Purple Heron and Allies

Anyone who has birded frequently in Devon, particularly East Devon, will no doubt have come across or at least heard the name Clive.    Although Clive doesn't exclusively spend his birding time on the Axe, he spends most of it here which we are all extremely grateful for as he's turned up some really good birds.  And the main reason for this in my opinion is because of his stubborn persistence - a trait he possesses at a level I am genuinely envious of.

I am the first one out of bed on a spring/autumn/windy day. However outside of the main seasons or during a spell of duff weather, especially after a couple of days of seeing the same birds, it becomes far more of a struggle for me to get out with the same enthusiasm, and quite simply other priorities in life  take over.  But this is not the case for Clive, he could have seen the same handful of Black-tailed Godwits and single Redshank on Black Hole Marsh daily for a week in early July, but he'd still be there at 7am the next morning like it was mid-September.  What a legend.

It was this doggedness that meant several patch birders, including myself, rushed down to the Island Hide on Black Hole Marsh early on 23rd July...

What a stripey stunner. Look at the length of its bill!

Didn't move all that much when I was there, but others saw it hunting in this area

This Purple Heron remained in this spot from 07:25 to 08:15, when it flew off north (which was after I had left).

Now this is not one I was expecting in the doldrums of mid-summer, and being outside of the usual arrival window for this species (a spring adult or an autumn juv) it did make me wonder whether it may be a bird that has spent the previous few weeks/months somewhere in the UK?

This was the third time I've seen Purple Heron on the patch, and my fourth individual.   My first was a cracker that Phil found on Colyford Common on 23rd April 2011, which showed almost as well as this one. My second was of two birds together found by Mike B on 6th May 2020 in Whitford.  They spent most their time off-patch sat in a random river-side tree, but as I arrived they flew south over my head into patch airspace, before u-turning, gaining height and flying away to the north east.

So thank you Clive, and keep it up!

Before the Purple Heron event, a speculative look along the Estuary during the evening of 15th July revealed the presence of a Spoonbill north of Coronation Corner.  Although this species is far more regular in Devon these days, it remains an infrequent visitor to the Axe, this being our first one of the year.  I think it remained for less than an hour before it was seen to fly towards the sea.  There's been another single bird since that I didn't see (17th August found by Phil) which was equally brief.

They really aren't that big are they!

It went for a walk when a canoe came up river, which is what then flushed it

 

Talking of birds that have changed in status, White Storks have become almost expected nowadays as they seem to be being released all over the UK.   We've had two this autumn, including this one that showed well for all on the Birdwatching Tram I was leading on the evening of 1st August...

It's colour-ring (GBYV) tells us this bird hatched this year at Cotswold Wildlife Park, before being released at Knepp.

Cattle Egrets have been present pretty routinely this autumn, well up until a few weeks ago anyway.  There was a group of four or five that were really reliable from mid July and for much of August, often with the cattle between Seaton and Black Hole Marshes.  I hadn't seen any recently though, well until Friday morning just gone (11th Sept) when a flock of nine flew high down the Axe Valley over Colyford Common and then continued off to the west, making no attempt to make landfall here at all - making them proper vis mig Cattle Egrets! 

A typical view, I took this photo whilst leading a Birdwatching Tram on 24th July

The nine that flew over on Friday 11th Sept

 

We also had a Great White Egret spend several weeks with us, having been first found by Tim C on Seaton Marshes on 5th August.  It wasn't all that reliable though, and could spend a couple of days going missing completely.  I only saw it once during its stay, whereas others did see it multiple times.

And that's all the Heron's done, well for now at least anyway. There seems to be another mini-influx of Glossy Ibis underway on at the moment, nothing like last years mega arrival but enough to suggest I may well be posting about one on the Axe in the not too distant future.

Check back soon for more!  Thanks for reading :-)

Stone Curlew, Pectoral Sandpiper and other Autumn Waders

Although autumn wader passage had already begun by this date, things got really serious on 3rd August when Tim C discovered a fantastic Stone Curlew on Black Hole Marsh just after 6pm. It thankfully remained until dusk.  

If it wasn't for the Red-necked Phalarope this could easily have been my bird of the autumn...  

Just look at those eyes!

Not only is Stone Curlew always a class bird to see, but as you can see from my pictures this one showed absolutely brilliantly, less than 130 feet in front of Island Hide in the most stunning evening light.  The previous birds here showed nowhere near this well, and most my other UK experience of this species have involved distant and hazy birds on a very hot Salisbury Plain, with the birds themselves often looking like mirages!

Stayed in the same spot the whole time I watched it, but it did have a look around

Legs like a Caspian Gull... said no one ever!  Cracking bird and real honour to see up close

 
This was only the *third record of Stone Curlew for the patch, and the first ever autumn record with the previous records being: 

• One on Seaton Marshes, and then the Estuary until dusk on 13th April 2007 (this remains one of my favourite ever finds here).

• One almost in the same place on Seaton Marshes on 3rd March 2012 again staying until dusk. 

The '*' is because there are a couple more to add...ish:

• One sound recorded over Seaton at night on 24th April 2021. Thanks Mark B for alerting me to this record. 

• Somewhere deep in my grey matter I can vaguely recall learning about an old record from Colyford Marsh, but cannot get my hands on the source of this or find any other details about it.  When I posted about the 2012 bird on this blog, I mentioned then it was the third record for the patch which also eludes to an earlier record. If anyone can shed some light on this please let me know. N.B. Thanks to Kev Rylands for confirming a single bird on Colyford Marsh on 10/4/1963. He also informed me of another old record from Branscombe which may or may not have been on patch.

• I have seen another here, but my naked-eye only views meant I never submitted it.  To cut a long story short I was on my phone in the kitchen of my old house on a misty and wet mid-April day, when I looked out the window to see a bird flying low head-on having come out of the valley.  I hung up the call and ran outside, realised it was a Stone Curlew, ran back through the house grabbing my bins enroute as it had now flown directly over the house, only to get back out the front of the house at the point it disappeared over a neighbours roof to the west.  I spent an hour or so searching the pig fields west of Seaton later that day without luck.

Another good wader that has graced Black Hole Marsh this autumn was this cracking juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper which has only just done a bunk (I think it was last seen on Thursday 10th Sept). .. 

Almost looks like a proper photographers shot this one!  I was just jammy with my timing - zero skill involved

 

First found on 4th September at around midday by visiting birder David Flack, it spent much of it's time showing really well from Island Hide.  It's the first Pec Sand I have seen here for over a decade as I managed to miss the most recent two (Sept '23 on Black Hole Marsh and Sept '22 on Colyford Marsh), but it takes my all time Axe Pec tally up to 11.  Out of the 11, this looked like the freshest of the lot, an absolutely feather-perfect juv...

Such a tidy bird

Showing all the salient features

More V's than a juv Red-necked Phal!  You can see what I mean about it looking so fresh.

Hopefully this won't prove the only American wader of the autumn though, as there's quite a decent amount of yanks arriving at the moment.  Fingers crossed for a Lesser Yellowlegs, that is the one we are all next expecting and is so overdue here.

We've not had any Little Stints yet this autumn, but everything else you'd expect has been present, including the likes of Curlew Sandpipers (max of two), Wood Sandpipers (max of two, probably four in total), Ruff (currently six present), Little Ringed Plovers (two still present), etc.  Spotted Redshanks have been really reliable this autumn, we would usually get the odd one or two for short stays, but we have currently got three present, with two of these having been around daily since 23rd August (so three weeks now!).   

I haven't managed to get down to Black Hole Marsh or the Estuary anywhere near as often as I would have hoped these last few months, so huge praise from me to the local birders who have been constantly plugging away making sure nothing slips through undetected.  

This was our first Wood Sand of the autumn - I found it during a birdwatching tram on 1st August

One of the more recent birds, showing well but in pretty dull light

I missed a couple of Turnstone that were present late in August, but was pleased to see three Knot that dropped in briefly on the Estuary during a heavy squall on 29th August...

Distant and murky Knot x 3

 

And finally, I need to rewind the clock even more as I realised I never posted this lovely summer plumaged Curlew Sandpiper that graced Black Hole Marsh for a day on 29th May. It feels like both just yesterday and also ages ago at the same time...

Pictured here with a couple of Black-tailed Godwits and a Black-headed Gull

Next blog post topic; Summer Heron's and allies!  Yes, I am going to make you wait a couple more posts until the really good stuff - and by that I mean gulls :)

  

Red-necked Phalarope - A Patch First!

I said these 'catch-up' blog posts would have good content, and you can't get much better than a patch first!  

Red-necked Phalarope is one of those birds that we always thought we'd eventually get here, but they remain a rare bird in the south west, especially in Devon so it was never going to be that easy.  I've always dreamt of a late spring adult, but a fresh autumn juvenile - thank you very much!

Bob Longhorn first spotted it when it dropped in on Black Hole Marsh by Tower Hide at about 08:45 on 24th August, which is presumably when it first arrived. It soon moved on from here but thankfully spent most of the next two days spinning around on the water just in front of Island Hide. What a bird...  

I didn't actually see it until the 25th - to say I am glad it stayed overnight is an understatement!  This was a patch rare I was fully expecting to miss

I have seen so many Grey Phalaropes over the years, most here, plus a Red-necked Phalarope in Somerset before, but this was the most juvenile-plumaged Phalarope I have ever seen.  Absolutely feather-perfect with those beautiful golden lines down it's mantle and of course those lovely curved eye masks...

Note the fine bill diagnostic of this species

Typically for a Phalarope it never stopped moving!  Great view of the golden v though.

This cracker becomes the 271st bird that I have seen on the Axe patch, my first addition to my Axe list since the Marsh Sandpiper also at Black Hole Marsh on 22nd August last year.   Funnily enough, the Marsh Sand was also my 271st bird for the Axe patch, however between then and now Green-winged Teal has been struck off as apparently it's 'just' a Teal.  So Marsh Sand became number 270. 

Such a tiny bird

I also want to use this post to announce the launch of a brand new and extremely exclusive club.  It was created at about 9am on 24th August 2026 and is named: 'Seen all the World's Phalarope's on the Axe club'.  

As I said it is extremely exclusive and I must congratulate Phil A on possibly being its only member, having seen the Axe Wilson's Phalarope in October 1991.  What's quite amusing is there are a few Devon birders who saw the Wilson's and came up for the Red-necked, but as far as I'm aware/informed have never made the journey up for the commonest of the three species, Grey.  But maybe I am wrong, have you seen three species of Phalarope on the Axe?  If so please drop me a comment.

Thanks for reading all.  Next up, more cracking wading birds on Black Hole Marsh this autumn....

 

It's been a while...

As we are already over a week into September (HOW!?) I figured I'd better do something with this blog before my current bout of bloggers-block becomes permanent!  In all seriousness I do miss writing on this blog, a platform that has developed with me as I've grown up birding on the Axe patch. It's been a source of so much joy too, both in the writing of and on any occasion I have read back over it.

With several months having passed since my last post (which wasn't even about birds on patch!) I've got to think of a way to catch back up without boring the hell out of everyone. Also, how do I successfully resurrect birding events that happened several months ago - that would have been far more useful and current if posted about a day or two after the event not a month or two!?

I am just going to have to get on with it, and truthfully I'm looking forward to it.  Expect a flurry of short posts over the next few weeks, and I hope the content will be worth a read as there's been some cracking birds on the Axe since spring '26. 

I'll be starting with a new bird for the patch, a right little spinner...

Can you guess the full fat patch tick from that!?

 

'Extreme Birding!'

There's a few reasons why this blog has been so quiet lately.

One of them is because I've been keeping busy on my days off, wandering around the most barren parts of Dartmoor, and here's why...

It was a real pleasure having 'The Dartmoor Podcast' with us for this survey, just a pity the rewards were so scant and conditions so testing in the scorching heat on the one day he was able to join!

If you enjoy Dartmoor I can really recommend following/subscribing to George's YouTube channel - he's a breath of fresh air in what feels like an ever darkening world, and can always help you escape to the beauty of Dartmoor even when you can't physically get there.

Thanks for reading/watching!

Spring - blink and you'll miss it

I cannot really explain what's happened to this spring, other than it was just beginning to feel like it was ramping up and the potential of what I may come across increased exponentially, then the next minute it feels like it's all but over!  

The lack of migrants is certainly a driving reason for this, but the weather, how fast time generally seems to go these days, plus how busy I've been at work also all clearly playing a part in it.  

It is crazy how rapidly it feels like the peak spring migration period has come to an end without it ever really taking off.  And I don't just mean land-based migrants, visible migration simply didn't happen (no Mipit or big hirundine days), sea watching has been slow and wading birds numbers well down - although there is still time for the latter thankfully!

I think this is also the reason why it's taken me until the 10th May to write a blog post this month, whereas usually I would have expected to have seen enough to have posted several times this month before now.  I do have a fair bit of time to recap on though, and it hasn't been without highlights including a few nice sightings today...

I will start with wading birds.  We had a nice (albeit short) spell of rain last weekend (Sat 2nd in particular).  Rain in May usually never fails to deliver some wader passage, but ironically the only obvious passage waders came before the rain on the Friday and after it, although I missed the three Wood Sands that dropped in briefly on Black Hole Marsh during the evening of 3rd (TW).   

The waders I have seen include two Grey Plover, one that arrived on the morning of 1st with a sudden influx of Black-tailed Godwits and another tonight that's been around all day - sadly neither were summer plumaged birds...

This evenings Grey Plover and a Dunlin

 

I saw my first three Common Sandpipers on Black Hole Marsh on 29th and my first two Ringed Plover on the Estuary yesterday (9th) with five tonight.  One of my favourite spring waders are male Bar-tailed Godwits, they are absolutely stunning birds, so I feel somewhat hard done by as the seven I have seen since my last post (six on Estuary on 30th and a single bird on Black Hole Marsh for several days in early May) have all been cold grey female-types. Black-tailed Godwit numbers jumped up on 1st, from less than ten that had been present for weeks, to just shy of 70 birds, although that numbers dropped again to about 40 or so.  Whimbrel have been on the Estuary daily in small numbers, plus I've seen a couple of small flocks over the sea/beach.  Dunlin have been present most days, but only in very small numbers with eight on the evening of 3rd at Black Hole Marsh being my best single count, whilst I was not seeing Wood Sands. 

Up in the sky I have missed most the Red Kites that have passed over, but I finally bumped into two singles with one over Colyton on 29th whilst I was at work, and another much lower-flying bird over Colyford on 8th.  The best sky-based sighting for me was a fantastic Hobby early on 3rd.  I was walking around the Borrow Pit when the small number of feeding Swallows started alarming, and before I knew it a Hobby appeared low overhead and made a swoop for one of the Swallows although it managed to evade capture by rapidly changing direction.  The Hobby then did a couple of low circles over the Borrow Pit before it flew off east, although soon after it was seen low over Black Hole Marsh.  A truly wonderful encounter.

Several visits to Axe Cliff since my last post have all been poor.  Just the odd singing Willow Warbler, and expected breeding birds.  I highly doubt I will be making any more visits up there this spring.  In the valley, numbers of Sedge and Reed Warblers seem really healthy this year, the Lesser Whitethroat continues to sing along the tram line, and tonight I was surprised to hear a reeling Grasshopper Warbler in the field south of Tower Hide at dusk, my first here for several years and quite possibly a bird on territory considering the lateish date?

Although I have had many beach walks hoping for waders, I have only attempted a proper sea watch on one day since my last post - 29th April.  There was a stiff east wind blowing, but other than a single Great Northern Diver west and a drake Common Scoter settled on the sea, nothing of note.  It's very much looking like another Pom-less spring for me, and Arctic-less in fact.  Thankfully I saw those two Bonxies in mid-April as a completely skua-free spring would be really bad news.

Gull numbers have been really random lately, especially Black-headed Gulls. Some days there are less than twenty on the Estuary, but the next there might be 70+!  Have been looking out for some more/a reappearance of Bonaparte's, but just a single first-summer Med Gull yesterday (9th) of note.  

In with the big gulls I came across a first-summer Caspian Gull on the morning of 7th, not a bad reward when there's less than thirty large gulls on the whole Estuary!  At first I thought it might be the same bird that I saw a few times in late April, but a closer look at my pictures shows it is a different individual, less advanced in its scapular moult (so less plain grey) as well as other differences in the coverts, tertials and overall structure...

Bird on the left of the shot, it's not just the white head and breast/neck, note the lovely plain coverts and all dark tertials

 

A more typical May record came in the form of two male Tufted Ducks on the Borrow Pit yesterday (9th).  If you are patch year-listing here and you don't get to see a winter Tufty, May is the most reliable month to connect with this species, either on the Borrow Pit, on the lagoon at Seaton Marshes or at Lower Bruckland Ponds.  As they were the first of the year I did make the effort to see them early afternoon...

The two handsome boys

 

Whilst on wildfowl I will mention the Black Swan that has been around since 7th, and the continued presence of Gadwall in the valley, with seven this evening from Tower Hide - three pairs and a lone drake. 

I did have a rather nice surprise after walking out of work late this afternoon at 17:30, two Common Cranes!  They flew in off the sea and up the Estuary, not hanging around at all motoring straight through north east. Thankfully a couple of other locals managed to see them as I fired some messages out rapidly, but as in now the case, who knows where they came from?  

I did a post a few years back that's worth putting a link to again (see below) and don't forget the flock of 14 I saw last year in late April that were clearly Somerset reintroduced birds, or descendants of at least.  It's easy to be swayed by the impressive sight of these two actually arriving in off the sea, but the reality is they could easily have flown out to sea five minutes earlier and just chickened out!  Or of course, seeing as there's a few being recorded in Kent/the east coast at the moment, they could be true overshoots!? What I do know is it's a pity I didn't have my camera with me as they did looked awesome in the evening light and clear sky.

My blog post following a single Common Crane that pitched in briefly on Bridge Marsh in April 2023: https://stevesbirdingblog.blogspot.com/2023/04/a-crane-conundrum.html

Last years flock of 14: https://stevesbirdingblog.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-flock-of-cranes.html

Although there is still plenty of time for spring 2026 to deliver some goodies, I think it's safe to say the main migration period for trans-Saharan migrants is over.  We've even had a Spot Fly which is usually the back marker of spring migrant passerines, Tim C saw one on Borrow Pit on 5th. 

Thanks for reading! 

  

A quick catch up

Time for a catch-up post! Here's what I've seen of interest over the last week or so that's not an American gull... 

On 20th I spent a few hours out in the evening.  Last light saw me at Colyford Common where there were four Wheatear and six Whimbrel, with another Wheatear just south of Black Hole Marsh.  The biggest surprises however were during a family walk to Holyford Woods, with a Marsh Harrier circling high to the north west of the wood and an unseasonal Lapwing looking very skulky in a field of rank long grass...

Formally a breeding species on patch and I do wonder what it's still doing here - I hadn't seen one for many weeks prior to this

 

Amazed I even got this - it was a speck in my viewfinder! 

 

Axe Cliff on the morning of 21st was really quiet, just one Willow Warbler of note.  However offshore I was surprised to see 60+ Manx Shearwater fly east.  Down in the valley around Sheep's Marsh it was good to hear what's presumably the returning male Lesser Whitethroat of the last couple of years.  He's been around daily since, and yesterday during a Birdwatching Tram I managed this pic...

Even sang from this old railway post for a short-while!

 

The 22nd gave me my second, and the patches fourth Little Ringed Plover of the spring, on Bridge Marsh.  A fair bit closer than my first, being on the smaller body of water (which is now pretty much all dried up) half way across the field...

Another male looking extremely dapper

 

The morning of 25th was bloody cold!  And I didn't see much other than two Avocet that had been present for a couple of days on Black Hole Marsh.   It was nice to hear a good number of Sedge and Reed Warblers though.

On 26th, late afternoon I spied this striking first-winter Caspian Gull on the lower Estuary.  Pretty sure it's the same bird that I had in the exact spot on the 15th. There's several similarities in the plumage between the two, plus overall it's a very classic and clean looking Casp just not so well endowed in the leg-department...

Such a smart bird - I actually first picked it out with my naked eye as could see a very pale grey-mantled gull with contrasty brown juvenile flight-feathers

Such a classic looking spring Casp (except for the average-looking legs!)

 

Also on 26th I saw my first Med Gull for several weeks, which am sure was thrilling for the tram-full of budding birders...

A first-summer Med Gull

And that's that.  I'll end this post with a rather nice male Blackcap that I snapped the other day on Axe Cliff.  Seems to be a good year for them from what I can see (and hear)...

What a songster