A Few More Migrants and an Otter

Spring still appears to be taking its time to get going here on the Axe, although the last few days have seen a bit of movement.

The rain and grey skies of Tuesday offered the best day, with several singing Willow Warblers dotted around the valley, a flock of three Bar-tailed Godwits that flew in off the sea joining a fourth on the Estuary, a Sandwich Tern on the Estuary and at last large numbers of hirundines, several hundred, including 40+ House Martins.  The first two Whimbrel of the year were also noted by Clive on Black Hole Marsh that afternoon. 

Sandwich Tern

Wednesday was quieter for us, although Ian Mc saw an Iceland Gull in the morning and in the afternoon I managed my first White Wagtail of the year along Cowhayne Lane...

White Wagtail

Today I started the day with a quick sweep of the Estuary, where at Coronation Corner twenty or so alarming Herring Gulls alerted me to the presence of an Otter! Although one has been seen on several occasions during the past month or so, this was the first time I've lucked in on it.  She (I think?) spent 15 minutes hunting in the water just off the far bank, often remaining submerged for several minutes at a time, popping up briefly to eat the catch, then disappearing again. Its busyness didn't make photography easy...

It did briefly come to shore once to munch, but within ten seconds was off again...

After fifteen minutes she swam pretty rapidly upstream and off around the corner in front of the Tower Hide.  Wish I had been sat in there at that point!

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!

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.

Iceland Gull

One of the things I love about birding is how just one bird can make all the difference. 

The first three months of this year have been some of my most frustrating for 'gulling' ever. Although we didn't have good numbers of gulls in January, much better numbers in February and March just wouldn't produce anything scarce. Many days seemed so promising, and each time I set my scope up to look through a gull flock I thought it was going to be. But no matter how many times a day I scanned through our Larid flocks they remained stubbornly rare-free zones.

At 13:38 today though this all changed, and all the unrewarding hours I've spent gull watching so far this year were instantly forgotten...

Yes an absolute beaut of a first-winter Iceland Gull.  What a cracker.

Also today there seems to be more hirundines about, have seen many more Swallow and Sand Martins but still no House Martin for me.

Yesterday a lone Sandwich Tern off the sea front which gradually made its way west was my first of the year. Fresh spring Sarnies always look so sleek and smart compared with the scruffy individuals that over winter with us.

The Week That Spring Sprung

It doesn't really feel right mentioning spring when there's such a cold wind blowing outside - but clearly the birds think spring is here. It's always so exciting seeing the pioneers of the spring migration, heralding the end of winter (and this winter has been especially quiet one for birding here!).

A male White Wagtail on Bridge Marsh on Tuesday was the first summer migrant for me, although not a full species the adult males in spring always looks so striking and are a real treat to see.  Also on Tuesday (and on other days this week) up to three Med Gulls have been feeding with Black-headed Gulls on the field next to our house, a first-winter, second-summer and adult summer.

Didn't really see anything of note on Wednesday, except for a migrant Redwing that dropped in to the trees opposite our house. But Thursday was the main day for me, with an early morning look at Lower Bruckland Ponds showing my first three Sand Martins of 2015 feeding - welcome back chaps!  A wander along Seaton Beach and around the town showed a female-type Black Redstart which was presumably a passing migrant, and then my first Wheatear of the year, a stunning male too!

Wheatears winter in Africa, and during their migration pass through stunning locations such as the Sahara desert, Atlas mountain range and the gorgeous Mediterranean coast.  Sadly this one decided to make land fall in England, here...

Yes they are building houses on sand - but that's another matter!

It's just about viewable in this pic, not quite the rolling sand hills of the Sahara there!

Friday it was the tern of Sandwich Tern to be added to my 2015 list (not that I'm keeping one!) with one on the Estuary late morning.  It was a lovely smooth summer plumaged beast too, not a white-flecked winter plumage potential over wintering looking one.

And that's that.  Oh, except that I feel I should inform all of the Devon-departure of patch birder Gav. At the end of last week he upped sticks and moved to Dorset, although he has threatened a return if a decent gull shows up on the Axe.  All the best in your new home Gav and see you soon.

The End Is In Sight...

..which means hopefully I'll be able to go out birding again!  Although from reading other blogs/websites it looks like the summer doldrums have already hit! Saying that though, this post has taken about three hours to write because I've just spent an hour or so with Gav on Seaton Marshes waiting for a Black Kite - it never came. Hopefully we are still in with a chance though.

During the last week we've had some excellent sea watching conditions, and I've tried to squeeze in the odd short watch as and when. To be honest with you, considering how little time I've been looking at the sea I haven't done too bad.

Last Friday I was down the sea front for 05:25, and gave it until 7.  Best of all was the passage of Great Northern Divers, with 11 west, many in full summer plumage. Sadly no Black-throats for me - still!  It was good to finally see a small skua too, with a dark phased Arctic Skua chasing Kitts close in at about 05:40 before flying off east.  There was a bit of wader passage as well with five Sanderling, two Dunlin and a Ringed Plover west.  Then it was the weekend...

Saturday I was up early again, really early in fact to lead a Dawn Chorus Walk at Black Hole Marsh on behalf of the EDDC. I'm pleased to say the weather was kind to us, and 21 people joined me for the two hour wander which was finished off nicely by bacon butties and bird ringing!

The usual songsters sang well, and it's always good to hear Reed and Sedge singing together - just a pity the singing Lesser Whitethroat didn't come closer.  One of the best sounds were the Whimbrel though, with a few small groups over, followed by a very noisy flock of 17. A Bar-tailed Godwit was amongst them, and other sightings included a Hobby low north at about 06:30 and a Greenshank on the Estuary.

This week, a few glances at the sea on Monday showed little, but my alarm was set for 5am Tuesday morning with a forecast looking good.  I got up but the weather didn't seem that good so I settled down with my laptop. This proved a mistake, as texts began coming through from Gav informing me I'd missed three year ticks! I tried to ignore all these message, but at 08:20 gave in and headed to the beach...

The first thing I did was take a walk along the beach in case Gav's Turnstones were still about. No waders at all, but a glance out to sea showed a skua chasing gulls off the harbour mouth - I ran back to the car to get my telescope. As I was setting the scope up by the Spot On Kiosk I could see a skua flying west just off the beach with my naked eye, and I was overjoyed when a look through the scope showed it to be a cracking sub adult Pom! A stonker! It got better too, as following it was a fully-spooned pale-phased adult! So so soooo close as well - I was treated to epic views, probably my best EVER Pom Skua views. I can't tell you how overjoyed I was (although you can probably tell!) because I normally have rotten luck with this species on patch.  Gav and Ian M saw them too from other locations, which is always good. After I'd watched them for a bit, I realised they were probably close enough for a photo. Sadly I was slow of the mark and they were further out when I tried to get some snaps. All I managed was this pic of the sub adult...

This dark shape doesn't so it jutice, but I'd say this is identifiable as a Pom!

I had about 40 minutes for this sea watch, and as well as the Pom's I clocked up two Great Northern Divers, several Whimbrel, Gannets and Kittiwakes and a Bar-tailed Godwit.

This flock of Whimbrel landed on the beach

After a several hours at home, the rain and wind tempted me out again at about 11:30 for an hours sea watch. This was quieter but it was very worthwhile as I had excellent views of a close Storm Petrel feeding off the river mouth - result!  At least three Stormies were seen on Tuesday, which I found really surprising as we normally need persistent and VERY strong winds for these. They were all close too.

Only other birds I saw on this watch were a Bonxie west, and a few blogging Sandwich Terns... 

Fishing Sandwich Tern

Wednesday was a very surreal day for me. Before heading off to Lyme Regis I had a walk along Seaton Beach. A single Dunlin and three Ringed Plover made it just about worthwhile. Didn't see to be much over the sea except this Gannet which was unusually close... 

I know it doesn't look close, but you can see it flew in front of Beer Head

Then I headed off to Lyme. And why did I go here? Well keep your eyes on The One Show. Hopefully I make the final edit, and if I do I'll try and let everyone know when it will be on...

Looking At My Laptop...

...is what I've been doing for most of the day. But I did give myself a half hour break mid morning, so I nipped down to Black Hole Marsh. Here there were still nine Little Ringed Plovers, one Ringed Plover, along with singles of Swallow and Sand Martin. Seemed to be much fewer migrants about though. Typical isn't it, a fall each of the three days I'm not around, the day I'm back there's been something of a clear out!!

The gulls from the Tower Hide looked promising, but yet again delivered nothing. Lots of Black-heads feeding in the water, a Little Gull in amongst them would have looked just perfect. Sadly I couldn't stay long, and it never happened. 

I said in yesterdays text-only post how worrying it is to see all these Chiffchaffs clearly struggling to find food. Luckily I think the clear skies encouraged many of them to move on last night, and to hopefully find more food. But there are still a few around, including one that distracted me whilst I was working on my laptop. Although Chiffchaff is on the garden list, this was the first one we've had IN the garden...

You won't find much food there mate!!

When I downloaded the above photos from my camera, I noticed this pic I took of a Sandwich Tern on Black Hole Marsh last Friday.  I thought I'd post it because it isn't a common sight...

Loner!

Right - must get back to my work now. Be good to get an interuption though - can we have three Ospreys in three days??

Missing Out

Last weekend saw a huge arrival of early spring migrants. Us birders go through winter dreaming of these days – they seem so far away when you are freezing cold and surrounded by winter wildfowl and wading birds!   Last weekend was probably one of the best early spring falls the Axe has ever seen – and I missed (almost) all of it!

I spent a good few hours out on Friday, which I thought showed promise despite (or I should say because of) the awful weather.  There were c35 Sandwich Terns in the valley and over the sea, with most resting on Bridge Marsh which was a new sight for me. I even managed to see at least ten from the house - a cracking house tick!  A couple of short sea watches showed a Red-breasted Merganser fly east (my third of the year!) and two cracking adult summer Med Gulls that came east along the beach before heading up the Estuary.  Other than the Terns though, no summer migrants. So although Friday was ok, and had potential, nothing really materialised.

Then Saturday dawned, and the spectacle begun! All I got back in time for was a quick look from the Farm Gate at dusk, which gave me a handful of Sand Martins.

Sunday was an even better day for migrants - and I was at work.  Karen found an Osprey on the Estuary just after 10am. I didn’t see the message for a good ten minutes, at which point I was on the phone (and on hold!). I finally got off the phone, only to be pulled into the office for a meeting, so when I finally made it out into the back yard I was too late. Although the Osprey was still around (the gulls were making a right fuss) I just couldn’t get on it. Annoying. Oh well – there will be more, you just have to be in the right place at the right time.

It got worse for me as the day went on, as news of falls from other south coast localities plastered twitter.  Then the final nail in the coffin, two Little Ringed Plovers were found on Black Hole Marsh! A bird on my ‘most worrying gaps in my year list’ list.

It really did feel like a 20 hour shift, but 16:15 finally came around and I was out.  I went straight to Black Hole Marsh to see the (now four) Little Ringed Plovers. Well there wasn’t four any more – there were NINE! Along with three Ringed Plovers.  I have only once seen numbers like this before in the spring, and in the following week or two we had Night Heron, White Stork and three Alpine Swifts!! Let’s hope…

 

I checked a few more sites before returning home at dusk – and added Swallow to the year list at Seaton Marshes.  

Today I have been off patch all day, but understand there are now ten Little Ringed Plovers in the valley. Annoyingly there was another Osprey too - it flew north over town at 13:10. Grrrrr. Bun also netted the first House Martin of the year.

I won’t have much time at all this week for any patch birding, or the following weekend. Hopefully though if a decent patch year tick is found I will be available to nip out.

More important than any of the above though is the current weather. The Chiffchaffs I have seen haven't looked in a good way at all. It really needs to warm up or we may well have something of a disaster on our hands. Fingers crossed...

The First Hint Of Spring?

I've been away for a couple of nights - I had a few bird surveys to do near Plymouth (though just over the Cornish border).

This morning, just before I began the journey back home, I had a quick look off Torpoint. There's a small flock of pale-bellied Brent Geese wintering here, and two of them are colour-ringed. I've not seen them close enough to read the rings though, so I dropped in this morning on the off chance they were nearer....they were about a mile away as usual! It was certainly a worthwhile stop though, as I noticed this just offshore...

A Sandwich Tern!

This is the first February Sandwich Tern I've ever seen... Sand Martins and Wheatears next :-)

I was back on patch by midday, and had a bit of a look about before coming home. First stop was Lower Bruckland Ponds, where at last (this winter) there was a diving duck...

A female Tufty

I wonder if she came from the diving duck flock at Chard Gravel Pits!??

Also in this look about, a Knot and ten Ruff. But that's about it!

I forgot to mention on this blog that last Friday a flock of 16 Gadwall were grazing on Colyford Marsh - including ten drakes. That's a bloody big flock for us!

Gulls And More Summer Migrants

The weather totally changed overnight, with the high pressure and blue skies of recent days replaced with rain and mist! A drastic change in weather conditions during migration periods usually means something happens on the birding front, so this morning I chose to leave 15 minutes early for band practice so I could give the Estuary the once over.

A scan with my bins over the rather small collection of big Gulls just north of Coronation Corner revealed the very exciting sight of an immature white winger! I quickly assembled my telescope to see...

...a first-winter Iceland Gull :-)

This is the first Iceland Gull (seen) on the Axe since August 2009. As you can see it was a very well marked individual with a fair bit of streaking around the eye and head, and some dark markings still on the scapulars and coverts.

It spent a few minutes in the water, before flying a short distance and landing amongst the main gathering of Gulls...

Note the second summer Med in the foreground!

After watching it for about 25 minutes, and just as Ian Mc pulled up, it took to the air and flew off north. Despite looking for it this afternoon, there's been no sign of it since :-(

Today has seen a fair bit of Gull action, with up to 40 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the Estuary and six Med Gulls...

All six of today's Med Gulls - the only adult was the metal ringed bird

The weather conditions really did 'feel' good today for some migration action, but aside ten Sand Martins, a Swallow and two singing Willow Warblers at Lower Bruckland Ponds late morning, it wasn't until I got to Black Hole Marsh mid afternoon that I noticed some actual passage.

Here 20 Sand Martins, several Meadow Pipits and a surprise flock of eight Ringed Plovers flew north over. Afterwards at Seaton Marshes I saw just four hirundines, but one of these was my first House Martin of 2011. It was with two Sand Martins and a Swallow feeding low over the southern part of the reserve.

To complete today's post, the Bewick's Swan is still in the valley, and during a quick sea watch late afternoon, my first Sandwich Tern of the year came in and flew around for a few minutes looking totally lost in the sea mist!...

Sorry about the awful photo, but as you should know by now - it never normally stops me! :-)