Hairy Hawker

2025 was the year, and I am absolutely thrilled.

For the last twelve years, at least, I have been seriously frustrated by the lack of Hairy Hawkers on the Axe so have always put extra Odonata-effort in, in late spring.  To the west of us, they are on the Otter near Budleigh, north of us they have been seen in Chard and are super abundant on the Somerset Levels, and east of us they are on the Fleet and have colonised Weymouth.  Can see no reason why Hairy Hawkers are not seen here regularly, let alone the fact that as far as I am aware not a single one has ever been recorded on the Axe!

Most years I try and cover as much likely habitat as possible during early May, but this year I changed tack.  Lower Bruckland Ponds is by a mile our best dragonfly site, plus it's 100% fresh water whereas any water body in the river valley is always likely to have some salinity to it.  So in 2025 I decided to focus all my effort here.  

Yesterday saw my third visit to the Ponds within the last ten days, and much to my surprise as I walked up to only the second pond on my loop, a small hawker was right there patrolling the near bank...  I'D ONLY GONE AND DONE IT! 

An in-habitat shot, Hairy Hawker near bottom left corner of shot

I spent half an hour watching at times TWO Hairy Hawkers zooming around on one of the smallest ponds.  Neither stopped still even for a second, so photographs were a challenge, and I think I have only captured one of the insects as the other appeared sporadically whereas this one remained on view the whole time patrolling the northern half of this pond, zipping off course only to munch on a tasty flying insect.

The best photo I managed, and am chuffed with it!  Can even just about see the hairs on its thorax which gives the species its name

This shot shows the abdomen pattern well - typical hawker. Stripes on sides on thorax also classic hawker

This is poorest photo I am posting, but shows the antehumeral stripes well, as well as the general colour of the insect

You wouldn't believe how many photos of blurred lilypads I have had to go through to find the above photos! 

Despite all this excitement on just one small pond, I did check the whole site.  Saw no more larger dragonflies, but my first Four-spotted and Broad-bodied Chasers, and Large Red-eyed Damselflies of the year were good to see.

A fresh out the packet Four-spotted Chaser

A good few months before the smaller version of these emerge

 

 Love it when a plan works out. Even if it does take twelve years...

 

A Flock of Cranes!

I spent an early lunch break photographing the returning Swallows at work, when a line of large birds in the distance way to the north of me caught my eye...

My first view.  They were probably well over a mile away when I first spotted them

Common Cranes.  Fourteen of them!

I have not mastered flight shots yet!  Although in my defence they did remain high

I spent the next eight minutes or so watching them slowly make their way south west down the river valley, circling around on several occasions, but they remained high and never looked like they were interested in landing.  

Heading away to the west

I lost them as they flew west from Seaton at 11:58ish, but Phil then saw them over Beer and half an hour later they were over Budleigh, now heading north west.  They were next seen at 12:40, over Ottery St Mary, so it sounds like they had turned even more north.

 

Presumably they were birds from the Great Crane Project enjoying a fly around in the clear weather, but when they saw the sea thought twice and headed back home.  I must admit though, seeing a flock of Cranes this size flying over on a clear blue day was pretty cool! And not at all what I expected when I woke up this morning! 

Thanks so much for reading. 

Axe Cliff - Birds and Big Bunnies

I enjoyed a couple of hours walking around Axe Cliff this morning, somewhere I haven't been much at all so far this spring.  The overcast weather and lack of wind created the perfect conditions for spring optimism - hence my visit here.

It wasn't in any way busy, however it was a really enjoyable morning with a light smattering of migrants, a bit of vismig, and all the locally resident species of bird, and other wildlife, showing well.  I could have stayed out all morning to be honest.

I'll start overhead, where Swallows trickled west, along with a single Whimbrel and my first Tree Pipit of the year, passing just off the cliff edge at 06:54 as it buzzed its way west.

Grounded migrants included three lovely (and large-looking) Wheatears, one Sedge Warbler in full song and a really healthy total of 24 Whitethroats - most of which looked to be on breeding territories.

Male Wheatear, love the rusty mantle

Female Wheatear - looking long and leggy!

The Whitethroats along the road love singing off the wires 

Another really nice highlight was seeing two Brown Hares.  Axe Cliff is the last part of the patch where you can still see Hares, however sightings are seemingly getting more and more sporadic.  These were my first for a good few years.  One of them will be incredibly easy to track though, because it looked like this...

Thought it was someones escaped pet rabbit on my first view!

Nope - certainly a Hare!

 

Its mate was of the more regular variety...

Looking great sat up - top animals

 

Whilst I was at Axe Cliff I was missing what would have been my first Cuckoo of the year, that others were hearing in the river valley.  By the time I got down there it had gone silent, but there were still birds to be had...

On Colyford Marsh, two Little Ringed Plovers were on the scrape, with my first Bar-tailed Godwit of the spring (sadly a grey one) feeding with a couple of Whimbrel on the grass towards the River Coly.  Three Gadwall flew downriver, the lingering Marsh Harrier remained in view for most of the time and my first two Common Swifts of the year were with the 60+ feeding hirundines above Bridge Marsh.

Looking really settled here!

 

 

So not a morning of spring birding that will go down in history, but enjoyable nonetheless.

 

Spotted Redshank and Lesser Whitethroat

Wader passage has been really poor so far this spring.  I know we haven't got to the peak period yet, but by this date I would have expected to have see so much more than I have this year.

It took until Tuesday 22nd before I saw more than one Whimbrel on the Estuary, with at least six present. The day before, I saw my first flock of small waders of the spring, only six of these and all were Dunlin, but still - it's a flock!  And beats my previous spring high of two! 

The amount of water on Black Hole Marsh has prevented this place being a hub of wader action, with the best of it before today being a flock of 20+ Black-tailed Godwits that have been around for a couple of days now.  This morning however, a bit of wader quality finally made it to the Axe Estuary when Phil found a Spotted Redshank with this flock of Godwits.  Unfortunately not quite a black beauty, but it's three quarters of the way there...

Love the little drooped-tip on a Spotshanks bill

 

Monday morning was the best morning of this week for migration, when rain and low cloud clearly dropped some migrants.   I wish I had been able to get out in it, as just around work there were singles of singing Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler and my first Lesser Whitethroat of the year all new in.  Am pleased to say the Lesser Whitethroat has remained for the rest of the week, rattling away, so presumably it is one of our returning local breeders.

I've not had chance to get a photo of the Lesser Whitethroat yet, but I wish I had had my camera with me and not just my phone when it showed this well...

 

I'll end this post with my first sighting of youngsters on Black Hole Marsh this year, even if they are just Canada Geese...

Five more than last year which is hopeful!

Check back soon for more!

 

Osprey, Yellow Wagtails, Whimbrel and Marsh Harrier still

Great to see my third Osprey of the spring this morning.  As usual the gulls first alerted me to its presence, just before 09:40 over the lower Axe Estuary...

Don't look too closely at this photo - it is horribly fuzzy!

 

It flew slowly down the Estuary, and I last saw it over Axmouth harbour heading off west, presumably it then followed the coast.  I guess there is a good chance it had roosted on or near the Axe overnight.

One of the birds it flushed was my long overdue first Whimbrel of the year, which had spent the previous half an hour feeding on the Estuary by Axmouth bridge...

An equally bad photo

 

I have a mini-update for Saturday too.  I only had an hour out mid to late morning, but I spent the whole time going through the large numbers of hirundines feeding low in the valley.  Although we have had good numbers of Sand Martins around for several weeks now, numbers of Swallows and House Martins have been really low, with not even any good passage days.  So the sight of 700-800 hirundines feeding low over the fields and river at Colyford Marsh, Bridge Marsh, and up the Axe Valley north of the A3052 was simple brilliant!  My estimations were minimums of 400 Sand Martins, 300 Swallows and 40 House Martins.  What was exciting is that every now and then I would notice new birds arriving from the south, so it really felt like there was always a chance of something better (possibly with a red-rump!?) joining the feeding frenzy.

Sadly the hirundine species count remained at three for the morning, but a lovely highlight were two stunning male Yellow Wagtails loitering with the hirundines feeding just north of the A3052 opposite Bridge Marsh.  Most the time I was just enjoying flight views of them, as they'd sporadically fly around with the Swallows and Martins before dropping back down into the long grass.  However I eventually saw both well on the deck, one walking about in an area of shorter grass on the river bank whilst the other bird sat up for a few minutes on a small hedge...

Not a great post for photo quality I am afraid!

 

I've said it already this year in my post with the not quite blue-headed Yellow Wagtail in March, but grounded spring Yellow Wags are like gold dust here. So to see two more males was such a treat!  Top birds they are.

One of the Marsh Harriers is still around, I see it pretty much every time I look over Colyford Marsh...

Great to have one lingering

Cannot really believe it is already 20th April.  Although there's been some great spring birding this year, day to day I am not seeing all that much - especially in any numbers.  Hopefully this picks up soon because when we head into May I am well aware it means we are coming towards the end of the main period of spring migration.  I am not ready for spring 2025 to be done just yet.

 

Two Marsh Harriers and Two Gulls

I went from feeling poorly at the end of last-last week, straight into a busy week of work, however have managed to fit a little birding in here and there.  I've not seen as much as I had hoped with the change in wind direction, but it is always nice to be out at this time of year.

My first meander out was down to Black Hole Marsh a week ago yesterday, on Friday evening.  It was lovely to hear Sedge and Reed Warbler singing, my first of the year.  There was nothing unexpected on the marsh itself, but a Marsh Harrier that flew in high from the west and then looked to roost in Axe Reedbed was a nice treat.

The following morning there were two Marsh Harriers on Colyford Marsh, presumably the bird I saw drop in alongside a bird that had been seen here sporadically during the few days previous.  Although they spent most the time apart...

The closer of the two

Might be distant but still instantly identifiable

I did capture the moment they briefly came together...  

Two for one

 

Two Greylag Geese on the Estuary seemed like new arrivals, and I saw and heard my first Whitethroat of the year at Axe Cliff.  Little else in the way of grounded migrants though.  

An annual March/April sighting on the Axe in varying numbers

 

Sunday afternoon I noticed the wind was starting to blow onshore, and I just managed to squeeze in a fifteen minute sea watch off Seaton before darkness set in.  I was hoping for my first Manx Shearwaters of the year, and although there weren't the numbers I was wanting, the two that did come through at 20:10 were reasonably close and offered good views.  A nice way to see my first of the year.

As Monday morning broke the wind remained onshore, but it had switched more easterly.  I think it was the clear weather than ensured everything passing here was distant, but there were birds passing.  In 45 minutes I had 175 auk sp, 35 Gannet, 10 Kittiwakes and a diver sp. fly east.  Pity my first skua of the year didn't decide to make an appearance though.

Another sea watch attempt Wednesday morning was not even as fruitful as the Monday one!  The wind was almost straight westerly which isn't good.  2 Great Northern Divers and 1 diver sp (probably a Black-throated) were all the notebook worthy sightings.

Over the week I have been keeping half an eye on the Estuary, expecting Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwits, etc.  However not seen much at all.  Common Sandpipers are up, with a max of three for me on 16th, and there's been a couple of Dunlin.  There's still at least one drake Gadwall around which seems to be paired with a female Mallard.

Friday (yesterday) the weather was at its worse.  Although the rain took a little longer to arrive it was a dull, damp and very windy day.  The wind was south easterly, which always comes with hope in spring, especially when it coincides with rain, however everywhere was oddly quiet.  Several looks at the Estuary, marshes and the sea during the day failed to show anything of interest at all - in fact I only saw three species of wader all day which is completely shocking for a day when wader passage should have been prevalent.   

It took until the final trip out of the day for anything of value, when the gull flock that remained on the Axe (numbering no more than 40 birds) contained a lovely, although slightly shoddy looking, first-summer Caspian Gull and a second-summer Yellow-legged Gull!  What a double whammy!  And in such a small flock, which actually contained eight different gull species, all in the below shot...

The Caspian Gull only just in shot to the left - the Med Gull was one of two I saw today

 

Here's a better photo showing both the star birds...

Yellow-legged bottom left, Caspian behind the juvenile Great Black-backed

 

The first-summer Caspian Gull was mine and the Axe's second Casp of the year, and this was my first view of it...

Right hand bird, looking suitable leggy, necky, pale and long-billed.

 

Very helpfully within a minute of finding it, it flashed me...

Everything you want to see - clean white underwing, white tail, plain greater coverts with distinct bar.

 

I changed my location to get some better shots, although the rain only got heavier and light worse...

Lots of pale grey scaps and such plain greater coverts and tertials.  Bill very pale and long.  Still some neck shawl streaking visible.  Its a long and large bird too, almost the same size as the first-winter Great Black-backed Gull walking next to it.

 

Not looking overly happy with its life choices - being on a cold and wet Axe Estuary!

 

And now for the Yellow-legged Gull, this being mine and the Axe's first of the year...

Second bird from left. Size and mantle colour obvious from here already

The Caspian Gull remained until I left the Estuary at 19:20, however the Yellow-legged Gull slipped away just after 19:00. Whilst it was present it moved around far less than the Caspian so all my photos from Coronation Corner were fairly similar...

Bottom left bird.  Although mantle colour was how I picked it up, the birds overall structure an excellent Yellow-legged feature.  Note its big rounded head and that overall it is a big hefty bird.  The photo showing both good gulls further up this post shows the YLG's massive head even better, completely dwarfing the nearby Herring Gulls.

 

So there we go.  In summary a very disappointing week which should have been so much better, but ending with a belting couple of gulls.  

The troubling raptor I saw on Thursday evening I am going to leave for another post - it had me fooled but I am still not certain as to what it was!  Check back soon for that tale, in which I shall be eating lots of humble pie...

 

Man Down

So my blog title might be a bit over the top, but I have spent the last three days inside with a really nasty sick bug.  Not a good time of year to be out of action.  I think I am finally seeing the back of it now, so hope to be back out again within a day or two.  

I have missed a few bits during this time, including at least three more Redstarts all around Colyford Common, another Hoopoe that Kev had fly in off at Beer Head this morning, and the return of the Black Hole Avocets.  Am told Reed and Sedge Warblers are in now too, neither I am yet to see/hear this year.  

The day before my mini lockdown began (Sunday this week), and the day after my last post in which the migration was absolutely epic, there were still plenty of birds moving.  Not quite as many as the previous day (although weirdly Portland reported more) but my walk to work took me past eight singing Willow Warblers, which is more than I sometime see in an entire spring here!  

The other highlight of Sunday was my second Osprey of the spring, thanks to a message from Tim C at 15:40.  Luckily it was viewable from my exact location and I could see it powering on north east up the valley with Herring Gulls in pursuit.  

The upside to more time at home is some additions to the house list, including two crackers today. Just before sunrise a group of eight egrets flew low north east over the front garden - three Little and five Cattle. Then later this morning a Jay flew high east overhead - which I was convinced was going to be a Hoopoe when I first picked it up as distant floppy-winged dot - so a bit of a disappointment to be honest.  Also this week have added Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer. 

Hope everyone reading this has had a good start to April.  Be sure to check back soon for the next update!  

A Top Day of Spring Passage

The moment I stepped outside this morning, before the sun had even risen, I knew today was going to be a good day.  Clear skies with a cold north east wind in April can deliver really exciting birding, with birds arriving throughout the day and flying low in the cold wind, and that is exactly the conditions we had today (and just like the weather of 20th April 2023).

I didn't think I was going to be able to get out until late afternoon, however fortunes changed and I spent mid to late morning out, a couple of hours out early afternoon when I walked as many hedgerows as possible in the valley, and again this evening for a family dog walk over Beer Head.

In the bushes it was all about phyllocs, with Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs filtering north through the hedges (and sometimes even where there were no hedges!) everywhere I went.  But it all came to an incredible conclusion this evening at Beer Head, where at least 60 Willow Warblers were flycatching in the last of the days light. The vast majority were down the edge of the cliff where they were sheltered from the north east wind, although 15 were along the top of the slope above Branscombe. It really was an incredible spectacle, and worth remembering that all these birds were here even after seeing so many aleady pass north during the day!  

It really was so terrific to see so many Willow Warblers, as numbers of these have been slow to arrive this year despite seeing my first one a week ago.  Also I've not had a good spring for Willow Warblers on the Axe for so many years now, certainly haven't had numbers like this since I was ringing on Beer Head in the early 2010's. Nice to know that all hope is not lost.

For much of the day it did feel like all I could find migrant wise was Willows and Chiffs, but am glad I kept going as at 13:15 I came across a Redstart.  Unfortunately it was a female (sorry - but I had my eye on a male!) and was along the cycle track behind Colyford Common.  And I am proud to show you what I believe will be the worst photo of a Redstart you have ever seen...

Good job they have red tails!  It flew deeper into the bush just as I pressed the shutter button.

 

Overhead it was all about Meadow Pipits, with small flocks flying relatively low north up the valley almost constantly.  I counted 160+ north during my time out, but in reality many hundreds probably flew over this morning.  Other birds on the move overhead included Swallows and Sand Martins trickling north, several small groups of Linnets and an invisible but vocal Yellow Wagtail over Seaton Marshes mid morning.  I should also include the two Red Kite I saw today in this paragraph, one south over Colyford at midday and another north west over my house at 15:20.

Other highlights today included up to eight Cattle Egret at two sites in the valley, an Egyptian Goose on Colyford Marsh, and on the Estuary my first Dunlin for about a month as well as this lovely pair of Med Gulls...

Such awesome birds at any time of year, but they take some beating when they look like this.

It's also been really nice seeing plenty of butterflies today - especially if you remember back to last spring when numbers were absolutely dire until June.  I will do a butterfly-themed blog post later this week, so be sure to check back for that...

 

Wheatears and House Martin from Home

Well it looks like spring has moved up a notch in the South West over the last day or so, with multiple scarce and rare birds making landfall, mostly in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.  Hopefully we get a slice of the action here, but in the meantime there's plenty of spring excitement still to be had!

On Monday morning, I hadn't even stepped off my driveway when the magic of spring migration left me in awe.  It took my brain a few seconds to register that the blob near the top of a neighbours tree isn't usually there...

Yes - that blob!

And on closer inspection, it was a cracking male Wheatear...

Looked so cool!

He wasn't settled there for long, and within less than thirty seconds he was off, joined by a second bird and flew north over the road, over the houses on the edge of Seaton and last seen heading for the fields near Tower Services.

Spring migration in action, without me even leaving the garden! And one of those occasions that makes you wonder how often us birders must just miss seeing things. If I had stepped out my house thirty seconds later I wouldn't have seen any Wheatears that day.

Another new one for the house list, and also for 2025, was a House Martin that fed low over the house for a few minutes this evening.  A bang on average date for my first, however as there were more than usual reported around the UK in March this year, it feels late.

Hopefully my next post will include even more spring magic...

 

Osprey

Pleased to be in the right place at the right time when the gulls in town went stir crazy early this afternoon.  I stepped outside to see an Osprey circling over Tesco, surprisingly low, which is a good job otherwise these phone-photos would be even worse than they already are...

Incoming!

A bit better, but frustrating not to have my camera with me at the time

Any spring Osprey is a good bird here, as they never linger, but a March one even better!  It didn't hang about and presumably had only just arrived from the south. 

I think the less I say about Hoopoes the better, however I have put in a lot of leg work this last week/ten days in an effort to finally find a Hoopoe of my own.  Not only have I failed at that, but one of the places I did check during my searches then had a Hoopoe!  Probably turned up later the same day as well as it was seen for a few days by locals. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see it when it showed to all yesterday morning, however I'm thrilled that most the other local birders got to see it. There's some cracking photos of it out there that's for sure! 

I best keep trying...

An Early Spring Flurry

I had a feeling today's pre-dawn rain shower would do something, and it clearly did as I enjoyed a positively exhilarating few minutes of birding at Bridge Marsh at about 8am. I know that doesn't sound like much, but for March and on the Axe I'll take it!

I'd spent the previous hour on Seaton Marshes, where my first Willow Warbler of the spring sung from a gorse bush alongside a ditch.  I heard it a few times then watched it pick some insects off of the yellow flowers, before it flew north across the marsh landing in a willow tree right next to me. It spent about ten minutes singing and feeding in this tree, then flitted off to the north. 

It felt like a real honour watching this tiny migrant, looking as fresh as a daisy (which is quite astonishing considering it has flown around three thousand miles already on its spring migration!) on active migration.  It shared its first minutes/hour of its time in the UK this year with me, and then just carried on with the job at hand.  Mind-blowing really.

The first ones always look really striking, having seen just Chiffchaffs for the last six months!

As mentioned above I then headed to Bridge Marsh, and upon arrival could see two lovely White Wagtails feeding on the main scrape.  White Wags are bizarrely scarce on the Axe, I can easily go a spring without seeing one so I really enjoyed these two despite the distance...

Lovely birds, and both of these were males

 

It then all went a bit mad.  As I was photographing these I heard a single call from a Yellow Wagtail somewhere to my south, and about ten seconds later this landed with the White Wags...

An on the deck spring Yellow Wag of any sort is a rarity on the Axe!

  ....a cracking male Yellow Wagtail, and a Blue-headed-type at that!  I will go into more detail on the head later in the post, but any Yellow Wag on the deck on the Axe in spring is seriously good value these days. I manage fly-over spring Yellow Wags just about annually, they just never land! And their reluntancy to land is even more puzzling when you consider how numerous they are in the autumn.

I had to check back through my records a surprisingly long way, as my last grounded Axe spring Yellow Wagtails were in April 2017, with two on Colyford Marsh one evening.  It really has been that long!  Today's bird was my earliest ever spring Yellow Wagtail and my first ever March one, not just here but anywhere the UK. 

Shortly after the Yellow Wag appeared, another White Wag joined the group and then a Little Ringed Plover flew in and shared the same scrape. All this with a few Sand Martins and only my second Swallow of the year flying around above. Spring magic.

The LRP was as distant as the wagtails

 

The wagtails took flight and after five minutes of no sign, suddenly the Yellow Wagtail and a White Wagtail were on a closer scrape.  This is when I had much better views of the Yellow Wags head. It was blue, but not blue enough...

The blue might have been a bit lacking but the yellow certainly wasn't!

Nice broad white supercilia visible here, and that blue crown. Throat yellow.

Blue-capped Wagtail probably more fitting

With a White Wag. Nape mostly olive, looking flavissima-like

In summary I think it would be best to label this bird as a flava/flavissima intergrade.  Yes it is a bit frustrating this wasn't a clear cut Blue-headed, but nothing can take away from the fact it was an Axe spring Yellow Wagtail! In March!  

Thank you for reading.

 

Caspian Gull and Sand Martins

I feel like they were a week or two overdue, but good to finally see Sand Martins today, with at least six over Bridge Marsh this morning.  There were two still present mid afternoon.  

A look along the Estuary at about 2:15pm revealed a sight I have been hoping to come across for a while now, a lovely first-winter Caspian Gull.  It was with a flock of about 80 large gulls just north of Tower Hide.  Unfortunately I wasn't in Tower Hide but on the Axmouth side of the river, so views remained distant, but that didn't make it look any less striking!  A very pale fronted, long-legged, narrow-billed, tall, lanky and lean beast...

Despite the distance a nice comparison with a 1w Great Black-backed Gull in the water swimming right, and in front of it a 1w Herring Gull, the 1w Caspian Gull next to the right and then another 1w Herring Gull. Such a different looking bird to the Herrings as you can see!

 

This photo shows bill length and shape well, and that is mostly pale especially at base.  It really was a big but lean bird - classy!

 

Just looked ridiculous side-on!  Lovely dark tertials with pale tips and plain greater coverts.  Neck shawl obvious in this shot too.

Gull x Giraffe?

 

This afternoon I was actually hoping for a Blue-headed Wagtail or Hoopoe, what with the current influx west of us, but could never be disappointed coming away with a cracking Casp like this. The Axe's first of 2025 as well, right on cue when you look at previous spring records.