Yellow-browed Warbler, Yellow-legged Gull and Great Vismig!

I had a small window of time before work this morning. With a very light northerly wind and high cloud it just had to be Axe Cliff again...

Could never get bored of this view

I think I got there a bit too early, as it seemed to take an age to get light and for any passage to get going, but when it did it was fairly well concentrated along the cliff-edge which is really important for this site. Great to see Wood Pigeons step up a notch, and although no stand-out highlight overhead, numbers on the up.  

07:10 - 08:40 produced:  4,700 Wood Pigeon (my biggest flock 500), 10 Stock Dove (probably missed loads more), 110 Jackdaw, 3 Song Thrush, 6 Skylark, 2 Swallow, 82 alba Wagtail, 120+ Meadow Pipit, 90+ Linnet, 70+ Goldfinch, 62 Chaffinch, 11 Siskin, 1 Redpoll and 1 Reed Bunting.

The local birds of prey were having a whale of a time, with two Peregrines in view throughout most of the watch and two different Sparrowhawks attempting to cash in on this sudden influx of suitable prey.

Grounded migrants were far fewer spread than they were on Friday up here, with just five Chiffchaffs recorded compared to 25 two days before.  However it was nice to finally bump into a Yellow-browed Warbler as I have been hunting high and low for one recently.  When I say 'bump into' though I didn't actually see it as it was deep in The Undercliff (somewhere dead centre of the above photo!) however I half-heard it a couple of times and then thankfully confirmed its presence with a much clearer call.

Which brings me on to my new toy... I will be doing a separate blog post on what it is, how much it cost, the results, etc.  But this was its first outing and I was shocked when reviewing the recording tonight (almost an hour in length!) to hear the Yellow-browed!  And three more times than I heard it in the field!  Time to turn your speakers up...

 

Gavin has kindly sent me a cleaned up version of the above audio file, and a spectrogram, however it took me so long to upload my clip I will wait to share the improved one when I have got a bit better with this audio malarkey!  I was amazed to hear there were actually six calls recorded of the Yellow-browed in my recording from today, all in a ten second window, and then no further sound or any sight of it.  Must have had a rapid bout of calling and then moved on.  I cannot tell you how much I was grateful for my new toy, the early signs of its usefulness clear to see, and its capabilities very promising indeed.

So all in all a great morning out!

I spent the rest of the day at work, but two Cattle Egrets with the grazing cattle in a neighbouring field and a lovely first-winter Yellow-legged Gull that dropped in on the lower Estuary late afternoon ensured it was a good day at work!  

Front left, compare with similar aged Herring Gull

This was actually one of the best and most striking first-winter (not juvenile) Yellow-legged Gulls I have ever seen on the Axe, probably helped by the good views I had of it. That huge white head with darker eye mask, well moulted scaps, long winged appearance, dark tertials and plain greater coverts made it look so different to all surrounding Herring Gulls.  It was bloody big too!

And that brings me to the last thing that I am going to do today.  Bed.  Not been a bad day at all.

Autumn Vis Mig is GO!

Well since my last post the weather has been a right mixed bag.  Lots of wind and rain over the weekend, some more heavy showers during the first half of the week, with the odd clear spell, and then the last couple of days have been a bit calmer.  This morning felt like proper autumn morning, being the first morning I got cold hands! Time to find the gloves!

During the clearer mornings of the last seven days, amongst the Meadow Pipits and Linnets passing over there's been several Skylarks and Siskins for the first time this autumn, but on the other end of the spectrum there's still some Swallows and House Martins going over too.   This morning, Axe Cliff was calling me with the clear skies and light (but cold!) northerly wind.  I didn't have long so didn't do a proper vismig count, but it was enjoyable nevertheless...

Looking west towards Beer Head

 

It was great to see Wood Pigeons on the move, with several 100+ flocks totalling in excess of 1,800 birds flying west.  A few flocks of Jackdaws came through too, love how they often call to each other as they fly through.  Meadow Pipits, alba Wagtails and Linnets were the most common passerines as expected, but several Siskins, Skylarks and a few Chaffinches also went through - I expect number of these three species to increase as the month progresses.   

The soft mournful call of Golden Plover drew my attention to a flock of five that were flying high south.  Pleasingly they circled round and dropped like a stone onto one of the neighbouring fields...

Pity one of them wasn't a bit smaller and greyer!

 

A closer view of three of them

 

When I was leaving, a sixth lone Golden Plover flew over my head calling almost frantically, and a few moments late the five came up from where I'd left them, made a flock of six and flew off east.    Chiffchaffs were present in good numbers, well amazing numbers for Axe Cliff actually (which is never great for bush-based migrants).  There were a few dotted around in the hedges, but in the Undercliff a flock of Long-tailed Tits moved through and were trailed but at least twenty Chiffchaffs!  Quite how none of them had a pair of wing-bars I don't know, so my hunt for a wing-barred phyllosc continues.

Down on the Estuary, Wigeon and Lapwing numbers are slowly increasing, Snipe numbers have shot up and there were 270 Teal together on Black Hole Marsh last Saturday. The two Ruff are still with us as are a couple of Greenshank and Common Sandpipers and at least one Green Sandpiper.  Cattle Egrets have been present almost daily around Seaton Marshes, with at least five present on Monday.

During the stormy days I gave the sea as much attention as I could but returned with very little.  The best was a tern that flew west past the beach on Tuesday morning at about 08:30, and then out south west towards Beer Head.  My immediate feeling was Arctic due to its bouncy and erratic flight and its really dark grey underparts (yes it was an adult bird, which I thought was unusual for this late in the autumn), so I messaged the news out.  However twenty minutes I reevaluated what I'd seen and decided I hadn't actually seen enough of the plumage to claim Arctic, coupled with the fact the wind strength would have probably made even a Caspian Tern (which is huge in comparison) look bouncy and wobbly in flight! So I relegated it back down to a commic tern (just very likely an Arctic). 

Bird of the week for me was a cracking little Firecrest, feeding and calling in a tamarisk bush along the seafront just after 8am on Wednesday morning.  I watched it for a few minutes before it flew west along the cliff-edge, making it feel very much like a fresh-in migrant.   I can honestly say that however common Firecrest get, seeing one will always put a smile on my face. 

 

Adult Yellow-legged Gull

This blog post was on course to be missing a main highlight to talk of from the last week, but a check of the Estuary gulls mid afternoon today changed that.

Historically October is the best month of the year for records of 'older than first-calendar year' Yellow-legged Gulls on the Axe.  Previous October storms have produced multiple birds in a day, although saying that haven't seen that many at all in the last five years.  So I was pretty thrilled to pick up a massive adult Yellow-legged Gull north of Coronation Corner at 2:30pm...

Photos makes it appear a shade darker mantled than it actually was, however sheer size and bright yellow legs evident even on this awful pic

Views were more distant than they had to be, which I will explain why...  In the southerly wind, the main flock of resting gulls just north of the picnic site at Coronation Corner were pretty much all head-on.  I really don't like gulling head-on, so moved myself to the small gateway just north of Axmouth where the views were more distant but all gulls were perfectly side-on, just how I like them. This bird proved that tactic worked for me, as I did scan through the flock a couple of times from Coronation Corner and clearly managed to scope right over this brute of a bird!

Although Yellow-legged Gull is my bird of the week, my species of the week has to be Chiffchaff.  There have been migrant Chiffchaffs all over the place here, with 18 on my walk to work yesterday morning a really good total.  Basically any time I've been outside I could hear at least one calling, even in the middle of town.  I have been trying hard to pull a wing-barred (preferably not Yellow-browed) phyllosc out from amongst them, but nothing yet.  Still, the sight and sound of so many of these olive-green fresh young Chiffs has been really lovely, and very much appreciated in an autumn that has not involved much in the way of numbers. 

House Martins and Swallows have also been around in good numbers, despite their fate in the UK as a breeding species, with some decent easterly passage on a couple of days this week.  Meadow Pipits have been around of course, but not in the numbers I'd expect considering the time of year.

Last night I ended a busy day at Black Hole, and it was wonderful...

Looking south from Tower Hide

 

Sadly I wasn't joined by any of the crake species, one of which I was hoping might appear with the four Water Rails feeding on the lagoon edge, but there were plenty of other birds around.  Most of them were gulls, which is fine by me, with the small gulls including two first-winter Meds and seven first-winter Commons.  There were 200+ Teal on the marsh which were fun sifting through, but wader variety disappointing with just three Snipe, two Greenshank and a Green Sand of any real value.  A lone Cattle Egret spent the entire time I was there huddled down on a grassy island...

May not be the rarity it once was but I am always thrilled to see them!

 

Hopefully I will have a few hours out in the morning. With a strongish southerly wind forecasted am not sure where I'll be heading, but hopefully something will be waiting for me wherever I do end up...

 

Wildfowl Influx and Balearics

I didn't have much time this morning, but found myself on Seaton Beach looking over a fairly flat sea with excellent visibility.  I was only there for about ten seconds when two Balearic Shearwaters came into view and flew west, which I wasn't really expecting.  By the time I had to leave half an hour later I had seen 13 fly west, including a group of six.  I enjoyed some really nice views over the smooth sea, although this video-grab doesn't really suggest that...

An award winning shot of three Balearic Shearwaters flying west

Gannet passage was probably best described as a steady trickle, with 62 recorded in the half-hour, along with 30+ auk sp. also west.  

A quick look along the river valley showed one Bar-tailed Godwit still, two Ruff (juvenile male and female on Colyford scrape, male for second day, female for fourth), three Ringed Plover, three Greenshank, three Shoveler and 51 Wigeon.

On Saturday morning I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of wildfowl in the valley, presumably a result of the north east wind that had been dominating the weather that day and for several days previous.  80+ Teal and 33 Wigeon were accompanied by a female Pintail and a single Gadwall on Bridge Marsh and a flock of five Gadwall and two Shoveler on the Estuary.  The five Gadwall relocated to the Borrow Pit on Seaton Marshes where they showed much better, after being flushed by a boat.

Female Pintail

Four of the Gadwall on The Borrow Pit

Two of them in better light

Can't believe we are only a week away from October!  Except for the sea, this will truly be an autumn to forget. Dismal numbers of common migrants, really quite worrying.

 

So long Ospreys!

Well it looks like the Axe is now an Osprey-free zone! Think this is the third day without any sightings or obvious flushes - it was nice whilst it lasted.  Actually its been really quite something, with multiple sightings of multiple Ospreys most days since the end of August, amazing.  Am sure many of the other local birds aren't so sad to see the back of them though, all that endless esentially pointless flushing-up for a  fish-eating bird of prey!  

I've not had much time at all out this last week, but from work it was nice to see this Great White Egret drop in right in front of me on Sheep's Marsh mid-morning yesterday...

Flew off low north soon after, pausing briefly on the Estuary

 

After work yesterday a look around the marshes revealed two Green Sandpiper (been scarce this autumn) and three Greenshank amongst the usual wader species on Black Hole Marsh, and this lovely Whinchat graced Seaton Marshes...

Never get bored of these, this one was near two Stonechat on the usual favoured fence and hedgeline along the southern boundary of Seaton Marshes

 

Grounded autumn migrants are still few and far between here (except Chiffchaffs), but overhead lots of Meadow Pipits are passing through now and there's even more hirundines about.  There have been many hundreds of mostly House Martins feeding over the valley during the afternoon/evenings over the last few days, with some more sustained easterly overhead passage of House Martins and Swallows during the mornings.  It's been good to see such good numbers following dire numbers this spring.  Incidentally the Swallow pair at work have just seen their second brood successfully fledge, and by the end of my work week (Thursday) there were no adults or juveniles to be seen in the vicinity.  Safe travels all!

The only other bird of note this week for me is one that I don't really want to recall.  Whilst relaxing on the beach with Harry on Wednesday evening, I picked up a falcon flying in-off which I first spied at quite a distance.  As it came closer it became clear it was a Hobby, but as it passed over the beach to my west and made its way north over town there was just something a bit 'off' with it.  I couldn't get any plumage on the bird, but the wing tips were slightly more rounded than a Hobby and flight-style not quite right, slightly more relaxed...  I really think I may have let a patch first slip through the net there.  Despite early morning checks in nearby suitable habitat the following morning, and Kev also kindly giving some time at lunchtime there was no further sign :(

Quick Axe Update

Yesterday there was still at least one Osprey on the Axe Estuary, but today I haven't seen any.  Doesn't necessarily mean they have all gone, but we know for sure the bird with missing primaries on its right wing has beause it is now on the Otter Estuary!

The last few days I haven't been out much, but during my walks to work it's been nice hearing and seeing small groups of Meadow Pipits fly over, a sure sign that autumn is progressing.  Same can be said about the multiple calling Chiffchaffs I'm coming across, doubt I'll see many more Willow Warblers now... not that I have seen many this autumn anyway! 

There's still at least three Bar-tailed Godwits and the Great Crested Grebe on the Estuary, with a dark-mantled gull present yesterday, which I think can only be a Lesser Black-backed x Herring Gull hybrid...

Top left

The short pale yellow legs, weak bill, cute head shape and overall size the main reasons why I think it has Lesser Black-backed Gull genes in it...

Spotting a dark mantle in a gull flock always excites me, so this outcome is very disappointing

Looking forward to getting out a bit more over the next few days... hopefully!

Much The Same

There were still at least two Ospreys on the Axe today, I have seen an unringed bird on two occasions and blue 3E6.  The (or one of the) unringed birds did seem to fly out south west over town at 11:10, although knowing how far these birds can roam without actually leaving, I'm just not sure if this means it has gone gone!? 

The Great Crested Grebe was still on the lower Estuary this afternoon, as was the flock of four Bar-tailed Godwits...

Such a difference in bill size between male and female (compare 2nd and 4th bird!), think we have two males and two females

The obvious male with the short bill came quiet close...

Such stunning feather patterns on these fresh juvs

Yesterday morning Axe Cliff was dreadfully quiet for both grounded and fly-over migrants, but the cattle on Bridge Marsh did a great job at attracting cattle-loving birds, with two Cattle Egret and a small flock of Yellow Wagtails present.  The Cattle Egrets flew off north soon after my arrival, I wonder if these were the same two I watched arrive in-off last week?

It's been so exciting reading about the amazing falls that the east coast have seen over the last few days, I just hope at least some of these birds filter down to us at some point...