Spoonbills, Black Redstart, Firecrests and More

I was in Tesco this afternoon when a message came through about two Spoonbill on the upper Axe Estuary.  A few minutes later I was looking at them...

Two squabbling first-winter Spoonbills

 

Although Spoonbills are annual on the Axe, it is really surprising we haven't seen an increase in records parallel with the increase in the size of the wintering population on the south coast of the UK.  In fact it feels to me like they have actually become a bit scarcer, with birds rarely lingering beyond an hour let alone a day.  I cetainly reckon we have had fewer birds in the last five years than we have in the previous five year period, and that was probably less than we had in the five year period before that one.

It doesn't sound like these two lingered long.  They flew south about ten minutes after I left them and I don't think they've been seen again since.

I started today walking around on Beer Head, I had until 8:15.  Lots of Goldfinches, Linnets, Siskins, Meadow Pipits, alba Wagtails and a few Chaffinches flew over east, along with a single Redpoll.  In the bushes were a few Chiffchaffs, two Blackcap, two Goldcrest and a Firecrest.

Yesterday I started the day with a quick look over Black Hole Marsh, showing eight Dunlin and a Greenshank of note.  My walk to work was quite productive with a flock of five Cattle Egret down the Estuary and out to sea, two Crossbills over west, and my first Black Redstart of the autumn on the east side of Seaton...

It was an adult male too... not that you can tell from this phone-pic!  

 

The two days before this (Tues and Weds) I was housebound with the lurgy.  Still got it now, it's not been pleasant at all but at least it is better than it was!  Still, housebound doesn't mean no birds, and over the garden on Tuesday morning I had my first eight Redwing of the year, as well as nine Song Thrush (all as singles of pairs).  Then on the Wednesday I had singles of Chiffchaff and Goldcrest in my back garden, and a Cattle Egret flew north over late morning.

Go back a bit more, and Monday morning two Firecrest at Seaton Hole were my highlight of the day.  Yes this does show I am now in stripey-warbler search-mode!  Let's see if I can beat my four Yellow-browed Warblers of autumn 2024, though I doubt it looking at how many have arrived this year elsewhere in the UK.  A non-Yellow-browed striped sprite would be appreciated though! 

My final paragraph is for Saturday morning (11th) when I spent several hours at Axe Cliff from dawn.  Overheard passage was going east and west, and included lots of lovely little flocks of Siskins, the odd Redpoll, a Reed Bunting and the other usual species.  There were fewer birds in the bushes, but a nice little arrival of crests included five Gold and one Firecrest.  It's already the best Goldcrest autumn we've had for a few years, and it is still early.  

It is so good to have such good numbers of finches going over too - some years Siskins can be really scarce but they are anything but at the moment! As for Chiffchaffs they are still pilling through, having been moving through in good numbers for several weeks now.  It is great to know that all these birds must have had such a good breeding season.

Roll on next week, hopefully I will continue to feel better and will be able to get out a bit more...