Balearic Shearwater Passage

Although it's been a busy week for me, there is no way I could have ignored the sea considering the weather and last weeks bumper Balearic Shearwater passage off south Devon.  

It wasn't until extremely late that I made it down to the seafront yesterday, 20:20 to be precise. All thanks to a text from James Mc who was at Lyme Regis and reported lots of westward shearwater action.  Upon my arrival I was greeted by a huge feeding flock of large gulls just offshore (the whitebait and mackerel are in the bay I'm told) joined by numerous Gannets too.  And within less than a minute shearwaters came by.  In half an hour I noted; 

Manx Shearwater 44

Balearic Shearwater 27

Common Scoter 15

Pretty much all the shearwaters were at a good range, with many of the Balearics in particularly seemingly being pulled close inshore by the feeding flock, before most then turned and headed back out south/south west.  

With the wind still up this morning, I was back at the Spot On Kiosk by 05:25 and gave it just under two hours.  As soon as my eye met the telescope there were Balearic Shearwaters passing through, I'm sure if I had arrived earlier I would have added so many more Balearics to the tally.  It was  a spectacular show for this species, that far out numbered Manxies today. For the first hour and a bit all flew straight through west, but then a close flock of ten, that at first seemed to be doing the same, decided to land and began feeding offshore.  This in turn tempted most of the remaining Balearics that came in the from the east to land with them.  By the end of the watch there were about 15 birds feeding on the sea with the large flock of feeding gulls and Gannets. Fantastic to watch.

A Velvet Scoter was a real surprise, always is here but especially so considering the date, with an immature female-type high west and then back east at 05:41. I was really hoping it would be picked up further east but wasn't to my knowledge.   The Great Skua that flew west about four minutes later was however picked up again, by Mike at Beer.  My first Skua of the year FINALLY!  Wonderful to see, although distant as this dreadful photo suggests...

Was so far out!  Really restricted white in the wing too, if it were late August I would have labelled it a juv

An adult Yellow-legged Gull in with the large numbers of gulls (400+) feeding just off the beach was another great highlight, a proper heavy billed brute too.  Interestingly single adult YLG's were also seen at Abbotsbury and Portland today so maybe something of a mini-arrival?  Worthy also of a mention was my fist juvenile Mediterranean Gull of the year - always a highlight and quite an early one too.  It was one of several Med Gulls that were offshore/flying west. 

My full totals for this watch were (west unless stated); 

Gannet 200+ (uncounted so an estimate)

Balearic Shearwater 67 (last 15 birds landed and fed offshore, flock of ten the biggest group)

Manx Shearwater 7

Great Skua 1

Yellow-legged Gull 1 (close inshore with gull flock)

Med Gull 5 (1 juv, 1 2nd sum, 3 ads)

Kittiwake 4

Auk sp. 5

Velvet Scoter 1 (west then east)

Common Scoter 20 (clearly some duplication as a flock of 12 flew west then came back east about five mins later)

A very enjoyable watch. I tried again tonight, but twenty minutes showed just; 

Balearic Shearwater 2

Shearwater sp. 1

Common Scoter 3

Med Gull 7 (loitering)

To finish the post - spot the odd one out!  It's a common sight at this time of year to see gulls feeding on washed up whitebait on the beach.  But never before have I seen a Little Egret get in on the action! I even watched it have to briefly take flight on a couple of occasions to avoid the incoming crashing waves...

Look carefully and you'll see it! Was distant and in sea spray

Felt so good to enjoy some decent seawatching off Seaton, especially after the spring we've just had.  Hopefully there are more sea-based treats ahead during the remainder of summer 2020, and fingers crossed they are large ones...

Balearics and a Beast

It's high time I summarised my recent bird sightings, which thanks to today have become a little more interesting...

Black Hole Marsh had a spate of activity early last week, and although I missed the two Wood Sands that dropped in for half a day, three adult Little Ringed Plovers stayed put long enough for me to catch up with, although they were often flighty and vocal...

Little Ringed Plovers - surprisingly all adults!

On the same day I also saw a single Ringed Plover, two Greenshank, three Green Sands (also vocal and flightly), ten Dunlin and two juv Med Gulls on Black Hole Marsh.  Along with a brute of a juv Yellow-legged Gull on the Estuary and a Lesser Whitethroat on Colyford Common.  

I've not had chance to do Beer Head/Axe Cliff so far this autumn, but Willow Warblers keep popping up in front of me. Ian Mc did ok up Beer Head yesterday morning with a Pied Fly and good counts of Wheatear and Willow Warbler - although this wind will presumably have halted any further passerine passage.  Does looks like it's kick started some sea passage though which is good!

I gave the sea a couple of ten minute watches this afternoon, showing the odd Manx Shearwater and several Gannets passing, but things livened up a bit more during a 40 minute watch from 17:40 this evening when I recorded;

11 Balearic Shearwater
4 Manx Shearwater
1 shearwater sp.
1 Med Gull (juv)
2 Kittiwake
2 Common Tern
3 wader sp.

Great to see some Balearic action, with ten of the 11 passing in a ten minute window from 17:45, including a fairly close flock of five which looked so awesome. I haven't had any decent counts of Balearics off here for a good number of years - they seem to be sticking more to the west part of Lyme Bay these days - so every one of these 11 were very much appreciated.

A look up the Estuary just after this watch revealed an absolute beast of a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull, a real brute...

A truly epic bird - that juvenile Herring Gull looks so tiny in comparison!

Long legged, long winged, huge billed - what a treat!  Quite a dark one too (esp around the face), although note the pale ground colour to underparts

Some South Easterly Seawatching

The raw east wind that's been hammering us for about a week edged more southerly yesterday, and this morning we woke up to a decent south east gale.  I'm not a fan of sea watching here in south easterlies, it's almost always disappointing and every time we are completely trumped by Chesil - embarrassingly and frustratingly so!

I didn't miss much this morning from what Ian Mc and Phil reported, but tonight I was keen to give it a go after work - am dead pleased I did!  An hour at the Spot On Kiosk from 18:50 produced (all east);

2 Teal (why weren't these Garganey!!??)

54 Gannet

128 Manx Shearwater (18 the biggest single flock)

1 Arctic Skua (a sleek pale-phased adult at 19:04)

5 Common Gull

12 Sandwich Tern (6, 4 and 2)

1 Arctic Tern (flew in then over the beach, gained height but then flew back out again!)

11 Whimbrel 

5 Dunlin

So not too shabby at all by Seaton standards, with the two Arctic's being the highlights.  The Tern just kept coming closer and closer, to the point I could even see the bill detail which was nice! And as for the Skua, well this was my first Skua of the year which is always a highlight - but this one looked particularly dinky and streamline and the plumage simply stunning in front of the dull grey sea.

Although I have been at work all day, it's clear there's been a constant arrival of hirundines. Every time I have been outside small groups of Swallows/House Martins have whizzed through quickly north. This evening whilst sea watching I must have seen twenty Swallows arrive in-off too. 

No photos from today I'm afraid, but here's a dreadful photo of a female Goosander that did a lap of Bridge Marsh in front of me on Saturday evening, with 60 Sand Martins and ten Swallows also on show...

A blur which shares some similarities with a female sawbill!

More of the same please Spring 2019!

Rebellious Gypos!

Sorry this blog has been a bit quiet this week, it's been a busy one! It's been a bit of a life-changing one too with some exciting news to blog about in the near future. For now though, the birds...

The wildfowl theme from last month continued, with the Barnacle Goose lingering on, a flock of four Greylag Geese on Colyford Marsh on Thursday, and another two Egyptian Geese on Bridge Marsh today. I have to say I can't ever remember seeing any species of goose perched on a fence post before...

There's also still been regular Goosander sightings, with Tim Wright seeing up to four on several evenings during the last week.

Monday night was great fun. Thanks to news from James Mc at Lyme and Dan J at Sidmouth, just before 7pm I scurried down to Seaton seafront where it was an absolute delight to watch Manx Shearwaters streaming past.  In half an hour I had 254 fly west, along with two Sandwich Terns and a first-summer Med Gull. Early spring evening Manx movements off here used to be an annual thing, often over flat calm seas, but for some reason it's been many years since a movement like this has occurred - presumably a food related change?

I finally saw my first Swallow of the year on Wednesday, and have seen another four or five today. Also today Clive had our first two House Martins of the year over Bridge Marsh, and Kev pulled a bit of a gripper out of the bag this afternoon with an early Cuckoo calling on and off in Couchill Woods. The first (real) UK Cuckoo record of the year?

I might give Beer Head a go in the morning. I won't have long, but hopefully long enough to see some spring migrants.

Best Day of the Spring

Wow what a day. The best birding day of the month turned out to be the last day of the month, and that was simply because we had some different weather. A nice south easterly wind has been blowing all day (since yesterday in fact) and we've had lots of rain. And this meant birds birds birds!

Although south easterlies aren't our best wind direction for sea watching (that's south westerlies) I just had to give the sea a look - quite a long look in the end! I started the day with a four hour sea watch and then had two twenty minute glances during the afternoon, all from the Spot On Kiosk. These are the exact times, and this is what I saw (east unless stated);

05:50-09:50, 13:10-13:30, 15:10-15:30;

2 Dark-bellied Brent Goose 

110 Common Scoter (75e 35w)

5 Great Northern Diver (all singles and all west)

70+ Gannet

6 Manx Shearwater (two singles and a four)

4 Arctic Skua (ad pale-phased west at 08:40, ad pale-phased and near-ad pale-phased close east together at 09:02 and ad dark-phased west at 09:40)

3 Mediterranean Gull (all first-years)

6 Common Gull

40 Black-headed Gull (most flew in)

21 Sandwich Tern

1 Arctic Tern (so close that I think it came out of the Estuary then flew east at 08:20)

4 Dunlin (in)

3 Sanderling (one east with a flock of ten Whimbrel and later two flew in sat on beach briefly then headed off west)

72 Whimbrel (biggest single flock being 38 birds)

2 Guillemot

14 Razorbill

8 auk sp.

1 Yellow Wagtail (flew east along beach calling).

I'm pleased to say there's four year ticks in that list; Arctic Skua and Tern, Manxie and Sanderling. I had to wait for the skuas, they only arrived once the cloud came over and just prior/during the first rain showers of the day. Although the numbers always make a sea watch for me (Whimbrel and Scoter today), and of course the skuas which are always notable birds here, my star bird of the watch was the Arctic Tern. Our 'commic's' are usually distant, but this thing virtually flew over my head! Great to be able to see all the diagnostic features, but best of all that distinctive bouncy flight and super long tail streamers. Now if I was to be a bit whingy a Black Tern would have been nice, but I'm not today - it's just been such a fab fab day!

Whimbrel flying east

Arctic Skua - just!

One of the closest Gannets of the day

With many other birders watching the coast today, there were a couple of interesting re-sightings of my birds. My four Manx Shearwaters in the afternoon flew past Sidmouth half an hour earlier (Dan), and it took my dark-phased Arctic Skua twenty minutes to fly from here to Budleigh (B Heasman) and then another forty minutes before it flew west past Teignmouth (L Allnat). Always find this kind of stuff fascinating, thanks for getting in touch folks.

Considering the amount of wading birds passing over the sea, I knew the river valley would be worth keeping an eye on today. By the end of the day on the Estuary there were; 

10 Ringed Plover

12 Dunlin

5 Bar-tailed Godwit (three sum plum males)

3 Black-tailed Godwit

36 Whimbrel (giving me a day total of well over a hundred - very notable count for the Axe)

1 Greenshank

From left to right; three Barwits, a Whimbrel and a Blackwit

Is there a finer wader? Summer plumaged male Bar-tailed Godwit

And again

And again! x2

Four of the five Barwits from today

And this wasn't it.  Wandering towards the Colyford Marsh hide early afternoon I noticed all the birds that were clearly on the main scrape on Colyford Marsh lift off and behave as though they'd just been spooked by something. Two minutes later I was watching my/our first Marsh Harrier of 2017. Year tick number five of the day...

Female Marsh Harrier

And again, but a little more zoomed in

I must just thank my wife, who's been amazing as always and was quite happy to let me fill my boots when it came to birding - she knows how much I've been longing for this weather. In my defence I did find time to build a bed today as well!

Before I sign off for the night I will quickly tie up yesterday's birding news - don't worry it won't be long as I only had about an hour out. Saying that it was a pretty good hour though! First up was an Avocet that flew in calling on the Estuary just as the tide was coming in...

Avocet and Shelduck

Then there was a new in Lesser Whitethroat singing alongside the tram line opposite Coronation Corner. And finally my forty minute wander along the beach with the dog which produced a Great Skua east and a Mute Swan and 22 Pale-bellied Brent Geese west...

Pale-bellied Brent Geese, later seen off Dawlish Warren

That's it now. Night all and roll on tomorrow...

Seawatching Unsuccessfully

16th May 2009 is a date that has always stuck with me - it remains the most gripped I have ever been by missing a patch bird. Ian Mc was watching a decent passage of Manxies from Beer when out of nowhere a Cory's Shearwater came gliding through with them!  We soon learnt this bird was first seen in Chesil Cove (by Brett) and later Exmouth - so was just one random bird that had got mixed up with the usual Manxies. So gripping, and a first for the patch.

Well I have been gripped again - big time!  

From early last week it was pretty clear Birdfair weekend was going to be a good one for birding, finally a decent Atlantic blow was coming in and I was going to completely miss it.  Despite seeing plenty abroad, I am yet to see Cory's in the UK - the last couple of years I've been desperate to get down to PG but the weather and the timing of the fronts just haven't been kind to me. On Saturday I was expecting to be miss a decent passage of these brutes at PG, but had no idea I was going to miss several seen from Seaton! Large Shearwaters are just SO rare this far into Lyme Bay and this far up the English Channel, so to hear of groups of four and a count of up to 12 is just so mind boggling! And devastating.

Even local photographer Tim White who is a complete newbie to sea watching rocked up and saw two, one of which passed by just a couple of hundred meters offshore! This is probably closer than any Shearwater I've ever seen in 12 years of sea watching here!!!

It wasn't just me that missed out mind. Bun was even further away, in Mexico! James Mc spent a lot of time sea watching on Saturday from Lyme and Seaton, but missed the lot. Dan J who is a very keen sea watching in Sidmouth didn't get a whiff of a large Shearwater despite several watches during the day. And poor Tim Wright, he was sea watching from the thatched shelter when both of Tim White's birds went through, but came away with nothing. It was a bad day for quite a few of us! 

What was odd is how they were behaving, not passing by here and then being seen off other sites to the west of us, they were just here!   It was clearly a small group of displaced feeding birds that probably spent most of their time just over the horizon, but now and then circled into and then out of Seaton Bay. Although 12 were counted, I wouldn't be surprised if the actual number of birds was lower, possibly 6-8 maybe? A big well done though to Brendan Sheils who saw the first two on Friday evening, and then the Chard boys who picked up the numbers on Saturday morning, if it wasn't for them this phenomenal event would have probably gone by completely undetected! 

I did try, despite a 17 hour day on Saturday (including eight hours of driving!), I got myself up at 05:30 on Sunday and sea watched 05:50 - 08:30, and again 17:00-19:00. I didn't see any large Shears, but did see;

1 Common Scoter

7 Balearic Shearwater 

95+ Manx Shearwater

11 Kittiwake (mostly juvs)

1 Sandwich Tern

1 Ringed Plover

1 Dunlin

Not a bad Seaton haul really, but very unsatisfactory given the circumstances.

Looking at the forecast, looks like my UK Cory's chance is blown for another year, and probably another 15 years for the patch!!!  Thursday is looking interesting though with a chance of a passerine fall and maybe some more waders?  On the sunny days this week, Osprey has got to be a good bet, most juveniles have now left their nests now with the adults well on their way south already.

Seawatching

I had an early alarm set for this morning, the forecast was promising wind, rain and cloud so I just had to try a sea watch.

Up until about 07:50 the conditions were pretty good.  Although the wind was never that strong it was coming from the south west which is our best direction for sea watching, and with it were a few passing showers that always help to bring birds closer in.  Sadly just before 8 we had a substantial downfall that for some reason killed the wind right off and the sea practically went flat. Still, I held out to make it a three hour watch.

05:55-08:55 produced (all west unless stated):

15 Pale-bellied Brent Goose (one flock)

2 Gadwall (pair at 08:10)

17 Common Scoter (10w, 7e)

9 Great Nortern Diver

1 Black-throated Diver (w/pl landed on sea half way across bay, but never saw it again)

1 diver sp.

92 Gannet (some flew east but there did seem to be a general westerly passage)

406 Manx Shearwater (a decent count, including several flocks of 40+ birds)

16 Whimbrel

1+ Ringed Plover (heard only)

1 Sanderling (came in then flew west)

15 Kittiwake (12w, 3e)

11 Razorbill

I have to say I was disappointed not to get a Skua (made even more so by the fact James Mc had two single Bonxies off Lyme Regis, one of which went west but never made it to me), but I love a sea watch that gives a nice variety of species, and this one certainly did. So all in all I was happy with my haul.

Not A Nice Post To Write...

The stormy winter months haven't just been devastating for many people in the UK, but they have been for our seabirds too.

An arcitle on BirdGuides reveals that a survey during the weekend of 22/23rd February along the coast of the Bay of Biscay, France, showed 21,341 dead birds (mostly Puffins). On top of this, 2,784 ill birds were taken into care and fisherman were still reporting seeing carpets of dead birds floating at sea. Such disturbing news.

Along the Devon coast, Kev Rylands of the RSPB has said around 200 dead birds have been found. I know that south Dorset, particularly Chesil Cove, have had large numbers too, and Cornwall.  Wales is in the same boat now also and I presume Ireland is as well.  The true number of sea bird that have died, considering these numbers, and the fact most are probably still floating at sea, is scary. Must be around or above 100,000 birds surely?

Seaton beach sadly has had its share of this. Local birder Alan Bibby has found most of the birds, but I've been down a few times also keeping an eye on things.  Personally I've seen 16 dead birds; 10 Guillemot, 3 Razorbill, 1 Kittiwake, 1 Great Skua and 1 Manx Shearwater.  I know of a further four dead birds that have been found, including a Puffin. This selection shows how many different species have been affected.

And now, I'm afraid, some pictures...

Sadly many of the Guillemots, like this one, were in pristine summer plumage and looked in good shape (except for being dead obviously!).

A Razorbill.

A dead adult Kittiwake, this was the only bird I've seen with obvious oil.

This I found the saddest sight. Great Skua's are the bullies of the sea, a proper dominate pirate species. Not this one anymore.

A head shot of the Great Skua, such a powerdul bird.

A Manx Shearwater (which is still in my back garden!) - we usually see these gracefully gliding just above the waves.

Hopefully my next blog post will be a bit more positive...

Hot Weather Birding

Had a couple of hours out this morning birding, which was nice. Had to come home when the temperates got up though - I have always found my binocular strap incredibly uncomfortable when sweat comes into the equation!

A short sea watch from Seaton showed a few bits and pieces. I was hoping to see a Balearic Shearwater or two, although not many have been reported as yet this year this hot weather could easily entice a load up - in fact I'm surprised it hasn't already.  When I spotted a distant Shearwater heading west over the flat sea I thought my gamble had paid off, but surprisingly it was a Manxie.  Other notable birds included an adult Med Gull east, two Sandwich Terns fishing close in and two Common Scoters sat on the sea.

Mid morning I went to Black Hole Marsh, where wader numbers are ever increasing. Black-tailed Godwits are up to 12, with nine Dunlin. Also eight Common Sands, five Lapwing, two Greenshank, one Green Sandpiper and a Whimbrel. Lots of Black-headed Gulls again but not even a Med Gull in with them today.  

Nice to see plenty of insects around the marsh. Of all of them, this Comma was the most showy and just had to be papped...

Although I am always moaning about the heat, I'm pleased for the insects!

To complete my bird news for the day, had Crossbill again at Mum and Dad's. Didn't see it, just heard it a few times calling somewhere from the west. It sounded settled too.

I've had a moth trap out on each of the last two nights - but I'll save this for another post (probably tomorrow).  Nothing earth shattering but some nice species.

What A Walk To Work!

Well it's about time I caught up with things, and tell all about the excitement following my last blog post.

Tuesday afternoon I headed off to work, and walked along the cycle track into Seaton. As I came down to the marshes the first bird I saw was a male Whitethroat - my first of the year! Pleased with that, I walked a little further south to the water treatment works on the edge of Seaton Marshes. There were a few Willow Warblers flitting about, but I wasn't expecting what I saw next - a male Pied Fly! 

Now this may not seem like much to many birders, but to us it's a big event...

The twitch!

A Pied Fly of any form at any time of year is notable for us, with autumn being the best time (although we never get more than a handful).  Spring Pied Flies are rare here, and rarer still are spring male Pied Flies.  This is only the third of this plumage I've ever seen on patch, with the other two being on Beer Head - the last four years ago. It's not just about the rarity value though - they are such stunning birds.

I thought I'd best grab a record shot of it when I first saw spotted it, in case it was to disappear...

Still looks amazing despite the awful pic!

Thankfully it did remain, and Karen got some excellent snaps of it, see HERE. Sue also got some great pics of it, along with some shots of the lovely Yellow Wag on Black Hole Marsh earlier that day, see HERE.

It wasn't just birds I saw on this walk in, but plenty of Butterflies too. I only saw Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells, but there were lots of them...

Peacock

Today, all I've had time for was an hours sea watch from the Spot On Kiosk, where I had arranged to meet Gav at dawn.  The conditions weren't great, and I wouldn't describe it as being busy, but it was great to see a few sea birds at last. 

Best of all were three stunning Great Skuas that flew fairly close west together just after 7am. Two adults and one clearly a younger bird with a paler belly and less prominent white wing flashes.  It was also nice to see some Manx Shearwaters finally, with 16 west (two and a distant flock of c14). Other than this I saw a few distant Terns and Kittiwakes, six Common Scoter, two Red-throated Divers and a distant large Diver sp..

Tomorrow looks as though it may be good for some more grounded migrants. Fingers crossed!

Every Little Helps...

So Tescos have well and truly taken over Seaton - and I don't just mean on the land! This morning I had my first proper sea watch of the year, and I'm pleased to say one of the biggest worries of the Seaton sea watcher is no more (for now anyway!).

Many sea watching localities have 'markers' - very useful when you are trying to get fellow sea watchers on to passing birds..."it's coming up to pink buoy 51", or "just going past red trawler E-341", or "just passing the offshore rocks"....not in Seaton!!

We usually have about half a dozen identical black flags, and if were are lucky the occasional small fishing boat! But thanks to Tescos, we now have...

Although it is hard to see in this misty pic, there's a massive floating pontoon out there, with a green flag and that huge yellow marker in the foreground

This boat is always out there - complete with lights!

And every now and then, we will have this....

This boat is literally about three miles long - it's bloody HUGE!

Well I'm sure you can tell from all this gibberish and random photos that it wasn't the most exciting sea watch! A Manx Shearwater west at 08:30 was easily the highlight - our first of the year. Other than this; 17 Gannet, 11 Fulmar, 1 Kittiwake and 3 Sandwich Tern were all that went into the notebook.

On the Estuary for most of today, an Avocet has graced the mud. This species is only just about annual for us, so it's always good to see one...

Photo taken during a rain shower

I've been disappointed with the Gulls today; 30 Lesser Black-backs and a second-winter Med being the best. At one stage, I even got bored of Gull watching, so pointed my Lumix at an unsuspecting Blackwit...

The yellow-red-yellow combo of rings on its right leg tell us it's an Axe Estuary ringed bird

Lastly, whilst driving along a woodland track I came to a drastic halt! For a weird moment I thought I'd been transported to Scotland as a large black game bird came walking through the undergrowth! But no, it was just a Pheasant - a rather funky looking one though...

Maybe in a couple of weeks!??