Axe Cliff

After two days of meetings it was good to be out again.  Am pleased to have (for a change) timed it with favourable weather condtions too!

At dawn it looked promising for 'vis mig', so I went up to Axe Cliff.  The vis mig was actually disappointing both numbers and variety wise - probably due to a lack of any sorts of wind, and quite heavy cloud cover. All that went into the notebook was:

22 Wood Pigeon

40 Skylark

30 Meadow Pipit

19 alba Wagtail

21 Jackdaw

3 Jay (flew north)

28 Starling

55 Chaffinch

22 Linnet

12 Goldfinch

11 Siskin

1 Redpoll sp.

2 Reed Bunting (landed briefly in Undercliff)

It wasn't just in the sky that there was 'vis mig' though. Looking down into the Undercliff Goldcrest were filtering through west - with two main waves of birds passing.  So exciting to see a migration of this tiny bird in action.  Also down in the Undercliff, a Ring Ouzel appeared for a short while before flying east.  This bird certainly looked like the bird I saw on Monday, but was in a different area...

Maybe a first-winter male as it seems to have a nice black tail

I have been to other spots this morning, but saw nothing better than this Wheatear...

This bird was along harbour road - no Black Redstarts yet (which was what I was looking for!)

When I got home - annoyingly there seemed to be quite a few birds going over the garden (a couple of Redwing, few Skylarks and alba Wagtails). I wonder if I should have spent the morning watching from the garden - maybe I'll try that in the morning if the weather is suitable...

Pec At Last

After going out every day for the last month or so thinking 'we've got to get a Pec today', finally yesterday was the day!  It was found by Sue Smith just before I went to work, so I didn't get chance to see it until early afternoon today.  During a very heavy downpour... 

And the worst photo of the year away goes to....me!

It is actually a very well marked and stunning bird.  For some proper photos of it, look here on Sue Smith's blog.  

You will also notice on Sue's blog the Spotted Crake, which amazingly reappeared yesterday after not being seen for pretty much an entire month! Now that is what you call elusive.

Well what else have I been up to today, well Beer Head was very enticing this morning.  It was also very wet!  Especially as numpty here had forgotten his wellies and coat!  It wasn't really raining until the end of my wander, but it was that foggy mizzle stuff that just gets you drenched without you noticing! 
  

It may have been wet, but it looked 'rare'

Although there wasn't much at all - it did 'feel' really good.  I suppose knowing a Red-throated Pipit had just turned up less than 14 miles away, with a Richard's Pipit yesterday even closer, helped my inspiration.

Hirundines and Meadow Pipits were the only species in any number, with the best bird of the visit being a corking male Redstart in the gorse hedge.  But save for a Wheatear, four Blackcap and two Chiffchaff grounded migrants were at a premium.

So two wet feet, wet clothes and wet everything else for a Redstart. Pants.

I haven't really done any birding at all before today and since my last blog post - although I have seen a few birds.

Friday evening I thought Jess would enjoy a nice walk around Seaton Marshes.  We all know this is a fantastic place to go for a nice romantic stroll...right!? Anyway, there was a surprise flock of Siskins on show. Not just one or two, but a splendid flock of 40, feeding in alders around the Borrow Pit and showing really well - a real surprise.  Apparently there was no sign of them the next morning, so I presume they were just passing through until the rain prompted them to stop off.   

Saturday was another non-birding day, but still produced a good bird.  We had spent the day at Yarak bird of prey centre, where I treated Jess to a half day of raptor flying and handling.  It was great fun, and how fitting that we should finish the day off with a (wild) rare raptor!  At 5pm just as we were turning onto the A3052 from the Honiton road, there was a stunning Red Kite flying low over the field beside the road.  Even from our view (naked eye and from a moving car) it was clearly a bright bird with a very red upper tail - far more so than than usual (presumed) first-summers I see down here in spring. 

To compete this post, just a couple more photos.  A crap one showing one of two Jays that were in the field besides the Farm Gate yesterday...

I just had to include a Jay photo seeing as we are currently experiencing a pretty incredible influx

And a better one of a Mute Swan swimming up the Axe late on Sunday...

Very tranquil

I think I'll spend a bit more time looking at the Swan photo above, as not finding a Yellow-browed on patch is starting to stress me out!  There's got to be one here somewhere...

Magic May

Well except for sea watching, April was pretty forgettable. But I am very pleased to say May has already proved a much better month!

On 1st May (Tuesday) the south coast experienced an amazing fall of migrants. Beer Head gave nowhere near the number of birds as other sites, but I still had an excellent couple of hours up there.

Seaton Bay from Beer Head

It was a bit of an odd one. Some parts of Beer Head were dead - literally nothing to see or hear at all. But every now and then I came across pockets of activity. Whilst walking along one hedge a male Redstart caught my eye, it flew along the hedge a little and perched up beside a Whinchat. I wandered closer, a couple of Whitethroats flew out and then a Lesser Whitethroat started singing!

The full totals of this enjoyable spring fall look like this:

15 Pale-bellied Brent Goose (flew west)
3 Whimbrel (flew west)
5 Dunlin (flew west)
12 Yellow Wagtail (some amongst cattle, others north over)
1 Tree Pipit (flew north west)
16 Wheatear (all together)
1 Whinchat (female)
3 Redstart (2 male)
2 Grasshopper Warbler (both reeling)
15 Blackcap
20 Whitethroat
1 Lesser Whitethroat (one singing along hedge from farm, showing on and off)
35 Willow Warbler
6 Chiffchaff
2 Spotted Flycatcher

As well as the above, there was a strong passage of Swifts, Swallows and House Martins flying north east. None of the 'decent' migrants stayed put long enough to allow photos, except for this Spotted Flycatcher...

A well behaved Spot Fly

After Beer Head, a wander around the Beer Cemetery Fields showed another Lesser Whitethroat (a silent male), six Whitethroat and this female Redstart...

Crap photo - sorry!

A little later in the day, a sweep of the Estuary revealed 20+ Whimbrel, 10 Barwits and 9 Dunlin.

Yesterday (2nd), I set the morning aside for a spot of bird ringing in a private wood near Colyton. First I'll mention the birds I saw and didn't catch. Two Crossbills spent about an hour in the wood feeding in conifers, and a couple of Lesser Redpoll and Siskin flew over. Sounds like autumn doesn't it!!!

I had four nets up, and had great rewards for my efforts. A nice load of warblers included 7 Chiffchaff, 5 Blackcap and this Willow Warbler...

They really are long winged, the longest winged Chiff measured in at 65mm, this Willy measured 73mm

I was quite surprised (maybe I shouldn't have been?) that one of the Blackcaps was a 3J. '3J' means it is a recently fledged juvenile! A quick calculation indicates its mother must have laid her eggs within the first eight days of April!

3J Blackcap

The highlight for me though was trapping and ringing a Jay. I often hear Jays whilst walking around this wood, but I didn't think one was going to end up in one of my mist nets! A simply stunning bird...

I wasn't going to hold it the way I'm holding the Warblers above because I'm sure it would have loved to eat my fingers!

And now to today. And this morning the weather looked good for a beach walk - so that's exactly what I did! It was worthwhile too, and Seaton Beach offered 9 Dunlin, 7 Wheatear and a Grey Plover...

It just wouldn't face me!

After this, a look along the Estuary and up the valley, and a second visit later this afternoon (incl. Black Hole Marsh) gave totals of:

6 Gadwall
2 Shoveler
4 Grey Plover (2 stonking summer plumage males)
14 Ringed Plover
22 Dunlin (so a total 31)
52 Whimbrel
7 Bar-tailed Godwit
5 Black-tailed Godwit
1 Greenshank
2 Common Sandpiper
1 Yellow Wagtail (flew over Coronation Corner)
3 Sedge Warbler

If there's a bit more rain today, I fancy a Turnstone. It certainly feels like a Turnstone-day for us! One the year listers no doubt would like.

Also, whilst driving, a Tawny Owl flew low across the road near Boshill Cross. A bit of a surprise!

And that's that. A great few days :-)