Black Hole Marsh Update and Common Dolphins

I can't believe it's been about twenty days since my last blog post! Apologies for this, especially when it's been so busy out there in the birding world. I have been getting out as much as possible, just always been running out of time to blog about it afterwards.  

In this post as the title indicates I want to update you all with the happenings on Black Hole Marsh since my last post about the wading birds here on 20th July.  It really has been excellent, and right now is looking as good as it ever does so do come and visit if you get the chance.

Following the early juvenile Wood Sand I blogged about on 17th July, over the past ten-ish days up to two more juveniles have been present, although there seems to be just one now.  One of them in particularly was really showy, hence the obscene amount of photographs below. They are such a charismatic species packed full of charm it's a real struggle not to aim the camera at them..

It's been a good late summer/early autumn for Greenshank, with six on 17th July my highest count.  I noted the first juvenile on 1st August, with the early date suggesting it may be of Scottish origin.  A really cracking example of a juv too, looking strikingly paler than all the recent adults...

The first juvenile Ruff was on the marsh on 10th, with two a couple of days later.  Again, how fresh and bright does it look in its brand new baby feathers...

And the most recent addition to the Black Hole crowd is a Little Stint first found by Derek Carter on 12th.  Surprisingly it was also a juvenile - another example of what I believe to be an early date for a juv wading bird. 2020 really is proving the year of early juvenile waders, which hopefully is a sign they've had a good breeding season.  

As you can probably tell from my pics though, the two times I've seen it it hasn't been particularly close...

Whilst on the subject of juvenile wading birds, I always look forward to seeing my first juv Black-tailed Godwit of the year.  This year that was on 4th August, but it wasn't the first of a flurry - I have only seen one more since!

Not that there's anything wrong with summer adult Black-tailed Godwits, so richly coloured...

Other bits and bobs on the marsh have included up to 51 Dunlin, 25 Teal, 20 Common Sandpipers, nine Ringed Plover, four Green Sandpipers, four Snipe and my first Yellow Wagtail of the autumn on 5th August.  The lingering juvenile Marsh Harrier is still around too, although can be surprisingly sporadic in its' appearances.

I'll finish this blog post on a different topic.  Yesterday morning before work I spent fifteen minutes sat on Seaton Beach with Jess and Harry, and as we wandered down to the shore I mentioned that the flat sea looked good for cetacean spotting.  About five seconds later I was showing Jess two distant Dolphins out in the bay, including one frequently breaching - pirouettes and everything!  Unfortunately though they were too distant to ID and I couldn't get any other local birders on to them.

So I was dead chuffed to find a video of them on a local Facebook page today, clearly shot at the same time we were watching them from dry land.  Here's a screen shot from the video, showing they were my second ever Common Dolphins here...

And here's a link to the actual video, which is well worth a watch: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=321669915550419.

Osprey 014 on the Axe

Enjoyed a wonderful evening out tonight on patch. It was just a few hours but much needed in the middle of a busy week of work.

First and foremost was the female Osprey that's been around for at least two days, which was showing well perched in a tree on Bridge Marsh, before fishing (unsuccessfully) over the Estuary.  We know it's a her because she's colour-ringed, and was showing off her '014' blue ring this evening.  As often is the case with colour-ringed birds, once the ring is read and history learnt a fascinating back story unwinds.  Blue 014 is one of the translocated birds from Scotland released in Poole Harbour in the summer of 2018.  She spent the summer of 2019, as to be expected for a first-summer bird, not in the UK, but in May this year she surprised everyone by reappearing on a Osprey nest cam in Dyfi, Wales!  Full details of her movements can be found HERE.  

And here she is on the Axe Estuary tonight...

Osprey in situ

014 on the Axe - how exciting!

A quick look over the sea showed c20 Med Gulls (so many stonking adults and second-summers) and my first independent juvenile Herring Gull of 2020...

Sadly not a Yellow-legged

I ended the night with a look along the river and a quick visit to Black Hole Marsh. This showed 15 Common and my first Green Sandpiper of the autumn (a fine adult), a beautiful fresh juvenile Little Ringed Plover, an adult Greenshank, ten super smart Black-tailed Godwits and a Shoveler. 

Green Sandpiper

A distant juvenile Little Ringed Plover

Can't tell you how much I enjoyed it.  And HELLO autumn!

A Foray to the Exe

Having seen the Bowling Green Marsh Yellow-browed Warbler last week, I knew how ideal it would be for Dad to see. So yesterday after a hospital appointment, I took him out for his first trip to the Exe since his stroke in October last year, a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.  The Brent Geese must have heard he was visiting as they treated us to some superb fly pasts - probably about 6-700 birds in total...

The Yellow-browed performed equally well, with some exceptionally close view of it feeding alongside the road right down in the stinging nettles.  The very first view we had of it was pretty special too, as it flew low down the middle of the road right past us.  In this single flight the Yellow-browed went from bushes near the entrance of Goosemoor to roughly 80m the other side of the Bowling Green hide - presumably taking it from the end of its feeding circuit back to the beginning?  

Excuse the very frustratingly positioned vegetation in the below photo, which looks horribly like fishing wire!...

There's been plenty of reports of this bird having a dodgy right eye, it was pretty much fully closed whilst we were watching it.  Sadly it evidently now has problems with its left eye too, being half-closed. Poor guy, I don't rate his chances much :-(

I'm almost embarrassed to say that this trip out saw my first visit to Goosemoor.  A lovely reserve with several excellent vantage points...

And it's clearly a great place for Greenshank...

A truly wonderful and very very special afternoon out for me.  Great to be able to start repaying Dad for all the weekends he took me out birding when I was in my teens...

Black Hole Beckons

With storms and rain showers overnight, and wader-inviting water levels, I knew Black Hole Marsh needed a thorough look over this morning. So at 06:00 I whisked Harry down there and we stayed until about 07:50.  It was so worthwhile - today has proved to be the best wader day of the autumn so far.

I was amazed at how quickly the water levels had dropped, this was taken at 13:00 yesterday...

And this at 06:50 today...

This was another part of the marsh this morning - lots of lovely (and lovely plumaged) wading birds...

My totals were;

3 Teal
32 Little Egret
1 Ringed Plover (autumn first)
1 Little Ringed Plover (ad)
20 Dunlin (also had six flying over the Estuary, unsure if they joined the Black Hole flock so maybe 26 present)
3 Greenshank
53 Redshank
12 Black-tailed Godwit
7 Common Sandpiper
1 Green Sandpiper
1 Med Gull (juv)
2 Kingfisher
 

When the marsh is in this condition birds seem to constantly trickle in, so expect these totals to be way off by this evening, especially after a high tide. Exciting times!

The Ringed Plover and Little Ringed Plover stayed close to each other, this allowed for some nice comparison shots. Ringed Plover upper bird in both shots, just look at the overall difference in size (particularly bulk) and shape...

The two Greenshank that remained together, although both adults, looked completely different to one another (left bird still very much in summer plumage)... 

And I simply cannot get enough of juv Med Gulls, enjoy them before they moult...

If you ever find yourself in the Tower Hide with a camera, do make sure you keep an eye on the post just underneath the hide on the Black Hole Marsh side. This little fella can easily sneak in and out without being noticed...

In the voice of a stern tennis umpire... "More rain please!"

The 'W' Word

Well it's hard not to think of winter when you see the first of these of the autumn loafing on the Estuary...

Male Wigeon

Otherwise it was much the same on Black Hole Marsh, although it was pleasing to see the Greenshank on here - a gorgeous silverly juv.  Yesterday it was nice to see a Green Sand close to the Island Hide, they have been present in unusually low numbers this autumn...

Juv-1w Green Sand

Such a pity the sun wasn't behind me for this photo!

Knot One, Knot Two, But THREE!

Sorry, but Knot puns are just too tempting....

Knot is one of the last 'pretty much guaranteed' species to fall on my 2013 patch year list attempt. It fell on Tuesday morning, and as you can maybe tell from the post title, there were three of them (which I think is my single highest count for the Axe!)...

A Redshank leading the Knot along the Estuary.

 

Waders have been fantastic - and it's looking ever better now a bit more water is coming on to Black Hole Marsh.  Dunlin have been numbering just less than 50 (48 Wed, 46 today), Ringed Plovers 30ish, literally millions of Curlew Sands (most often about ten), two juv Little Ringed Plovers and a lovely juv Little Stint. Sadly the two Spotted Redshank didn't hang around at all.

The most focused rarity hunter would be best just sitting in the Island Hide all day - but I've got year ticks to find, so have been covering some ground (when I've been able too anyway!).  There's got to be a Wryneck around here somewhere...

I went up to Beer Head later than usual yesterday, I got there at 9ish, and stayed for an hour and a bit. At first it looked dead, but around the Sheepwalk there were birds all over the place! It was clear why too, because there were flies everywhere, which meant pretty much all the birds were sat out flycatching and showing really well - not always close though.

Garden Warblers

Spotted Flycatcher

In all I had three Spot Flies, three Garden Warbler, three Whitethroat, at least eight Blackcap, a handful of Chiffs/Willow, two Wheatear and overhead singles of Grey Wagtail and most unusually, Greenshank!

It really felt like an Ickey was going to pop out at any point. If it did, it was after I left...

Much The Same, Just Different!

Well the Marsh Harrier wasn't around today, and I didn't see the Little Stint, Curlew Sand or Knot.  But pretty much everything else is still about, although there's a lot less water in the valley.

The best spot it still opposite Axmouth FC, where there has been two Ruff and two Wood Sandpipers for most of the day - it looks so good for a Pec here at the moment! 

Coronation Corner had a good selection too at 9am, with singles of Ringed Plover, Greenshank and Bar-tailed Godwit...

Barwit

Greenshank

The weather hasn't been anything like what they forecasted today, we were meant to have rain for most of the day!  Looks like though (unless they've got it wrong again!) we should be getting some in the night - which may drop something new in. Here's hoping anyway!!

Autumn Migration In Full Swing

I've had a couple of very enjoyable days - with lots of birds!

Yesterday, I spent four hours in the morning in Beer at my regular haunt of late - the fields above the Cemetery.

Without a doubt the highlight was the Tree Pipits. I'd had three or four go over, with a couple perched up in a large dead tree. I then had a walk through a field of long grass, and nine flew up and perched up in nearby bushes. I walked away and came back fifteen minutes later, and this time an incredible 14 Tree Pipits took off (in ones, twos and threes) from the same area. This is by far the most Tree Pipits I have ever seen together anywhere - let alone on the patch! They didn't show on the ground because the grass was so long, only when they were perched up...

...just a pity none of them ended up in my nets!

Other birds I saw during this visit included; 1 Spot Fly, 2 Yellow Wags, 1 Nuthatch, 7 Whitethroat, 1 Garden Warbler, 6 Blackcap, 3 Willow Warbler, 6 Chiffchaff and a Reed Bunting - the latter a real surprise as I don't normally see migrant Reed Bunts until much later in the autumn. Ringing wise, somehow I only caught one migrant bird (although a juv Coal Tit may just qualify as a second?)...

Another Whitethroat

Which did this to my hand!

Today, I spent another couple of hours up there late afternoon, hoping to catch one or all of the three Garden Warblers that were lurking in the bushes - no luck at all. I caught absolutely nothing, but saw about eight Blackcaps and a couple of Whitethroats.

Earlier today, after helping with the 'Moth Breakfast' which was part of the Wet and Wild Weekend, a look over Black Hole Marsh was very enjoyable indeed. Four Wood Sands, two Common Sands, five Greenshank and 25 Dunlin were on show - some venturing quite close to the hide...

Wood Sandpipers

Greenshanks

And both!

Ok, time for a little bit of moth news now. I had a trap out in the garden last night as usual, and there were two highlights amongst the modest catch...

Four-spotted Footman - my first ever female!

A very worn and faded Crescent Dart

And finally - some family news; I'm an uncle! My sister-in-law gave birth to the beautiful Lily Waite last Tuesday, both mother and daughter are well.

I have already bought her her first pair of binoculars....and I'm not even joking!