Roll on April!

Thought I best bring you all up to speed before we get into April, when it will probably all kick off on the migration front...  mind you it looks like it already has!

I was at work most of today, so missed Bun's male Redstart on Beer Head and the Osprey that flew up river mid afternoon (seems to have been several of these arrive on south coast today). A quick look around as the sun set though showed a big increase of hirundines in the valley, with 70+ Sand Martins and about five Swallows feeding over Colyford and Bridge Marsh.

Yesterday morning I enjoyed leading a tram trip along the Estuary, with six Sand Martins north, a Wheatear (my first female of the year), a Greenshank, a Dunlin and two male Shoveler the highlights...

Female Wheatear

Redshank and Greenshank (now in summer plumage)

Male Stonechat on the tram overhead!

Don't get many Wren photos so thought this was worth posting!

A couple of evenings prior to this I spent some time at our only remaining reliable Little Owl site. Great to see at least one still hanging on...

The distinctive shape of a Little Owl with a stunning orange sky backdrop

And that brings me up to date with my local bird news. April it is over to you...

A Galling Gull

A quick snoop around the patch early this morning showed a flock of 15 Sand Martin feeding over Colyford Marsh, but not a lot else...

I had two more trips out today, late morning and late afternoon, with gulls being the main focus. Among the 120+ Common Gulls on the Estuary were five Med Gulls (one first-summer, two second-summer and two adult summers). There weren't big numbers of large gulls on show today, but they did include this first-summer Caspian Gull*...

First views showed exactly what can be seen in the above pic. A strikingly white headed and breasted first-year gull, with extensive (almost complete) grey saddle, solidly faded dark brown tertials, plain (although very faded) greater coverts, and narrow pink legs with comparatively long tibia.  Overall it was a sizeable bird too, larger than the surrounding Herring Gulls.

My views of it were shocking mind, as you can tell from the below pics...

Frustrating I had to go before I'd even picked this bird up, so after ten minutes of watching it I really had to go!  But when I finally and begrudgingly did drive away, I suddenly realised how I may be able to get a closer view...

Oh yes much closer and clearer, but not the most helpful of angles. And now I really really really had to go!!

I desperately hope I or someone sees this bird again, because currently I'm just not quite happy with it.  I reckon if I'd been able to give it the time it deserved then I would have come away happy, but the bill size and shape, and dull grey mottling on flanks and belly are unsettling me... 

Is it a big male Casp, or do these features suggest some Herring influence?  Any comments as ever gratefully received.

A Good Gull Day

I am sure being with/married to a birder is not an easy thing at the best of times, but it can get treacherous on particular occasions that's for sure...

There are four birding events that make my wife shudder to the core - and I don't blame her.  If I'm not birding when any of these four things are taking place, then I am not a nice person to be with. And that's not something I have any control over. Shocking but true. The four 'birding events' being; 

A patch first/lifer

A good fall day (spring or autumn)

A good sea watching day

A good gull day

What I don't think the non-birder truly understands is that to create three of the above four events everything has to be exactly right - like a complex jigsaw puzzle that fits together probably only for a single day, and then possibly not again for months/years. The weather needs to be right, the time of year needs to be right, and the birds need to be there - but sometimes even when those three do marry up it still doesn't happen, so when it does happen it is not to be missed.  If it is being missed then I simply don't want to be wherever I am at that time, I want to be birding.

And why have I written all of the above? Well today one of my four 'birding events' happened... Gulls!  Mid March, a strong south west wind with plenty of rain and 100% cloud cover - all absolute classic conditions for big numbers of Gulls on the Axe.  Miraculously once I'd seen the forecast last night, our plans for a 'lovely Saturday out' suddenly changed to us enjoying more of a 'stay at home' day.... funny that :-)

My first look along the Estuary mid-morning showed about 210 Common Gulls, two Med Gulls (second-summers) and best of all this lovely second-summer Yellow-legged Gull...

Don't be put off by the dull yellow legs - completely usual for a YLG of this age. Note the lovely bright bill, red orbital ring, square back of the head and the vast amount of grey in the wing - it's well advanced.

A direct comparison with a similarly aged Herring Gull - note the difference in bill colour!

With two adult graellsii Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Note the complete black tail band - a good feature for a second-summer Yellow-legged, other species usually show a weak or broken tail band by this age

A fluky flight shot - all perfect for a second-summer YLG

Last one I promise! With two Herring Gulls

The Yellow-legged Gull remained on the Estuary all day, as I saw it during both the afternoon Estuary scans.  Mid afternoon there wasn't much else to add, but a look along the Estuary from 17:30 showed a massive increase in smaller gull numbers - now six Med Gulls (ad, 4 2s and 1 1w) and an impressive 620 Common Gulls.  The mind boggles at how many of these have probably passed through the patch today!

All but about 11 of these birds are Common Gull!

So many Common Gull - but sadly no Ring-billeds (that I found anyway!)

Adult and second-summer Med Gull

Another second-summer Med Gull

And just to finish this post, so I can reclaim some brownie points by doing the dishes, I saw my first Sand Martins of the year today. Three were feeding over Lower Bruckland Ponds mid afternoon.

Right, must dash...

First Redstart and Iceland Gull

Yesterday morning was a dull and misty one, often conditions we don't do that well in during migration time. Still I thought it was worth a wander around Seaton Marshes, so took little Harry out for an early morning walk...

Next month he'll be a year old, how did that happen!??

Although in general the bushes were quiet, a cracking highlight came in the form of a smart male Redstart in the north west corner of the Borrow Pit, our first of the year. And it really was a stunner. Many spring male Redstarts actually have quite restricted orange on their breasts, with a mostly white belly, I've always put these down as second-year birds. This one though was orange the whole way down the breast to the vent area, so presumably a full adult male.  Pity it didn't stay put for another ten seconds as I'd be able to post a photo of it if it had!  Half an hour later Phil and Ian Mc had a female Redstart here, and Kev had a third bird (another male) in Couchill Woods later in the day. Clearly something of a Redstart-day!

Otherwise all I saw in the bushes were four Chiffchaff and two Blackcap, but the skies above were busy with low flying hirundines, about 50, and they spent lots of time perched up on overhead wires...

All three species here

Can you spot the two House Martins among the Sand Martins?

A House Martin flanked by Sand Martins

Three White Wagtails at Cowhayne Lane during the afternoon was the only other highlight during the rest of the day.

Today the weather has been tasty, but sadly I've had such little time out - I reckon the sea would have been worth a watch, especially this evening.  I did just about manage a look along the Estuary mid afternoon, which showed there had been a decent influx of gulls. Not the Little Gull I was hoping for but 69 Common and a first-summer Med Gull were north of Coronation Corner, and among the large gulls was - hugely pleasingly - my first Iceland Gull of the year...

It was always pretty distant from my viewpoint

Always love a white-winger!

Despite the distance, I'm happy it's a second calendar-year bird, and to me it looked a fairly hefty and especially long-winged individual. I could see it wasn't the bird Tim Wright had on the Estuary at the start of the month, and when Ian Mc twitched it he was certain it wasn't any of the three Iceland Gulls that he's seen on the Axe this year (he has done really well for them!). So I'm happy it's a 'new bird'.

This Iceland Gull just proves that even if you only have the shortest window of time to go out birding, use it...

April Dawns

Easter Sunday started with surprisingly pleasant weather conditions, in fact we even saw some sunshine here!  This enticed me down to Seaton Marshes where the Borrow Pit showed itself to be alive with singing Phylloscs, including my first ten Willow Warblers of the year...

Always exciting to hear the first Willow Warbler song of the spring

This afternoon the weather took a turn for the worse. Quick looks around mid and late afternoon showed a few Sand Martins had arrived, with four over Colyford Marsh and 18 over Lower Bruckland Ponds. I've still not seen a Swallow yet this year though, something is clearly holding a lot of migrants up somewhere south of us.

Spring Rain

Although not great for many things, today's light rain and grey skies looked perfect for downing some early spring migrants - and it did the trick!

I only had time for a quick look around the valley mid afternoon, but this showed a Wheatear on Seaton Beach that soon flew inland, two Sand Martin feeding over Colyford Marsh and two Sandwich Tern on the Estuary...

Dan J had several past Sidmouth this morning so there's probably been a decent arrival of these today

Spring Sarnies always look so clean and smart

It's been a great week for locally scarce wildfowl on the Axe, with Pochard, Tufted Duck and last night Billy had two pairs of Goosander drop in on Black Hole Marsh. Pity I didn't get to see any of these, but as ever thanks all for the texts.

Really excited for spring to get going properly now, and we seem to have got to late March remarkably quickly which is good news!

Early Vis Mig

Taking a baby out early in the morning does have it's benefits. This was 04:45 today...

Looking north up the Axe Estuary from Axmouth Harbour

Today saw the first steady passage of Swifts and Sand Martins through the patch of the autumn, with 34 and 19 respectively flying west offshore in a 40 minute period from 6am.  I saw more Sand Martins passing through off Beer Head late morning so I do think it was a sustained movement.  Also whilst at the sea front this morning five Med Gulls flew west (3 ad, 2 juvs) among a sporadic passage of Black-headed Gulls. If I stayed longer no doubt I would have matched Dawlish Warren's total of twenty by 8am.

I saw a further three Meds on the Estuary mid afternoon, two adults and the lingering dull first-summer (which is often the southern most gull on the Estuary).  Gutted to have missed our first juv Yellow-legged Gull of the year that Ian Mc saw a bit later in the day, but no doubt I'll see many over the next few months.

Black Hole Marsh at 5am was lovely and peaceful, with quite a few waders on the diminishing water levels.  Still nothing surprising here as yet this autumn, just the routine fare, but it is still very early days. Among an increase in numbers of Common Sands were three Green Sands (all adults). An adult Little Ringed Plover was probably the bird Ian Mc had yesterday, but also looked suspiciously like the first of the autumn here back on 1st July. Otherwise there were 22 Redshank, two Blackwits and an adult Water Rail.  

Three Green and a Common Sand

Two of the Green Sands

Having missed out on finding our last three rare waders (Least Sand - Tim Wright, Baird's Sand - Phil Abbott, Semi-P Sand Peter/Phil Abbott) I think it's high time I found another decent wading bird this year (and I don't count Pecs, I have seen more of them on patch than Cuckoos!).  Hopefully the early morning baby walks will do the trick eventually...

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?

Egyptian Surprise

Only a quick blog today,  but two Egyptian Geese flew west over Colyford Marsh,  and then off west over Colyford at about 08:20 this morning. A mega PWC tick,  don't think I've seen one here for a good three or four years.  It was lovely to see at least 45 Sand Martins hawking over Colyford and Bridge Marsh as well,  it's amazing how quickly they've flooded in this year,  often we just see dribs and drabs through the Axe before bigger numbers arrive late in March.

Another migrant that appeared to arrive in numbers this morning were Chiffchaffs. Several more at Seaton Marshes,  including at least one with a pollen forehead. Still no Wheatear for me though.  The Avocet was still present on Black Hole Marsh at 9am.

March Wakes Up

I've never been a fan of March when it comes to birding, so much promise and hope, but in reality you see a few Wheatears and Sand Martins mid month and often very little else.  

The first ten days of this March were just as disappointing as I was expecting. The sea has been absolutely dire with watches most mornings showing nothing on it and nothing over it, and there's been no summer migrants for me despite a few Sand Martins and Wheatears turning up elsewhere. There's not even been any early March wader passage on the Estuary which often occurs (Greenshank, Ruff, Knot, etc). It's the gulls that have kept me going, with a couple of days of triple figure Common Gulls and the odd Mediterranean Gull still coming through.  There's been nice numbers of big gulls too, but even these have disappointed with no more white-wingers or anything better.

There was one thirty minutes of slight delight on the 9th, when the warmth of the sun in Axmouth encouraged my first Blackcap of the year to sing, along with - at last - my first PWC2017 Nuthatch. It was nice to see a Brimstone too, this helped make it feel really spring-like...

Today though spring really did step up a gear. The low cloud/fog dropped some migrants in the Axe valley, and it all started with a text from Ian Mc mid morning reading "Short-eared Owl Seaton Marshes". Twenty minutes later this was my view...

Can you see it?

Dreadful pic I know!

Yes it was day roosting in a tree - quite unusual for a Short-eared. And it stayed here for the whole of the day too!  I saw two Short-eareds last year on patch, but they are only just about annual in the valley and often don't stay for long, so it's nice to get this one on the year list early.

About half an hour after seeing this beaut, news filtered in from Lesley Clarke of an Avocet on Black Hole Marsh.  Perfect. And bang on cue, March is by far and away our peak month for Avocet on the Axe, you would be unlucky to go the month without seeing one - but then again I have gone a year without seeing one here, so it's another handy year tick...

It was showing really well from the Tower Hide, although I didn't have time to venture up there.  It's bound to have woken the local wader photographers from their winter hibernation though, and hopefully they will have many more subjects to aim their lenses at this year. Another good Black Hole Marsh wader year would be greatly appreciated by me that's for sure!  Interestingly this bird was colour-ringed, and I will post the details here when I find out about its life history. Be great to know where it wintered last winter that's for sure.

Later on today I had another hour out, and was delighted to see Sand Martins had suddenly arrived.  There were ten over Colyford Marsh and 18+ over Lower Bruckland Ponds between 16:00-17:00. I wouldn't have been that surprised if I'd seen a Swallow amongst them, I didn't, but I was really surprised to pick up a House Martin with the flock at Lower Brucklands.  My earliest ever in the UK by just under three weeks (31st March being my previous earliest). Amazing.  I knew I had to get a snap of it to save face, but sadly couldn't do any better than this...

March Mega!

It may be dreadful, but it is identifiable. Mind you the same could be said for any of my above pics!

Finally It Kicks Off

I won't lie, the birding last week (from Monday to Friday) wasn't great, in fact it was highly frustrating.  Despite the dates, the mostly blue skies and apparent ideal weather for north bound migrants, it just didn't happen.  This wasn't only the case on patch, but all across the UK there were Sand Martin-empty skies and millions of fence posts without Wheatears on.  I did see a few bits of interest but I had to work hard to get these scraps.

On Tuesday there was a pretty decent northward passage of Meadow Pipits, especially on Beer Head, and on the Estuary two Greylag Geese were new in (at a very typical time of year for this species on the south coast).

Two Greylag with the local bullies

Wednesday and Thursday were pitiful, but Friday was better.  We did actually have some migrants on Friday, two Wheatear on Bridge Marsh and three Sand Martins over Black Hole Marsh, but I didn't see either!  I did though see my first Dunlin on the Estuary for about four months, and two Green Sands on Bridge Marsh, which although we haven't had any wintering with us this year, had the 'feel' of being wintering birds as opposed to true spring migrants.  I also gave Seaton Marshes a visit and was pleased to see both the Glossy Ibis and the Green-winged Teal...

It was nice to see the Teal on the Estuary

All week there's been really good numbers of big gulls on the Estuary, and I was sure I'd eventually turn something up in with them. But not yet...

Then Saturday comes along, and probably because of the cloud cover it all happens.  I only had about an hour out in the field today, but in that time I saw a Little Ringed Plover, four Dunlin, three Sand Martin and three Goldeneye!  The Little Ringed Plover was on Bridge Marsh and found by Phil late morning, the Dunlin were on the Estuary, the Sand Martins flew north from the farm gate late this afternoon, and the three Goldeneye (including a stunning male) were found by Clive from the Tower Hide. Goldeneye is a pretty decent patch rare, you can normally see them in a given year, but only with a bit of jam as they are most often seen flying past at sea, or settled on it, but they are not a regular bird on the Estuary by a long way. The only photographic evidence I got of any of the above four species was this shocker...

There is a LRP in this photo!

As well as what I saw, three Ruff, numerous more Sand Martins, a Wheatear and a Yellow-legged Gull were also seen by various local birders here today, so today really was a pretty good day.  What really gripped me off though was an Iceland Gull off Exmouth early this morning, this should have been mine in the week!  

Migration Moving Up A Gear

Today was forecasted to be the day the recent colder weather was to be replaced by a milder air flow, so I had high hopes we might see a nice pulse of spring passage - and I was right! 

First thing this morning I had 11 Sand Martins circling over my head which was nice, but they soon moved off north.  It was also evident early on that there were still good numbers of Chiffchaffs about, but judging by the amount of fat on them (I caught seven during a short ringing session) they won't be around much longer.

Spring Chiffchaffs often arrive in to the UK with this thick black substance on the feathers around the base of their bills, it's dried pollen that they've acquired whilst feeding up to fuel their migration.

A late morning walk around Beer Head showed more passage, in particular Meadow Pipits with birds arriving in off the sea almost constantly, although very few appeared to land and they continued on northwards. I counted 200 in an hour, but I bet they were arriving in far greater number earlier in the day.  It was nice to see some more Wheatears too, with five males together along with a single Stonechat...

A fine male Wheatear and a bit of gorse!

Best of all up here though, and it was the reason why I counted Meadow Pipits arriving for an hour, were a pod of about ten Bottlenose Dolphins. At first they were well to the east, somewhere off Branscombe, but they slowly moved westwards, passing Beer Head probably between 1/2 and 3/4 a mile out.  Not a common sight off this part of the coast, so they are always a treat to see...

This is part of the pod seemingly actively hunting - it was so interesting watching so many different behaviours.

In the pod were three or four young ones, and they seemed to spend a lot of time just messing around!  I only saw one or two adults do a full breach, but the young'uns were constantly jumping about...

What a spectacle!  And to finish, here's a short video showing most of the pod...