First Redstart and Iceland Gull

Yesterday morning was a dull and misty one, often conditions we don't do that well in during migration time. Still I thought it was worth a wander around Seaton Marshes, so took little Harry out for an early morning walk...

Next month he'll be a year old, how did that happen!??

Although in general the bushes were quiet, a cracking highlight came in the form of a smart male Redstart in the north west corner of the Borrow Pit, our first of the year. And it really was a stunner. Many spring male Redstarts actually have quite restricted orange on their breasts, with a mostly white belly, I've always put these down as second-year birds. This one though was orange the whole way down the breast to the vent area, so presumably a full adult male.  Pity it didn't stay put for another ten seconds as I'd be able to post a photo of it if it had!  Half an hour later Phil and Ian Mc had a female Redstart here, and Kev had a third bird (another male) in Couchill Woods later in the day. Clearly something of a Redstart-day!

Otherwise all I saw in the bushes were four Chiffchaff and two Blackcap, but the skies above were busy with low flying hirundines, about 50, and they spent lots of time perched up on overhead wires...

All three species here

Can you spot the two House Martins among the Sand Martins?

A House Martin flanked by Sand Martins

Three White Wagtails at Cowhayne Lane during the afternoon was the only other highlight during the rest of the day.

Today the weather has been tasty, but sadly I've had such little time out - I reckon the sea would have been worth a watch, especially this evening.  I did just about manage a look along the Estuary mid afternoon, which showed there had been a decent influx of gulls. Not the Little Gull I was hoping for but 69 Common and a first-summer Med Gull were north of Coronation Corner, and among the large gulls was - hugely pleasingly - my first Iceland Gull of the year...

It was always pretty distant from my viewpoint

Always love a white-winger!

Despite the distance, I'm happy it's a second calendar-year bird, and to me it looked a fairly hefty and especially long-winged individual. I could see it wasn't the bird Tim Wright had on the Estuary at the start of the month, and when Ian Mc twitched it he was certain it wasn't any of the three Iceland Gulls that he's seen on the Axe this year (he has done really well for them!). So I'm happy it's a 'new bird'.

This Iceland Gull just proves that even if you only have the shortest window of time to go out birding, use it...

A Few More Migrants and an Otter

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!

Good to be Back!

Since the early hours of last Saturday I have been knocked out by the worst sickness bug I've ever experienced. It really has not been nice. This meant no birding for me at all between Saturday and Thursday - six days is probably a record for me! Not good when there is so much passage going on, the mind boggles at what I've missed by not being out there.

Anyway, I finally began feeling better yesterday, so this morning got myself up and out...

I soon got the vibe that birds were moving, with several flocks of Meadow Pipits flying north up the valley, and during a dog walk along the beach, several more flocks arriving in/off the sea. Exciting times - this meant there was active passage. So to Seaton Marshes...

Along the entrance track and around the Borrow Pit there were about ten Chiffchaffs (still no Willow Warbler for me) and a lone House Martin was flying around overhead. Amazingly this being my fourth of the year and I'm yet to see a Swallow!  I then turned the corner to walk to the hide...

It was so great to see eight Wheatears (one female) on the fence lines and path, allowing me to get a really good Wheatear-fix (much needed by any birder in early spring). And all the time several small flocks of Meadow Pipits continued to fly north overhead, proper spring migration, so cool...

Colyford Common and Colyford Marsh after this showed another Wheatear and a further 40+ Meadow Pipits, but not the desired LRP or Water Pipit. Maybe tomorrow?

Black Hole Marsh early this afternoon showed the four drake Pintail still and four Dunlin, and at Bridge Marsh ten Sand Martins and the Greylag Goose still.

It is so so SO good to be back!

Dusk Delights

I have been away since Sunday so was eager to get out today to enjoy some more spring action. Sadly though I woke up to fog, which completely smashed my enthusiasm to pieces and I went back to bed.  When I did finally get up I noticed on twitter that Portland was experiencing something of a fall, so I headed down to Seaton Marshes.

It was foggy.

I did eventually stumble upon some migrants, they were (amazingly!) another two House Martins with eight Sand Martins.  I really don't know what is going on with House Martins this year but several have already been seen in the UK, which by mid March is so unusual. I wonder if something has happened where they winter? Maybe some got mixed in with wintering Sand Martins and they've headed north with them?  All I do know is pretty much every year I don't see my first House Martins until the first week of April, weeks after my first Sand Martins and Swallows - but I'm yet to see one of the latter!

I was tied up for the rest of today, but headed out again at about 16:30.  All seemed quiet, including nothing with the gulls on the Estuary, but a distant scan of the gulls roosting on the sand by Tesco revealed something darker mantled.  At first I was really excited as I thought it may be a sub-adult Caspian, but when I got closer I could see it looked more like a particularly cute headed fourth calendar-year (third summer) Yellow-legged Gull...

The bird right of centre

Presumably a female - you can see why I was thinking Casp at first with that lovely little eye

This is my third, and the Axe's fourth Yellow-legged Gull so far this year, which is three or four more than you would usually expect to see by mid March. They are a rare bird in winter here (and in Devon) despite their ever increasing occurrence in late summer/autumn.

Last thing tonight I went back to Seaton Marshes, where the egret roost has recently relocated too.  And in with the Little were SIX Cattle Egrets - yeah we've gained at least one more!  I say at least one because I could only properly go through about a quarter of the Axe egret roost, I could see at least 30 egrets in the distance with the Heronry behind Axmouth Church and I didn't have my scope!  I will try and get down there again tomorrow night and see how many Cattle Egrets we really have...

March Wakes Up

I've never been a fan of March when it comes to birding, so much promise and hope, but in reality you see a few Wheatears and Sand Martins mid month and often very little else.  

The first ten days of this March were just as disappointing as I was expecting. The sea has been absolutely dire with watches most mornings showing nothing on it and nothing over it, and there's been no summer migrants for me despite a few Sand Martins and Wheatears turning up elsewhere. There's not even been any early March wader passage on the Estuary which often occurs (Greenshank, Ruff, Knot, etc). It's the gulls that have kept me going, with a couple of days of triple figure Common Gulls and the odd Mediterranean Gull still coming through.  There's been nice numbers of big gulls too, but even these have disappointed with no more white-wingers or anything better.

There was one thirty minutes of slight delight on the 9th, when the warmth of the sun in Axmouth encouraged my first Blackcap of the year to sing, along with - at last - my first PWC2017 Nuthatch. It was nice to see a Brimstone too, this helped make it feel really spring-like...

Today though spring really did step up a gear. The low cloud/fog dropped some migrants in the Axe valley, and it all started with a text from Ian Mc mid morning reading "Short-eared Owl Seaton Marshes". Twenty minutes later this was my view...

Can you see it?

Dreadful pic I know!

Yes it was day roosting in a tree - quite unusual for a Short-eared. And it stayed here for the whole of the day too!  I saw two Short-eareds last year on patch, but they are only just about annual in the valley and often don't stay for long, so it's nice to get this one on the year list early.

About half an hour after seeing this beaut, news filtered in from Lesley Clarke of an Avocet on Black Hole Marsh.  Perfect. And bang on cue, March is by far and away our peak month for Avocet on the Axe, you would be unlucky to go the month without seeing one - but then again I have gone a year without seeing one here, so it's another handy year tick...

It was showing really well from the Tower Hide, although I didn't have time to venture up there.  It's bound to have woken the local wader photographers from their winter hibernation though, and hopefully they will have many more subjects to aim their lenses at this year. Another good Black Hole Marsh wader year would be greatly appreciated by me that's for sure!  Interestingly this bird was colour-ringed, and I will post the details here when I find out about its life history. Be great to know where it wintered last winter that's for sure.

Later on today I had another hour out, and was delighted to see Sand Martins had suddenly arrived.  There were ten over Colyford Marsh and 18+ over Lower Bruckland Ponds between 16:00-17:00. I wouldn't have been that surprised if I'd seen a Swallow amongst them, I didn't, but I was really surprised to pick up a House Martin with the flock at Lower Brucklands.  My earliest ever in the UK by just under three weeks (31st March being my previous earliest). Amazing.  I knew I had to get a snap of it to save face, but sadly couldn't do any better than this...

March Mega!

It may be dreadful, but it is identifiable. Mind you the same could be said for any of my above pics!

Beer Head Ringing

Looking at the weather forecast for this week, I had to take my mist nets to Beer Head this morning because it looks as though I won't have another chance any time soon!   With a gentle NW wind and plenty of high cloud the conditions couldn't really have been any better, but I was a bit concerned about a huge low that moved slowly east through Spain/France last night - right on the migration route. Thankfully though this didn't appear to be a problem...

Only set one 60 foot net, and in 4 hours caught 19 birds of 9 species. Two were retraps (a Dunnock and a Wren) with the other 17 being; 

1 Robin

1 Wren

1 Blackcap

3 Chiffchaff

8 Willow Warbler

1 Redstart

1 Linnet

1 Goldfinch

It was shaping up to be a really excellent session, but the phylloscs quickly dried up. I caught eight within the first half hour, but from then on only had the odd one drop in (I'm sure not helped by the net moving in the breeze).  The Redstart certainly brightened things up though :-)

First saw it in the field, but within 30 seconds it was in my very well placed net!

Just love the head pattern on a spring male Redstart

Classic spring Willow Warbler - so great to handle a few of these again

I saw an unringed male Redstart about an hour and a half after ringing the first one (think there were three on site), but other than that there were just a few more Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs in the bushes.  Overhead passage was non-existent, the only notable bird I saw flying past remains unidentified! It was either a Goosander or a Red-breasted Merganser but I only saw it for a few seconds before it flew into the glare of the sun and then below the cliff.

Yesterday I saw my first House Martins of the year, with five over Lower Bruckland Ponds with Sand Martins and Swallows. There were plenty of gulls on the Estuary for most of the day, and among the 26 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were four intermedius-types. Also saw the Marsh Harrier numerous times during the day, including from the house last thing at night...

It's definitely a 2cy bird, but unsure of which sex. I keep thinking I can see a grey wedge on its underwing but the upperparts look female.

It was was nice to see several of the regulars (and Alan) up Beer Head this morning, spring is well and truly in the air!

Busy Busy Busy...

Am falling behind with just about everything at the moment - the blog is low on the list of priorities but here's a quick one.... 

I'm pleased to say, and blimey has it jumped up on us, the wedding is coming up soon. So we are busy rushing around finalising details and emptying our bank accounts to pay for the last few bits.  Who's idea was the chocolate fountain?

Then of course there's this little lady - who has already grown considerably...

Honey looking like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth!

She's certainly taking up some time, but we are really impressed with so many aspects of her - especially sleeping so well at night and staying dry.  Still not impressed with the lawn digging though!  Not being able to take her for walkies yet is incredibly frustrating but hopefully the next four weeks will fly by...

I do have a few bits of bird news, with first returning waders (I presume) seen over the last few weeks including Greenshank, Green Sand, Lapwing (three) and Bar-tailed Godwit. I missed a summer plumage Grey Plover sadly but pleased with what I've seen never-the-less.  Black-headed Gull numbers are also ever increasing, sadly no Ross's, Bonaparte's or even Little, but a first-summer Med Gull circled over the house a few days ago.

Also from the garden, have seen three Red Kites in the past two weeks. They really are loving this high pressure!

Haven't been ringing for a few weeks, frustrating as I know how many unringed Siskins are waiting for me at one of my sites...

Some of the last birds I did ring included this lovely House Martin...

And this even lovelier young (3J) Skylark...

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...

That's More Like It!

A two post day, and that's because it was a day of two halves. Right after I had a good moan on here about how crap it's been, I went out and had a great afternoon!

One of the things I said earlier was how I've not seen a Willow Warbler yet, well guess what I saw at the first place I went after I posted that! There was at least one Willow Warbler amongst 15+ Chiffchaffs and two Goldcrests around the Borrow Pit on Seaton Marshes. Now and then some of the Chiffs and the Willow broke out in song, which was nice.

After a rather uneventful look along the Estuary, I went to Lower Bruckland Ponds were it really kicked off!

I was busy trying to photograph this annoyingly camera shy Willow Warbler...

A terrible photo, but it was the best I managed! Although it was very close it wouldn't stop moving.

...when I noticed this hovering over the lower ponds...

A bloody Osprey!

It didn't dive or hang around, and soon flew off east towards Rousdon...

It was nice to see a few hirundines here too, with about eight Sand Martins, four Swallows and my first two House Martins of 2013...

About time!

I then spent the next hour and a bit scanning over the mass of fields between Axmouth and Rousden hoping for a patch Stone Curlew. To be honest, there could be a flock of 100 out here and I still could have seen none. Some of the fields have crop high enough to completely engulf a sat down Stone Curlew, and some of the fields are about 5 miles long and three miles wide and perfect Stone Curlew in colour!

I did hear something which I really would liked to have seen. Basically it sounded like a Curlew, twice, and I thought it was a Curlew, but then it gave a drawn out single note - a bit Golden Ploverish but less pleasant sounding and longer.  I don't even know if the same wader made all these three calls, but I will be checking up here again tomorrow.  

I didn't see any birds of note up here, but I did see six Hares. This is by a long way (by four to be precise!) my highest ever count of Hares on patch, and my first for about three years.  Here's a distant photo showing four of them...

Very nice to see.

 I wonder what tomorrow will bring...

A Lazy Sea Watcher

Normally I am quite an intense sea watcher. Pockets full of clickers, a notebook and pen, there for dawn. But not today, yet it was probably one of the greatest spring sea watches I have ever had on patch! And this was pretty much my first attempt at a proper sea watch this year!

Last night, Bun texted to say he was going to be sea watching off Beer from 7am. My alarm went off at 6:10am, but I hit snooze...and again....and again.... I finally got up at 7am, soon received a text from Gav simply saying "sea busy", then made my way to join Bun at Beer with no clickers and only a scrap piece of paper. Bun was running late, and we both arrived at the shelter at about 07:22. In the first scan, several flocks of Manxies were in view - oh goodie!

Top bird number one came at 7:30, when I picked up a first-year Little Gull flying in from the east with five Sandwich Terns. The Little Gull then spent the next ten minutes or so feeding fairly close in. Another one, or the same bird, reappeared at 08:30ish. I'm more inclined to say it was a second bird, as it appeared to fly in strongly from the east.

Next highlight was after a tip-off from Gav, who was sea watching from Seaton. At 07:45 two pale-phased Arctic Skua flew in from the east, at close range. They came into view with two Kittiwakes, but soon lost them when they spotted a small group of fishing Sandwich Terns. The Skuas spent the next half an hour offshore, often resting on the sea near to the fishing terns, only flying up when they had 'pirating' to do! We got excellent views of these two beauts.

The final highlight was without doubt the best. At 8am, we had kinda given up and were just chatting about all sorts of rubbish, when I fixed my scope on a bit of sea that had a summer plumaged Black Guillemot flying over it!!! SHOCKER!!!! I shouted to Bun, and despite his shaking hands and noticeably panicky voice, he quickly got on it.

It was distant, but the light was brilliant. We both managed to lose it soon after, me whilst I was hopelessly trying to photograph it, and Bun when he moved his scope. For Bun it was a patch lifer, but I saw a single moulting bird off Branscombe in Feb 2005, followed by two in summer plumage there in March. As it's a Devon A rarity, and didn't photograph it, I quickly penciled out a sketch of it on the scrap bit of paper in my pocket - much to Bun's amusement! Needless to say I will not be posting it up here!!

This is the full list of what we clocked up this morning (west unless stated);

2 Common Scoter
1 Great Northern Diver (east)
1 Red-throated Diver (east then landed on sea)
40+ Gannet
200+ Manx Shearwater
10 Whimbrel (see photo)
2 Arctic Skua
8 Kittiwake
1+ Little Gull
8 Sandwich Tern
10 auk sp.
1 Black Guillemot

My first of the year - they gained height and appeared to continue west over Beer Head

Another short sea watch from Spot On Kiosk, Seaton, 11:30 - 12:15 revealed the now westerly wind had pretty much killed it. Except for Sandwich Terns, of which 29 flew west. It was nice to see hirundines trickling in off the sea, including my first House Martins of the year (at least six).

Despite almost immediately alerting other Devon birders about the Tystie, it wasn't seen off anywhere else. So I'd certainly advise a look off Branscombe in the morning - the sea should be a bit calmer too.

Gulls And More Summer Migrants

The weather totally changed overnight, with the high pressure and blue skies of recent days replaced with rain and mist! A drastic change in weather conditions during migration periods usually means something happens on the birding front, so this morning I chose to leave 15 minutes early for band practice so I could give the Estuary the once over.

A scan with my bins over the rather small collection of big Gulls just north of Coronation Corner revealed the very exciting sight of an immature white winger! I quickly assembled my telescope to see...

...a first-winter Iceland Gull :-)

This is the first Iceland Gull (seen) on the Axe since August 2009. As you can see it was a very well marked individual with a fair bit of streaking around the eye and head, and some dark markings still on the scapulars and coverts.

It spent a few minutes in the water, before flying a short distance and landing amongst the main gathering of Gulls...

Note the second summer Med in the foreground!

After watching it for about 25 minutes, and just as Ian Mc pulled up, it took to the air and flew off north. Despite looking for it this afternoon, there's been no sign of it since :-(

Today has seen a fair bit of Gull action, with up to 40 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the Estuary and six Med Gulls...

All six of today's Med Gulls - the only adult was the metal ringed bird

The weather conditions really did 'feel' good today for some migration action, but aside ten Sand Martins, a Swallow and two singing Willow Warblers at Lower Bruckland Ponds late morning, it wasn't until I got to Black Hole Marsh mid afternoon that I noticed some actual passage.

Here 20 Sand Martins, several Meadow Pipits and a surprise flock of eight Ringed Plovers flew north over. Afterwards at Seaton Marshes I saw just four hirundines, but one of these was my first House Martin of 2011. It was with two Sand Martins and a Swallow feeding low over the southern part of the reserve.

To complete today's post, the Bewick's Swan is still in the valley, and during a quick sea watch late afternoon, my first Sandwich Tern of the year came in and flew around for a few minutes looking totally lost in the sea mist!...

Sorry about the awful photo, but as you should know by now - it never normally stops me! :-)