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...
It's still Osprey central here, with at least three juveniles remaining today including the blue ringed bird. I had lovely views of one fishing at around midday, but even better this evening watched two circling and interacting with each other (how Buzzards often do) over the Axmouth hills from my conservatory. This went on for about five minutes before they headed off purposely south west, absolutely teriffic to see and they look so much at home here...
Distant but still brilliant to watch!
Thanks to Brian we have heard back about the ringed bird that has been on the Axe since at least 27th August. 3E6 was one of two chicks ringed in a nest just south of Loch Lomand on 10/7/24.
I only spent about an hour out today, late morning/early afternoon, but between the frequent showers it felt really good! Was fully expecting to come across something decent but looks like I just missed out, I came home about an hour before two Black Tern were reported from Colyford Common, later seen passing Budleigh.
Still, three Whinchat with two Stonechat in the field just south of Black Hole Marsh were very much appreciated, with hundreds of (mostly) House Martins feeding overhead for most the day helping to make the day feel very 'birdy'.
There wasn't much to see during two quick looks off the beach except for a few fishing Gannets, but on the Estuary it was good to see my first Wigeon of the autumn...
Often get them in the last few days of August but not this year
Also on the Estuary were several Ringed Plover, Dunlin, the usual Redshank and Blackwits dotted around plus four Bar-tailed Godwits. I first saw three of these drop in on Tuesday whilst I was at work, with a fourth one joining the flock the following day. They're all juveniles and all looking so fresh - almost sparkling! Also on the Estuary today, for its second day on the lower Estuary (saw it from the office yesterday) a young Great Crested Grebe...
Showing well!
Humbug face! Don't get them on the Estuary very often at all.
Another decent bird seen from work this week (ignoring the multiple daily Ospreys!) was a Great White Egret fishing in the narrow channel on the west side of the Estuary on Tuesday, just after 10am. It was seen on Black Hole Marsh about tens minutes later and again the following morning.
Hoping to get out early in the morning, and hoping to see some more passerines as the scarcities seem to be filtering down to the south west now.
Although passerine migrant numbers are still woefully low, there has been plenty to see on the Axe this last few days. I have enjoyed some terrific birding, topped off with an eventful and varied surprise sea watch this morning! I have so much to tell you about, but will start with the big and obvious, and the reason why the bird hides are currently crammed full of photographers... Ospreys!
The Axe is well known and loved for its lingering autumn Ospreys as they often show well, but this has to go down as one of the best autumns we have had for them. Over the last week we have had at least three birds on site, often at the same time too! I have only seen juveniles (including a blue colour-ringed bird we are waiting for details on) but there has been reports of an adult too.
Juvenile Osprey in hover
Aside from the frequent fishing trips they are making on the Estuary, which is always brilliant to see (they are getting so much better at fishing now compared to when they first turned up!), it's not unusual to see one or more perched out on dead trees/fence posts/stumps in the river valley, or in larger trees up above Axmouth.
They are flying all over the place too! Birders last week watched two fly west over Beer Head, but they both reappeared on the Estuary about twenty minutes later. Yesterday I had one fly in from west that seemed to completely ignore the Estuary and kept flying east over the hill behind Axmouth, but ten minutes later one fishing at the lower end of the Estuary was presumably the very same bird!
Osprey eating a fish with Axmouth Church behind
This morning, shortly after watching one catch a fish then fly to a large dead tree on the Axmouth slopes to devour it, whilst at Seaton Marshes another Osprey flew in from the west. Due to some feather damage on its right wing I thought it was going to be an adult, but no it was another juvenile.
This one looked like it was going to fish on Borrow Pit but was chased off by Crows and flew a little further north, it then did hover over what can only be described as a small ditch, then weirdly perched on a telegraph wire! I have seen many Ospreys on telegraph poles, but never wires! The Magpies weren't happy...
Such an odd sight!
I got a little video of it too, showing the gap in the primaries on the right wing...
I think that is enough about Ospreys (for now!), but I may as well mention the other raptors I have seen on patch lately. A cream-crowned juv Marsh Harrier showed briefly over Colyford Marsh on 29th, I had an amazing view of a Hobby low over the A3052 on the same day and saw (and heard!) a Peregrine take out a flying Great Spotted Woodpecker right above my head earlier in the week. I have also enjoyed two sightings of Goshawks recently, a pair and a lone adult (probably one of the pair) which afforded great flight views.
I'll mention Barn Owls in this section of my post, with a local pair fledging three young which can often be seen hunting in the valley at dusk. I also had amazing views of one hunting at Axe Cliff the other morning which made the early start worthwhile...
On the deck views were nice but gave some super close fly pasts too
I stumbled across a nice day roosting Tawny Owl the other day too, which is always a treat. This was at Lower Bruckland Ponds...
I can see you!
I am probably not even half way through this blog post I am afraid, although it is a delight to see so many birds that warrants a post this long.
Now to waders...
It has been a really poor autumn here for wading birds, with low low and next to no variety. For several weeks Black Hole Marsh water levels haven't been ideal, however the week before last the plug was pulled and since then has been getting better by the day. Variety was still not improving though, well until yesterday. The dropping water levels, increasing wader numbers and easterly winds finally did the trick with single juvenile Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper among the mass of waders from the Island Hide yesterday...
There must have been about twenty each of Dunlin and Ringed Plover, with Snipe and two Greenshank with the big flock of Black-tailed Godwits, Redshank, Lapwing and gulls. A couple of Water Rails were showing on the edge of the marsh, raising hopes of a Spotted Crake (or rarer!) but nothing yet.
Another area of autumn that has been poor is passerine migration. Most years by now I've seen flocks of Yellow Wagtails in three figures, but apart from the odd fly over, and a flock of ten with the Bridge Marsh cattle this morning, they have been few and far between.
It's not just wagtail numbers that are low, I haven't seen Whinchat, Redstart or any numbers of warblers or Wheatears yet. I tried my first Vis Mig session of the autumn at Axe Cliff last Thursday, hoping for a big session, but came away with just 4 Grey Wagtail, 2 Tree Pipit, 1 Yellow Wagtail and the highlight, my first Golden Plover of the autumn. Grounded migrants were restricted to singles of Wheatear and Reed Bunting.
Wheatear trying to blend in on Axe Cliff Golf Course
I never did capture the Golden Plover visually on video or camera, but if you want to listen to its call turn the volume up and play the YouTube video below. There is something that I really love about Golden Plover calls, they make me feel proper 'autumny'...
And I am still not finished! Almost there...
This morning I really didn't know where to go, it was overcast and there was a chilly north east wind blowing. I still couldn't make my mind up after leaving the house so found myself on the beach and was absolutely shocked by the amount of birds passing offshore! Although tradtionally southerlies or south westerlies are our best sea watching winds on the south coast, I have noticed before that anything with east in, even north east, can encourage some really good passage. I guess it's because birds are flying into the wind so it brings them right up into Seaton Bay, which is of course at the very top of Lyme Bay.
It really was a thoroughly enjoyable and surprising hour, the sea was flat and light excellent although at times the horizon was a a bit murky. 07:25 - 08:25 from Spot On Kiosk on Seaton Beach produced (east unless stated):
1 Common Scoter, 200+ Gannet, 3 Fulmar (1 east, 2 west), 1 Great Northern Diver (west), 15 Balearic Shearwater (3 east, 12 west incuding a very close flock of six), 10 shearwater sp. (v distant west in two flocks, either Manx or Balearic), 2 Cattle Egret (in/off at 08:20, first picked them up miles out!), 65+ Med Gull (at first all flying east at, then for last twenty minutes loads flying west so think they were just lingering and following the food, mostly first-winters), 2 commic Tern, 3 Whimbrel, 9 Ringed Plover (6 in/off, 3 along beach), 1 Dunlin, 1 Sanderling (in/off with the 6 Ringed Plover), 18 small wader sp. (one flock) and 1 Common Sandpiper (right along beach).
Might not seem like much for birders who watch migration hot-spots, or where the sea is always good, but I could not have had more fun! Masses of birds and surprises throughout the watch.
Well yesterday turned out to be yet another terrific day watching the waves in Seaton Bay!
It was an odd mix of what felt like an underwhelming, under delivering and at times frustrating morning sea watch (so a typical Seaton seawatch!) and then an over achieving evening sea watch which I was absolutely thrilled I took a gamble with.
The hours of darkness before saw a strong south westerly wind blowing for most of the night, which continued throughout Thursday, although the wind turned a bit more to the west as the day went on. The clouds also cleared, with heavy cloud and a few rain showers during the morning watch but almost uninterrupted blue skies and sunshine for the evening watch. In between, a wet weather front came through late morning/early afternoon which instigated the change in the weather.
You can see from my weather summary of the day why I was fully expecting to have a brilliant morning and not so much in the evening. But this is how my two watches turned out, both from my prime spot of The Spot On Kiosk on Seaton Beach. It was nice to be joined by James Mc for most of the morning watch.
06:10 - 08:10 (west unless stated): 13 Common Scoter (10 east) 300+ Gannets (estimate), 7 Fulmar, 2 large Shearwater sp (ultra distant passing in quick succession at 06:55 just before visibility dropped, we both felt they were probably Greats), 13 Balearic Shearwater, 10 Manx Shearwater, 10 small Shearwater sp., 2 Arctic Skua (d/ph chasing Kitts heading east, then a slender juv west which both had us worried about LTS!) and 19 Kittiwake.
17:30 - 19:30 (west unless stated): 120+ Gannet, 9 Fulmar, 2 Cory's Shearwater (absolutely epic! They flew west together at 18:55 just after a good flurry of shearwater passage, turning south about half way across the bay. The feeling when the first one came into view with that distinctive wing shape will be etched on my brain for a long time!), 14 Balearic Shearwater (some fairly close), 70+ Manx Shearwater, 1 Arctic Skua (pale sub-adult lingering for half an hour, on sea and chasing gulls), 243 Med Gull (***patch record*** and not expected! At the start of the watch a feeding flock way to the east seemed to contain lots of Meds, then about half-an hour later they started pilling through west in flocks of up to 60 birds until I finished, although they slowed down for the last thirty minutes. I would estimate the flocks were made up of about 60-65% juvs, most showing a lot of 1st-winter feathering now. An absolutely phenomenal passage), 60+ Black-headed Gull and 45 Kittiwake (many of these came through mixed in with the Med Gulls).
One of the closet Kittiwakes passing, a lovely fresh juvenile
So in short there were two stand outs from the day, both from the evening watch - two Cory's Shearwater and a mind blowing passage of Med Gulls which was an absolute privilage to witness. More of this please!
We've had some reasonably good sea watching weather since my last post. At bit more rain at times would have been good, but the wind on some days has been pretty much spot. There's some more to come too which I am hopeful about!
I will start with the most recent watch whilst it is still fresh in my mind, this morning. Conditions were far from ideal, but yesterday ended with heavy rain and a strong south westerly wind so I wanted to chance it incase anything was reorientating or still hanging around. Desite the lack of wind there was a good amount of cloud cover at the start of the watch, however by the end of it I don't think the conditions could have been worse for this pastime...
Pants!
It was so worth the effort though. 1.5 hours from 06:10 gave probably the strongest passage of Gannets that I've seen this year (including plenty of juvs) and an impressive eight Arctic Skuas!
Full totals (west unless stated): 11 Common Scoter (1 east), 3 Balearic Shearwater, 1 ManxShearwater, 9 Shearwater sp. (distant), 1 Great Crested Grebe, 450+ Gannet, 3 Fulmar, 8 Arctic Skua (5 west together after chasing Kitts at 06:25, adult pale and dark-phased west at 06:40 and finally a pale immature persistently chasing a Kitt away to the east at 07:30), 35 Kittiwake and 2 YellowWagtail (over the beach).
Yesterday, when the rain and real winds were happening, I had time for an evening seawatch from Seaton Hole 17:30 - 18:45. A nice passage of Balearics and three Arctic Skuas the highlight of this watch, with full totals (west unless stated): 26 Balearic Shearwater, 18 Manx Shearwater, 70+ Shearwater sp. (going both ways further out), 22 Gannet, 1 Fulmar, 3 Arctic Skua (all appeared to be dark-phased, flew in from south, landed briefly then got swept away east with the wind) and 41 Kittiwake.
Back on 14th we had another day of nice blustery southerly winds, building as the day went on. I missed a patch Cory'sShearwater by about twenty minutes, but a 40 minute sea watch from 13:00 showed 90 Manx and 6 Balearic fly west. Nice to see so many shearwaters out there, even though they were only small ones for me. A Sooty few east not long after I left too, so not very well timed at all by me!
Away from the sea I have been lucky enough to see three Ospreys on the Axe in the last ten days, all juveniles and all from my office! One on 12th had several fishing attempts on the lower Estuary and remained for at least the rest of the day and possibly into the following day. On 18th one came low down the Estuary, then gained height and circled up high above Axe Cliff, presumably then leaving the UK for the summer. The third was today, and seemed to be as brief as Sunday's as it flew high down the Estuary and looked like it then went straight out to sea.
Since my last post I have managed my first bit of autumn vis mig too, with a few hours at Axe Cliff on the morning of 17th giving me a Tree Pipit and three Yellow Wags west overhead. Hardly busy but it's nice to get off the vis mig line for the season!
Oh and I cannot forget to mention I've had another juv Yellow-legged Gull, a lovely tall and pale bird from a Birdwatching Tram on 11th...
As expected, plenty of first-winter scaps visible
And there we have it, you are all caught up! Hopefully I'll have more skuas to blog about soon.
With Cory's Shearwaters reported off Portland on multiple days within the last week, showing they have made it this far up the channel, I have been keen to get down to the sea whenever I've had the chance.
My usual sea view from my favoured sea waching point in Seaton, the Spot On Kiosk
An evening sea watch on 2nd August was completely speculative as there wasn't even any wind. But three Balearic Shearwaters, my first of the year, flew west together at 8pm and made the visit worthwhile. Also 11 Med Gulls west, including nine juveniles.
Yesterday morning (8th) two hours from dawn in more promising conditions gave me a nice little haul, but again no big 'uns. The shearwaters I did see were two Balearic and one Manx, all west as single birds.
The main highlight of the watch was a surprise pair of Garganey, including a male (either juv or eclipse adult) which flew west at 06:25. Another pair of small duck flew west about half an hour later, but neither of these was a male Garganey so they were definitelya different pair and I saw nothing to suggest they weren't Teal. Also three Common Scoter west.
Another nice highlight was a close dark-phased Arctic Skua which flew slowly west at 06:20. It came through within the Gannet passage that started up at about 6am, in all I logged 130 fly west including a decent number of juveniles - a promising sign after the bird flu tragedies they've endured in recent years. Also three Med Gulls west and a half-a-dozen Kittiwake. A Ringed Plover called a few times but I have no idea which way it was going as it remained invisible.
Finding myself glued to the weather forecasts even more than usual at the moment, longing for some hefty Atlantic storms...
Well I did promise I would complete my summer sightings in a blog post, and here it is, with a bit of previously unposted spring action too...
As usual the post breeding passage of wading birds started not long after the northbound passage of wading birds came to an end. Here were some of the best spring waders I saw this year, only posting now because I didn't blog about them earlier in the year. It was a shockingly poor spring here, for basically all migrating birds, but especially waders with no big wader days at all. This lovely Grey Plover on 14th May was probably wader of the spring for me...
Such a smart wader, with a couple of Whimbrel behind
And who doesn't love spring Bar-tailed Godwits. There were nine on Black Hole Marsh on 24th April, including this group of six...
Such stunning birds - with lots of sleep to catch on clearly!
And now to autumn. Well, 'wading bird autumn' anyway...
No massive rarities as yet but there has been one major highlight for me, with my first (very nearly complete) summer-plumaged Spotted Redshank on the Axe - in well over 20 years of birding here! Thank you Clive for finding it on the Estuary early on the morning of 24th June (never gives up does Clive!). I saw it on Black Hole Marsh once the tide had risen, it did wake up a few times but the only photos I managed were of it asleep...
Absolute beauty. A rare bird in any plumage here so this was something else!
Otherwise wader-wise during the last month or so, it's been the usual selection of birds including the odd Green Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover and Whimbrel, with Black-tailed Godwit and Reshank numbers already up to the 50 mark. I was surprised to see 11 Lapwing too a few days ago, usually only get the odd one until much later on. There has been Sanderling and Ruff recorded as well, but not by me. Sadly no Avocet breeding success this year, after what was presumably the pair from last year had their eggs predated by a Fox back in the spring The adults, and a third bird, did hang around for several weeks after, even mated again and looked like they were beginning to settle down on a new island, but this was all for show as nothing came from it. A realy shame but that's nature.
In the gull department, as expected Mediterranean Gulls have been passing through for about a month now. My biggest count was 16 on 20th July which included nine juveniles. Although I havent been looking through the big'uns with the same frequency as in other years, I have still managed two juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls so far...
The first bird on a wet and windy 15th July seemed to be regretting its life choices!
Bird two, already showing some first-winter scaps, taken during a birdwatching tram trip on 28th July. A lovely 'smooth' and pale bird.
I even got my moth trap out a few nights ago for the first time this year, but I will save that for the next post so this one can remain strictly birds-only. Check back soon...
