marsh

 

After the cruise on the drive back to Plymouth we stopped off at Bowling Green Marsh to find it virtually frozen over. A small unfrozen patch held a male and female tufted duck amongst wigeon, gadwall, pochard, pintail, shoveler and teal. The bright light was perfect to admire the beauty of ducks plumage especially the male shovelers and pintail with the sound of the wigeon calling adding to the overall effect. 2 snipe were feeding along the waters edge. A fox was sunning itself along the hedgerow at the back of the marsh, making a brief unsuccessful foray after some nearby rabbits. An avocet flew in from the Clyst estuary,sleeping for around 5 minutes amongst the flock of ducks and waders surrounding the unfrozen water before flying back to the Clyst.

Mavis and Mike on the Clyst Estuary Viewing Platform



Avocet from the Viewing Platform

 A look from the viewing platform overlooking the Clyst estuary provided good views of more avocets, a grey plover and a greenshank amongst the usual godwits, redshanks, dunlin and curlews.The Goatwalk provided even closer views of avocets and black-tailed godwits and a grey wagtail. It was very warm standing in the sun out of the breeze, I could feel the sun burning my face.

An excellent day all round, good birds, good company, lovely weather and a great months birding! Total for the year now stands at 108.

River Exe Hike 24th January

Today I caught the train from Plymouth to Starcross for my January walk along the Exe estuary, arriving in Starcross at 09:00hrs. A look at the small flooded field by the road just outside Starcross allowed good views of 1 greenshank, 3 common gulls, black tailed godwit, 1 mistle thrush and redwings along with wigeon, teal, mallard, redshank and curlew.

I then veered off to the small road that runs along the railway line past Powderham Park. A quick walk across the railway line to view the river provided a good view of a slavonian grebe preening, its neck looking quite dusky as I assume it starts to moult into summer plumage. I wonder if it is the resident bird that has been seen year round on the estuary for the last few years.

The park was full of fallow deer as usual. More greenshank were seen roosting by the side of a drainage channel but were too obscured to count exact numbers, on the return walk 4 were seen feeding on the mud on the river as the tide receeded. A female reed bunting called from the top of some reeds and 1 snipe was seen crouched amongst some rushes.

I usually walk to Powderham Church and then back to Starcross but this time I decided to carry on to Exminster Marshes as there have been quite a few interesting birds there recently. I have only ever walked up to the Turf Hotel before, many years ago now. The Marshes were full of birds, lots of wildfowl and waders roosting with the high tide. Best bird were the White-fronted geese feeding distantly on the marsh, the views were poor as the fed with heads down amongst the grass, occassionally raising their heads to scan around before returning to feed. The white blaze around the bill of an adult bird was noted. I only counted 7, there are reportedly 8 but with the restricted views I must have missed the 8th bird. These are my first Devon white fronts. No sign of the smew, hen harrier or bittern though as I headed back to Starcross.

A treecreeper was a nice find in some trees near Powderham Church on the return walk and avocets were seen flying down river to feed as the tide went out.

A mistake with train times meant I had to catch the bus to Dawlish Warren for a quick hour long walk. Offshore a flock of around 20 common scoter were seen distantly, taking flight when a great black backed gull flew low overhead. I couldn't see any white flashes of velvet scoter amongst them. No sign of the surf scoter either. 3 slavonian grebes were feeding looseley together just offshore allowing quite good views along with a great crested grebe. A huge feeding frenzy of gulls was noted out in the bay off Dawlish with a few gannets seen amongst them before they all dispersed after around 20 minutes.

The train back to Plymouth was uneventful, livened up by a good view of a fox sat in a field with magpies and carrion crows stood watching it, it was quite large, presumably a male, with a beautiful orangey coat.

Not a bad day but my feet were sore by the time I got home and the year total now stands at 103, I always like to see 100 species by the end of January so I'm doing very well this year.