A Top Day of Spring Passage

The moment I stepped outside this morning, before the sun had even risen, I knew today was going to be a good day.  Clear skies with a cold north east wind in April can deliver really exciting birding, with birds arriving throughout the day and flying low in the cold wind, and that is exactly the conditions we had today (and just like the weather of 20th April 2023).

I didn't think I was going to be able to get out until late afternoon, however fortunes changed and I spent mid to late morning out, a couple of hours out early afternoon when I walked as many hedgerows as possible in the valley, and again this evening for a family dog walk over Beer Head.

In the bushes it was all about phyllocs, with Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs filtering north through the hedges (and sometimes even where there were no hedges!) everywhere I went.  But it all came to an incredible conclusion this evening at Beer Head, where at least 60 Willow Warblers were flycatching in the last of the days light. The vast majority were down the edge of the cliff where they were sheltered from the north east wind, although 15 were along the top of the slope above Branscombe. It really was an incredible spectacle, and worth remembering that all these birds were here even after seeing so many aleady pass north during the day!  

It really was so terrific to see so many Willow Warblers, as numbers of these have been slow to arrive this year despite seeing my first one a week ago.  Also I've not had a good spring for Willow Warblers on the Axe for so many years now, certainly haven't had numbers like this since I was ringing on Beer Head in the early 2010's. Nice to know that all hope is not lost.

For much of the day it did feel like all I could find migrant wise was Willows and Chiffs, but am glad I kept going as at 13:15 I came across a Redstart.  Unfortunately it was a female (sorry - but I had my eye on a male!) and was along the cycle track behind Colyford Common.  And I am proud to show you what I believe will be the worst photo of a Redstart you have ever seen...

Good job they have red tails!  It flew deeper into the bush just as I pressed the shutter button.

 

Overhead it was all about Meadow Pipits, with small flocks flying relatively low north up the valley almost constantly.  I counted 160+ north during my time out, but in reality many hundreds probably flew over this morning.  Other birds on the move overhead included Swallows and Sand Martins trickling north, several small groups of Linnets and an invisible but vocal Yellow Wagtail over Seaton Marshes mid morning.  I should also include the two Red Kite I saw today in this paragraph, one south over Colyford at midday and another north west over my house at 15:20.

Other highlights today included up to eight Cattle Egret at two sites in the valley, an Egyptian Goose on Colyford Marsh, and on the Estuary my first Dunlin for about a month as well as this lovely pair of Med Gulls...

Such awesome birds at any time of year, but they take some beating when they look like this.

It's also been really nice seeing plenty of butterflies today - especially if you remember back to last spring when numbers were absolutely dire until June.  I will do a butterfly-themed blog post later this week, so be sure to check back for that...

 

Wheatears and House Martin from Home

Well it looks like spring has moved up a notch in the South West over the last day or so, with multiple scarce and rare birds making landfall, mostly in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.  Hopefully we get a slice of the action here, but in the meantime there's plenty of spring excitement still to be had!

On Monday morning, I hadn't even stepped off my driveway when the magic of spring migration left me in awe.  It took my brain a few seconds to register that the blob near the top of a neighbours tree isn't usually there...

Yes - that blob!

And on closer inspection, it was a cracking male Wheatear...

Looked so cool!

He wasn't settled there for long, and within less than thirty seconds he was off, joined by a second bird and flew north over the road, over the houses on the edge of Seaton and last seen heading for the fields near Tower Services.

Spring migration in action, without me even leaving the garden! And one of those occasions that makes you wonder how often us birders must just miss seeing things. If I had stepped out my house thirty seconds later I wouldn't have seen any Wheatears that day.

Another new one for the house list, and also for 2025, was a House Martin that fed low over the house for a few minutes this evening.  A bang on average date for my first, however as there were more than usual reported around the UK in March this year, it feels late.

Hopefully my next post will include even more spring magic...

 

Osprey

Pleased to be in the right place at the right time when the gulls in town went stir crazy early this afternoon.  I stepped outside to see an Osprey circling over Tesco, surprisingly low, which is a good job otherwise these phone-photos would be even worse than they already are...

Incoming!

A bit better, but frustrating not to have my camera with me at the time

Any spring Osprey is a good bird here, as they never linger, but a March one even better!  It didn't hang about and presumably had only just arrived from the south. 

I think the less I say about Hoopoes the better, however I have put in a lot of leg work this last week/ten days in an effort to finally find a Hoopoe of my own.  Not only have I failed at that, but one of the places I did check during my searches then had a Hoopoe!  Probably turned up later the same day as well as it was seen for a few days by locals. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see it when it showed to all yesterday morning, however I'm thrilled that most the other local birders got to see it. There's some cracking photos of it out there that's for sure! 

I best keep trying...

An Early Spring Flurry

I had a feeling today's pre-dawn rain shower would do something, and it clearly did as I enjoyed a positively exhilarating few minutes of birding at Bridge Marsh at about 8am. I know that doesn't sound like much, but for March and on the Axe I'll take it!

I'd spent the previous hour on Seaton Marshes, where my first Willow Warbler of the spring sung from a gorse bush alongside a ditch.  I heard it a few times then watched it pick some insects off of the yellow flowers, before it flew north across the marsh landing in a willow tree right next to me. It spent about ten minutes singing and feeding in this tree, then flitted off to the north. 

It felt like a real honour watching this tiny migrant, looking as fresh as a daisy (which is quite astonishing considering it has flown around three thousand miles already on its spring migration!) on active migration.  It shared its first minutes/hour of its time in the UK this year with me, and then just carried on with the job at hand.  Mind-blowing really.

The first ones always look really striking, having seen just Chiffchaffs for the last six months!

As mentioned above I then headed to Bridge Marsh, and upon arrival could see two lovely White Wagtails feeding on the main scrape.  White Wags are bizarrely scarce on the Axe, I can easily go a spring without seeing one so I really enjoyed these two despite the distance...

Lovely birds, and both of these were males

 

It then all went a bit mad.  As I was photographing these I heard a single call from a Yellow Wagtail somewhere to my south, and about ten seconds later this landed with the White Wags...

An on the deck spring Yellow Wag of any sort is a rarity on the Axe!

  ....a cracking male Yellow Wagtail, and a Blue-headed-type at that!  I will go into more detail on the head later in the post, but any Yellow Wag on the deck on the Axe in spring is seriously good value these days. I manage fly-over spring Yellow Wags just about annually, they just never land! And their reluntancy to land is even more puzzling when you consider how numerous they are in the autumn.

I had to check back through my records a surprisingly long way, as my last grounded Axe spring Yellow Wagtails were in April 2017, with two on Colyford Marsh one evening.  It really has been that long!  Today's bird was my earliest ever spring Yellow Wagtail and my first ever March one, not just here but anywhere the UK. 

Shortly after the Yellow Wag appeared, another White Wag joined the group and then a Little Ringed Plover flew in and shared the same scrape. All this with a few Sand Martins and only my second Swallow of the year flying around above. Spring magic.

The LRP was as distant as the wagtails

 

The wagtails took flight and after five minutes of no sign, suddenly the Yellow Wagtail and a White Wagtail were on a closer scrape.  This is when I had much better views of the Yellow Wags head. It was blue, but not blue enough...

The blue might have been a bit lacking but the yellow certainly wasn't!

Nice broad white supercilia visible here, and that blue crown. Throat yellow.

Blue-capped Wagtail probably more fitting

With a White Wag. Nape mostly olive, looking flavissima-like

In summary I think it would be best to label this bird as a flava/flavissima intergrade.  Yes it is a bit frustrating this wasn't a clear cut Blue-headed, but nothing can take away from the fact it was an Axe spring Yellow Wagtail! In March!  

Thank you for reading.

 

Caspian Gull and Sand Martins

I feel like they were a week or two overdue, but good to finally see Sand Martins today, with at least six over Bridge Marsh this morning.  There were two still present mid afternoon.  

A look along the Estuary at about 2:15pm revealed a sight I have been hoping to come across for a while now, a lovely first-winter Caspian Gull.  It was with a flock of about 80 large gulls just north of Tower Hide.  Unfortunately I wasn't in Tower Hide but on the Axmouth side of the river, so views remained distant, but that didn't make it look any less striking!  A very pale fronted, long-legged, narrow-billed, tall, lanky and lean beast...

Despite the distance a nice comparison with a 1w Great Black-backed Gull in the water swimming right, and in front of it a 1w Herring Gull, the 1w Caspian Gull next to the right and then another 1w Herring Gull. Such a different looking bird to the Herrings as you can see!

 

This photo shows bill length and shape well, and that is mostly pale especially at base.  It really was a big but lean bird - classy!

 

Just looked ridiculous side-on!  Lovely dark tertials with pale tips and plain greater coverts.  Neck shawl obvious in this shot too.

Gull x Giraffe?

 

This afternoon I was actually hoping for a Blue-headed Wagtail or Hoopoe, what with the current influx west of us, but could never be disappointed coming away with a cracking Casp like this. The Axe's first of 2025 as well, right on cue when you look at previous spring records.

 

Wheatears and Orange Egrets

Delighted to see my first Wheatears of 2025 today, with three (two males and a female) at the very north end of Sheep's Marsh this afternoon.  They remained distant for me, but that didn't hamper my enjoyment of them...

Seeing that shape again gave me instant happiness

Managed to get the second male in shot - just!

 

Although the wind was as cold today as it has been for the last week - which is probably why the early spring migrants have been few and far between - today it seemed to be coming more from the east than north.  Presumably it was this slight change that has encouraged a noticeable pulse of migration into the UK today.

The only other sighting of local interest I have to post about is that the wintering flock of Cattle Egret clearly felt lazy on Saturday morning, as nine were sat alongside the Estuary at 8am.  Thanks to their laid back attitude I was able to see that a couple of them were well on their way to summer plumage...

Two of the nine, one orange one not-so

Thanks so much for reading. Do check back soon, hopefully for more migration updates!   

LRP and Whacky Wildfowl

I have missed another two Wheatears over the last few days, however early this afternoon I finally managed to connect with my first proper spring migrant of the year. Just after 1pm I was delighted to see a pristine male Little Ringed Plover on the main scrape at Bridge Marsh...

Distant views from the road, but still clearly a cracker

A slightly better shot of it. Clearly been a nice little arrival of these into the UK today.

 

Also on Bridge Marsh, having first been found yesterday by Mike B, were three Egyptian Geese.  They were as distant as the LRP, however as they are much bigger and uglier there are a few more pixels of them...

Reminded me of my first ones on the Axe, which we are about two weeks off being 19 years ago!  These were also a three, I watched them fly in on 29th March 2006 and land on Bridge Marsh.

 

Anyway, I thought Egyptian Geese was as whacky as it was going to get today. However as I was watching these I got a text from Phil to say there were two Mandarin on the sea off Spot On!

Note the two dots bottom right!

 

Pelagic Mandarins (in dreadful light conditions!)

As crazy as these were they also reminded me of a former March sighting.  Tim Wright found three Mandarin on the sea off the beach on 4th March 2019, which I twitched and posted about HERE.  It can't be a condidence surely, is March the time of year to see Mandarins at sea!? Any other patch birders out there with records to support this?  It would make sense that they are moving to breeding sites around about now I presume.

A small flock of Mandarin flying past on a seawatch would be even more bizarre looking. One for next March maybe?