Best Job Ever?

On Sunday evening I was delighted to lead a tram of 19 (plus Allan our driver) up the Axe Valley on a Birdwatch special. 

The weather during the afternoon was overcast with some heavy downpours, and the forecast looked a bit iffy for the duration. But in reality except for a couple of spots of rain as we left Seaton Station, everything including the weather was just so kind to us.  The wind dropped to almost nothing and the rain and clouds soon cleared revealing a magical soft golden light across the valley...

The birds were just as kind to us, and I'll start with the punters favourite as always, Kingfisher.  We had four sightings of probably two birds, with one sitting in full view for several minutes which left smiles on everyone's faces.  The hunting Barn Owl that remained in view for about ten minutes was also a firm favourite, this also posed well for the tram full...

Barn Owl

On the other side of the Estuary, one of the lingering juvenile Marsh Harriers hunted over the reed beds before landing distantly in a field opposite...

For the whole journey, low-flying Swallows, House Martins, Sand Martins and (a surprisingly high number of) Swifts showed really well as they fed low on flying insects. Whilst on the subject of passerines, three Wheatears showed well around Sheep's Marsh...

Wheatear - I just love the pale-edged black primaries

What was really special for me was the variety and numbers of wading birds on show.  At the top end of the trip where we turn around by Colyford scrape, as if three Green Sandpipers, a young Turnstone, a Dunlin and 11 Ringed Plovers weren't enough - a Wood Sandpiper took off from the small pools north of the scrape and flew south, calling all the way.

Adult Ringed Plover left and juvenile Turnstone right

Green Sandpiper

Thankfully on the return journey the Wood Sandpiper showed better, unusually feeding on the Estuary with a group of Redshank...

Look at the size difference - juv Wood Sandpiper flanked by two Redshank

Black Hole Marsh showed good numbers of Black-tailed Godwits and Dunlin plus a close Greenshank, with the Estuary giving another three Greenshank, a further three Turnstone (four is a cracking good count for us!), two Whimbrel, a heap more Black-tailed Godwits and at the very least 14 Common Sandpipers.  

Next year I'm going to try and arrange a few more Birdwatch tram trips for autumn, particularly August and September.  Seeing large numbers of wildfowl during the winter is always good, but nothing quite beats the variety, quantity and almost endless possibilities that can be seen during a trip in one of these months.

Why Bother Going Out?

Beer Head aside, I enjoyed the best birding of last week from my house! One Devon A rarity, two Devon B rarities, a rare British breeding bird and more.

Last Friday, whilst I was at work, at Cattle Egret was discovered with the cattle on Colyford Common.  Once I'd finished work I didn't make a mad rush for it, as once upon a time this species could have been described as an almost regular visitor to our valley - but I was keen to see it from the house.  I thought I'd blown it when I heard the Cattle Egret flew off mid afternoon, but in the evening Phil re-found it on the east side of the river. So the scope was up and I waited and waited and waited.... Five Little Egrets came flying down the valley, with a sixth Egret a short distance behind - the Cattle Egret!  The six Egrets landed in the roost above Axmouth, and I watched the Cattle Egret find its spot in the trees before settling down.  What a mega house tick!

The next decent house bird came on Sunday, and was almost exactly the same as two Sundays previous (see here) - an Osprey!  I knew something was up before walking through the front door, as the gulls were calling, and several were clearly fleeing from the lower Estuary.  Straight in and upstairs, and over Colyford Common there was an Osprey circling.  It disappeared for about ten minutes before reappearing again low over the upper Estuary. Then, in about two minutes and only about five large soars, it was suddenly a dot in the sky miles high. It pulled in its wings then powered north.  Wow.

Later on Sunday, after hearing a Barn Owl was seen not too far from the house, I was on dusk duty with the telescope from the bedroom window.  I didn't think for a second I'd get lucky, but soon had a few brief flight views, and then a Barn Owl perched up for two minutes! Wahoooo...

Tuesday afternoon dinner in the back garden gave me my first House Martins of the year. Two spent about an hour feeding and calling low over. My favourite hirrundine, and about a week later than usual.

Wednesday afternoon, again whilst having lunch in the back garden, at about 12:40 the Estuary gulls got me on my first house Red Kite circling high over the upper Estuary, although it soon headed off east.  It was always distant, but that didn't stop me grabbing what is truly a record shot...

I have been out birding. If I'm not up Beer Head or at work, I've gone for a walk around Black Hole and Colyford Marsh after breakfast. I've had a single singing Reed Warbler (still no Sedge), one Whimbrel, one Greenshank (on two days) and a couple of Wheatears. Yes, I have now seen a grand total of three Wheatears this year!

I made a good call about when to re-visit Beer Head for ringing this week, I picked Thursday morning.  This time I invited Peter, a trainee from Budleigh...

Peter ringing a Willow Warbler. Note the simnel cake to the side - well it is Easter...

Like Monday, it felt at first like it was a very VERY quiet, but also like Monday, birds started to appear about half an hour after dawn. Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs mostly, but also saw a respectable total of four Redstarts, two males together and two different females.  Two single Yellow Wagtails over were my first of the year.

So what did we catch? Well there were fewer phyllosc about, as we trapped and ringed 13 using the same net set up and in the same time frame as Monday when I caught 30. It was still pretty impressive though that each time we did a net round, at least one new phyllosc was there, and we didn't re-trap a single one.  Of the 13, eight were Willows and five Chiffs.

Although there were less phylloscs in the net, the Redstart count was double that of Monday's session.  The first was a stunning adult female, a really colourful bird and what an eye-ring...

And then another male...

It's such a drag ringing such fantastic birds with stunning views like this...

Exmoor

Instead of filling all in on what I've been up to since my last post in one mammoth blog post, I thought I should split it up a bit and deal with different topics in different posts. The first post, our trip away to Exmoor...

Last week Jess had her first week off work since Christmas, and my month of sitting behind a laptop had really taken everything out of me, so we were both VERY keen to get away.  We really love Dartmoor and this was an option, but we know the place quite well. Exmoor though, I've only been too twice before, so we thought we'd stay here for a few nights.  So last Monday morning off we went...

We stayed just outside Dulverton, at the fantastic Middle Upcott Farm.  It is a beautiful farm house, with a very cosy living area and check out the views from our private balcony... 

We got up to so much whilst we were up here, including a surprise birthday present for Jess. Last year I treated her to some raptor and owl flying and handling at Yarak bird of prey centre (see HERE). There were several people doing it with her though, and although she loved it, it wasn't just Owls. So for this birthday, I booked her in for an Owl evening at Exmoor Owl and Hawk Centre.  So just Owls, and best of all, just the falconer and us two - which meant I got to do it as well!

When we arrived it was clear which Owls hadn't been fed yet. This is Casper before we got to her...

This is Casper and I...

And this is Casper five minutes after she was put back in her cage...

We also fed and flew an Eagle Owl and a gorgeous old Tawny Owl...

They had plenty of other Owls here too which we didn't fly, with these two being my favourite...

Great Grey Owl

A Snowy Owl

And it wasn't just Owls. When I went to Morocco with the Spurn guys and girl in 2005 we didn't get Tawny Eagle (are they still there?)...

And what else did we get up too? Well the Valley of the Rocks near Lynton was pretty spectacular...

 

We had to pay a visit to Tarr Steps...

And this was my first visit to Dunster Castle. I actually found the gardens more impressive than the Castle! (and no, not just because of the Spotted Flycatcher!)...

A trip to Watersmeet on Thursday provided the birding highlight. The 5.5 mile walk showed 14 Wood Warblers (13 singing males), seven Pied Flies (incl. one male taking food into a nest hole), four Redstarts (incl. one female taking food into a nest hole) and two Dippers.

Forgetting the birds, it is a beautiful place in its own right...

Despite the nice scenery I was very happy when we got to Lynmouth, and some food...

And check out these, ice creams dipped in melted chocolate...

Although be wary. Eating too much food like the above may make you look like this after a steep climb at the end of a 5 mile walk...

During the trip we saw lots or Red Deer, lots and lots, even some from our B and B. One allowed stupidly close approach...

Ok, maybe not. We never got anywhere near any of the wild Red Dear. This is the best picture I managed...

There were plenty of other less wild animals around too, with Exmoor Ponies, Sheep and Cattle scattered about the Moor...

Right, I think that's enough for now. I'll finish this post with two photos showing the beauty of Exmoor. What a place, well worth a visit...

That's More Like It

What a beautiful spring-like day today, and it feels as though things are happening in the bird world.

Yesterday there were far more gulls on the Estuary than of late, with 70+ Common Gulls, 21 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a new adult Med Gull. Nothing exciting no, but a vast improvement on recent times. 

And today?  Well today I've netted two patch year ticks!

With fog in the valley this morning, I spent late morning looking up for raptors at various spots around the patch. The highlight came at 10:45am when a Merlin (presumably a male) flew through north east very rapidly.  This is our first one of the year, so there's got to be a good chance it was a migrant passing through. Merlin is a bird you would expect to see here every year, but not normally until late autumn, so nice to get this one out of the way so early on.

The next year tick I found during a quick look along the Estuary mid afternoon. Avocet isn't guaranteed here every year, so I was overjoyed to see one feeding in the creek leading from the main Estuary to Seaton Marshes Hide...

Possibly the worst ever photo of an Axe Avocet

The Avocet ended up feeding right in front of Seaton Marshes Hide, so I reckon later the other local blogs will be festooned with stunning pics of it. I look forward to seeing them.

So it's 5th March, and I've already had the same amount of patch year ticks this month as I did in the whole of February!  Hopefully this is the start of the spring flood gates opening.

Now back to yesterday again, and Jess and I went 'Owling' around the patch from 17:30. This was a total success as we had excellent and prolonged views of two Barn Owls...

I've seen six different Barn Owls on patch so far this year - not bad going!

Followed by great (although very dull) views of a Little Owl that just wasn't trying hard enough to hide from us...

A ball of feathers!

I'm pleased to report that amazingly both the bird table and out table is still standing! We've been using our table every day, but so far only one bird has found the seed on the bird table...

If I was a bird I'd probably be a Wood Pigeon!