Back up to Beer Head again this morning, although it was very much on my mind I would have to be off by around 8am again. I really hate rushing when I am birding, but when it is all I can do I must learn to be ok with that. Not used to it yet though!
Lots of birds again, and another really nice rarity highlight too. At 07:35 I picked up a flock of nine Glossy Ibis out from the Lookout flying high over the sea, they gained height and steadily flew east, then turned north east into Seaton Bay, following the shape of the coast. They were obviously the same flock that were seen to drop in late last night on the Otter Estuary by Chris T, however I wasn't expecting them so a nice surprise.
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| Such an exciting sight! |
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| Gaining height |
And here's a short video...
The flock was seen again when they flew distantly east offshore from Abbotsbury Swannery at 9am, surprisingly with a tenth bird in the flock. I can only assume the single Glossy Ibis that Tim C saw briefly at dusk last night on Black Hole Marsh had joined them? Maybe the flock flew up the valley a bit or possibly even landed briefly? The fact the flock took 1.5 hours to fly just over twenty miles between me at Beer Head and Joe at Abbotsbury suggests they must have at least deviated a bit or landed briefly en route?
Back to Beer Head, and although it was still busy, it didn't feel quite so manic as the previous morning. 450+ Meadow Pipits included c200 grounded birds, but a lot more were flying straight over today without landing, presumably due to the lighter winds. Only recorded 12 Siskin today, but variety overhead (other than the Ibis flock!) included a very vocal Golden Plover that flew west, east, then finally back west again, a flock of three Snipe that zipped north over me just as I got back to my car, two Yellow Wagtails and nine alba Wagtails.
Hirundines however had upped their game from yesterday, and during my visit I recorded a whopping 1,700+ House Martins and 600+ Swallow. Most of these flew east overhead, however when I went to leave, the wires and airspace over the campsite were absolutely jam packed with mostly House Martins. What an incredible sight.
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| See all those white dots on the wires above the caravans - they're all House Martins! |
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| A real treat to see such big numbers |
Grounded migrants included 30+ Chiffchaff, five Blackcap, three Stonechat and two Wheatear. I wasn't able to cover the bushes on the east side of the head though so there could have been much more about.
Late this afternoon my Axe Glossy Ibis count went up by twelve more, as a flock was seen flying down the river past Black Hole Marsh. I could see them u-turn and come into land on the upper Estuary from my office, making it a 21 Ibis day for me! This brings my all time Axe total of Glossy Ibis up to 57 birds. Bit mad to think there have been several single flocks bigger than this in the UK over the last few weeks!
We are clearly going through a really exciting and productive spell of autumn migration at the moment. Ofcourse all the rarities and scarcities are great, but it is so fantastic to see the sheer volume of birds moving through at the moment.
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