December Highlights

Thought it was about time I wrote something down about the snippets of interest I have mustered over the last few weeks...

Who doesn't love a goose at Christmas!? I had 13!  Since Christmas Eve there has been a sizeable influx of grey geese across the UK, thanks to cold north easterly winds and the drop in temperatures in eastern Europe.  Looking at BirdGuides it's mostly White-fronts and Beans, but mid morning on Christmas Day I could see small black and white heads poking up from the long grass on Colyford Marsh, not grey ones...

Look along the near edge of the flock

 

At first I could only see nine Barnacle Geese, but later the whole flock showed itself better and contained 13 birds.  A fabulous sight and presumably as good as Barnacle Geese could ever get here - most records relate to 'feral' birds mixed up with the local Canada Geese.  Interestingly, other than when I first found them, this flock do seem to be staying separate from the local Canada Geese, although they have been mingling with up to five Dark-bellied Brent Geese which are notable in themselves here mid-winter.

How much better does Bridge Marsh look with this flock on it!

 

A closer look at some of the Barnacle Geese in the gloom of post-sunset on Christmas Day

 

The Dark-bellied Brents

 

All 13 Barnacle Geese were still present today, but I haven't seen the Brents for a couple of days now. And still no grey geese which is disappointing, although hopefully that will change as there are still plenty at large in the UK and we have more cold weather to come apparently.

Moving to a species that is associated more with warmth, I think I set a new Axe record count a few weeks back, if not, it was certainly a new high count for me.  22 Cattle Egret flew out of Seaton Marshes roost on 11th Dec, with 21 the following morning.  They've been feeding out of the valley which is quite unusual, just to the west of Seaton either side of the A3052.

In Seaton, the area around the Bowling Green is still a hive of activity.  The two Lesser Whitethroats remain (and I have started composing my blog post on these now as I have managed enough photos), as well as the odd Blackcap and up to five Black Redstarts.  The latter often not really behaving like stereotypical Black Reds - perching deep in trees and feeding on berries...

This male is one of the birds that have been regular by the Bowling Club

 

Often found partially obscured deep in a tree!

 

These berries are what is attracting all the birds to this area

Only occasionally does it remember it's a Black Redstart and sits out in the open

 

Gull-wise, the best for me recently has been this (slightly ugly but not ugly enough to not have) third-winter Caspian Gull. It showed really well on the Lower Axe for several hours on the morning of 15th Dec.  Closer scrutiny of the pictures showed it to be the same bird that Gav found and I later saw on the Axe on 27th Nov...

Slightly darker mantle and different head and bill shape visible here, but structure wise it isn't classic

 

Eye looks pale-ish too which is also not ideal

A pretty perfect wing pattern though, with a mirror on p9 and some black on p4

 

And this well-marked and advanced first-winter Caspian Gull on the lower Estuary last thing today...

Back left - almost as white breasted and headed as the adult Herring Gull in front!  

Such a well advanced bird with plenty of clean grey on top and the older generation feathers all looking very worn and faded now

 

The below gull was another interesting looking thing.  It's overall darkness, structure, and massive Glaucous-like beak had me desperately trying to capture a spread-tail shot in case it was an American Herring Gull.  Unfortunately I didn't manage too, but I don't think it was one. Probably just a big bulky (and possibly a bit Northern?) Herring Gull.

Although it has quite well marked underparts, they were a dark coffee colour, but certainly not smooth brown like our 2020 American Herring.

 

And finally - I really hope all you lovely readers had a wonderful Christmas!  Can't really believe it is already all over, but considering how quickly this year has gone it will soon be around again...

That Tern

Well I cannot be the author of a blog about the birds of the Axe Estuary area and not mention a certain Tern...

A Lesser Crested Tern has spent four days on the Exe Estuary, well today is its fifth day. A cracking rarity and not at a time of year you might expect to see one!  However, on a local level there is galling foreword to its appearance on the Exe...

Monday of last week was absolutely shocking, especially in the afternoon with strong rain and heavy winds.  I was stuck in work, but Mike B braved the elements and was watching the pre-roosting gulls pile in to the river valley. They were all clearly reluctant to head out to sea where they usually roost due to the shocking conditions.  

At just before 4pm when it was already fairly dark, amongst a huge swirl of Black-headed Gulls over Black Hole Marsh, Mike had a few seconds glimpse of a tern sp., a large tern sp. with a large and colourful bill. I gave it some effort the following morning, looking along the Estuary and spent quite some time looking over the sea, but to no avail. 

I have to be honest, I was sure it was going to turn out to be a Royal Tern if it did reappear anywhere, Mike thought it has a reddish bill which supported that not to mention the late date, however, presumably Lesser Crested it was!  Obviously we cannot be absolutely certain, and the record will be a near-miss for the patch, however we all know what we have missed here, a truly incredible record.  Gutting.  Well done though Mike, just-reward for being out in such grim conditions!

So, what have I seen... Well lots of water in the valley yesterday, and it was good to see a bit of an increase in wintering bird numbers with more Lapwing and Wigeon around, as well as two Egyptian Geese which later became four.  I found nothing of note in the gulls that were around yesterday, but they have revealed some goodies during the previous few days...

Best of all was this lovely first-winter Caspian Gull off Coronation Corner on Friday 5th, first seen by Phil about half an hour earlier further up-river...

Well I wanted a more classic-looking Casp - and boy did I get it!

  

So white!

Such a striking secondary bar, and legs that went on forever!

A better albeit less sharp image of its upperwing. Feather-perfect.

It looked just as good on dry land as it was a big long-necked bird, standing as tall as the two Great Black-backed Gulls either side of this shot

 

There was another bird present that caught my interest, in fact it hung around all day distracting me as its ID wasn't immediately apparent.  It was a third-winter bird that was giving off Caspian-vibes at the same time as clearly not being a Caspian Gull.  Having shared the photos with other, Herring x Caspian hybrid has been suggested, and seems a good suggestion to me, although I did wonder whether Lesser Black-backed was in the mix somewhere considering its overall size and structure and leg and mantle colour...

Quite a dark mantle and very washed out pale yellow legs

The gull in the water

Some open-wing action

 

The other gull worthy of note from the previous week was this second-winter Yellow-legged Gull.  It remained distant but was a really chunky bird...

Right of the post, with Herring behind to compare mantle colour with and two Great Black-backs to the side to compare its size to!

Hard to judge mantle colour here in the bright sunshine, but structure and head and bill shape shows well.  It's the bird just to the right of the second-winter Herring Gull with the pale-tipped bill on the far left of this picture at mid-height.

At least one Lesser Whitethroat is still present in Seaton, although I wouldn't be surprised if both were still present as it's been a bit windy to get a proper handle on them lately.  I have got some nice sound clips, there are just some more photos I want to try and capture before I write a more detailed post on them. Hopefully I'll acheive this before the end of the year, but it ultimately depends on how helpful the birds prove!