Osprey, Waders and Sunshine!

Well I just have to start this post with what has just happened. Basically every single day for the last three weeks I have been expecting an Osprey, especially during this current spell of amazing sunny weather. They've made land fall east and west of us, and finally just before 18:25 this afternoon all the sky scanning paid off. 

I was actually incredibly fluky to be honest.  I'd just arrived home with Jess, stepped out of the car, heard the gulls alarming, looked up and there was an Osprey cruising east!  Awesome.  By the time I had got Jess on it and reached for my camera it had become distant so I thought this was going to be my only photo of it...

Yes I know that is a Wood Pigeon - look above it!

Thankfully though it dropped down into the river valley, so I legged it inside and upstairs to watch it from the bedroom window.  It was at this point that I really wished I was sat in the Tower Hide, as it caught a fish right in front of there! Gripping. Holding its fish it circled up and up, and then dipped behind the big hill above Axmouth. I wouldn't be surprised if it landed behind there somewhere as it had to eat its catch...

Sorry for the quality but it was distant!

With fish. The adults are so much better at fishing that the autumn immatures!

From appearing to disappearing the Osprey was in view for about eight minutes. This is so typical of a spring Osprey, they are almost always untwitchable, you just have to be in the right place at the right time. If you're not then you've probably missed it.

And now to the waders. The only obvious passage that has been taking place during this clear and sunny weather has been wading bird passage. Every day something new has appeared, and three of these have been year ticks for me.  Today I saw the two Bar-tailed Godwits (one a lovely summer plumaged bird) and a Whimbrel, and since Tuesday a Greenshank has been feeding on Black Hole Marsh (which is still looking amazing and teaming with birds!)...

I love spring Greenshank they are so smart

The other recent regular sighting on Black Hole Marsh during the mornings has been the six Cattle Egrets.  They seem quite happy just sitting around on the islands of the marsh for the first few hours of the day. Most of them have been showing orangey heads for a couple of weeks now, but in recent days they're developing orange on their neck sides and fronts, and their bills are turning increasingly redder. Nice. I do hope they stay a bit longer as full breeding plumage Cattle Egrets are amazing looking things.

Three species of Heron!

Passerine migration has been so dire that I really can't believe it is the 8th of April!  There's basically nothing about but a few Swallows and Willow Warblers.  Still it was nice to visit Axe Cliff for the first time this spring this morning...

Looking towards Beer Head

Surely this qualifies as art?

Seeing as they've been so scarce this spring, two male Wheatears in a ploughed field were a real highlight. Otherwise as with recent days there was just a few Willow Warblers and four Swallows.

Butterflies have really benefited from this warm weather. In the last week I have seen so many Orange-tips, Peacocks, Holly Blues, Specked Woods, Small Tortoiseshells, plus a few Painted Ladies and Green-veined Whites. Still waiting for my first Odonata of the year though, I really hope it is a Vagrant Emperor...

Little Gull Interrupts Sea Watch

With a passage of Velvet Scoters through Portland over the last few days (but nowhere else - not seen anything off here at all lately!) the increased southerly wind meant I was back at the seafront this morning. Well as soon as I could be anyway as we had a new washing machine delivered this morning, which amazingly arrived prior to 07:30 - impressive!

The sea watch was briefly interrupted when Ian Mc rang at about 08:45 with news of a first-winter Little Gull on Colyford Scrape.  The last year I did a year list I missed out on this species, so I hot footed it straight to the Farm Gate at Axmouth where the Little Gull was viewable distantly on the scrape - exactly where I saw my last one last year...

Distant phone-scoped pic

Also saw my first two Swallows of the year here, which I picked up whilst scanning for the Little Gull that briefly went missing when I first arrived.  There's got to be a slight chance the Little Gull is the same one that's been on Bowling Green Marsh (Exe Estuary) for a few weeks, as there's no sign of it there today. If it is hopefully that gorgeous Bonaparte's Gull will follow it east...

I was keen to get back to the sea as quickly as possible, although the first half hour of the sea watch was completely dead, the wind turned from south to south west, and after that a few more bits and pieces began passing.  Full totals for 08:00 - 08:45, 09:00 - 09:45 were; 

31 Common Scoter 

1 Red-throated Diver

1 Diver sp.

1 Razorbill

1 Curlew

11 Sandwich Tern

So although it wasn't a big haul, the regular small groups of passing Common Scoters were more than enough to keep me there. Sadly no white secondaries in with them though. It was nice to see my first Sandwich Terns of the year too, with a further four west at 13:45 this afternoon.

Yesterday Knot was added to my Patchwork Challenge year list, with one keeping the Grey Plover company on Black Hole Marsh in the morning. Good to get that one on the list nice and early in the year.

Slow Day, Busy Evening

I have basically spent today waiting for an Osprey. The weather conditions have been absolutely perfect and so many have arrived into the UK today, but I drew a blank. Not even a token Marsh Harrier.  

Over all today has felt quiet.  A few Sand Martins and Chiffchaffs dotted about, my first Willow Warbler of the year singing in Axmouth which was nice, and amazingly a patch first!  Ok, I can't actually tick it, but it was novel seeing a Swan Goose with the Canada Goose flock for most of the day...

Massive bill!

Bizarrely there seems to have been an influx/breakout of Swan Geese in the last week, with replies on twitter informing me of singles at Lodmoor and Langford (Wiltshire/Hampshire border) in the last few days. Odd. Even odder was that people were replying to my tweet with the word "gripping!". Really!??

I am really glad I kept plugging away today despite the apparent lack of birds, because I had an excellent hour out tonight. Although still no Osprey!

Three Little Ringed Plovers had been on Colyford Marsh all day, and tonight they were joined by a fourth bird and a Water Pipit.  It's hardly surprising to come across an Axe Water Pipit in late March, but in summer plumage (although this one was only half way there) they are always a delight to see.  The total Axe Little Ringed Plover count this evening was six, as just after seeing the four on Colyford Marsh I nipped around to Black Hole Marsh where two were showing well (and had been seen earlier in the day).

There was one further surprise to the day, when at 19:45 (oh how I love BST!) four Goosanders came floating down river. A drake and three females, which you can just about make out here...

A three year tick day. Excellent!

Lastly a bit of late news from yesterday, with the six Cattle Egrets south over Black Hole Marsh at 19:20. Nice to know they are still around, but how much longer will they stay?

Iceland Gull

Well this is uncanny!

Last week I blogged about how the large numbers of wildfowl in the valley annoyingly contained only the usual Axe species, then the next morning I went out and there were three Pintail. Last night I blogged about how I was really expecting a scarce gull yesterday afternoon considering the gulls numbers and weather conditions but failed, and at 08:30 off Seaton Hole this morning...

A flipping Iceland Gull! Apologies for the photo, I stupidly left my trusty Nikon P900 in my car so had to resort to my mobile phone camera. The light was truly awful as well, I first spotted it as it drifted out of the line of sunlight, albeit not all that far out, and it didn't move far from that spot...

Well until it took flight about two minutes later. It flew really close in west with three other gulls towards Beer Beach, but I couldn't see it there half an hour later.

Thanks to the light, and the fact it took me ages to line my phone camera up with my scope and the bird to get these few record shots (why is that SO hard!??), I didn't really obtain the best view of it, but I saw nothing to suggest it was anything other than a juvenile/first-winter bird...

Hopefully it hangs around for others to see, and I wouldn't mind a better look myself. But still, I'm well chuffed with it, and what a cracking PWC2017 year tick!

A Trio of Tails

So yesterday I mentioned how the excellent numbers of wildfowl on the flood water in the valley didn't contain anything other than usual Axe species. But this morning...

Three truly beautiful drake Pintail on Bridge Marsh. Happy days.

Seawatching and Watching What I See

I was hoping to be able to call this post 'The Ton', but I've been stuck on 99 species for 2017 Patchwork Challenge since Sunday morning, when a lone Great Northern Diver flew distantly west past the sea front.  

I have found my increased effort on the sea this year really interesting.  Every day I'm seeing good numbers of Razorbills, Gannets, along with a few Red-throated Divers and Kittiwakes. Most days I see at least a couple of Common Scoter too, but sometimes more.  What really interests me are the seemingly random spikes of passage. For example all last week I didn't see a single Brent Goose, except for Thursday morning when 32 flew west in three flocks, including my first 3+ Pale-bellied Brents of the year.  That's 32 Brents that would have gone through unnoticed if I wasn't sea watching.  

This morning was a beautiful one, but viewing conditions were tricky with haze and bad light. There didn't seem to be much moving anyway, unlike yesterday morning when a gentle south easterly breeze was enough to get some pretty decent passage going.  Sadly I only had about twenty minutes, but Richard (known to fellow tweeters as @cork_head) spent far longer sea watching and noted good numbers of Common Scoter, a few Brents and several Red-throated Divers.  I was there long enough though to completely ruin my day...

Soon after my arrival I picked up four Common Scoter flying distantly west. I had followed them in the scope for some time when they were caught up by three smaller ducks also flying west. Despite the distance I was pretty happy they were Goldeneye, a cracking patch year tick, but after watching them for a short while something didn't sit right with me. The shape of the white in wing of the male just didn't see right, I could never recall seeing such a distinctive 'oval' of white on a Goldeneye before. And it was just as they were heading away that the thought of Smew entered my head.... I tweeted and texted birders further west but sadly nothing came of it.

I can't tell you how much I wish I had picked them up sooner/they had been closer/I'd looked more at the females. Even if they were 'just' Goldeneye it's a good year tick missed, but I have a feeling I let an absolutely stonking year tick go by....

Back to this morning and I haven't seen much despite a lot of wandering around in this lovely still and sunny weather, except for the Cattle Egret still in situ at Colcombe Farm in Colyton. I have to say I'm amazed it is still alone (except for its Little cousins). I was expecting to have a small flock of Cattle Egrets here by now, but maybe they are still to come?  It's coming into roost at Axmouth at about 17:00 now, when I first found it on 11th December it came in at 16:20 which just shows how much lighter the evenings are getting :-). I have to be honest and say thoughts of spring are already entering my head space, even more so after seeing these Snowdrops last week...

Being out more is making me notice much more about the local birding scene, which is nice.  Stood at Black Hole Marsh until well after dusk the other night (dipping Barn Owls!) showed three roosts. The Starlings have been roosting on Colyford Marsh all winter and number several thousand. Pied Wagtails are roosting on a small island in front of the Island Hide, but best of all are the several hundred Redwings currently roosting behind 'Walters Mound'.  It's interesting that Redwings arrive to roost quite unlike Starlings and Pied Wagtails, the latter often sit up before going down, and we all know what Starlings get up to in the sky before bed.  But the Redwings come in much later when it is almost completely dark, and they zip in low at speed often in decent sized flocks. 

Being out so much has also shown me what species of birds are having a good winter. The current winners include Cetti's Warbler (I've seen/heard eight different individuals here so far this year, and haven't been to Colyford Common once), Water Rail (squeals everywhere!), Chiffchaff, Goldcrest and Bullfinch. Man there are loads of Bullies about!  It's not such a good winter for other species of finch though, which I suppose isn't a surprise after last autumn which was so poor for finch vis mig. This year I'm yet to see Siskin, Redpoll or Brambling, and not just on my PWC patch, anywhere in East Devon! Other surprising gaps on my PWC year list are Nuthatch, Blackcap and Barn Owl. Hopefully 'the ton' isn't far away...

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.

Frosty Morning

What a stunning morning, just what winter should be like. It started off here at -4 when I headed out at 8am, and was still just -1 at 10am. 

Birding-wise today was one of those days you want on a New Years Day bird race.  There's some resident species that although are probably always here, aren't always easy to find.  And these are even harder when considering my PWC patch is vastly smaller than the Patch.  But I was on it this morning.

A dog walk up and back the one lane in Axmouth that is on my PWC patch just wouldn't stop delivering with Green Woodpecker, Kestrel, Jay (two), Stock Dove, Marsh Tit (two), Red-legged Partridge, Treecreeper and Yellowhammer all added to the year list. I was also surprised to see a Water Rail and a Little Egret here in a tiny wooded stream, presumably birds slightly dispersed by the cold weather.

Prior to this Lower Bruckland Ponds gave me another tricky resident year tick, with two Mistle Thrush. And a sea watch was worthwhile first thing (despite the 'sea fog') with groups of five and two Brent Geese east and three Great Crested Grebes on the sea.

So all in all a pretty successful morning. Thoroughly enjoyable too which I suppose is most important.

Yesterday the only patch birding I managed was a 40 mins sea watch first thing. Pretty quiet, although two year ticks came in the form of two Red-throated Divers and a Common Scoter past.

The rest of yesterday was spent off patch with Jess and Honey, but I must just mention our trip to Topsham...

We basically went to the Rec at Topsham to eat a doughnut.  But came away having seen a Yellow-browed Warbler, a Long-tailed Duck, two Goldeneye, a few Avocet and Red-breasted Mergansers, and heaps of common wading birds. Now that's what I call a good doughnut!

Mid pm edit: I finally ran into the wintering Black Redstart this afternoon, on a house roof near Axmouth Yacht Club. Far more of a surprise though were a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers that flew east offshore just after 14:00. RB Mergs are just about annual on patch, but you could easily go a year without seeing one here. Bonus!
 

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!

Patchwork Challenge 2017

As we near the end of autumn 2016, the over whelming feeling I have regarding my birding is of frustration. A lot of leg work on the patch did give me some nice sights and a few finds, but I really feel like I deserved more. 

We have such a massive patch that in reality I don't think we could ever say we have it well covered. Having a big patch is good in some respects don't get me wrong, I love having so many different habitats on offer, it means there's always somewhere to go whatever the weather. But you cannot be everywhere at once, and on the good days you really want to be! It can make an exciting day, frustrating. So many good birds must go through here unseen, let's be honest if a Black Stork can sneak though then so could a hundred rare passerines!

At least 8 Yellow-browed Warblers have been found on patch this autumn, but how many were really here?

So next year I thought I would try a different tactic, instead of covering lots of ground rather infrequently, I am going to cover limited ground much more thoroughly.  And I have found the perfect means of doing this...

Patchwork Challenge has been running for many years now, and watching it from the outside since its start has been great fun. Patch birders all across the UK submit their monthly patch totals, and they are compared with others in many different ways. There seems to be great banter within the 'players' too and a genuine interest in each others progress.  One of the rules though is your patch cannot be bigger than 3km² - the Axe patch is about 45km²!!

So where will my 3km patch be? Well I have put a lot of thought into this, and at first I was going to pick a nice coastal strip from Beer Head to Branscombe. But the one thing we have that really sets us apart from most other coastal sites is an Estuary. It may not be big, but it is our greatest asset so I would be daft not to include this.

Gav entered Patchwork Challenge (PWC) about three or four years ago, and if you ask me he picked the perfect patch. A neat square following the three major roads surrounding the river valley (Seaton Road/A3052/B3172) . I was going to do the same, but after much thought have decided to tweak it, basically for my convenience and enjoyment. At the end of the day birding is a hobby, so why limit the enjoyment it gives me? These are my tweaks and why:

Living within your Patchwork Challenge patch gives so many benefits! So I have pulled the boundary out a little to include my house.

I own a dog, and so much of my time outside is walking her. Within Gav's PWC patch there is really limited dog walking potential, as quite rightly all the reserves are dog-free areas. I have stretched the boundary to include the whole length of the beach from the river mouth to Seaton Hole, a little way up Seaton Hole valley, and the main road through Axmouth up to Springhead. These are all places I walk Honey regularly.

I have no bird ringing sites within Gav's PWC patch, which is a pity as I do not want my bird ringing to suffer from my PWC effort. Lower Bruckland Ponds is one of my best ringing sites, so I have encompassed that into my PWC patch.

'Vis mig' is one of my favourite birding pastimes, but down in the valley where there is no height and no pinch points, there is simply nowhere good for vis migging. To fulfill my vis mig needs I have included a bit of Axe Cliff in my PWC patch, the best vis mig watch point on the patch. This also gives me some nice stubble fields to kick in the autumn, and the sycamore lined road up to the Golf course (although I've never seen anything here!).

So with all the above in mind, here is my 2017 Patchwork Challenge patch (measuring 2.989km²)...

One thing I do want to stress though is my patch will always be my patch. Beer Head will always be on my patch, as will Branscombe mouth, Colyton, etc. And trust me if a Waxwing is seen at any of these places I will be there quicker than anyone! But for 2017, I just want to see if concentrating on a smaller area makes a difference. In my blog posts next year to try and keep things clear I will call the patch, the patch, and my Patchwork Challenge patch, the PWC patch.

And yes I haven't forgotten my first child is due in mid May! This I am sure will hamper my progress, but who knows, maybe the prospect of a PWC year tick will be exactly what is needed to encourage me to put my boots on and head out after a disturbed night, and not just back to bed...