Just a quick update, but one that does include plenty of pictures of big white birds!
On Sunday night Phil found a Great White Egret on Black Hole Marsh (although a tram driver reported to me an egret that looked larger than a heron earlier that day, but from experience I've found sometimes driver's bird ID can be a bit ropy!). I was stuck home Sunday evening, but a glance out the bedroom window was all I needed because there it was sat on a tree alongside the Tower Hide! It stayed there about twenty minutes 'til it got too dark to see. Please excuse the quality of the phone-scoped pic...
My second GWE from the house
This morning Jess suggested an early morning walk in Lyme - which I didn't vote against seeing as Richard let me know the night before that an unringed White Stork roosted near the Cobb. I thought we had missed it as it was last reported flying east over town, but soon after our arrival there it was flying over town coming back west...
And much to our disbelief, it landed on the RNLI Station which we were stood right next too!!
Amazing views! After about half an hour it took off and flew west a little way out to sea, but seemed to turn back east and drop back in towards Lyme...
As we drove off a little while later, I could see it again in flight and heading west, so as we came back into Seaton I suggested we briefly stopped off at the sea front in case it kept on flying west. And amazingly this greeted me...
Incoming Stork!
And it did exactly the same as it had in Lyme, it landed right next to us! On a roof I'm more used to seeing Black Redstarts on...
The big white bird on the roof!
A White Stork on patch!
Soon after I left it, Kev watched it fly west over Beer Head and it's been seen today on the Exe, and finally this evening on a pub roof in Sidmouth!
Sadly though, although the sheer joy of seeing this amazing bird still lives on, the feeling it's given me inside has completely withered.... Look closer at the open wing shot on the RNLI building and there's clearly been some sort of human intervention with the tips of these primary feathers...
And despite the lack of rings, it's wearing some sort of satellite tag. If anything this makes it even more intriguing though, why tag it and not ring it!??
So come on, own up, who is tracking this Stork!? Please get in touch!
Winter can be a bit of a long, slow and sometimes dull season for the patch birder, this winter especially so on the Axe. There's not been much other than the usual fare so far, and numbers in general have been pretty poor. But like any patch birder, whispers of snow in the forecast early last week raised my excitement levels, and Thursday night delivered a fine but widespread covering of the white-stuff...
Looking west over the valley
Major snow events often deliver some impressive bird movements on/over the Axe, but I really wasn't expecting much when I woke up on Friday morning. It was only a fine covering of snow, it wasn't country-wide and I knew it wasn't going to be in any way a prolonged spell of cold.
I spent the first hour of the day looking out from the house and garden, and what I saw seemed to confirm my thoughts; a couple of small groups of Lapwing, one Golden Plover and a flock of 15 Redwing flew over. I then had a look around the Estuary, and other than a group of about 40 Fieldfare on Bridge Marsh - nothing else was where it isn't usually...
But then I went to the seafront.... and saw the most mind-blowing bird movement I have ever witnessed in my entire life. Just take a look at these two short videos. Make them full screen and turn the sound up...
Thousands upon thousands of thrushes!
I wish I could have just stayed there all day, but the only way I could quantify this movement in any way was by counting 'Portland-style' (a selection of 'sample counts'). Between 10:00 and 15:00 I carried out one 15 minute count, one ten minute count, two five minute counts and three two minute counts. The last one at 15:00 showed that the passage had slowed a bit, but all previous counts gave an absolutely astonishing figure of between 400-500 thrushes passing PER MINUTE! Huge flocks were passing over, almost constantly - gaps often of only 20-30 seconds between flocks. This statistic is staggering on its own, but when it's multiplied up it becomes really mind destroying.... Even if we take the lowest figure, 400, this suggests that somewhere in the region of 120,000 thrushes flew over Seaton on 1st February! As staggering as this number is, I am certain it's an under estimation, especially as they were clearly passing in these numbers prior to 10am, and I've included nothing that may have passed after 15:00.
Looking at the species break down, Redwings were by far the most abundant species, with an estimation of 80% of the all thrushes seen/heard being this species. This would make the Redwing day total somewhere in the region of 96,000! Unreal. I did hear the occasional Song Thrush call emitting from the chaos and Fieldfare made up the remaining 20%.
James Mc at Lyme was also seeing this passage, as was Dan over at Sidmouth and Kev in Beer. What I can't believe though is that was it. No reports of this massive movement west of Sidmouth, in fact Dawlish Warren reported virtually no thrush movement at all! And the only reports east of us were from Portland where up to 10.000 Redwing were seen to leave north west over Ferrybridge (http://www.portlandbirdobs.com/2019/02/1st-february.html). What on earth is that about!? Where did they all come from and where did they all go!?
Skylark were also moving in good numbers (I noted a couple of hundred, so 1000+ probably passed during the day), with a calling Woodlark over Seafield Garden at 10:45 being a nice highlight. Kev had a second one over Beer an hour or so later. I also logged a couple of small flocks of Lapwing and the odd Linnet, Chaffinch and Siskin, but in general variety was poor and it was all about thrushes and Skylarks.
As I'm typing this my mind is still blown to be honest. Feels almost a bit like space, involving numbers that only people like Brian Cox can truly comprehend. Just so so so many birds.
About mid afternoon I had another look around the valley, and by now ground was starting to thaw and birds were congregating in these spots. The slope just to the east of the Estuary was like a rolling carpet of Redwing, 500+ birds here (at the same time as the passage was still happening over the seafront by the way!). Bridge Marsh also showed lots of thrushes along with a flock of 60+ Skylark. Then just up the road, the field north of Colyford WTW was again full of thrushes, a flock of Skylark, 300+ Lapwing and c60 Golden Plover. Here's a few pics...
Redwings
One of the above Redwing!
Fieldfare
Skylarks
A Skylark
Meadow Pipit
Golden Plover with a Lapwing background
Best of all about this amazing influx of birds was that none of them looked to be struggling in any obvious way. Everything I saw on the ground appeared to be finding plenty of food, and all the birds passing overhead were flying strongly and with purpose - not something weak birds can do. It was really nice to witness a cold weather movement without feeling that sadness usually associated with snowy spells. I am really surprised this relatively small amount of snow caused such a drastic response from the birds - we had far less snow than last Feb/March but way more overhead passage. Do they know something that we don't?
And now to today...
The weather this morning (2nd) was completely different. Still pretty cold, but crystal clear blue skies and most of the snow had melted away. There were still lots of birds about, with thrushes flying around everywhere, but they were flying in all directions. It was nice to catch up with two waders on the Estuary that Phil saw the previous day, a Bar-tailed Godwit and this Avocet...
Avocet and Black-headed Gull
Got to love an Avocet in flight!
There were also 47 Dunlin here which isn't a bad mid-winter count for us. And that's it for this somewhat mammoth blog post. Truly unforgettable stuff though.
I was walking Harry between my house and his Grandparent's house late morning yesterday when a Yellow-browed Warbler started shouting at me. Amazingly it was coming from the very same group of trees one inhabited last autumn, and represents my fourth in the street that I live in (Primrose Way) in four years! I have to say I didn't think I'd get one this year as there have been far fewer in the UK this autumn than the past few years.
Once I'd dropped the little one off, I returned with my bins and enjoyed some decent views of this little sprite. It was in a mixed flock of tits, which also included a couple of Goldcrests and a Chiffchaff.
I also spent some time yesterday looking through the Estuary gulls, it was a really windy day and early October often proves a great time of year to find scarce gulls. There were a heck of lot of large gulls about (three large flocks) but despite trying I couldn't find anything of value within them. It was nice to see five Med Gulls dotted around though, four first-winters and an adult, my highest count since late summer. Also on the Estuary was this Bar-tailed Godwit...
And to end this rather short and sweet blog post, here's a couple of random photos taken from Seaton Beach during the past few weeks...
Overnight last night there had been even more snow, and although it had stopped by dawn, we had a 100% white-out. An early morning trip out showed the local area looking incredibly beautiful...
Looking east along Seaton Beach
Looking west along Seaton Beach to Beer Head
Seaton from a distance
Axmouth from a distance
The A3052 at 8am. Most Monday mornings this would be busy with commuters and buses!
A random county lane - looking lovely!
Despite all the snow there were surprisingly few birds about. The only species that seemed to be struggling a bit were Meadow Pipits and the odd Chiffchaff, but there were no Golden Plovers or Lapwing, or that many thrushes really. Great news.
Mid morning the sun came out, so before lunch I enjoyed another quick whizz around. This showed a bit more variety, with eleven Dunlin, four Pintail (two pairs), three Gadwall and the lingering MarshHarrier and first-winter Caspian Gull on the Estuary. Was nice to have some blue sky above the stunning snow too...
Colyford Marsh and the upper Axe Estuary
Bridge Marsh
Looking up the Axe from A3052
The welcome sun saw an increase in temperatures and an impressively rapid thaw. More birds appeared once this began, with lots of thrushes taking full advantage of the freshly revealed green, along with numerous Chiffchaff, Snipe and various wildfowl on Seaton Marshes mid afternoon...
Common Snipe
Common Snipe
Common Chiffchaff. So happy to see so many feeding well after picking up the dead bird yesterday.
Tim Wright scored our first Little Ringed Plover of the year an hour or so later on Colyford Marsh, does this mean we've finally seen the back of winter?
Like many other places in the south west today, it's been snowing here in Seaton from dawn until dusk. One snow event in a year is exceptional enough for us, two is unprecedented!
The view from my bedroom window late this afternoon
The heavy snow didn't start until about mid morning, and it was amazing to see how quickly the birds reacted to this. Just proves they really do need to be able to feed constantly, and as soon as they realise they can't, sitting it out just isn't an option. They have to move.
I could do nothing more than have sporadic looks outside today, but these have shown incredible numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing flying west, thousands upon thousands, along with several hundred Starling and Golden Plover and smaller numbers of Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Chaffinch plus a single Reed Bunting. All seen from the centre of town. Incredible scenes.
The passage did seem to dry up mid afternoon, and unlike the last snow event, apart from a few Meadow Pipits there doesn't seem to be many birds struggling for food in gardens. Not a single Redwing in the road I live in late this afternoon, compared to about 500 two weeks ago! So although as things stand, this cold weather period doesn't look to be as severe on birds as the last, the timing is probably a bit worse.
Some local birds will have started nesting now, especially Blackbirds. Disaster for all these early breeders. And then there's the early arriving migrants, small numbers of Wheatears, Sand Martins and Chiffchaffs have already arrived in the UK after a long migration - and they now have to face this. There have been several reports of struggling Chiffchaffs today in particular, and late this afternoon I was deeply saddened to find this in the corner of a carpark in town...
Dead Chiffchaff
Sorry mate, you didn't quite make it
This beautiful Chiffchaff probably spent the last week or so traveling hundreds and hundreds of miles as it migrated back towards it's breeding grounds somewhere in the UK. All the obstacles it would have had to overcome, all the energy it would have used up. And all for this. Lying dead in the snow in Seaton. So so sad.
What a day. Truly a day to remember. Here in East Devon we have seen the most significant snow fall that I've ever witnessed (have lived here since 1991) and the reaction from the birds was completely mesmerising.
With only light snow at dawn, I jumped in my car and had a scoot around the Estuary. The tide was in and there wasn't much new obvious, although a pair of Gadwall north of Coronation Corner were new arrivals and new for the year...
A distant pair of Gadwall with Wigeon
Whilst I was out I noticed a few flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover flying over, but it wasn't until I returned home that I realised there was actually a sustained passage of these two species taking place. A watch from my back garden 08:20 - 11:10 (whilst I wasn't needed indoors!) gave the following incredible totals (all west);
So not many passerines, presumably because they were still able to find enough food as we hadn't had any significant snow fall by this time, but the Goldies and Lapwings were just incredible. Flock after flock after flock, many very low, some pausing briefly in nearby fields, but all clearly on the hunt for non-frozen ground. An unforgettable passage. What's even more amazing is I would have missed so many flocks, I know there were flocks passing out over the sea which I can't see from my house two miles inland. Not to mention the fact that flocks were still passing over right up to late this afternoon, so the true numbers of Lapwing and Golden Plover that have flown west over here today is probably completely mind boggling, If I had a stab in the dark guess I'd say tens of thousands of Lapwing and maybe ten thousand Golden Plover have flown west over here today.
Lapwing
Golden Plover
Golden Plover
And to give a bit of a flavour of this incredible passage, here's a short video clip of some Golden Plover passing over. Love their mournful call...
The time was now about 11:40, and the heavy snow still wasn't in. So I jumped in my car and gave the Estuary another look, and I'm glad I did because greeting me at the lower end of the Estuary was this...
A Spoonbill!
A rather grumpy looking Spoonbill at that- I don't blame it mind!
Spoonbill head on to the cold east wind
What a beaut!
Our first Spoonbill of the year, and not a species I was expecting to see today. Two Avocet were another bonus that briefly dropped in (Ian Mc found these), but despite excellent numbers of gulls, still no white-winger for Steve this year...
So many gulls!
Then the snow really came in. And it didn't stop until about 8pm. Incredible scenes...
The Co-op car park in Seaton
The Jurassic Play Park in Seaton
From the moment it started snowing heavily, wherever I went GoldenPlover, Lapwing, Snipe, Fieldfare, Redwing were flying around. I even had a Grey Plover fly low west over the middle of Seaton! But the day ended with a sad note for me, and a reminder that just how difficult this weather is for our birds. All this Goldcrest wanted was to find somewhere warm and dry to rest up after I watched it battle against the wind and snow flying through the middle of town...
This little guy was clearly in real trouble
I felt so sorry for this bird
A timely reminder that however much enjoyment and excitement us birders get from these incredible cold weather movements, at the same time countless numbers of birds will undoubtedly be losing their lives...
