Black-winged Stilts and General Birding Update

Well the local grapevine sprung into action at 12:15 today, when Claire C found two Black-winged Stilts on Black Hole Marsh!  Finally some rare bird action for the Axe this spring...

A cracking pair of Black-winged Stilts!

 

I didn't get to them until later in the afternoon, but had some nice views of them feeding on the southern edge of the marsh, a male and a female although not really acting that much like a pair as they mostly fed separately.  I wonder if they are one of the few UK breeding pairs, returning for this season?  

Male Black-winged Stilt - the black bits are so black with a lovely glossy finish

Such a lanky beast!

The male in flight

The female, with a brownish cast on its back and slightly duller legs

 

These are the Axe's second and third Black-winged Stilts, with the species only being added to the patch list as recently as 16th April 2023 when a female spent four days on Black Hole Marsh.   

I can summarise the rest of my recent birding quite succinctly, as it hasn't been overly busy!  This clear weather is really not helping down migrants on the south coast. 

Red Kites have been frequent however, either they are in less of a hurry to pass through this year or there are a lot more of them!  I have seen singles or more most days over the past week, with four together over Holyford Woods on Friday being my biggest 'flock'.  It's worth saying I have seen all these without having spent any time actually sky-scanning, so have probably missed loads whilst doing other things.

On the Estuary, Whimbrel are finally around in slightly better numbers, there were six and a Curlew on the Estuary all of today for example.  I had four Dunlin yesterday and a Greenshank or two has been loitering for about a week now.  I missed a Wood Sandpiper which Tim had on Black Hole Marsh one evening last week, which was a shame as it is always good to see a spring Wood Sand - especially as they seem to be getting scarcer in the autumn now.

Lovely light on this resting Whimbrel

 

This Whimbrel has not just laid a stone - despite how it looks!

The Marsh Harrier is still here, as are at least five Greylag Geese.  Swift and House Martins I am pleased to say have increased in numbers over the last week, with at least 14 of the former over Seaton this morning - including a low flying screaming flock of five zigzagging between houses which was nice. Sand Martins are doing excellently locally, with two breeding colonies south of the A3052, and it's nice to have the breeding Swallows back at work, one of only few breeding pairs (less than ten?) in Seaton now, sadly...

The very handsome male who has lovely copper-tinged underparts

 

The Lesser Whitethroats seemed to have settled down to breed along the Estuary, it is amazing how quickly the male stopped singing after he had attracted a mate.  I was worried these were the only breeding Lesser Whitethroats locally, I haven't come across any at Axe Cliff in recent visits (despite excellent numbers of Common Whitethroats), but I stumbled upon another singing male off Cownhayne Lane, Colyford, yesterday.  Hopefully a local breeder rather than a passing migrant but I will revisit the site just to make sure.

Lesser Whitethroat singing

Lesser Whitethroat not singing

 

Hopefully these Stilts will prove the start of a nice run of rarities for us. I do hope so because spring 2025 is clearly not going to be a spring remembered for the quantities of birds - despite the promising start to it.