A Good Day But No Cigar

Another excellent day of late autumn migration here on the Axe, even if I did fail to find what I had set out to at the start of the day.

Pallas's Warbler and/or Pallid Swift were my hoped for finds today, so it was a bit frustrating that both were found in the County today but not by me. However to be honest it didn't dampen my enjoyment of the day - any day with autumn migration and lots of birds is a good day!

It started well as by 08:10 I had counted 109 Redwing over my garden, with the biggest flock being of 38 birds.  As well as these there was a decent westerly movement of Starlings, but obviously fewer passerines than of late, presumably due to the overcast weather and spells of drizzle.

My first try for a late autumn swift was a vigil from the Bridge Marsh gateway mid morning.  My intentions were there, but the number of birds on the marsh didn't allow me much time to look up!   I couldn't not spend time looking through all the wildfowl present -  we don't often get this luxury on the Axe!

The highlight was a drake Tufted Duck, looking very out of place on the main pool on Bridge Marsh.  This is the first time I have ever seen any aytha duck on Bridge Marsh. Other ducks present included three Gadwall, eight Shoveler (my highest count so far of the autumn) and a decent count for the Axe of 275 Teal.

Never looked that settle which isn't really a surprise!

Even got a wing flap!

Further back on Colyford Marsh, 18 Cattle Egret were spread out nicely...

You'll have to take my word that they were all Cattle - but at least you can see all of them in this shot

I then checked a few sheltered sites for warblers, but couldn't turn up anything other than six Chiffchaff.  Good numbers of Goldcrest as well though, which kept my hopes high for a striped sprite but it wasn't to be today.   

I headed out again mid afternoon, however I managed to time this with the arrival of continuous heavy rainfall.  Very unhelpful.  Still, I did pick up a lovely first-winter Caspian Gull on the Estuary.  They seem to have become scarcer again, as we've had lots of gulls around this week but I haven't been able to find any Casps until this bird.

Views could have been better as the weather was awful, but it was a tall white-headed beast...

Showing off its profile during a downpour

 

Just about see some tail detail and the grey upper scaps on this more zoomed in shot

Quite gutted I couldn't get better views as it was a bit of a corker. I did see it at better angles, but only after it had moved much further away so I didn't even attempt any shots of at this stage.

Back home whilst cooking dinner, it was nice to see a Black Redstart in my garden - right outside the kitchen window!  I didn't have time to grab my camera, but it looked to be one of those first-winters with adult male-type wings, so neither of the two that were in my street last week. 

The weather is looking really promising for a flurry of vismig tomorrow, so I will be giving Axe Cliff another visit. Autumn will be petering out soon so I have got to enjoy it whilst it's here! Check back soon or keep an eye on my socials to see how I get on...