Gulls of the Axe; Autumn '26

Following last years incredible autumn influx of Caspian Gulls, which continued through much of the winter, I couldn't wait to see if it was going to happen again in 2026.  And well it sort of has, briefly at least anyway.

Records of Caspian Gulls were few and far between in the south west this autumn until we had a few days of south easterly winds at the end of August, and over the next few days it felt like we were indeed going to get a repeat of 2025's mayhem.  However, after three consecutive days of Caspian Gulls on the Axe, I've not seen another since.  The continued presence of Ospreys on the Axe this autumn are clearly not helping (such gull-flushers!) however I am checking when I can and there just doesn't seem to be any Casps around at the moment.

All of the Caspians were absolute corkers in their own way, and my records are as follows (all on the main Estuary):

Two juv/1st-winters on 27th August at 5pm....

A real long-winged beauty, with well advanced moult in scapulars and already quite white headed

Same bird as above out of water - look at those long pink legs! Great comparison with similarly aged Herring Gull to the right. Overall shape just so different.

Bird number two from the 27th, which was way more advanced into first-winter plumage with a very white head. This bird also had more pale in the greater coverts.  Did wonder if it was a first-summer for a bit, but bill suggests first-winter.

I then had a new juv/first-winter late afternoon on 28th August...

What a soft-looking beauty - it's a colour of brown that no other juv gull is like in my opinion

Same as above.  Look how clean and smooth those greater coverts are!  Note already the pale on the bill which is a great Casp-feature as young Herring's often don't get pale on their bill until late winter/spring

Then mid-afternoon on 29th August I had the same juv (I think) and a first-summer, before both were flushed by an Osprey...

Both birds together.  First-summer (so hatched in 2025) on left with the faded but still plain greater coverts, younger bird to right which I think is same bird as previous day

Many places are reporting poor numbers of juv/1w Yellow-legged Gulls this autumn, however the Axe seems to be doing comparatively well for them!  My highest single count was of three first-winters on 27th August, but their presence has been fairly well drawn out with my first two on 15th July...

Still quite juvenile-like, note white ground colour to underparts and head, dark eye-mask and pink legs

A flight-shot of bird number two. Note restricted pale on inner primaries

And my most recent on 6th September....

Had lovely views of this one, in some nice light too (not too harsh).

This cracker on 27th July deserves a special mention, showing really well on the lower Estuary...

Insane views of this one.  Like Caspian Gulls of this age, I find juv Yellow-legs have a unique colour too, almost chocolatey

And a nice view of its wing pattern, note the restricted pale on inner primaries

It has been a pitiful late summer/autumn for Med Gulls on the Axe, with just small numbers trickling through and no big days for us.  There's only been the odd Common Gull so far, but I was pleased to see a juvenile/first-winter on Black Hole Marsh on the evening of 13th September...

Not a great pic as it was getting dark!

And that's it, no other gull surprises for me or anyone else here.  The autumn is still young though so am looking forward to what may lay ahead.  Next blog post, sea birds...

Garden Birds

We are really enjoying our new house in Seaton, been in it nearly two years already which has flown by!  It's great for the family and our ageing dog (12 year old Golden Retriever Honey, who is really struggling with some of her much loved walking routes now) as it has given us all the space we needed especially outside.  It keeps throwing up some surprising bird and wildlife records too...

I had to wake up at 4:30am on 21st May for a bird survey on Dartmoor, and shortly after my alarm went off a Nightjar churred outside our lounge window.  This is the second record for the garden following a brief (but even closer) churr on 24th June 2025.  A sound clip of this years bird is below, but you'll need to turn the volume right up - it's clearest just after I noisily open the curtains...

The next garden surprise was the biggest.  We were outside enjoying some alfresco dinner in the back garden with my parents on 24th May when I suddenly became aware a couple of short sharp trills, sounding a lot like a Serin.  A few moments later I heard it again a few times, got some recordings with my phone, saw a small finch-type bird take off from the top of our back hedge as it uttered a couple more calls, before flying off never to be seen again!  This was both mine and the patch's fourth record of Serin (I have been lucky enough to find three of these), but surprisingly the first spring record with all others having been recorded in the months Nov-Feb! 

The final and much more recent surprise came just the other day, whilst I was eating toast on our dining table at 7:30am on 10th September.  I could see a movement in the heather just outside the window, but a glimpse of white somewhere in its tail suggested it wasn't just a Dunnock... I was right, out popped a Common Whitethroat!  I know not at all a rare bird, and it seems to have been a good autumn for this species, but still not a bird I would have ever expected to see in our small front garden!  

Whitethroat playing peekaboo!

Next up it is time for some gull news people, accompanied by lots of lovely photos of course :)

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 being 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!