Red-necked Grebe Up Close

Enjoyed my closest ever views of a Red-necked Grebe today...

Absolutely stunning!

My day took a surprising turn mid-afternoon, when I had a phone call from an acquaintance asking for my advice on what to do about the bird that looked a bit out of place on their driveway.  I should mention at this point, this person lives in Sidmouth, over a mile and a half from the sea in a quiet cul-de-sac.

I was impressed that the finders had tentatively identified it as a Grebe, but thinking there was probably more chance of it being a moribund Guillemot or Razorbill, I asked for a photo before I could offer any further advice. This is the picture I received soon after...

Photo courtesy of finder and home owner S Haynes

 

Seeing it was a Red-necked Grebe, which other than being on a driveway apparently seemed very lively, I immediately referred the finder to the RSPCA. However no luck here, so my phone rang again.  I knew the vets wasn't a great option so I took hold of it myself...with gloves of course!

It did indeed seem to be in good shape, no problems with wings or feet and no visible injuries.  And although I was completely shocked at just how small and compact it looked up-close (can't even begin to imagine how small a Little Grebe would look in the hand!) it had some body fat on it too. Also no obvious signs of bird flu, although of course that could always come on tomorrow so who knows.  

Today we had some really sharp and heavy showers, extremely heavy in fact.  My best guess is it was flying over when one of these showers hit, forcing it down and possibly landing in the street thinking it was a river.

Anyway, my first choice was to release it on the sea, however the large breaking waves put me off this idea so I released it on to the lower Axe Estuary instead.  It swam off strongly, and although at first went down river with the flow of the water, it soon found its legs and by the end of the day had swam up almost the entire length of the Estuary!  A promising sign I hope.

Not a sight ever seen on the Axe Estuary before, and only off the sea front on a handful of occasions

 

Both after the same food!

 

Seeing it mingle with the wintering Little Grebes was amazing, and I hope this bodes well for its chances.  What was reassuring was that I was contacted by a member of the RSPCA West Hatch team this evening, agreeing and praising my course of action, and confirming that it was extremely unlikely West Hatch would have been able to accept this bird.

But it's Steve and Anna who need the praise, otherwise this bird would probably have ended up as Fox or Cat food on a driveway in Sidmouth.  Thank you both. And good luck Grebe, I hope I never see you again as you carry on with your autumn migration...

The post I was supposed to write tonight, about my birding morning last (sunny) Saturday will now be posted tomorrow or Wednesday.  So do check back for that.

In the meantime, Grebe-stroker signing off for the night...

 

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...

 

A Frustrating Day

Today was one of those days that it was a real struggle not to be out birding. Nothing but total frustration.

The potential of today had caught me completely off-guard, I hadn't registered it at all during any of my numerous weather checks during the week. However whilst going through the contents of my moth trap in the garden this morning (which didn't take long) it was evident the still weather had encouraged birds to move.  Makes sense too as it has been windy for several days up to today.

Redwings had been moving overnight in the highest quantity so far this autumn, so I wasn't surprised to see two flocks of these go west shortly after sunrise, the largest flock being of 17.  Several large flocks of Starling flew west too, along with my first Brambling for the garden with two calling to each other as they flew west overhead.   

During my walk to work more vismig included several Skylarks and a few largish flocks of Wood Pigeons over west.  

BirdGuides then began informing me of Pallas's Warblers, Pallid Swifts and Black-faced Buntings (!?!) turning up across the length of the country.  Ouch.

However I did at least get to see some sort of fall.  Over the last week there's been a single Black Redstart right by my work, and it was around this morning on my walk in.  However late this afternoon there were four Black Redstarts, all first-winters/females...

This one allowed closest approach, but they were all super busy flycatching in the unusually mild conditions

 

Hopefully I will have a bit of time out over the next few days. Am giving the moth trap another go too... 

 

Little, Caspian (x2) and Yellow-legged Gulls

Didn't have much time free today, but with the weather (strong southerly wind and some showers) I knew I needed to check the Estuary gulls at least once.  I actually managed to get two looks in which was a bonus, one at either end of the day, and both had their rewards...

The first decent bird was an adult Little Gull which Clive had just found from Tower Hide prior to my arrival.  This was my first adult here for years, which looked so diminutive surrounded by all the other species of gulls...

A very little Little Gull! But very smart too!

 

Then came the first of today's two Caspian Gull, a long and pale-billed lanky first-winter which unfortunately didn't hang around long...

Great profile on it!

 

Shortly after finding the first-winter Casp, I had brief views of what looked to be a second-winter Casp, but as I went from binoculars to camera I lost it and despite half an hour of checking the flock I couldn't pick it up again.   

So imagine my delight when during the late afternoon check of the Estuary, I pick up a second-winter Caspian Gull!   A really striking, small-eyed pale headed beaut, which I had no reason to suggest wasn't the other bird from the morning...

It looked amazing on the water.  Have often found that swimming Casps seem to hold their head low in the water - is this a thing?  

Looked amazing in flight too! 

Mantle colour shows up nicely here, being surrounded by all those Herring Gulls

 

Also on the Estuary today ten Mediterranean Gulls, eight Cattle Egret and a first-winter Yellow-legged Gull.   Sadly had no time to look at the sea, but I blame the gulls for that!

   

Merlin, Firecrest, Black Redstarts and a Bunting

It's feels like we've had a relentless north west wind for most of October, so it was nice to wake up to a still morning yesterday.

I checked as many sites as I could during the time I had, revealing a good spread of Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests along with a single Firecrest (although this was a bird I first saw a couple of weeks ago) and a Redwing, but nothing better.

Love Firecrest but they are a bloody nightmare to photograph!

 

At Black Hole Marsh four Dunlin and a Greenshank were the best on the marsh, with a group of five Crossbill over west.

Back home, thanks to a heads-up from Tim C, I was pleased to add Black Redstart to the house list, with two a little further up the road from my place - both viewable from my driveway.

Only my second and third of the autumn - often get more than this in late October

 

Today the wind returned, although from the south, but a much clearer dawn than I was expecting meant I had to do an impromptu vismig session from Mum and Dad's front garden on the west side of Seaton.

It was worth it with a really nice highlight of an imm Merlin (probably a male) at 07:40 that came in from high to the east and flew west right over my head.  Not seen many on active vismig, just a few over the sea, so it was a novel experience.

Less enjoyable was the bunting that flew over about five minutes later.  I half-heard what I thought was a Yellowhammer, heard it once more and much clearer and it wasn't a Yellowhammer. More clipped, lacking the harsh tone of this species, higher pitched and more metallic.  It was only after I saw the back end of the bird that had made this noise disappearing around the house that the penny dropped - Corn Bunting!  I just didn't hear or see it well enough to confirm, and annoyingly this was the first vismig session I've done for ages without my sound recorder on next to me. Very frustrating to miss out on what would have been my first vismig record of this species on patch - one that got away.

Other birds overhead during this relatively short watch included: 2,200 Wood Pigeon, 150 Starling, 72 Chaffinch, 10 Skylark, 4 alba Wagtail and 3 Siskin. 

Cannot believe it is nearly November!  But before that, let's have one last go at squeezing something else out of October...

 

Male Hen Harrier

Wow what a roller coaster of a day!  Started with excitement, then shock and elation, almost immediately followed by despair, then a few hours later absolute admiration and gratitude, then elation again.  I shall explain all...

I went up Axe Cliff again this morning, and despite a bit too much wind I had high hopes for some more exciting vismig.  However after the first 40 minutes I had lost much of my enthusiasm.  No Wood Pigeons moving and finch numbers were much lower than of late, presumably because of the wind.  

Even found myself taking arty photos of one of the Stonechats!

 

Then a tight flock of three Brambling flew low over my head, at first just giving the short contact calls before uttering a series of the usual long nasal calls.  I managed to record them on my handheld sound recorder too, and a quick play-back in the field revealed it to be a nice little sound clip.

Then at 07:15 the morning changed dramatically!

I was looking around in all directions as I thought I half-heard a Golden Plover, when 60 meters in front of me having just flown over a hedge to come into the field I was in, there was the unmistakable shape and flight of a harrier - a non-Marsh Harrier too! It was flying really low heading north west.

I could immediately see that the route this harrier was flying meant it was only going to be in view for a matter of seconds, so I had the usual quandary of bins or camera!  Well having not actually identified it yet it had to be the bins, although I could already see it was going to be a Hen Harrier on wing shape. However I was not expecting it to be a grey male!  As it floated over the field it turned its upperside towards me, revealing that it wasn't quite a full adult with some lovely soft brown scalloping on its lower mantle, as well as a bit of brown in the coverts on an otherwise fully grey wing with those striking black primary tips. And then it was gone. Lost to view over a hedgeline running east to west at the top of the field I was stood in.

Now I really did want a photo - so I ran!  And I proper ran up the field to a mound in the hedge, but I have clearly got to work on my pace because when I got there, there was no further sign of it.  I can only presume it dinked east back over the hedge it first appeared from, just a little further north up the next field.

I jumped down from the mound, fired off some messages and was extremely chuffed with myself.  Only my fourth ever Hen Harrier on patch, my first adult male (type) and my first of any sort since 4th Nov 2015 - almost ten years! Axe Cliff really has been delivering for me lately.  Of course it was a shame not have managed a picture, but am so glad I went for the binoculars when I had that choice - no doubt I would have messed the photo up anyway!  

I still had an hour left eo enojy some more vismig too - brilliant - or maybe I didn't...  I immediately realised that during my haste as I legged it through the field, my two click counters and, far far worse, my Zoom Hn1 sound recorder were no longer in my hoodie pocket.  Disaster!

So I actually spent the next hour, when Wood Pigeons had started coming through with plenty of finches and other passerines too, trying to retrace my steps through the crop field hoping to find my lost belongings.  All my focus had to be down and not up.  Despite my efforts, no luck, and then it was time to go...

I put a message on the local WhatsApp groups to let everyone know I had lost these items in case anyone was thinking of coming up.  Within two hours Phil had gone up and looked for me, followed by Brian, and finally Tim C.  What absolute gents - I cannot express enough just how grateful I am for their kind efforts.  I went back up mid afternoon when I was next free, to join Tim who had given up all his birding time today to search the field with military-like precision, and it was just as I parked up by his car that he phoned me to say he had found my recorder! Absolute legend!  Not only that but he had found one of my clickers too.

So it is thanks to Tim that I am now able to post the sound clip of the aforementioned trio of Brambling that flew over calling this morning, with some Chaffinch and Linnet...  

 

I've also an update from yesterday, although didn't have chance to get out in the morning.  Mind you that didn't stop me with the extra hour of AM daylight meaning I could enjoy some decent vismig from the garden, up until about 8:30am. The highlight was a flock of seven Crossbill over low (but not actually calling that much), with other totals including: 8,500 Wood Pigeons, 100 Stock Dove, 46 Jackdaw, 45 Siskin (a lovely bouncy flock of exactly twenty almost clipped the top of our house as they flew over!), 3 Song Thrush, 2 Teal (these flew the opposite way of everything else, heading east towards the Estuary) and a Reed Bunting.

I did manage to get out in the evening for a quick check of the Estuary.  A redhead Goosander was unusually far down the Estuary (they are almost always north of Coronation Corner), there was a lone Avocet which had been found earlier by Tim C and amongst the gulls were a second-winter Yellow-legged Gull and six Med Gulls.

Quite a Caspian-like neck shawl on this bird, but mantle colour, eye mask, structure, bill and general scruffiness all pointed towards Yellow-legged for me.  If you disagree let me know though as it wasn't an obvious call at first

Only one of the Med Gulls was an adult, a white colour-ringed one too!  Details sent off

 

Two were second-winter birds, but this one was particularly cute looking with a reduced mask and stubby bill!

 

And three were first-winters

 

Scanning through the pre-roosting Black-headed and Common Gulls looking for the odd Med Gull made the evening visit feel very 'wintery'.  We just need a bit more cold weather as there's plenty more birds still to come...hopefully!

 

Axe Cliff

I enjoyed an absolutely thrilling few hours up Axe Cliff this morning.  Thankfully the wind wasn't as strong as forecasted, and with mostly clear skies birds were pilling through west. 

Sunrise over Portland Harbour

 

It was a vismig watch of both quantity and quality. I shall list what went into my notebook first, then write some more about the highlights...

Axe Cliff 07:30 - 09:45 (west unless stated):  Marsh Harrier (juv north at 08:15), Short-eared Owl (lingering for ten minutes over fields from 08:40 then flew NE), 22 Jackdaw, 15,350 Wood Pigeon, 370 Stock Dove (the more I looked the more I saw!), 145 Starling, 64 Skylark, 1 Woodlark (09:08), 8 alba Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 106 Meadow Pipit, 2 Coal Tit, 395 Chaffinch, 1 Brambling, 240 Linnet, 165 Goldfinch, 76 Siskin, 17 Redpoll, 11 Crossbill (eight and three) and 5 Reed Bunting.

Grounded migrants were few and far between, just two Chiffchaff and five Stonechat.  But am glad the bushes were so quiet as it meant I could spend the whole time looking up!

So the Marsh Harrier, a gorgeous smooth as velvet dark chocolate juvenile was the first highlight. It was actually the first time I have ever seen a Marsh Harrier up at Axe Cliff...

It didn't hand around at all - flying straight through north

Yellow legs gleaming in the early morning sun!

 

Next nice treat was the Short-eared Owl, which spent ten minutes looking like it didn't really know where it was going, before it finally moved off north east.  My first on patch since 10th May 2023...

My first view of it - love their ridiculous shape!

  

Something tells me this may have been the moment that it spotted me!

Then at 09:08 it went a bit crazy, starting with a flock of eight Crossbill that flew overhead chupping excitably. Just as they disappeared out of view the sweet sound of a calling Woodlark caught my attention, and I proceeded to a lovely views of one flying low west just inland of me, in perfect light 'tu-leeing' sporadically as it flew.  Incredibly, especially when considering Axe Cliff is my favoured vismig spot on patch, this was my first Woodlark here!  And since we've lost our wintering flock they are a bit of a patch rarity now, in fact this was my first one on patch since Feb '19 when I had one over Seaton during a period of snowy weather.  

Dan over Salcombe Hill (east of Sidmouth) had one just over thirty minutes later, be great if it was the same bird. I haven't had chance to calculate the distance but it feels about right to me!

Another three Crossbill flew over just as I was leaving, and for entertainment value the two Coal Tits are worthy of a special mention.  Twice they chickened out of leaving the Undercliff, calling frantically each time they tried, but they finally got the confidence on their third attempt and flew off west along the cliff edge.

So yes, that's the quality covered.  And of course quality does help, but as ever it is the quantity that really made it special.  The number of finches on the move was really impressive for Axe Cliff, which does not act as a funnel at all with many birds passing inland of here.  However it was the first big autumn push of Wood Pigeons and Stock Doves that really wowed, with most flocks today passing really low...

Let the spectacle commence!

Coming in front of Beer Head

 

As often is the case the flocks seemed to get better as the morning progressed

  

The closer you look the more you see!

And I'll sign off with this very short video.  Many of the flocks flew though this low, so the whoosh of Pigeon-wings was often heard as they came over...

 

Hopefully this is a flavour of things to come for what is left of autumn 2025...