Spoonbill and Dippers

Although we are not really in lockdown any more, my lockdown house list lives on. Well things aren't completely back to normal yet are they!?  

I added the 88th species to the list on Thursday, although it took a couple of hours of watching and waiting.  A Spoonbill (that was earlier seen over Eype and Abbotsbury) dropped into the Estuary late afternoon on Wednesday, and was still with us the following morning. I was determined not to let this species avoid the list again, as the one I found on Black Hole Marsh on 10th April had left us before I'd made it back home!  Anyway, finally at 09:45 on Thursday, from my bedroom window I spied the distinctive shape of a Spoonbill flying high downriver, before it circled up and seem to head off south west.  I don't often say I deserved a bird - but I think I did this one!

Thursday afternoon, our family walk took us along a stretch of river home to at least four Dippers - two adults and two juveniles.  One of the juveniles was loitering in the area we had stopped for lunch and showed extremely well throughout.  What an absolutely superb bird, and a true delight to be in such close proximity of it for so long.  Good to see it being so independent too with not a single visit from either of its parents during the hour we were there.  I do hope you enjoy this photo overload, from what was a very special hour for me...

And to finish a short video clip, but before playing be sure to click on settings and change the quality to 1080p HD...

No Longer Dipping Dippers

Since Tim Wright saw one of the local Dippers from my PWC patch, I have been giving it more time and not just a quick scan each time I've been passing.

Yesterday I spent a total of 45 minutes watching the bit of the River Coly that can be seen from the bridge by the White Hart Inn in Colyford, but nothing.  Today though after about 40 minutes my prize came, and even sang for me! Dipper now well and truly on my Patchwork Challenge year list :-)

Earlier this morning a short sea watch showed nothing better than two Brent Geese and seven Red-throated Divers, but there's still a few Razorbill (no Guillemot as of yet this year!), Kittiwake and Gannet out there so must be plenty of food about.  Patchwork Challenge is making me look at the sea far more than I usually do in January, and it does make a difference. Brent Geese for example aren't usually an easy bird to see here before spring, but I've already seen 21 this year in seven different flocks!

I have now registered my Patchwork Challenge patch on the brand new Patchwork Challenge website.  I am a bit torn between entering into the Estuaries league or the Coastal South league. Although there clearly is an Estuary on my patch, I have so much more than just Estuary so maybe coastal would be best?  Will have to ask the powers that be.

Firecrest

Phil text me just at the right time late this afternoon with news of a Firecrest at Seaton Hole, which is within my PWC patch. In the previous two winters Firecrests have wintered here, but this winter one has only been seen sporadically, and this was the first sighting of it in 2017.

Gladly it was still showing well when I arrived just after 4pm and I enjoyed some lovely views of it. I was enjoying myself so much that I couldn't help but photograph some twigs...

I particularly like that dark bramble branch running up the left side of the frame, I think this darkness is exactly what this otherwise pale photo needs.

I just LOVE the Ivy cover along the botton 1/5 of this photo, almost acts as a natural base to the photo. Also note that lovely 'V' of brambles just off centre. Nice.

Other birding today involved a sea watch from 08:15 for about 45 minutes. It's highly likely that Phil and I let a perfectly good Black-throated Diver fly past unclinched, it just remained far too distant but I have to say it did look the part. We were however perfectly capable to ID the four Red-throated Divers that also flew through (well one flew in actually). No wildfowl at all this morning, but still a few Razorbill, Gannet, a Kittiwake and three Great Crested Grebes out there.

In other rather gripping news, tonight Tim Wright had one of the Dippers from my PWC patch. Up to today they have only been seen up near Colyton but at 16:20 Tim had one from the A3052 at Colyford. It looks like I'm going to have to put even more time in here, I have been checking from the bridge by the White Hart daily but only for a few minutes at a time.

Three out of Three!

I just have to post today, the first day of my big Patchwork Challenge attempt.

One of the best things about doing a year list is the big push on Jan 1st. Everything you see is a valuable year tick, absolutely everything. And spending the whole day out on your patch clocking up as many species as you can is such an enjoyable (but sometimes frustrating!) event. Sadly though I was working today, so no such fun for me.  With limited time it's sensible to prioritise the scarcer species, so this morning my three target birds were Cattle Egret, Tufted Duck and Grey Plover. None of these are guaranteed in a given year on the Axe Patch.

The first two were pleasingly easy. The Cattle Egret was the twelfth egret to fly out of the Axmouth roost this morning at 07:36, and the female Tufted Duck was easily visible in the pre-dawn gloom at Lower Bruckland Ponds. The Grey Plover however, well that wasn't quite so easy. No sign of it anywhere this morning, despite a nice high tide and a mass of waders right in front of the Tower Hide. 

Cue the extra mile. Despite the rain, late this afternoon during a fifteen minute break at work, I jumped into my car, scoped the mud north of Coronation Corner and there was my hat-trick. Grey Plover on the list.

My next target are the two Dippers that I first bumped into a few days ago.  Dippers have been really scarce on patch over the past few years, prior to this you would fairly frequently see them along many stretches of the River Coly.  It was Friday morning when I had two (one singing) just south of Colyton, and Phil has seen them in the same place on the two days since. My problem is they are currently about a field and a half north of my PWC patch, so I just have to hope they wander a little further down river - whilst I'm watching!

Porthgwarra

As promised...

My desperation to see a UK Cory's Shearwater was only heightened by missing the Seaton ones, and then highetened even more by missing an excellent sea watching day off south Cornwall on Saturday just gone.  The weather for Monday morning wasn't ideal, but I thought Porthgwarra was worth a shout, so at 3:20 I left Seaton.  I would have got there sooner but there was a horrific diversion in place at night on the A30, but still I was at PG scope up sea watching by 06:40.

I was on my own until about 07:40 - quite stressful when there's birds passing at all distances!

My totals for 06:40-10:10 were;

4 Cory's Shearwater
9 Sooty Shearwater
41 Balearic Shearwater
4 Storm Petrel
2 Great Skua
3 Sandwich Tern
1 Ocean Sunfish

So yes - I did it!  Cory's in the bag :-)  The whole reason I wanted to get there for first light was because a weather front came through the night before, and I thought my best chance for big Shears would be early on - and I was right!  All Cory's were singles, the first was the best, at 06:58 and came through with two Manxies, then there were two more singles at the same distance (just beyond Runnel Stone) within the next 15 minutes. A fourth went west at 08:35 but boy was it distant, way beyond the Runnel Stone!   Aren't they great birds, so so relaxed and lazy looking, hugging the waves as they soar past.  Have to say, I also think they are bloody hard to spot - despite their size! I think it's because they fly so low to the sea, hardly flap, and always seem to be slightly changing direction.  

All the Shearwater action was great. I reckon my Balearic count was about 10-15 short of how many actually flew past, they were coming through with the Manxies right below the watch point so were easy to overlook.  The Sooties were great as they always are - I love their wing and body shape!

Seven Balearic and a Manx Shearwater (bottom left)

Gannets were streaming past

The Runnel Stone, a very helpful marker about one mile out.

As ever with here, sea watching with the sight and sounds of Chough around you is never a hardship...

Saw four in all

And towards the end of my watch, it was good to see the Scillonian come past...

Wonder if anyone on there has now seen a Cliff Swallow!?

I thought I'd use it to show off the capabilities of the Nikon P900. I think it passes PG at a distance of about 1.5 miles, and this is what happens when you crank the P900 zoom right up...

Hello!

After PG, and after some time with the best wader in the world, on the way home considering how many rare waders had been appearing, I thought Davidstow was worth a look at. This was my first ever visit here and my god does it look good. It was drizzly, foggy and felt so so rare...

Davidstow

Sadly didn't find anything rare, but saw;

10+ Ringed Plover
3 Dunlin
3 Snipe
1 Green Sandpiper
10 Wheatear


It's such a great place that even the common waders here look rare!...

A rare Ringed Plover

A rare Dunlin!

I will certainly be coming back here again, it's only an hour and a half drive from home.

So that's my Cornish Cory's jaunt all done and told.  So back to the patch now, and today has been a pretty good morning. The highlight being a Dipper than flew over me at Stafford Marsh - my first one on patch this year (they've gone really rare).  Also seen 35+ Yellow Wags, three Whinchat and a Wheatear on Seaton Marshes and five Sedge Warblers and a modest selection of waders on Black Hole Marsh.

Happy New Year!

Well, I'm afraid there's no huge review post for the year of 2012. To be honest - birding wise it was mostly a bit pants.  Adding Long-eared Owl, Spotted Crake and Crane to my patch list were obviously amazing highlights, but the autumn was without doubt one of the worst birding autumn's I've ever had - in terms of numbers and rarities.  Spring though was great at times for numbers, with two of my visits to Beer Head being some of the best ever spring birding I've had here - migrants EVERYWHERE!  Missing a Kentish Plover was a massive low light but we won't dwell on that.......

Christmas 2012 was brilliant - our first in our new house.  I got some lovely presents (never too old!), and this was a real surprise from Jess.  I took a photo of a Mute Swan last year, she got hold of a copy of the photo and turned it into this amazing canvas...

It looks fab on the landing wall!

And how is the house?  It's brilliant - already feels like home. Yesterday we FINALLY got around to sorting out the last room - the room I'm sat in now.  All I need is a sign for the door that says 'Steve's Office'...

That china cat isn't mine!!

Ok, now to birds again.  I said I was going to give a 2013 year list a go if the Bewick's Swans remained. They have remained so the 2013 year list is ON!  And what do I hope to achieve from year listing I hear you ask?

My target is to see/hear 200 species on the (lesser) patch in 2013.  

This has never been done before, and will prove very hard to do, but it is ever so slightly possible. We just need to have a VERY good year, and I need to see almost all of it!  I do hope all the fellow local birders will help me in my quest.

My January tactic is going to be 'go for the goodies, and let everything else come to me'.  That is why I am not going to do any list totting 'til the end of this month.  I do have several off patch surveys to do, so could well end up missing some winter scarcities/rarities - but I hope not.

I was out at 7am this morning, didn't see any Owls or Red-legged Partridges, added the Bewick's at dawn, then headed over to Beer where no Velvet Scoters were on view.  Pants.  Few Red-throated Divers and lots of auks about though.

After breakfast, Jess and I headed over to Colyton where a wood survey gave at least five Woodcock, a Green Woodpecker, a Siskin but very little else.  

A few hours later we fancied a New Years stroll along the sea front.  There were far too many people about for my liking - and a Black Redstart felt the same way.  It wasn't in any of its usual haunts, but instead down a small cul-de-sac one road inland from the beach.

The last birding action of today was an evening stroll at Black Hole Marsh. This is where my most surprising sighting came.  We were stood on the viewing platform, where I was getting glimpses of two very vocal and mobile Cetti's Warblers, when I could suddenly hear a Dipper calling!  A very out of place looking Dipper then flew right past us, circled around (quite high) over Black Hole Marsh, before heading back NW up the Stafford Brook. So bizarre!  I had checked the more usual Dipper haunts earlier in the day, and the water levels were way too high.  I guess this is why today I saw my first ever Dipper on the Axe reserves!

I hope to have an hour or so out in the morning whilst getting a couple of new tyres. Hopefully I can add some more species to the list...

Bon Voyage

This is a bit of catch up post before I go off for a couple of nights to Norfolk, with Jess. I have been up here many times birding in the winter, but have always wanted to see it in the spring/summer months. Fingers crossed that the weather stays like it has been and that I don't miss any goodies on patch!

I've got a few things to mention here, so shall do it day by day...

TUESDAY 22nd MAY

After getting wind of a probable Curlew Sandpiper on Black Hole Marsh, I went straight down there. Where there was indeed a Curlew Sandpiper, a nice summer plumaged bird too...

A Stilt Sand wannabe!

We all got a bit gripped off that evening though, when I had a text and then a phone call from a Seaton resident who had seen a Hoopoe in Honey Ditches Drive.....twice! Typically there was no sign of it when any of the birders tried their luck!

THURSDAY 24th MAY

It was a non birding day for me, but I timed my arrival home perfectly as Bun had just texted to say a Red Kite had flown east over Beer. I looked up and there it was, circling low over Seaton, before gaining height and appearing to fly back west.

FRIDAY 25th MAY

Saw three Red Kites this day. At 10am, two flew low north over the Donkey Sanctuary, and at 15:00 a third flew high and fast west over Lower Bruckland Ponds. The highlight of this day though was getting stunning views of a stonking male Yellow Wagtail singing for about half an hour! I won't be posting details of where it was, just in case it finds a mate! I hope it does :-) I also finally got my first Hobby of 2012, with one north over Black Hole Marsh early afternoon.

SATURDAY 26th MAY

Jessie's birthday! I woke up and went through the contents of my moth trap...

1 Garden Carpet
1 Silver-ground Carpet
1 Green Carpet
1 Red Twin-spot Carpet
3 Brimstone
1 Peppered Moth
1 Pebble Prominent
2 Muslin Moth
1 Heart and Dart
1 Shuttle-shaped Dart
2 Bright-line Brown-eye
1 Pale-shouldered Brocade
1 Hebrew Character
4 Treble-lines
3 Vine's Rustic

Then we headed up north and spent the day on Exmoor, around the Watersmeet area (still Devon). What a stunning place!

The walk offered some beautiful sights...

Not bad hey!

But with four miles of walking, I was very pleased to see this...

Watersmeet House, owned by the National Trust

Because it meant...

Cream tea!!! I do look rather pleased don't I!

A Red Kite flew over us at the start of the walk, and during the walk I counted 5 Wood Warbler, 2 Pied Flies and 1 Redstart in the woods. And on the river there were 5 Grey Wags and 3 Dippers, including this right poser...

It stayed on this rock for at least 15 mins!

We ended the day with a lovely pub lunch in Dulverton. Happy Birthday Jessie :-)

SUNDAY 27th MAY

Another non-birding day, except for a quick check of Black Hole Marsh early afternoon that produced a lone Greenshank. Not the Black-winged Stilt I was hoping for!

And that brings me up to date. Well, almost! I put the moth trap out last night, and it gave me over 50 moths this morning. I'd better get packing now really, so shall post about this catch on my return home later in the week...

A Dipper In A Tree

I told you so!

A look at Tim White's blog last night (see HERE) inspired me to go and see Dipper. I had a little bit of time early this morning, and that's all the time I needed! I peered over the bridge by the White Hart Inn and there was one singing away. It was a ringed bird too, which is VERY interesting as I don't know anyone around here who rings Dippers!?

After a short while in the tree, it crossed over the river and perched up in a more usual Dipper way...

Smart birds aren't they

I then had to head off to Plymouth for a meeting. But after about an hour I realised today wasn't going to be a day that goes to plan...

Oh bugger!

Well I have made it home, thanks to the big yellow van. My car isn't so good, but I'm just glad I'm ok. It could have been very very nasty indeed.

To finish this post, here's a couple of photos I took the other day during an evening wander around Lower Bruckland Ponds...

Nice and tranquil - need some of this after my day!

Scotland Trip - Day Four

This was the poorest day of the trip - mostly because of the strong wind that hampered our efforts...

Day Four - Wednesday 13th April

We had this day to 'mop up' anything we hadn't seen yet - and that bird was Parrot Crossbill. It was because of this sodding bird that we spent two hours in Curr Woods....

Eurgh!

We did see (and crucially hear) two Scottish (type) Crossbills, a Hooded Crow and a Tree Pipit again.

So much smarter than the ugly beasts down here!

After this we tried yet more woods, around Forest Lodge (near Nethybridge)...

Three people dipping Parrot Crossbills!

I blame the wind for our dip - it was far from ideal Crossbill spotting weather! We did see another couple of Red Squirrels though.

We then stopped off in Nethybridge, and filled our faces thanks to the Spar shop situated right by the river...

Still no Dipper on the trip list though!

The fact we hadn't seen a Dipper was starting to get a bit annoying really...so we decided to drive down the Findhorn Valley yet again!!

Eventually, after a lot of searching, we found one...

Much to Bun's dismay ;-)

It was near a pair of these...

New in Common Sands - they were very vocal

We popped back to the B and B, before heading to Aveimore where we tried out another fish and chip shop. After the past few days of rather unhealthy dining, Nick and Karen opted for the slightly healthier option of chicken and chips. When it was served to the table they were a little shocked - their chickens were entirely covered in batter! Hahahaha!!!

As it neared dusk, we made our way towards Loch An Eilein where we had booked (and paid for...ouch!) our places on the Speyside wildlife mammal watch. I have to say, the set up is excellent....

As you sit in the heated and rather comfy hide...

Illustrated here by Bun and Karen

And after the guide has put the food out...

They are not ghosts in the top photo - just reflections

The lights go out and the guide watches his monitor - four infra red cameras are set up outside the hide, three of which spot most incoming mammals...

Very techno!

It didn't take long for a Badger or two to appear...

Yes it is only a Badger - but noticeably smaller than the brutes down here

Then the guide exclaimed "Marten coming in, it's heading for the back..." So naturally everyone rushed to the back....

but he then said "it's changed direction, it could go either way...." At which point I realised no one was heading for the front of the hide - so I did!

As soon as I walked around to the other side, a large mammal came bounding in from the darkness - Pine Marten! It went straight for one of the eggs (as the guide said it would), spent a few seconds getting to grips with it before bounding back off into the darkness.

Although the view was rather brief (about ten seconds), it was stupidly close! Nick managed to see it for about five seconds, and Karen for about two (don't mention it to Bun!).

We were assured that it would come back for seconds though........it never did!!!

Anyway, due to the speed of the thing, and the fact I wanted to get out of the way so others could see it, I didn't manage a photo. If I had managed a pici though it would have looked (I'm sure) a lot like this...

(or maybe a little better!)

We were back at the B and B just the right side of midnight, and went to sleep ready for the final day and the drive back south...