Osprey 014 on the Axe

Enjoyed a wonderful evening out tonight on patch. It was just a few hours but much needed in the middle of a busy week of work.

First and foremost was the female Osprey that's been around for at least two days, which was showing well perched in a tree on Bridge Marsh, before fishing (unsuccessfully) over the Estuary.  We know it's a her because she's colour-ringed, and was showing off her '014' blue ring this evening.  As often is the case with colour-ringed birds, once the ring is read and history learnt a fascinating back story unwinds.  Blue 014 is one of the translocated birds from Scotland released in Poole Harbour in the summer of 2018.  She spent the summer of 2019, as to be expected for a first-summer bird, not in the UK, but in May this year she surprised everyone by reappearing on a Osprey nest cam in Dyfi, Wales!  Full details of her movements can be found HERE.  

And here she is on the Axe Estuary tonight...

Osprey in situ

014 on the Axe - how exciting!

A quick look over the sea showed c20 Med Gulls (so many stonking adults and second-summers) and my first independent juvenile Herring Gull of 2020...

Sadly not a Yellow-legged

I ended the night with a look along the river and a quick visit to Black Hole Marsh. This showed 15 Common and my first Green Sandpiper of the autumn (a fine adult), a beautiful fresh juvenile Little Ringed Plover, an adult Greenshank, ten super smart Black-tailed Godwits and a Shoveler. 

Green Sandpiper

A distant juvenile Little Ringed Plover

Can't tell you how much I enjoyed it.  And HELLO autumn!

Early Vis Mig

Taking a baby out early in the morning does have it's benefits. This was 04:45 today...

Looking north up the Axe Estuary from Axmouth Harbour

Today saw the first steady passage of Swifts and Sand Martins through the patch of the autumn, with 34 and 19 respectively flying west offshore in a 40 minute period from 6am.  I saw more Sand Martins passing through off Beer Head late morning so I do think it was a sustained movement.  Also whilst at the sea front this morning five Med Gulls flew west (3 ad, 2 juvs) among a sporadic passage of Black-headed Gulls. If I stayed longer no doubt I would have matched Dawlish Warren's total of twenty by 8am.

I saw a further three Meds on the Estuary mid afternoon, two adults and the lingering dull first-summer (which is often the southern most gull on the Estuary).  Gutted to have missed our first juv Yellow-legged Gull of the year that Ian Mc saw a bit later in the day, but no doubt I'll see many over the next few months.

Black Hole Marsh at 5am was lovely and peaceful, with quite a few waders on the diminishing water levels.  Still nothing surprising here as yet this autumn, just the routine fare, but it is still very early days. Among an increase in numbers of Common Sands were three Green Sands (all adults). An adult Little Ringed Plover was probably the bird Ian Mc had yesterday, but also looked suspiciously like the first of the autumn here back on 1st July. Otherwise there were 22 Redshank, two Blackwits and an adult Water Rail.  

Three Green and a Common Sand

Two of the Green Sands

Having missed out on finding our last three rare waders (Least Sand - Tim Wright, Baird's Sand - Phil Abbott, Semi-P Sand Peter/Phil Abbott) I think it's high time I found another decent wading bird this year (and I don't count Pecs, I have seen more of them on patch than Cuckoos!).  Hopefully the early morning baby walks will do the trick eventually...

Spring Trickles On

Although we have some cloud we need more!  My god you must all think I am just always moaning about the weather on this blog.... well I suppose I am. But a good spring on patch is completely dependent on the weather. A bit of rain would be ideal but I can't see that coming, so just some thick cloud would be nice...

Yesterday there was a bit of action, mostly Wheatear-action, and this was probably more to do with the cold NW wind than the bit of cloud. When there's a strong head wind migrants are far more likely to need to drop in for a refuel before heading on, than if there's little/no wind. I guess flying into the wind uses more energy?  It was really nice to see a load of Wheatears again because they've been scarce since my Wheatear binge on 24th March. There were at least 14 in the valley yesterday, with most (eight at least) at Colyford Common, one at Seaton Marshes and five in the ploughed field opposite Colyford WTW.  

I did also manage to add Sedge Warbler to mine (and the Patch's) year list yesterday, not before time, with one singing on the Borrow Pit. Plus there was a Common Sand flying around here which would have been another new-in migrant.  The final spike of interest for me yesterday were two Goosanders on Black Hole Marsh at dusk, but not the two from the previous night as one of these was a fine adult drake.  This makes me think that the run of Goosander sightings over the last couple of days stem from the same four birds I had drift down the river late on the 27th March (a drake and three females).

This morning I was up and out early again, despite the lack of cloud, and again overall it was quiet but there were a few snippets of interest. Even if I see nothing though being out and about here is ALWAYS a pleasure, especially early in the day when there are few other people to ruin it about...

The Borrow Pit (pictured above) produced the singing Sedge Warbler again and the six Cattle Egrets having another lie in. A Willow Warbler singing here was one of five that I've seen/heard this morning, which is five more than I noted yesterday!

Black Hole Marsh gave a couple of surprises, with our first Green Sandpiper of the year dropping in calling at about 06:45...

And from the Tower Hide my 11th patch Pintail of the year, which is tons by Axe standards! Ten of them have been drakes which is nice...

I ended my last post with Venus, so I will end this one with Jupiter which was showing just below the moon last night...

And here's basically the same pic just with a different shutter speed, as I wanted to try and capture some of the cloud...

I struggled to get a good photo of Jupiter on its own, this is my best effort as you can see three of its largest moons...

And roll on tomorrow. Spring is great as with each day comes a whole lot more potential...

The 'W' Word

Well it's hard not to think of winter when you see the first of these of the autumn loafing on the Estuary...

Male Wigeon

Otherwise it was much the same on Black Hole Marsh, although it was pleasing to see the Greenshank on here - a gorgeous silverly juv.  Yesterday it was nice to see a Green Sand close to the Island Hide, they have been present in unusually low numbers this autumn...

Juv-1w Green Sand

Such a pity the sun wasn't behind me for this photo!

Black Hole Marsh and Med Gulls

Went down to the wetlands this morning for the high tide, and I'm pleased I did because Black Hole Marsh was packed full of birds.

Looking out from the Tower Hide

'ROL'

'ROL' with two friends

Over the following hour the marsh showed;

2 Teal
1 Water Rail
6 Lapwing
1 Ringed Plover
5 Little Ringed Plover (1 ad and 4 juvs)
9 Dunlin
11 Black-tailed Godwit
20+ Redshank (incl. a good numbers of juvs)
1 Green Sandpiper
11 Common Sandpiper
250+ Black-headed Gull

I really love late July down here, often the hides are quiet as the scarce species haven't arrived yet, but the marsh can still be packed full of birds. So much noise and it's always brilliant to see migrating waders taking a rest to refuel before they continue with their journey.

A species that wasn't on Black Hole this morning was Mediterranean Gull, despite the large gathering of Black-heads.  Unlike any other time of year, in late summer we always seem to get far more Med Gulls offshore than in the river valley.  Ian Mc had 14 (one juv) off the sea front at about 08:30 today, I went there about 45 minutes later and had a lone juv, a lone second-summer and then a group of eight (incl. 3 juvs), all making their way west. I'm willing to bet they were all different birds, making a morning total of 24 which is pretty good for us.

Lastly it was great to have a meet up with our new Reserves Manager whilst in the hide. In my opinion this is a very exciting announcement as James was here when the Axe Wetlands were first born, but now he has the top job...

James Chubb back in his natural habitat

Aythya Action

We have finally had settled snow here in Seaton and around the Axe Estuary - it was rather odd how it happened though!

Yesterday late afternoon/evening it was snowing almost constantly, but it wasn't settling and it really didn't look like it was going too.  At about 7ish Jess and I went up to her Mum and Dad's in Colyford, we were there about half an hour, and when we came out it was a complete white-out!  We slowly drove back home and were surprised to see everything white here too...

At last!

I spent the night dreaming about all the year ticks I was going to get in the morning with all this snow around, but when I woke up almost all the snow had gone!!!  A quick look around soon after dawn was disappointing, so I headed home and buried my head in my laptop.  I noticed it had started snowing again, so mid morning I headed out again.  And boy, did it snow...

Seaton Marshes

The Borrow Pit

Golden Plover over Seaton Marshes

Bridge Marsh

Thrushes and Lapwing on Axmouth football pitch

From the Farm Gate

And I just have to post this photo.  It was really quite odd. I didn't drive past it, but when I stepped out of my car at Lower Bruckland Ponds it was just there, walking down the road...

Took me be surprise!

It was snowing so heavily it was actually pretty much unbirdable, so I came back home...

Same view as the first photo - but a different dumping of snow!

Whilst at home it was good to see a few birds in the 'garden' today - it really must have been tough going because we had a whopping six species. And not just in the garden, but eating our food too! Here's three of them...

You wait, I'll get a Dark-eyed Junco one day :-)

I spent a few hours out early afternoon when it had stopped snowing, but I didn't see anything better than a Green Sandpiper on Black Hole Marsh and about 100 Golden Plover.  After returning home, I was only back long enough to pour out but not drink my tea, when a text from Gav had me scurrying down to the Estuary to get myself a year tick...

Three sleeping Tufties

Actually, calling this post 'Aythya Action' is a bit of a misnomer. They didn't do anything other than sleep whilst I was there!  But I don't care, three sleeping Tufted Ducks = patch year tick :-)

At Least The Sun Is Out!

Well it wasn't as cold as I was hoping this morning, with 8c on the garden thermometer.  The wind has shifted though, with a light but chilly northerly wind. Because of this I thought I'd give the sea an hour...

The highlight of the sea watch was without doubt a dog walker.  This dog walker had a whistle, and the pitch of the whistle was bang on for Common Sandpiper. The first time I heard this whistle he even blew it to the rhythm of a Common Sandpiper call!  It sounded so good that I actually started scanning the edge of the beach and just offshore.  But then he blew the whistle again.

The lowlight of the sea watch was without doubt another dog walker.  She had five dogs, and they were all out of control!  She spent her whole 'relaxing' dog walk screaming, shouting and whistling at her dogs - which weren't taking a blind bit of notice. I actually found her incredibly irritating! Oh dear - I'm sounding like my Dad.

All the birds I saw during this sea watch in excitment terms came in somewhere between these two episodes.  I noted just eight Red-throated Diver (two of them sat on the sea), two Common Scoter (east), eight Shelduck and four Curlew.

Lots of birds on the Estuary, with the wintering Bar-tailed Godwit being the best.  Opposite Axmouth FC a Green Sandpiper improved my year list by one. Wooooo! There was nothing of note at Lower Bruckland Ponds, except for a vocal Cetti's Warbler. My fifth this year on patch - which is absolutely tremendous news!

I then spent a good forty minutes by Bindon Barns - my life there are stacks of birds up here.  Didn't seem to be quite as many thrushes today (only c500), but over 200 Skylark, 100 Chaffinch, 30 Meadow Pipit and ten Yellowhammer. I am going to keep checking on this field - the potential for something scarce/rare/a year tick has to be pretty good.

To complete my day's birding I went to Seaton Marshes. Twice. And didn't see any Redpolls. Again.

All Blown Out

Pretty grim out there this morning, strong NNE wind, some drizzle and 100% cloud!  So I thought I'd bash the bushes in and around Branscombe, and try and find some sheltered spots.

Well there were a few nicely sheltered areas, and quite a lot of birds really. I came across two decent sized Tit flocks.  Sadly though, other than 15 Goldcrest and four Chiffchaff, it was just tits! A quick look over the sea showed this flock of 20 Brent Geese flying west...

Nearly there lads - the Exe is in sight!

A look up the Estuary showed at least eight, but possibly 15 Dunlin.  Along with 50 Lapwing, a Green Sandpiper and this second-winter Med Gull...

Distantly 'Lumixed'

And that is as exciting as today got for me!

Flagged Godwit

Before I elaborate on the subject in the post title, I should mention the birding that I've done over the past few days.

Tuesday I had a good look around in the valley, and it was worthwhile. Colyford Common was most productive, as on the main scrape on Colyford Marsh were three Green and eight Common Sandpipers. The adult Green Sands at this time of year look so much smarter than the juvs we see later in the autumn. A look along the Estuary produced 214 Black-headed Gulls (3 juvs), one Med Gull (1st-summer) and my first 'independent' juv Herring Gull of the year...

Not a Yellow-legged!

On Tuesday night whilst at work, a Green Sandpiper flew south over the back yard calling at 22:30. Wader migration in action - love it!

Wednesday a quick look along the Estuary revealed two Blackwits - both in fine summer plumage. Also 13 juvenile Herring Gulls - I've never see this many before seeing a juv Yellow-legged!

Today, and I've just popped down to Colyford Common - only two Common Sandpipers on the scrape but amongst a good number of Black-headed Gulls an adult Common Gull. Also 22 Little Egrets loafing around, only two juvs though.

So, now the flagged Blackwit. This bird was on the Axe Estuary from the 5th - 24th April this year...

Makes a change not seeing an Axe Estuary colour-ringed Godwit!

Well I have finally found out about this bird. It was ringed as a nestling on 13/6/10 in Southern Iceland. It was next sighted on the Tagus Estuary in Portugal on 24/11/10 and remained here until 25/2/11. But that's it - no more sightings until it was on the Axe in spring 2012. Great stuff.

A Few More Waders

There was a ringing session at Colyford Common today, I couldn't make the 5am start time, but didn't think parking up in the car park at 06:45 was too poor an effort.

A scan over Blackhole Marsh on way to the rendezvous point revealed our first Little Ringed Plover of the 'autumn', an adult...

A very bright-legged individual

There were a few other waders about too; my first autumn Green Sandpiper on the southern end of Colyford Marsh, eight Common Sands on the Estuary and at least six Blackwits still on the Estuary.

Ringing wise, we caught the expected - a few Linnets and plenty of Reed Buntings were nice along with oodles of Reed and Sedge Warblers. Oh, that reminds me, about four weeks ago the group caught a pair of Lesser Whitethroats on Colyford Common - both adults and the female with a brood patch. Now that's good news!

In the hedgerows there were a few Willow Warblers and a Whitethroat - I haven't seen either of these species here since the spring so I presume these were returning migrants?

Right, it's now time to bring everyone up to date with ringing in my garden.... it won't take that long because in the past week or so I have only had time to set a net up in the front garden on one day - a week ago today.

I have ringed 153 birds in total in the garden - 13% of that total being Bullfinches! Anyway, one of the first birds I caught on Saturday morning required me to start a new ring size...

A Chiffy - bit unexpected when the net is set beside bird feeders!

What makes it a Chiffy - the red arrow points to the clinching emarginated sixth primary

The rest of the morning was spent catching the usuals but then had to pack up and do something productive. Later in the evening though, I had a chance to put it up again - so did! I didn't catch many more birds, a couple of Greenfinches and Great Tits. The fifth bird of the evening though meant I had to start yet another new size of ring - a bloody big one too!

I looked at the mist net in disbelief as an adult Herring Gull was flapping about in it - flipping heck!!! I grabbed hold of it pretty quick...it grabbed hold of me even quicker!! Thankfully I'm pleased to report the net is still in one piece.

I wasn't expecting a beast like this, what a handful! A full adult male - bloody massive it was! Anyway, I ringed and processed it, then tried to get a photo of it and me...

... when this photo was snapped it was REALLY hurting me - I seriously thought it was going to break my hand!

I didn't want to handle it much more than I had to, so just settled with this pic...

Here he is trying to eat my ringing smock!

And that's the ringing up to date now. One day I will have to find time to write about three weeks of mothing....