Seaton Hole Gull Roost

Came back from a family day out today (more on that later) at about 4:30pm, and headed straight to the river for a last gasp look at the gulls.  The tide was high however and as a result numbers weren't great, so I nipped to Seaton Hole. Well I say 'nipped' but I actually ended up spending almost an hour there!

This was my first dusk visit to Seaton Hole this winter, and the gull roost was really impressive.  Numbers were constantly building right up to dusk, and the main small gull flock was pretty close in (probably due to the south west wind).

A small part of the flock

Although there were few large gulls (most seemed to head around the corner to Beer), among the small gulls were 680+ Common Gull and by the end of my stint 56 Med Gulls.  There's at least seven just in this shot...

I thought this was a good scenario to test the capabilities of the P900 out, as I was wondering if I did manage to pick something subtle out like a Bonaparte's or Ring-billed Gull, what kind of quality image would I be able to get?

This is a no zoom shot...

This is with about 25x optical zoom (with a single gull circled)...

And this is at about 95x zoom (so using full optical zoom of 83x with some digital zoom as well)...

Yes that's the Med Gull that's circled in the above pic, which is also in theory in the shot above that.  So to answer my own question, yes, I would be able to get a more than identifiable pic if there was a Ross's Gull sat out there with the Black-heads!  Seriously impressive kit. Especially when you consider the poor light conditions as well as the lumpy sea.

Rewinding a few hours, we'd enjoyed a lovely day on Dartmoor and at Stover CP.  As ever it was a lovely walk around the lake, and good to see Mandarin have really made themselves at home here.  A couple of years ago they'd often be around, but hidden away in quiet corners, but today...

Harry feeding the ducks! 

There were nine in total

Love 'em or hate 'em - they are lookers!

There were a few Tufted Duck out on the lake, no Goosanders today but a single female Pochard...

Don't see many of these being an Axe birder!

There were plenty of Siskin around in the trees as well, along with the usual woodland-species that always seem abundant here.

Patch Pochard

It was nice to see the first frost of the autumn this morning, the windscreen needed a good scrape first thing. And this unprecedented scene on the Borrow Pit (Seaton Marshes) not long after 9am complimented the weather conditions perfectly...

Patch gold!

As I've said before on this blog, any diving duck here is notable. Tufted Duck are annual on patch with 1-5 records a year. Pochard however has gone from being almost as regular as Tufties to a real patch rarity, and we have no idea why as the habitat hasn't changed (probably actually got better!).  The last Pochard here was three years ago, when I had a female flying around over the Estuary on 31st October 2013. Before that you've got to go back another two years for the previous record.

Drake Pochard (left), drake Tufted Duck (right).

Prior to this excitement the day was already a good one as I had seen a gorgeous Firecrest at Lower Bruckland Ponds. Although this site is an excellent one for warblers all year, and good for Goldcrests too, this was amazingly my first record of Firecrest here.  Firecrest numbers have been increasing annually on the south coast for quite a few years now, but this autumn has been a really poor one. This was my first of the autumn, and I don't think anyone else has seen one on patch.

The only thing I need to mention about yesterday was the first wave of Wood Pigeon passage, the clear skies and chill in the air meant it was almost inevitable. From where I was (Beer Head) I didn't see any flocks bigger than 600 birds, with most being of 100-300, so it wasn't a massive passage but good to see nonetheless.  I also had singles of Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer west, but surprisingly little else.

Let's hope the prediction from the Met Office of a cold winter comes good. The Waxwings continue to arrive on the east coast with a load more reported today, so all we need now is a nice bit of snow and ice to ensure they venture down here.

Wonderful Wildfowl

This is going to be a very duck orientated post, as pretty much everything I've seen that's notable has been a form of wildfowl!!

We are a week into Novemember, and I am at 185 for the patch year list. I'm going to have to be honest now and say I think 200 this year is impossible. There's only been 190 species recorded by everyone on patch so far in 2013, so I reckon even if I saw 100% of all the species seen on patch by the end of the year then I still wouldn't be at 200! Oh well. I can't wait to see who wins the competition though - I won't stop trying!

On the last day of October I was on 184, so what was number 185?  On Monday morning, a look along the Estuary was made a lot better when I picked up a Pochard flying up, and then back down the valley north of Coronation Corner. It appeared to land on the river somewhere around Colyford Marsh, but a look from the Farm Gate afterwards failed to locate it.  Pochard has become a great rarity here, and this was the first record for the patch in about two years!!

Just before the Pochard excitement, a sea watch revealed almost as much excitement with three Velvet Scoters. First of all, two flew in from the east and landed distantly off Beer. Then just a few minutes later I picked up another one, on its own, flying west far out.  I love Velvet Scoters so was well happy with these, and it certainly made up for the lack of anything else on the move at sea.

Going back to the end of the previous week, I had a female Pintail and drake Shoveler on the morning of the 1st. These were on the Estuary along with the lingering Curlew Sandpiper (which I last saw on Monday 4th) and Ruff. The Spotted Redshank is still knocking around too.

Back to the sea, and on Tuesday morning a Red-breasted Merganser and two Brent Geese were the highlights. With a look at Lower Bruckland Ponds showing the continued presence of the two Tufted Ducks. A nice surprise were calling Bearded Tits from the Farm Gate, I didn't see them though so have no idea how many or where exactly they were!! Possibly the same birds that Fraser found on Black Hole Marsh last month?

A seawatch yesterday morning didn't show any wildfowl of note, but it did show plenty of Kittiwakes! Sadly though variety was lacking - and I still haven't seen a 2013 patch Little Gull!

Then there's today. All was quiet, then this thing flew in and joined the local Shelduck... (apologies for the poor photos - it was very distant)

.....WTF!??

I knew it wasn't Ruddy, Cape or Australian Shelduck, but whatever it was it was STUNNING! Really gorgeous deep velvety red, and in flight it looked superb with flashes of bright white!

The nearest I can find online is this http://www.flickr.com/groups/hybridbirds/discuss/72157601886415063/ which is a CommonxRuddy Shelduck hybrid. A new one for me!

Steering this post away from the duck-theme, I've just heard a few Crossbills calling from the back garden. Sadly I couldn't see them but they were flying west.

A New Blog Is Born

Well it is a rough old day out there....I love it!

Am very impressed with the Pom counts coming from south Devon - this morning though a sea watch showed very little was passing Seaton!

I've also had a couple of looks along the Estuary today. I couldn't see Ian Mcs Avocet, but did have a drake Pochard floating about north of Coronation Corner, and waders on show included five Barwits and three Dunlin.

Now time to rewind to Saturday, and I'll start with the moths in my trap. It was a very poor catch, with only 11 moths of 8 species. But one of them was my second ever Clancy's Rustic...

Pleasingly I knew what it was as soon as I turned over the egg box

I then spent the morning with the Axe Estuary Ringing Group - and this is where the new blog comes in! I have set up a brand spanking new blog for the group, there's a link to it to the right of this post, but here's a link too... axeestuaryringinggroup.blogspot.com

You'll find the details about what we caught on there, but I was very pleased when I flushed a Jack Snipe from the wet area at the north end of Colyford Common, there were at least seven Snipe in there too. I got excellent flight views of the Jack - they really are small aren't they!!?

2011 Birding

Here it is, my first post about 2011 birding, bet you are excited.....!?

00:00:01 on Jan 1st my year list was precisely zero... and at 10am it was STILL zero as I was still in bed asleep!! I did soon get up after this time though and ventured out on patch....

Five Velvet Scoters had been seen off the sea front earlier in the day, so I headed here first. I was pleasantly surprised to see there were now eight Velvet Scoters loosely associating with the flock of 42 Common Scoter - all female-types (the Velvets not the Commons!). Two Brent Geese flew in from the east and landed with the Scoters, a Jan 1st bonus! I also logged three Red-throated Divers and several Razorbills.

The Greylag Goose was still opposite Stedcombe Vale (and still is today), and a scope of the viewable Swans in fields between Musbury and Colyford revealed the continued presence of our adult Bewick's Swan. Lower Bruckland Pond revealed an incredible array of diving ducks (for us anyway!). Three days later 14 Tufted Duck and two Pochard were still there...

Nine Tufties on top, two Pochard and two more Tufties below

A big BIG bummer on the 1st though was missing the patch's first Waxwings, with nine briefly on the edge of Seaton before flying towards Colyford. A nice Ruff opposite Axmouth FC the following day made things a little better.....oh who am I trying to kid!? Did it heck!!! Bloody Waxwings!!!

I've also managed to miss a patch Bittern already this year, but whilst looking out for it yesterday evening from the farm gate a total of five adult Med Gulls flew down river to roost. A red head Goosander headed the same way, but much slower - swimming all the way! The eight Velvet Scoters were still present on Thursday and to complete my patch sightings for the year so far, two male Pochard were on the Estuary today.

Back to Waxwings, and I have wasted so many hours cruising around our local housing estates with my windows down and my eyes looking everywhere else but at the road! I have totally failed, and am really getting frustrated by it now! So frustrated in fact that when I had to pop to Exeter to complete a bird survey a few days ago, I went to get my 'Waxwing-fix' at Marsh Barton. This is exactly what I have wanted to see during my efforts on patch...

Even from two miles away, it is just so obvious as to what these are - there is just 'something' about the way Waxwings sit up like this

Anyway, I very much enjoyed watching these 29 stunners, despite the fact the weather was totally shite...

They spent 99% of the time I was there sat up in the tall bare tree, and only 1% of the time on the berries!

And that's how my birding year looks so far! Now time for bed....

Larking About In The Night

Did my last woodland bird survey of the year this morning, in private woodland near Colyton. This is one of the best sites for Woodcock on patch - so with large numbers about at the moment I was looking forward to a record count....I saw none! I'm guessing the snow last week displaced them, and they haven't found their way back yet!

On the whole the woods were rather quiet, but a super flock of 70 Siskins kept me entertained for a while. There were at least three Lesser Redpolls in with them too.

The nosie they made was awesome!

A look along the Estuary showed the three Pochard and the two female Tufted Ducks still, 66 Dunlin and a Grey Plover. Off Seaton Hole late afternoon I could see a flock of 41 Common Scoters in the gloom, all but a couple being female-types.

After i finished work at 10:15 tonight, whilst walking to my car I could hear a couple of Skylarks calling from the night sky above - bizarre! They just seemed to be circling around too - maybe confused by the fog!?

A Good Day For Ducks

I spent the morning doing some Bird Atlas work on my tetrads near Dunkeswell. The weather wasn't great - but the birding was, with two Crossbills and 8+ Brambling being the highlights.

I was back home early afternoon and headed out birding fairly promptly.

A sweep of the valley showed there were a few ducks about, with three Pochard (two drakes), three Tufted Duck (one drake) and 10+ Gadwall on the Estuary. I took my time and carefully counted (and checked!) the mass of Wigeon this afternoon, and surprised even myself with a final count of 1,800 birds! Most of these were opposite Stedcombe in two large clumps...

Clump one - the biggest bunch

Clump two

There were also smaller flocks on both Colyford and Seaton Marshes. Back to diving ducks, and a fourth Tufted Duck was at (the still surprisingly icy) Lower Bruckland Ponds...

They are so small compared with the monster Mallards!

I wish I was now writing about the success I enjoyed with my hour long Waxwing hunt around town....but I can't :-(

So, how was Christmas for everyone? I had a lovely few days - and it was nice that family, friends and love was the main focus of it. Just how Christmas should be. Mind you, I couldn't help but being over-joyed by this present...

Yes - that is the largest carton of Jaffa Cakes ever!!!

And I couldn't help but feeling stuffed after eating this....

There is turkey in there somewhere!

I shall finish with yet another Redwing photo, sorry...

I am just so pleased all the snow and ice has thawed so that these guys can get back to where they belong!

Cold Weather Birding

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)
1,453 Lapwing (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 2,084 Skylarks 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 Brent Geese.

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....

My Favourite!

Dropped my car off at the local garage this morning - then proceeded to check some of the less visited parts of the patch on foot.

I had a fine reward with a cracking Firecrest in bushes alongside Axmouth Harbour. It was very vocal - calling almost constantly - which made following it a lot easier! There were lots of Skylarks and Siskins passing over too, but I actually saw surprisingly few. I think they were going over very high in the clear skies.

I got my car back at 1pm, and spent the next hour out.

On the flood opposite Axmouth FC there were two larger Pipits; one is clearly a bog-standard Water Pipit (seen by Brett earlier in the day). The other though is a tricky one, although it has white outers, nice pale wing bars and pale-looking legs, over all it just looks too 'dirty'. The jury is still out on it, but I reckon it could be a littoralis. I want to see it in better light really.

Lower Bruckland Ponds didn't produce a Yellow-browed Warbler, but it did produce a drake Pochard! Now for some reason Brett didn't seem very interested in twitching this patch goodie - can't think why! I thought it certainly warranted a photo...

Nice!

Am pleased that the Sandpiper is still gracing us - and would like to thank everyone for their congratulation messages! I (and I'm sure many other people) would very much like to thank Fraser and Doug for doing such a fantastic job in wardening the site....and what a cracking site it is :-)

Good Weather For Ducks

Yesterday morning I had an urge to find an Aquatic Warbler, so Bun, Karen and I gave the marshes on the west side of the river a good 'bashing'....did we get one??

Well if we had found one you would have known by now! We did unearth at least 15 Sedge Warblers though so we considered it a worthwhile few hours, and it is something we will certainly do again if a few more Aquatics start appearing on the south coast.

During our wander several ones and twos of Yellow Wags flew over, along with a couple of Swifts.

Today has been a day of rain, though I was out early before it really started lashing down. Blackhole Marsh showed the same selection of birds as recent days, though the Little Stints have gone now.

Visiting birders be aware than work has started on the main hide here. The walkway is being built now, with the hide going up once this has been completed. This is the work done by the contractors on day one, not bad I suppose...

Pity it couldn't wait another month though

There were lots of hirundines feeding over the water, with this juvenile Swallow using one of the diggers to rest on...

Interestingly this bird was still being fed by one of its parents

Just as a major rain storm came over, I had a bit of surprise whilst looking out to sea. A flock of seven duck appeared, flew in off and up river - they were Pochard!

...not that you can tell that from this photo!!

Soon after they were floating on the water north of Coronation Corner, but I couldn't see them a couple of hours later. An interesting and surprising record for August!

I had the moth trap out night before last. I won't list what I caught as there was nothing new for the garden or the year. I had 44 of 12 species, with Setaceous Hebrew Character being the most numerous, and singles of Small Waved Umber and Jersey Tiger being the highlights.