I got up nice and early on Saturday, spurred on by tweets from Bill and Andy at Berry Head who had stumbled upon a Nightingale and a Lesser Whitethroat - fall?
Well no, not here anyway. Phil did Beer Head and Bun the Beer Cemetery Fields, and both reported slim pickings. I checked most the sites around the valley and didn't see much, although did manage one year tick with a (not so) Common Whitethroat. Before I saw this though I had two Lesser Whitethroats, with singing males at Black Hole Marsh and Axmouth. So this year I had four Lesser Whitethroats before getting my first Common! Also noticed more Reed Warblers about, and on Black Hole Marsh four black-bellied Dunlin.
I tried a sea watch as well, and stood at the Spot On 07:30-08:00. Conditions weren't at all promising so I wasn't expecting much, good job really (all west):
1 Common Scoter
2 Great Northern Diver (singles, my first of the spring)
11 Manx Shearwater
5 Sandwich Tern
9 Razorbill
To be fair I've endured much worse here! And it was great to see the GND's, I always love seeing these beasts power through in the spring.
Today all I've managed is a quick trip to Black Hole Marsh at dusk, where the Short-eared Owl was showing well. Sue's managed some excellent photos of it which really are worth a look, I said it was a dark one: http://bicyclebirderontheaxe.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/short-eared-owl.html
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