So here's the original photo, which I gave people 15 seconds to look at before making their guesstimates of how many Lapwing are on the shingle island...
A total of fifteen replies gave answers varying from 226 to 900. And a quick calculation of these revealed the mean answer to be 496, which is precisely 29 less than the correct answer of 525...
Thanks to all who got involved with the fun and well done to the closest two; @hjwright99 with 521 and @alexmxck with 520. You win exactly nothing, but hold your heads high....well unless you cheated of course!
I took this photo on Saturday when there were at least 1,500 Lapwing on Black Hole Marsh, it was completely crammed full of them...
Along with a Greenshank, about 30 Snipe and 26 Dunlin...
Roosting Dunlin
Off the beach there's still four Common Scoter, plus yesterday a group of five Red-throated Divers flew west whilst I happened to be watching (well chatting to Roger actually!). I have been checking the gulls on the Estuary whenever I've had the chance, sadly no further sign of Gav's Caspian with nothing else of note either.
What a day. Truly a day to remember. Here in East Devon we have seen the most significant snow fall that I've ever witnessed (have lived here since 1991) and the reaction from the birds was completely mesmerising.
With only light snow at dawn, I jumped in my car and had a scoot around the Estuary. The tide was in and there wasn't much new obvious, although a pair of Gadwall north of Coronation Corner were new arrivals and new for the year...
A distant pair of Gadwall with Wigeon
Whilst I was out I noticed a few flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover flying over, but it wasn't until I returned home that I realised there was actually a sustained passage of these two species taking place. A watch from my back garden 08:20 - 11:10 (whilst I wasn't needed indoors!) gave the following incredible totals (all west);
So not many passerines, presumably because they were still able to find enough food as we hadn't had any significant snow fall by this time, but the Goldies and Lapwings were just incredible. Flock after flock after flock, many very low, some pausing briefly in nearby fields, but all clearly on the hunt for non-frozen ground. An unforgettable passage. What's even more amazing is I would have missed so many flocks, I know there were flocks passing out over the sea which I can't see from my house two miles inland. Not to mention the fact that flocks were still passing over right up to late this afternoon, so the true numbers of Lapwing and Golden Plover that have flown west over here today is probably completely mind boggling, If I had a stab in the dark guess I'd say tens of thousands of Lapwing and maybe ten thousand Golden Plover have flown west over here today.
Lapwing
Golden Plover
Golden Plover
And to give a bit of a flavour of this incredible passage, here's a short video clip of some Golden Plover passing over. Love their mournful call...
The time was now about 11:40, and the heavy snow still wasn't in. So I jumped in my car and gave the Estuary another look, and I'm glad I did because greeting me at the lower end of the Estuary was this...
A Spoonbill!
A rather grumpy looking Spoonbill at that- I don't blame it mind!
Spoonbill head on to the cold east wind
What a beaut!
Our first Spoonbill of the year, and not a species I was expecting to see today. Two Avocet were another bonus that briefly dropped in (Ian Mc found these), but despite excellent numbers of gulls, still no white-winger for Steve this year...
So many gulls!
Then the snow really came in. And it didn't stop until about 8pm. Incredible scenes...
The Co-op car park in Seaton
The Jurassic Play Park in Seaton
From the moment it started snowing heavily, wherever I went GoldenPlover, Lapwing, Snipe, Fieldfare, Redwing were flying around. I even had a Grey Plover fly low west over the middle of Seaton! But the day ended with a sad note for me, and a reminder that just how difficult this weather is for our birds. All this Goldcrest wanted was to find somewhere warm and dry to rest up after I watched it battle against the wind and snow flying through the middle of town...
This little guy was clearly in real trouble
I felt so sorry for this bird
A timely reminder that however much enjoyment and excitement us birders get from these incredible cold weather movements, at the same time countless numbers of birds will undoubtedly be losing their lives...
Apologies for the lack of blog posts - when I've been on this laptop within the last few days I've had much more important things to think about! I have been updating the Devon Birding Blog when I could though.
So, I hope you are ready to read one monster blog post covering the last FOUR days! It is worth reading as I have seen lots of nice stuff. The best day was today, and that's right at the end. So you may as well read the rest of the rubbish between that and this....
MONDAY
Spent the first couple of hours of light at Colyford Common - it was freezing! Three Ruff flew low north west over at 8am, and amongst the frost were one Water and 11 Rock Pipits and a Green Sandpiper.
A look along the A3052 revealed 13 Golden Plovers (one by the pig fields, 12 beside Boshill Cross). All day small flock of Lapwing were flying south down the valley and presumably out to sea.
A good look along the Estuary and over Colyford and Seaton Marshes produced wildfowl totals of: 12 Brent Geese (the same flock as a couple of weeks ago), c450 Wigeon, 380 Teal (a good count for us), 11 Shoveler and six Gadwall...
Four drakes - Gadwall aren't common here
Shoveler on ice from Seaton Hide
Two adult Med Gulls were on the Estuary and a look at Lower Bruckland Ponds showed no unusual ducks, but a Cetti's Warbler was my first ever there.
Tuesday
This was a day of limited birding for me. First thing I had to carry out my monthly bird survey in private woodland near Colyton. I was surprised to see quite a bit of snow still on the ground (bearing in mind we hadn't had any at all in Seaton!)...
There were even some light snow showers
I flushed four Woodcock during my walk round, which was nice! Even nicer though was a lovely flock of ten Lesser Redpolls.
Small flocks of these just oooooze with character - I love 'em!
I returned home, and stayed here for a good while. Early afternoon though a text from Dad tempted me out down to the Estuary to see three Goosanders...
The same three Gav saw on the sea the previous day maybe?
Whilst here, out of nowhere, this appeared....
...a sleeping adult Spoonbill! For much better pics of it click HERE
Later, a further check of the Estuary produced five lovely Ruff just north of Coronation Corner, four Med Gulls and a 'weirdo' Gull. At first I thought my 'weirdo' Gull was a LBBGxHerring, but it may just be a weird yellow-legged Herring Gull. I took this photo at 16:15; it was almost dark, with an exposure time of 1/4!...
Its legs were yellow - just not bright yellow like an adult YLG. Also note slightly darker mantle shade, slighter size and intense head streaking
Tuesday didn't end well! The alarm at work wouldn't set, so I didn't get out of there until 23:30!
Wednesday
Up for work at 7am, then after a short three hour shift a sweep of the Estuary showed a Knot and the Spoonbill still. I then returned home to bury myself in my laptop once more! I really should have had a kip - 'cuz I was knackered and was due back at work at 17:00. Yes - a lovely split shift!
I got fed up with my laptop, so mid afternoon had another look about. Couldn't find anything different - well that was until I had a look at the small flock of Swans opposite Stedcombe House at 16:00. There sat an adult Bewick's Swan...
Nice!
At first I presumed it was the same bird we had last winter - that often frequented the same spot. But its bill pattern gave the game away - quite different from last winter's bird. Here's a closer pic of today's bird, with a head shot of last winter's bird cut and pasted in...
See, quite different; and it's even obvious on photos as crap as these!!
Today - what a day!!
I woke up to this...
White out!!!
Our road was an ice rink - so I knew I couldn't go out in my car. As I was tucking into my Cheerios, out the front room windows I noticed a small flock of Lapwings fly west. So I kitted myself up and headed out...to the front garden!
Bloody hell it was BRILLIANT! When I started I really didn't think I was going to witness a cold weather movement on the scale that I did!! I watched and counted 08:40 - 12:00.
Most of the birds were flying west, except thrushes and Starlings which were mostly flying north east. So if I haven't put a direction after a species assume this is the way it was going.
I can see the sea from my place, and I could see ducks flying over it. But I only counted ducks which were obviously flying over land - this gave me two garden ticks!! Ok, so this is what I saw....
22 Shelduck 140 Wigeon (50 north) 21 Teal (6 north) 4 Shoveler (in with a flock of Shelduck - garden tick!) 6 Tufted Duck (a mega garden tick, 3 of each sex; they flew west but soon came back east) 1,453Lapwing (the largest single flock was of 70 birds - a well impressive passage) 1 Golden Plover 1 Curlew 30 Common Snipe (a few of these flew north, have only ever seen a couple of these from the garden before today!) 1 Redshank (flew north - second record for the garden) 5 Buzzard (all singles - and all were properly 'on the move') 2 Kestrel 90 Wood Pigeon 1 Mistle Thrush 63 Fieldfare 259 Redwing 86 Starling 1,154 Skylark (biggest flock was of 230 birds - saw even more later in the day as well!) 14 Meadow Pipit 40 Linnet
There were probably loads more finches involved in this movement, but separating 'vis mig' birds to birds moving from garden to garden from where I watched is almost impossible.
Well what a morning! I really wasn't expecting that!! Here's a couple of pics...
Lapwing flocks
Snipe
After lunch, I gambled and got in my car! Thankfully I made it in one piece to the sea front, and spent 13:35 - 14:35 looking out to sea.
First of all, Skylarks were still moving. During this watch, and during the rest of the day I counted another 930 over west - with several flocks well out sea. For me then, that makes a day total of 2,084Skylarks west - epic!!!!
Now to the sea, and it was clear wildfowl were also well on the move. On the sea there was a large flock of Wigeon, Teal with a few Gadwall. Now and then though, some would leave this flock and fly upriver, but also several flocks came in from the south and the east and joined them.
Wildfowl quality came in the form of three Eider on the sea (1 immature drake) and a nice flock of 16 Pochard and three Tufted Duck which flew in from the south, then west, then east, then west, then east, then finally away west...
Any fresh water diving duck is a rarity here!
Further interest over the same came from seven Red-throated Divers (4 on the sea and 3 west) and 12 Great Crested Grebes (easily my highest count so far this winter).
It was very hard to tear myself away from this action - but I did and took a look along the Estuary. A female Tufted Duck and 40 Dunlin being the only note worthy birds.
Had a nice surprise at the Farm Gate though. Funnily enough I was scoping up the field were Gav had just found a few Woodlark, when I suddenly realised I could hear Woodlarks! Two flew low north (and slightly west) over Norcombe's field - result! I wonder if these two and Gav's are from the wintering population that normally resides in the stubble fields above Axmouth.
A quick stop up the road showed the Bewick's Swan was still present with our flock of 12 BrentGeese.
Seaton Marshes was pretty much my last port of call - and the lagoon was smothered in ducks! Nothing out of the ordinary though. There wasn't much on the Borrow Pit either, but a single Grey Plover flew over heading north east. Ian Mc had seen one earlier on the Estuary, but as this had come from the direction of the town I presume it was another.
So what an excellent day indeed! Phew! Now time to ruin it and go to work. I do have one last picture for you though, taken during my visit to Seaton Marshes...
He was searching non stop for food!
Well I hope you enjoyed reading this mammoth post! I wonder what tomorrow will bring....
