Migrants trickle in and Turnstone

Thought I better get myself up to date here before it kicks off properly... hopefully!  

It has felt really slow going recently, and although I have now seen a few spring migrants, they have only been dribbling through and I have not had any decent arrivals yet really, except for the Wheatear arrival as mentioned in my last post.

I'll go back to 27th March first, when a quick look in the valley on a damp and dreary morning gave me my first two Swallows and single House Martin of the year, with about ten Sand Martins over Bridge Marsh.  A pretty usual first date for Swallows, but a slightly earlier than average House Martin by about a week.  On the same day, a quick look out to sea revealed my first Sandwich Tern of the year. 

On 30th, I missed our first Osprey of the year.  Everything went up on the Estuary (and had been jumpy over the previous half an hour) however I wasn't in a position to look.  Then five minutes later, Kev had an Osprey west over Beer.  I suspect it had roosted in the valley overnight.

On 1st April, nothing better than double-figures of Cattle Egret with the cattle near the Tower Garage in Seaton. They were here a lot at the start of winter 25/26, but have not been up here for a few months now.

On 2nd, I didn't miss the second Osprey.  Tim W had it fishing on the Estuary, and a few minutes later I watched it flying north from Colyford with a fish, heading for Musbury.  

Yesterday (4th) I started the morning sea watching.  Although Storm Dave wasn't due to hit until the afternoon, there was enough of a breeze to encourage me down there.  And there were a few bits moving out there, but the highlight was a lump on the pebbles...

Ringed Plover is usually my first spring wader on the beach, but it was a Turnstone!

Just starting to look a bit bronze on its back

 

This was our first Turnstone of 2026, and one of the my first signs of spring wader passage - which is exciting!  It's actually quite an early spring date for a Turnstone here, if we get them they are usually in late April/May.

Bits over the sea (west unless stated) included: 2 Great Northern Diver, 11 Red-throated Diver (4 east), 2 Manx Shearwater, 12+ auk sp. and 22 Kittiwake.  

Away from the beach, a singing Willow Warbler on Black Hole Marsh was my first of the year (about five days to a week late for me), but I was expecting more in the overcast conditions.

Today has been a work day, although it was interrupted at 13:50 by an Osprey which flew in from the south east and spent a short time fishing on the upper Estuary.   Didn't see which way it left sadly, but no further sign of it by 17:30.

Something no one has seen on the Axe patch yet this year is Little Ringed Plover - which is really unusual as these can often be the first summer migrant we see!  We did have several days of valley fog in mid March which probably didn't help, but I am surprised we've not had one or more since.