I love checking through the flocks of large gulls on the Axe on stormy October days - the month that is the best to see non-juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls here. And this afternoon proved that once again...
Whilst scanning through a big gang of mostly Great Black-backed Gulls north of Coronation Corner I saw this...
Striking mantle colour
It was distant and tipping down with rain, and at first I thought it was an adult Yellow-legged Gull, but soon I could just make out it's leg's weren't exactly bright yellow and there were some dark marks on the bill, so decided it had to be a near-adult. Not long after I saw it much closer...
A big bird!
Up close the legs did look very pale (just tinged yellow), and that marked bill combined with very adult-like upper parts says it probably is a fourth-winter, although could be a well-advanced third-winter maybe? An absolutely massive beast though - it's going to look amazing in a year or two!
Also in the flock were three Common Gulls, two Med Gulls (ad and first-winter), this cracking intermedius Lesser Black-backed Gull...
On the right - really long-winged
And then this appeared...
Between the male Mallard and Great Black-backed Gull
Yup - that one!
My immediate reaction, I think mostly due to the neck shawl combined with fairly mature looking upper parts, was second-winter Casp! But a bit more watching soon put me off, particularly with that feeble looking bill.
Still looked pretty good at some angles
I had to leave it quite abruptly, but thankfully when I returned an hour later it was still there - well a bit closer actually...
Looking really dinky here - sometimes even reminded me of a Common Gull!
Note mantle colour - looking pretty good for a Casp being just a shade darker than the Herring
Still from a video
And again. Wing pattern looking ok actually
So what it is? Well for me, for now, it's going in the 'cactus' group (CaspianxHerring hybrid) - I just don't like the small bill and head, the pale eye, dusky streaks around the eye, as well as the lack of giraffe-like neck and long wings. But, as Brett has pointed out in a flurry of messages this evening, there is a chance it could still be a pure small female Casp. If you've any thoughts do let me have them, thanks :-)
Other bits and bobs that I've seen today in the valley include; 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Greenshank, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Common Sandpiper, 4 Dunlin, 70 Wigeon and 100 Teal.
Looking at the weather for the week ahead, expect more gull-posts...
Considering I haven't properly been out birding today, as the post title implies it's not been too shabby at all...
I was travelling from a to b this morning with Harry in the back of the car when I figured I had time for a five minute scan over the valley from the Axmouth farm gate (if the patience of the back seat passenger allowed it!). Almost immediately I picked up a super high flying raptor circling over Colyford Marsh and it just didn't look 'right'. It was at that point much to my frustration I realised my telescope wasn't in the car, so all I could do was watch it in my bins some more before grabbing my trusty P900. The bird was always gaining height, and I managed to get one pic before it got so high the camera would no longer focus on it. About thirty seconds later it began a determined-looking glide heading off purposely south west.
I'd seen enough with my bins to put out news of a 'possible Honey Buzzard' to my fellow patch birders, but it wasn't until about two hours ago that I downloaded the photo onto my laptop...
Uncropped
Same snap but heavily cropped!
And there it is - a dark juv Honey Buzzard! Note the long and broad tail with 2 or 3 narrow but distinct black bars, the narrow base to wings with dark bulging secondaries, black carpal patch, solidly dark brown underparts and a nice yellow bill! Although it's a fresh juv it seems to have a damaged or missing inner primary on its left wing.
I've been fairly lucky with patch Honey Buzzard's as this represents my third, although the last one was way back on 24th Sept 2008! Amazingly I saw the 2008 bird from exactly the same spot as today's, and that was also a lone dark juv - although thankfully flying much lower in the sky! 2008 was a proper influx year with large numbers noted in September, although most of them staying well east of us.
2019 really is proving the year of raptors on the Axe with long-saying Osprey and Marsh Harrier, the Goshawk last month and now this! Hopefully a nice Pallid Harrier is just around the corner to finish the year off in style...
To complete my bird news for today, I had a Wheatear land on the roof next to Mum and Dad's house. When you see a wacky thing like this you know it's a good day for migration! Plenty of Meadow Pipits flying over whenever I was outside too.
And now for the Brown Hairstreak - a first for me and following the Long-tailed Blues another butterfly first on patch! Exactly a week ago Pam Parsons photographed a Brown Hairstreak on Colyford Common (tweeted HERE) - been only one or two patch records of this species in the last five years. So whilst I was down the wetlands with Harry and Jess this afternoon, I left them behind for ten minutes to check the general area Pam photographed it. As it was a whole week ago and probably involved just one insect, I really wasn't expecting anything.
I was wrong to be so pessimistic...
The first view I got - a female Brown Hairstreak!
I can only really describe the orange as 'Gatekeeper-orange'
And what an underwing!
I watched her for about five minutes, egg laying on a blackthorn just to the left of the lower entrance gate to Colyford Common. If anyone is interested in looking for her, she spent the whole time on the lower left hand side of this bush...
Surely the very same insect!?
I've heard many people saying how hard these are to get good views of - so I was well and truly spoilt today. A larger butterfly than I was expecting, although if it were fluttering around the top of a tall ash tree am sure it would look far smaller! Thanks Pam for tweeting the original picture out a week ago.
Today was a nice reminder of how lucky I am to live where I do. From my house I can walk to the Brown Hairstreak bush within ten minutes, and I probably could have scoped the Honey Buzzard from my back garden!
I've not seen loads or been out that much, but I have seen enough to write this...
There's been a refreshing pulse of wader activity on the Axe Estuary since the turn of the month, kicked off by a Ringed Plover north of Coronation Corner on 2nd with three Dunlin. On 6th whilst sky watching from my bedroom window, I was surprised to see a very high-flying flock of c30 Black-tailed Godwits power in from the north west then drop like a stone into the valley. Frustratingly as they twisted and turned before heading off down river I could make out a smaller, plain-winged wader in their midst. I suspect it was a Knot, but there was knot anything I could do about it. The following evening (7th) it was nice to see our first Whimbrel of the spring with ten Curlew just north of Coronation Corner, and this morning a flock of 18 Dunlin were zooming around at high-tide not knowing where to land. Hopefully Kentish Plover is next :-)
Axe Estuary at dusk
With the strong winds at the end of last week I gave sea watching a go on Friday 5th. The direction and strength of the wind however meant shelter was very hard to find on the sea front, so twenty minutes late I gave up and checked elsewhere. Still, in that time two Pale-bellied Brent Geese flew west and a Manx Shearwater flew east - my first of the year for both.
My passerine highlight of the last few days surprisingly wasn't a migrant species, but a Dipper. They've been really reliable on our section of the River Coly this year, and yesterday I was delighted to stumble upon an active nest - not where I was expecting to find one either. I gave them the space they deserved and was rewarded with prolonged views of an adult Dipper plunge-diving. So lucky to be able to watch this on my patch.
There are more hirundines about now, although I am still yet to see a House Martin. Sand Martins were well represented during the grim weather of last week, with just under 100 in the valley on 3rd, with small numbers of Swallows seen pretty much every day now. Willow Warblers are now starting to pass through in decent numbers, tonight I watched six feeding in an isolated clump of Blackthorn in the valley even as the sun was setting. Amazing to think that by the morning they will probably be hundreds of miles away!
A well defined setting sun over Colyford
I saw my first Red Kite of the season from work yesterday morning (7th) thanks to Phil. He had seen it fly east over Beer Head and I happened to be outside when it carried on east over Sheep's Marsh and the Estuary. I wonder how many more (hundreds!?) I will see as the year progresses.
And I will end this somewhat disjointed post with my absolute highlight of April so far. During a morning outing to Black Hole Marsh with Harry on 6th I was suddenly aware of the charming calls of Med Gull. Two second-summers were flying around calling to each other low over the marsh before landing on one of the islands, both with pretty much full hoods. An amazing sight and sound, and proof to anyone that gulls are anything but boring!
Winter can be a bit of a long, slow and sometimes dull season for the patch birder, this winter especially so on the Axe. There's not been much other than the usual fare so far, and numbers in general have been pretty poor. But like any patch birder, whispers of snow in the forecast early last week raised my excitement levels, and Thursday night delivered a fine but widespread covering of the white-stuff...
Looking west over the valley
Major snow events often deliver some impressive bird movements on/over the Axe, but I really wasn't expecting much when I woke up on Friday morning. It was only a fine covering of snow, it wasn't country-wide and I knew it wasn't going to be in any way a prolonged spell of cold.
I spent the first hour of the day looking out from the house and garden, and what I saw seemed to confirm my thoughts; a couple of small groups of Lapwing, one Golden Plover and a flock of 15 Redwing flew over. I then had a look around the Estuary, and other than a group of about 40 Fieldfare on Bridge Marsh - nothing else was where it isn't usually...
But then I went to the seafront.... and saw the most mind-blowing bird movement I have ever witnessed in my entire life. Just take a look at these two short videos. Make them full screen and turn the sound up...
Thousands upon thousands of thrushes!
I wish I could have just stayed there all day, but the only way I could quantify this movement in any way was by counting 'Portland-style' (a selection of 'sample counts'). Between 10:00 and 15:00 I carried out one 15 minute count, one ten minute count, two five minute counts and three two minute counts. The last one at 15:00 showed that the passage had slowed a bit, but all previous counts gave an absolutely astonishing figure of between 400-500 thrushes passing PER MINUTE! Huge flocks were passing over, almost constantly - gaps often of only 20-30 seconds between flocks. This statistic is staggering on its own, but when it's multiplied up it becomes really mind destroying.... Even if we take the lowest figure, 400, this suggests that somewhere in the region of 120,000 thrushes flew over Seaton on 1st February! As staggering as this number is, I am certain it's an under estimation, especially as they were clearly passing in these numbers prior to 10am, and I've included nothing that may have passed after 15:00.
Looking at the species break down, Redwings were by far the most abundant species, with an estimation of 80% of the all thrushes seen/heard being this species. This would make the Redwing day total somewhere in the region of 96,000! Unreal. I did hear the occasional Song Thrush call emitting from the chaos and Fieldfare made up the remaining 20%.
James Mc at Lyme was also seeing this passage, as was Dan over at Sidmouth and Kev in Beer. What I can't believe though is that was it. No reports of this massive movement west of Sidmouth, in fact Dawlish Warren reported virtually no thrush movement at all! And the only reports east of us were from Portland where up to 10.000 Redwing were seen to leave north west over Ferrybridge (http://www.portlandbirdobs.com/2019/02/1st-february.html). What on earth is that about!? Where did they all come from and where did they all go!?
Skylark were also moving in good numbers (I noted a couple of hundred, so 1000+ probably passed during the day), with a calling Woodlark over Seafield Garden at 10:45 being a nice highlight. Kev had a second one over Beer an hour or so later. I also logged a couple of small flocks of Lapwing and the odd Linnet, Chaffinch and Siskin, but in general variety was poor and it was all about thrushes and Skylarks.
As I'm typing this my mind is still blown to be honest. Feels almost a bit like space, involving numbers that only people like Brian Cox can truly comprehend. Just so so so many birds.
About mid afternoon I had another look around the valley, and by now ground was starting to thaw and birds were congregating in these spots. The slope just to the east of the Estuary was like a rolling carpet of Redwing, 500+ birds here (at the same time as the passage was still happening over the seafront by the way!). Bridge Marsh also showed lots of thrushes along with a flock of 60+ Skylark. Then just up the road, the field north of Colyford WTW was again full of thrushes, a flock of Skylark, 300+ Lapwing and c60 Golden Plover. Here's a few pics...
Redwings
One of the above Redwing!
Fieldfare
Skylarks
A Skylark
Meadow Pipit
Golden Plover with a Lapwing background
Best of all about this amazing influx of birds was that none of them looked to be struggling in any obvious way. Everything I saw on the ground appeared to be finding plenty of food, and all the birds passing overhead were flying strongly and with purpose - not something weak birds can do. It was really nice to witness a cold weather movement without feeling that sadness usually associated with snowy spells. I am really surprised this relatively small amount of snow caused such a drastic response from the birds - we had far less snow than last Feb/March but way more overhead passage. Do they know something that we don't?
And now to today...
The weather this morning (2nd) was completely different. Still pretty cold, but crystal clear blue skies and most of the snow had melted away. There were still lots of birds about, with thrushes flying around everywhere, but they were flying in all directions. It was nice to catch up with two waders on the Estuary that Phil saw the previous day, a Bar-tailed Godwit and this Avocet...
Avocet and Black-headed Gull
Got to love an Avocet in flight!
There were also 47 Dunlin here which isn't a bad mid-winter count for us. And that's it for this somewhat mammoth blog post. Truly unforgettable stuff though.
Spring still appears to be taking its time to get going here on the Axe, although the last few days have seen a bit of movement.
The rain and grey skies of Tuesday offered the best day, with several singing Willow Warblers dotted around the valley, a flock of three Bar-tailed Godwits that flew in off the sea joining a fourth on the Estuary, a Sandwich Tern on the Estuary and at last large numbers of hirundines, several hundred, including 40+ House Martins. The first two Whimbrel of the year were also noted by Clive on Black Hole Marsh that afternoon.
Sandwich Tern
Wednesday was quieter for us, although Ian Mc saw an Iceland Gull in the morning and in the afternoon I managed my first White Wagtail of the year along Cowhayne Lane...
White Wagtail
Today I started the day with a quick sweep of the Estuary, where at Coronation Corner twenty or so alarming Herring Gulls alerted me to the presence of an Otter! Although one has been seen on several occasions during the past month or so, this was the first time I've lucked in on it. She (I think?) spent 15 minutes hunting in the water just off the far bank, often remaining submerged for several minutes at a time, popping up briefly to eat the catch, then disappearing again. Its busyness didn't make photography easy...
It did briefly come to shore once to munch, but within ten seconds was off again...
After fifteen minutes she swam pretty rapidly upstream and off around the corner in front of the Tower Hide. Wish I had been sat in there at that point!
The last day of March offered the Axe even more wildfowl variety, with two new geese for the year.
This morning Ian Mc found a Greylag on Bridge Marsh, which remained in the valley all day. Late March/early April often sees a spike in Greylag records for us, suggesting it must be some sort of spring passage, although from where to where who knows...
Greylag Goose standing proud
Then this evening Tim Wright located a Barnacle Goose, the same one that Dave Helliar has seen recently in the Chard area...
Barnie!
As Barnacle Geese go, well let's just say it's not the best. This bird shows surprisingly grey flanks and belly, some brown in the black of the neck and breast, and a bit more white than usual in the head area. Nevertheless I still think it's a pure bird, just a grubby first-winter individual probably of 'suspect' origin.
Yesterday, as you'll have probably already seen from other local blogs, Ian Mc scored his fourth white-winged gull of the year on the Axe. Thankfully this one I actually managed to see, a stonking first-winter Glaucous Gull. A proper massive and fairly dark one too - the best type :-)
As we reach to the conclusion of March 2018, some may find it interesting to know that thanks to two cold snaps, a decent flurry of early spring migrants, 11 species of gull and the whole host of wildfowl that we've seen, 136 species of bird have been recorded on the Axe Patch this month. Pity the sea wasn't busier as that could easily have added another five or more.
Overnight last night there had been even more snow, and although it had stopped by dawn, we had a 100% white-out. An early morning trip out showed the local area looking incredibly beautiful...
Looking east along Seaton Beach
Looking west along Seaton Beach to Beer Head
Seaton from a distance
Axmouth from a distance
The A3052 at 8am. Most Monday mornings this would be busy with commuters and buses!
A random county lane - looking lovely!
Despite all the snow there were surprisingly few birds about. The only species that seemed to be struggling a bit were Meadow Pipits and the odd Chiffchaff, but there were no Golden Plovers or Lapwing, or that many thrushes really. Great news.
Mid morning the sun came out, so before lunch I enjoyed another quick whizz around. This showed a bit more variety, with eleven Dunlin, four Pintail (two pairs), three Gadwall and the lingering MarshHarrier and first-winter Caspian Gull on the Estuary. Was nice to have some blue sky above the stunning snow too...
Colyford Marsh and the upper Axe Estuary
Bridge Marsh
Looking up the Axe from A3052
The welcome sun saw an increase in temperatures and an impressively rapid thaw. More birds appeared once this began, with lots of thrushes taking full advantage of the freshly revealed green, along with numerous Chiffchaff, Snipe and various wildfowl on Seaton Marshes mid afternoon...
Common Snipe
Common Snipe
Common Chiffchaff. So happy to see so many feeding well after picking up the dead bird yesterday.
Tim Wright scored our first Little Ringed Plover of the year an hour or so later on Colyford Marsh, does this mean we've finally seen the back of winter?
