Almost an Eagle!

For the last 28 or so hours here in East Devon/West Dorset we've been on the look out for one of the roaming satellite tagged White-tailed Eagles from the Isle of Wight.  It was seen flying west over Weymouth at 3pmish yesterday, and then we had news its satellite pinged at Bridport a short while later.  Vigils yesterday late afternoon/evening proved unsuccessful, and annoyingly this morning news came through it was now to the west of us - somewhere between the Exe and Otter Estuaries! Drat.

I have taken a screenshot of the relevant part of the map showing its route, from the blog post here; http://www.roydennis.org/2020/04/16/eagle-wanderlust/

I was waiting at Seaton from 4pm but didn't see it, and it seems as though it flew through our patch just south of Colyton. This is a route often favoured by westward flying coasting raptors, probably due to the lie of the land around Lyme Regis which seems to encourage birds to take a more inland route.  I blame this for missing a patch Black Kite many years ago, with one seen flying along the coast towards Lyme Regis but the group of us gathered on Seaton Marshes dipped.  

Am waiting to hear what it's been up to today, but it would be nice to see it that's for sure so hopefully it will head back east soon.

Sky watching today did reward me in another way however, as finally, after seeing two patch Ospreys this spring, and missing four others whilst in the house, it's a species now on my lockdown house list. I had to run though, as I was on the nearby green when I picked it up at 13:45 cruising low north over my housing estate.  I had to abandon playing football with Jess and Harry and run back to the house, gladly the recent increase in consumption of cake and chocolate didn't slow me down too much, and I made it to our front steps whilst it was still in view. 

The only other additions to the lockdown house list over the last few days have been Goldcrest and Mistle Thrush (now seen one a day for the last three days!) making it 69.  Hopefully the arrival of some unsettled weather will add a few more migrants species to the list.  

Although I have already seen several Red Kites from the house this year, I can't not mention the seven that flew west on 11th April, including this group of four...

And to end this post, the slightly unusual sight of a Grey Heron perched on a house roof at dawn about a week ago.  Photo taken from our back garden...

Stay safe everyone...  and look out for an Eagle!

Redstart and Spoonbill

A screeching Jay has been the only addition to the house lockdown list since my last post, but our daily family walks have come up with the goods both today and yesterday.

Yesterday I was delighted to see that flash of red that you always hope to see in the spring - Common Redstart.  This was on Stafford Marsh in the middle of the afternoon, a young male...

Wasn't sure if I was going to see one this spring so thrilled!

Also my first Reed Warbler of the year singing quietly along with a drake Shoveler on Black Hole Marsh.

Today we took a different route to the wetlands through Colyford, which gave me my first three singing Willow Warblers of the year.  Shortly after we arrived at Stafford Marsh a quick scan of the sky revealed the surprisingly shape of a Spoonbill!  It dropped on to Black Hole Marsh just long enough for me to grab this dreadful photo with my phone...

An adult too - sorry again for the awful photo!

For the rest of the time it was around it remained flighty, and am not sure it's still here as both Phil and Ian M watched it gain height and appear to depart.  

Was nice to see a Red Kite fly low north up the river too whilst here, possibly making up one of seven that were seen together just north of Axminster about half an hour later.

Track My Osprey

Well I've still not seen an Osprey from the house... but I have seen two Ospreys!

The first was during our daily family walk through the wetlands on Saturday afternoon. It flew up and down the Estuary, looked to hunt but then circled low over Black Hole Marsh before completely vanishing...

My best shot - shortly after taking this I lost it. Still don't really know how!

Although I didn't notice this in the field, when I came home and downloaded the photos it turned out it wasn't your average Osprey.  As you can see in the below pics, this bird has an unusual and fairly large white patch in its left wing...

I put a plea out on Twitter, hoping someone else may have seen this bird during migration, or better still knows where it breeds.  So far I've had just the one positive response, and that was from our very own Phil! He photographed the same Osprey on the Axe back in April 2018, see this tweet...

So we know it likes coming through the Axe in spring - but come on birders of the UK/the world, someone somewhere must know or have seen this Osprey before!? It's at least three years old now and it would be great to track some of its movements.

The second Osprey I saw this week was from my office at work, I spied it after all the gulls lifted up on Monday at about 10:40.  It flew up river and was later seen to catch at fish north of Tower Hide, per James Chubb. It came 50 minutes after a Red Kite flew low east overhead, also flushing the gulls.  Now that's what I call a productive morning at work!

I have managed some more house ticks for the lockdown list since my last post.  My total now stands at 66 thanks to a waffling Green Woodpecker on Friday morning (not often heard here so much appreciated), my first two House Martins of the year, along with quite possibly my last two Wigeon of the winter (they flew into Black Hole Marsh just prior to dusk) on Sunday, a vocal Coot flying around for twenty minutes after dark on Monday and several Swallows today - along with a few more House and Sand Martins.

I'll finish this post with a bit of national gull news.  The American Herring Gull from West Bexington and here, turned up in south Cornwall at the weekend.  Amazing that it's still around but has only just appeared for the third time.  And today I was completely shocked to receive a request to ID a gull from a mate who lives on a farm on the Devon/Dorset border - it was a first-winter Laughing Gull!  Stunning find Neil well done, hopefully it will make its way to the coast soon enough.

Lockdown Listing

Well what strange times we are in.  Just as the birding calendar starts to look interesting we all have to stay in!  Quite rightly too though I must add.  

I will start by saying how lucky I feel in the midst of all this anxiety and unknown, for three main reasons; 

1/ I still have a job.

2/ I haven't been told I need to completely self-isolate for three months.

3/ I live where I live.  A four minute walk from Seaton Wetlands (perfect for daily exercise) and we have a nice view from the house.

Speaking of the house... Like many birders up and down the land I am pumped full of pre-spring anticipation, it's been gradually building since early February. Instead of letting it all go to waste I am going to re-direct it. And that's where 'Lockdown Listing' comes in!  We can't really leave our homes so let's see what we can see from them.  So for as long as this goes on my new patch is my house.

I live in Primrose Way, Seaton, which is right at the top of town.  We are basically the last line of houses before town becomes fields, where this red dot is...

Basically in grey, but surrounded by green

When Jess and I were looking to move to Primrose Way, we had the choice of two houses.  The first was finished to a much higher spec and had a slightly larger garden, but the view was nothing - surrounded by tall trees and other houses.  Then there was the second house, not quite as well finished, but when I saw the view from the bedroom window I knew it was the one...

Looking east

What you can see there is the large hill above Axmouth.  In front of that and behind those houses is the upper most section of the Axe Estuary, Axe Reedbeds and Black Hole Marsh.  Frustratingly due to trees and houses, you can't see any mud on the Estuary or the Marshes, but it's tantalising close because in the gap between the white and red brick house above you can see tram track...

That patch of green in the foreground is a small section of Seaton Cemetery (through which is the Black Hole carpark)

So nearly mud!

At high tide I can see water, especially during floods as all that salt marsh behind becomes submerged, but nothing at all is visible at low tide.  So to see a bird from the house that happens to be on the tiny section of Estuary in line with my house, or on Black Hole Marsh, it needs to be all of the following;

1/ Flying.

2/ When I'm watching.

3/ Not flying too rapidly or far as it would quickly go out of view, and

4/ Be a fairly large and easily identifiable species, as we are talking about a distance of almost half a mile!

Luckily for me water birds are often noisy, especially at night when sound travels far.  Many species have been added to the house list thanks to their night time calling - a handy tactic to add some of the harder to ID at distance in flight species!

With such an open view to the east, there's a lot of sky so it's an excellent raptor view point, especially as the Axe valley seems to act as a funnel.  The view out to the west is pretty sky-rich too...

So much sky! Plus there's a Rookery in those tall conifers in the distance.

Also looking out the west side of the house, from my house you can see two small green spaces bordered by large trees (one of them is viewable in the pic above). This is where I've found four Yellow-browed Warblers over the years. 

Looking back out the east side of the house, if you turn to the north you see this...

Not just the communal parking spot

The fields behind are a bit of an eco-dessert for most of the year, although in late summer/autumn after they are rolled they become inviting for wagtails, pipits, larks, thrushes - and I can't help but slip in I've had Cattle Egret and Glossy Ibis on them!  The trees in the foreground however are often very lively, as they seem to form a much used corridor for passing birds. I know I am going to get something really good in them one day - Firecrest and Lesser Whitethroat the best so far.

So this ladies and gentleman is where I will be doing pretty much all my spring birding from in 2020. And Lockdown Listing is already four days in...

I haven't actually been able to give it much time over these four days as I've been working most of them, albeit in the conservatory with the double-doors wide open!  Have still had some nice highlights though, and here's a day by day account thus far;

Day One. (Tuesday). A cream-crown Marsh Harrier circling low over the river valley at 10:45 easily the highlight. A good local record on any level so a really great start! Also Peregrine, displaying Sparrowhawks and Kestrels over the house, and absolutely stacks of Buzzards - surprised to have not picked up a Red Kite. A lone Sand Martin flew north just before dusk.

Day Two. Still no Red Kite but again plenty of raptors up. A Greenshank calling mid afternoon from Black Hole was a nice a bonus as there's only a couple around at the moment. I gave the evening gull movement some time, which gave me Great, Lesser Black-backed and Common Gulls.

Day Three. Finally Red Kites - four of them! One flew low and lazily up the Estuary at 12:35, another single flew high south west at 13:25 circling as it went, and finally two flew low north together at 17:00.  Good to see a large flock of Black-tailed Godwits flying around in the evening.

The second of the four

Day Four. I filled a few holes in the list today, namely Jackdaw which has been strangely hard to get!  Also Linnet over today, and finally saw some Redshank in flight.  Still haven't seen/heard a Teal yet, even though I know there's at least twenty on Black Hole Marsh at the moment!

So I end day four on 49 species.  It's good fun and some nice light relief during such troubling times - plus it's not like we haven't all got lots of time at home ahead of us! Give it a go yourself and I hope you enjoy my future reports....there will be many!

Stay safe everyone.

Spring 2019 - Blink And You Missed It

This month (well this year) is going by so quickly!  I cannot believe it is already mid-May, and dare I say it, that spring 2019 is already pretty much over!?

I do though have a few snippets of interest to mention since my last blog post on 5th. As is to be expected with the month of May, this includes some Red Kites! On 6th as I was driving along Cownhayne Lane, Colyford, the sight of a Red Kite flying extremely low overhead caused me to stop dead and leap out of the car. After enjoying some excellent views of this bird, I had a quick scan around and soon picked up another five circling a long way off the east.  Sadly I couldn't stick around though to see if this was the start of a major movement. 

The following morning Axe Cliff gave me my first Lesser Whitethroats of the year, an invisible singing male plus a very much visible pair calling to each other right in front of me. Excellent views.  Still plenty of Common Whitethroats too, I counted 13.  Seems to be more Yellowhammers around this year too which is great considering their general decline.  

Some suitable sea watching weather on 8th produced nothing but disappointment.  Well, there were three each of Manx Shearwater and Kittiwake, nine auk sp. and a flock of 13 Dunlin - but considering the conditions this was pityful.  And probably the last chance of any decent spring sea watching this year. :-(

On Monday just gone a nice pulse of waders dropped in on the Axe. Sadly I missed Ian Mc's three Grey Plovers, but did see the cracking summer plumage Bar-tailed Godwit and one of the two Knot that were around. I had another Lesser Whitethroat too, this one singing at the far north end of Colyford Common.  There's been a few more waders since but I've not had chance to get among them...

I have though had chance to go up to Dartmoor for a day! And to make up for this lousy photo-less post, I look forward to blogging all about mine and Dad's Dartmoor day. I have lots of pics of nice birds to go with it too...

More Birding Required!

I've not seen loads or been out that much, but I have seen enough to write this...

There's been a refreshing pulse of wader activity on the Axe Estuary since the turn of the month, kicked off by a Ringed Plover north of Coronation Corner on 2nd with three Dunlin.  On 6th whilst sky watching from my bedroom window, I was surprised to see a very high-flying flock of c30 Black-tailed Godwits power in from the north west then drop like a stone into the valley. Frustratingly as they twisted and turned before heading off down river I could make out a smaller, plain-winged wader in their midst. I suspect it was a Knot, but there was knot anything I could do about it. The following evening (7th) it was nice to see our first Whimbrel of the spring with ten Curlew just north of Coronation Corner, and this morning a flock of 18 Dunlin were zooming around at high-tide not knowing where to land.  Hopefully Kentish Plover is next :-)

Axe Estuary at dusk

With the strong winds at the end of last week I gave sea watching a go on Friday 5th.  The direction and strength of the wind however meant shelter was very hard to find on the sea front, so twenty minutes late I gave up and checked elsewhere.  Still, in that time two Pale-bellied Brent Geese flew west and a Manx Shearwater flew east - my first of the year for both.

My passerine highlight of the last few days surprisingly wasn't a migrant species, but a Dipper.  They've been really reliable on our section of the River Coly this year, and yesterday I was delighted to stumble upon an active nest - not where I was expecting to find one either.  I gave them the space they deserved and was rewarded with prolonged views of an adult Dipper plunge-diving. So lucky to be able to watch this on my patch.  

There are more hirundines about now, although I am still yet to see a House Martin.  Sand Martins were well represented during the grim weather of last week, with just under 100 in the valley on 3rd, with small numbers of Swallows seen pretty much every day now.  Willow Warblers are now starting to pass through in decent numbers, tonight I watched six feeding in an isolated clump of Blackthorn in the valley even as the sun was setting. Amazing to think that by the morning they will probably be hundreds of miles away!

A well defined setting sun over Colyford

I saw my first Red Kite of the season from work yesterday morning (7th) thanks to Phil. He had seen it fly east over Beer Head and I happened to be outside when it carried on east over Sheep's Marsh and the Estuary. I wonder how many more (hundreds!?) I will see as the year progresses.

And I will end this somewhat disjointed post with my absolute highlight of April so far. During a morning outing to Black Hole Marsh with Harry on 6th I was suddenly aware of the charming calls of Med Gull.  Two second-summers were flying around calling to each other low over the marsh before landing on one of the islands, both with pretty much full hoods.  An amazing sight and sound, and proof to anyone that gulls are anything but boring!

All At Sea

Yesterday saw a good shake up in the weather, with a front arriving from the south overnight Tuesday/Wednesday producing strong winds and heavy rain. There was a bit too much rain on Wednesday morning for decent sea watching, but I gave it a go anyway! 07:40 - 08:40 from Spot On was wet and at times quiet, but another twenty minute watch from 09:45 with Phil showed a bit more was on the move once the worst weather had gone through. By mid morning the wind turned and began blowing from the north west which put a stop to any movement.  My totals from both watches came to (flew west unless stated);

2 Great Northern Diver

1 Arctic Skua (dark-phased low west at 08:23)

41 Manx Shearwater

26 Kittiwake

20+ Sandwich Tern (6 west, 14+ fishing close in)

8 Common Tern (all looked like Commons to me anyway!)

12 Auk sp.

2 Ringed Plover (on the beach then flew west)

1 Dunlin (on the beach then flew west)

9 Sanderling (seven on the beach with the above two species, then all flew west joined by two more)

3 Whimbrel

A bit of rain and wind in early May always seems to drop Sanderling on Seaton Beach, my thanks to Phil for texting me about these. The seven settled birds ranged in plumage from full summer to just moulting out of winter wear...

Well concealed among the pebbles!

Enjoying a well earned rest

Wednesday wasn't a complete wash out though and the sun came out mid morning. A dog walk around the back lanes of Axmouth showed several singing male Common Whitethroat and a smart and fairly showy Lesser Whitethroat. I will keep an eye on it as it's a place I've never had one before. Lesser Whitethroats actually seem to be increasing in our bit of Devon over recent years, going against the grain of virtually every other migrant species!

Sadly I missed what was probably the best spring fall of long-distance migrants for several years on Sunday due to work, and it was only Kev who managed to get up to Beer Head and other sites around Beer. During the day he notched up six Redstarts, ten Whitethroats, four Spotted Flycatchers and a Garden Warbler, as well as excellent numbers of Willow Warblers constantly passing through. Who knows what else would have been discovered if more people were able to get out on the day, sadly Clive and Ian Mc were both away and Phil and I were working.

Although I missed all the passerines on Sunday, I was fortunate to luck in on a couple of Red Kites that flew low west over Seaton in the early evening, causing mayhem among the gulls. Tim White had seen them arrive from the east and I just happened to be driving through town when I noticed all the commotion. They really were low, not that you can tell that from my photos, but they did gain height again as the headed off west.

Amazingly my first Red Kite of the year!

Red Kite with the light sadly behind it!

Not got much else to tell really despite this being my first blog post for a week. There are more Reed and Sedge Warblers in now, and Friday 27th saw a truly impressive arrival of Swallows with flock after flock arriving low over the beach. Always so thrilling to see active migration like this. That evening Phil saw an Osprey, or maybe two, fishing on the Estuary - like so many species it's been a poor spring for them.

My Top Five Wildlife Moments of 2017

Happy New Year everyone! I really hope 2018 is a great one for you, and I wish nothing but good health, plenty of happiness and lots of successful wildlife watching for you all.

Just before 2017 is out, I thought I'd share my top five birding/wildlife moments of the year, but first there was one last treat for me in the year.  A Boxing Day family stroll in Branscombe gave me absolutely knock out views of a male Firecrest. I watched it for about fifteen minutes feeding at eye-level along the ground and perimeter fence of the Water Treatment Works. I simply could not leave it, to the extent that it took me ten minutes to catch back up with Jess, Harry and Honey! What a Boxing Day bonus.

And now to my top five wildlife highlights of the year...

5. Red Kite influx on 24th May 2017. This was two days before Harry was born, and I missed a better passage on the 25th when even more were seen over Seaton. But it was amazing to watch 18 Red Kite fly west over the patch in the space of a couple of hours mid to late afternoon, and out of the blue too! Many of them passed really low overhead.

Red Kite

4. Slapton Humback Whale. The only off-patch entry to the list, but it just couldn't be ignored. What a privilege to see such an incredible animal off the coast of Devon, and so close too. We made the journey down on 4th May and were treated to some amazing views of this monster from the deep.

3. 30th April 2017.  This was my best day of the spring, and was just what I needed after a very uneventful (and mostly sunny) month. My full account of the day can be found here, but in brief it included a superb morning sea watch with sea birds, wildfowl and waders passing through, a Marsh Harrier over Colyford Marsh and on the Estuary some stunning waders in absolute stunning plumage - next stop the Arctic! Migration is just so SO exciting to witness, and it really makes you marvel at the journeys these birds have to make. 

Bar-tailed Godwit

2. Hawfinch influx. Although the patch has seen only the very smallest of slices of the incredible nationwide Hawfinch influx this winter, just having the feeling of the very real prospect of seeing Hawfinch any time I've stepped outside has been really exciting. An influx on this scale is possibly a once in a lifetime event, so I urge everyone to make the most of it while you can. I have managed to find three on patch, all in Colyton, and off patch five in Exeter and a single in Axminster (whilst delivering Christmas cards!). I don't think anyone would argue that they are such super impressive birds.

Hawfinch

1. That Pomarine Skua flock. As they flew out of view, I knew right there and then they simply could not be topped. And I honestly think they would take the top spot in an all-time version of this list (and I've seen some cracking birds here over the years!). I was delighted to share the amazing and close flock of nine Pomarine Skuas with Richard at the Spot On Kiosk, and numerous other sea watchers as the flock was tracked all away along the south coast to Sussex! It was the morning of 12th May, and was the cherry on top for my best spring Skua tally for many years here which included 12 Poms, 5 Arctics and two Greats. I will finish this post with the best birding video I have ever taken, enjoy...

Lesser Emperor

Wow what a stunning few days we've had. Not so great for a three and a half week old baby, but great for dragonflies which is why I had a wander around Lower Bruckland Ponds this afternoon.

This proved a great move with a stunning surprise in the form of a male Lesser Emperor at 3pm over the top pond.  This is the third Lesser Emp I've found here (previous being 16th July 2006 and 10th August 2012) and turns out this afternoon several have appeared in the UK.  Sadly no pics as it didn't settle, and I last saw it being chased by an Emperor towards the next pond down. Fingers crossed it hangs around, all my previous have been multi-observed and I'd like to keep that record up!

Other notable Odonata on show this afternoon included my first Small Red-eyed Damselflies of the year, with at least five males on the smallest two ponds, am pretty sure these are fairly early too. Also still at least nine Scarce Chaser on the wing, seven lone males and an ovipositing pair. The more usual fare included 15+ Emperor, 20+ Black-tailed Skimmer, five Four-spotted Chaser, three Beautiful Demoiselle, two Banded Demoiselle, one Broad-bodied Chaser and the usual damselfly species.  And now for some pretty pictures...

Here's two different Small Red-eyed Damselflies...

Three different male Scarce Chasers...

A Four-spotted Chaser...

A Beautiful Demoiselle...

And VERY unusually for this blog - a flower! A rather long-stemmed Common Spotted (I think!?) Orchid...

And I just had to photograph this Coot chick on its completely exposed nest. Most Coot nests here are nicely tucked away...

I have also got a bit of birding news to catch up with.  I've already enjoyed three early morning wanders around the Axe Wetlands with Harry...

Each time I've heard singles of singing male Common and Lesser Whitethroats from the field to the south of the entrance track to Black Hole Marsh.  Interestingly the Axe Estuary Ringing Group recently trapped a breeding female Lesser White on Stafford Marsh as well, which is great news.  There certainly seems to be plenty of young passerines about this year too which is encouraging - it looks to have been a good breeding season for many species.

Sometime last week I has a Hobby from the back garden, not before time as they have been regular around here this summer. Red Kites are also clearly still around in some number, I had one over Colyton on Wednesday of last week and received emails informing me of low flying birds over Musbury (two) and Colyford on different days within the past week.

Apologies for the lack of posts lately guys, a mostly awake sometimes crying baby hasn't helped the cause. Although actually tonight he really did help...

 

Exceptional Red Kite Passage

Mid afternoon today I headed down to the Axe alongside the A3052 to look for my first White-legged Damselflies of the year, but in the end I spent way more time looking up than down!

Literally as soon as I parked up I had two single Red Kites in quick succession quite a distance to the north over Musbury, one moved off north west and the other straight west towards Colyford. Then about ten minutes later I had a lovely group of three fly low south west over my head, with another three about four minutes later on exactly the same flight path.  That's eight Red Kites within twenty minutes. Amazing!

Just before the last three went over my phone died, so I whizzed back home to give it a charge (just in case one of the Dutch Griffon Vultures decided to drift over my head) . I headed back out at 16:50 and spent about forty minutes stood on the stile opposite Colyford WTW. On my first 360 scan after arriving here there were seven Red Kites in view! Five west of Cownhayne Lane and two east of Cownhayne Lane. They all moved off west/south west, and I know these were all different from my earlier eight as Mr White had seen about seven over Lower Bruckland Ponds in between. All then went quiet for half an hour, but at 17:20 I picked up three more Red Kites circling over Colyton before moving off west, these must have arrived more from the north unlike all the previous birds that had flown in from Musbury Castle. 

 

So that's a staggering total of (at least) 18 Red Kite west over the patch 15:25 - 17:25, Mr White may well have seen a couple more from the Ponds that I missed whilst at home charging my phone.  Although movements of Red Kites like this have been seen several times in Devon before, I have never been lucky enough to luck in on one, so to luck in on a Kite passage on patch was such a thrill!  You can be sure more will be heading west over the next few days as the weather seems to be staying the same, and am sure within a few days triple figures will be over Cornwall.  

Am pleased to say I did see White-legged Damselflies as well, about twenty but all immature insects...

And my first few Banded Demoiselle of 2017...

 This hot weather really is doing the trick!

Jam with my Dinner

I couldn't have scripted it better myself!

Early afternoon today I noticed a few tweets from Portland about a Red Kite flying around the island. This was enough to make me open our small kitchen window as I cooked my pre-work dinner, in case the local Herring Gulls had something to tell me about. And I kid you not, no more than five minutes later the distinctive 'there's a raptor about' alarm call from the local Herring Gulls got me outside, and a few minutes after that there was a first-year Red Kite soaring above the field to the north of my house! 

It quickly got itself together and headed off south east with a Crow for company...

As you can see from the upper photo it's quite a distinctive individual. The bird is missing a primary from its right wing and the left tail folk is severely damaged. Do let me know if you think you see it, and I will be keeping a close eye on any Red Kite photos taken in the south west within the next week or so.  Wouldn't it be great if we were able to track its movements.

There was another treat today too, when a look through the gulls on the Estuary at 13:40 produced this stunning second-winter Iceland Gull...

What a beaut! And what a productive afternoon. More of this please...