On Saturday just gone, I was thrilled to join my Dad on a Stuart Line Cruise up the Exe Estuary, which set off from Exmouth at 1pm. Dad has led some of these winter trips for many years now, and I always like to try and get on at least one a winter.
With no telescopes on the Stuart Line Cruise, it's a great place to test out binoculars and get a true feel of their capabilities and limits. So no better place than this to try out the Nikon EDG's that were sent to me to try out earlier in the week...
The light remained nice and flat throughout the three hour cruise, there was no wind and plenty of birds - a fantastic trip!
On the lower part of the Estuary, hundreds and hundreds of Brent Geese proved a spectacle, along with good numbers of Shag, and in the deeper water here two Great Northern and a surprise Red-throated Diver (rare in the river), the resident Slavonian Grebe, only a few Red-breasted Mergansers (still lots of these to arrive) and a very distant Long-tailed Duck, which was way way off to the east north of Mudbanks.
Red-throated Diver
Slavonian Grebe with a typical Exe back drop
The ultra distant Long-tailed Duck, only identifiable thanks to the amazing zoom on the P900!
As we travelled up the Estuary towards Topsham, the usual change in species occurred with Avocet, Dunlin, Curlew and Black-tailed Godwit becoming the most numerous species. A flock of c230 GoldenPlover roosting on the mud were nice to see, along with good numbers of Lapwing among the usual smaller numbers of Grey Plover, Greenshank, Bar-tailed Godwit, Knot and a lovely little flock of 30 Sanderling. There were also impressive numbers of wildfowl present, mostly around the Clyst area with thousands of Wigeon and probably well over a hundred Pintail. Three Kingfishers pleased the punters on the boat, as always.
It was nice to see three Common Seal on the trip, including a small youngster. Two allowed their photographs to be taken...
And what about the binoculars? Well I was really impressed. Superb image quality and light levels, which I have come to expect with Nikon products now. They were a really comfortable pair of binoculars too with a thick neck strap, and for me they're the perfect size allowing a good solid grip to keep them steady, an important attribute in optics when boat birding. They allowed me to pick out all three divers on the trip, and I doubt I would have spotted the Long-tailed Duck at all had I been using other optics. It honestly was a dot, but through the EDG's it did at least look like a Long-tailed Duck-shaped dot! It's these small differences that can sometimes make all the difference when birding.
I didn't need any convincing yesterday to go and see the Pallas's Warbler currently over wintering at Portesham in Dorset. Pallas's are my favourite of the 'regular' sibes, I saw several at Spurn and Dunge in the early 00's - some exceptionally well. But in the ten subsequent years of birding this patch I have seen just one, that was in 2007 and for about twenty seconds! So it was high time I saw another, even though seeing what in my head is a late autumn specialty, in March, could well play havoc with my inbuilt birding body clock!
It was actually dead easy. James Mc and I parked up in Portesham shortly before 10am, casually strolled up to where we thought we should go, and there it was...
Count the head stripes - that's a seven-striped sprite alright
Showing it's Wood Warbler-like white underparts
The yellow tones to the face also reminded me of Wood Warbler colours. Often looked bull-headed too.
In coming - I just love those stripes!
Check out it's arse! Surprised I managed this with my bridge camera.
What a stunning bird, and mind blowing views. No stiff necks looking at tree tops, it spent virtually the whole time feeding at eye level, and for the twenty minutes we were there it remained in view for about 17 of those. It was so easy to follow as all the trees and bushes were completely bare, and it shared the surrounding cover with only a couple of Robins, Dunnocks, one Goldcrest and a Chiffchaff (which looked huge compared to it!). It really seemed to love this bush, the first bush on the right...
It did move into the small copse to the west and across the track south of this bush. But it did seem to like this bush, there were plenty of small flies buzzing around it which may have explained why.
The rump really is amazing. It is virtually impossible to see when perched, but the moment it flies it's like a light bulb. It's even obvious when you just glimpse it flitting about with your naked eye at a distance.
My advice to anyone thinking of going for this bird, go.
Here's a few short videos that I'm sure will tempt even the most stubborn...
I can confirm to you all that without doubt seeing a Pallas's Warbler is an excellent cure for the winter birding blues - almost as much as a male Northern Wheatear (they can't come soon enough!).
As we were Portland way, I couldn't leave without some diver and grebe action, so we headed to Sandsfoot Castle for a quick scan over a nice calm Portland Harbour...
Looking south to Portland
This proved a very worthwhile stop, as a scan from the Sailing Academy, and through some builders fencing a little way back east along the road, showed a pretty decent selection. For us fairly loyal patch birders, Red-breasted Mergansers are exciting enough as they are scarce on our patches, it was great watching the males displaying.
My previous visits here have shown the Black-necked Grebes to be in one or two pretty tight flocks, but today the 12+ present were spread out everywhere; a four, a few pairs and singles. Most were in or coming into summer plumage which was nice, unlike the four Slavonian Grebes - three of these were in winter plumage with the fourth just starting to get dusky down the front. There were stacks of Great Crested Grebes too, all of these were in the far north east corner of the harbour (where one of the Slavs was, another was towards Ferrybridge with two together in the middle of the harbour).
Four Great Northern Divers were all spread out singletons, but the closest diver was a stunning Black-throated Diver. It was quite a hefty one to be honest, looked quite thick-necked and bulky, so am pretty sure it's the one that was showing well from the southern shore of the harbour over the last couple of days. Sadly my photos aren't quite as good as Pete's...
A blurry phone-scoped Black-throated Diver in awful light!
One fat bird!!
With work looming it was time to head back west. But on the way home we called in at Abbotsbury for a look over the Swannery...
The light wasn't too bad when I took this, but the sun soon came out which made viewing more difficult
We were really impressed with the amount of wildfowl here, heaps and heaps of Pintail in particular. All the Pochard were sat out on the bank probably wondering where their lunch was - no wonder they are so rare here now, they are clearly getting lazy! In contrast the Tufties were busy getting their own grub out on the water, and among these were the the two wintering Long-tailed Ducks and at least one and a half Scaup. I say one and a half because I know there's a hybrid ScaupxTuftie here, and I couldn't rule this out on one of the birds - probably because it was the hybrid.
As ever it's not just the birds that make a twitch, but the company. James M is an ace twitching partner as we are both as laid back and relaxed about it as each other - and neither of us actually like twitching! Especially the crowds. We really are bad twitchers, and will only twitch a bird if the chance of seeing it is up around the 100% mark, plus there has to be other birds around to see as well. In general we also have a similar taste in birds and what we think is worth going to see, well that's with the exception of big white things. James seems to think all egrets may as well be Little Egrets (just smaller or bigger versions), and all swans are Mute Swans just with different coloured bills...
Well spring migration still appears to be on hold, I've not seen anything remotely summery since my last blog post. In fact the only new migrants I've heard off around here were three Swallows over Seaton Marshes last night, seen by Tim Wright. Tim also found a Slav Grebe last Friday off Seaton Hole, and I was pleased to see it this afternoon - what a stunner! It's virtually in full summer plumage and wasn't too far out either.
With a pretty hefty weather front looming I had to check the gulls on the Estuary this afternoon. A second-summer Med Gull was obvious off Coronation Corner, but I needed to change vantage point to scan through the decent numbers of Common Gulls to the north, there were about 90, a notable increase. I had a proper look through them from the gateway just north of Axmouth village, and was a bit shocked to find exactly what I was hoping for - Ring-billed Gull! Despite the distance, the paler grey mantle, size and build of the bird, and almost complete lack of tertial crescent made it a pretty easy call...
My only slight hesitation was that its bill and legs weren't exactly bright yellow, but I suspected this was because it wasn't an adult but a second-summer. Conveniently it then flew...
Extensive black on the wing tips, some dark marks on the primary coverts and remnants of a tail bar confirmed my thoughts, a third calendar year bird it was. On the lower photo (above) it's the lower bird.
It spent about ten minutes flying around and occasionally dropping down on the river just north of Tower Hide, before returning to the mud flats. This is when Ian M and Tim Wright turned up, and they arrived just in the nick of time. I put the digi camera up to my scope and took this snap...
...which is shockingly out-of-focus (but still shows mantle colour, lack of tertial crescent and overall size). I changed the settings on the camera and went to take another pic, but it had gone, and wasn't seen again today. Common Gulls were always coming and going, and I think it sneaked off north whilst I was camera faffing.
Once a regular bird in Devon, and I have seen three in as many years here, but this was the first Ringer on the Axe for a whopping seven years! It's was about bloody time as I always scan through Common Gull flocks on the off chance. Today it paid off.
This really is going to be a boring, brief and photo-less post...sorry!
Yesterday I didn't really have any time for birding, but did squeeze in a quick trip to Beer to see two Slav Grebes found by Ian M. There seemed to be quite a lot of birds feeding out there - oh how I would love a nice flat sea!
Today I had a couple of hours out during the morning. The highlight was seeing the Wheatear again on Seaton Marshes, with two Stonechats. Wouldn't it be great if it stayed into 2012!
I didn't see anything of note up the valley, or at Lower Bruckland Ponds (certainly not the two drake Ring-necked Ducks I was hoping for!), and at Colyford WTW I saw just 6+ Chiffchaffs.
I think there's been another pulse of migrants within the past few days. Last night I heard several Redwings going over (for the first time in a week or two) and there seems to be more thrushes about during the day. Wildfowl and wader numbers on the Estuary seem to be increasing too at the moment.
I was hoping to have had this post written last night, but was just too tired! Anyway, here goes....
Monday 11th April - Day Two
After breakfast, and a look at the weather forecast, we decided to head over to the west coast. The drive was absolutely spectacular - driving through glens and past snow-topped mountains. Throughout the morning and early afternoon, there were a few heavy showers (one we sat out in a cafe), but as the afternoon went on the weather got better and was wall to wall sunshine.
At about 11:30 we pulled up in the layby overlooking Gruinard Island - where White-tailed Eagles can be seen roosting on the island.... though not today!
aka 'Anthrax Island'
Over all we spent and hour and a half here without a whiff of an Eagle. The sea was productive though, with 30+ Great Northern Divers, a summer plumage Slav Grebe and 6+ Black Guillemots.
One of the divers gave us a bit of a headache - it was always very distant but showed a pale bill which it held pointing upwards.... White-billed!!!?? The only thing that put me off was how dark its rear neck and mantle looked, but that may have just been down to this distance?? A White-billed has been reported here before and after us, so I reckon this was it. Anyway, here's a diver that was easily identifiable....
Summer plumaged Great Northern... nice!
Also here we added Hooded Crow (4+) and Rock Dove to our trip list.
After we realised our Eagle chances were looking bleak, we continued south along the A832, stopping at regular intervals for a scan. The scenery was just stunning...
Wow!
The view in the lower photo got better when I picked up an adult White-tailed Eagle soaring distantly further up the coast being mobbed my Ravens. Luckily it came our way, and we were watching it for a good five minutes as it kept getting closer - what a bird! We lost it as it went behind some mountain tops to the east of us.
We had another White-tailed a little later on too, right above the road - this one being an immature. It didn't half move; it was right above our car - then in about two minutes appeared to be two miles away! Impressive!!
Other birds we noted during our regular stops were another summer plumaged Slav Grebe, a further ten Great Northern Divers, a couple of Eider and four more Rock Dove.
As we started to head back east, the nearer to Inverness we got, the more regular Red Kites were - awsesome! Better still was an Osprey soaring low over the road, which revealed a nest on a nearby electricity pylon. Crossing the bridge in Inverness, a flock of c1000 Pink-feet made a dull green field a lot more exciting!
By the time we had eaten in Inverness, the sun was setting. We stopped at layby 151 (on A9) briefly, where a mostly white Mountain Hare, and fly over Hooded Crow and Osprey (complete with fish) were the higlights.
Bun and Karen at 'Layby 151'
We decided to take an evening drive up the Findhorn Valley after this stop... bird wise a flock of Golden Plovers and a couple of roding Woodcock were the best, but mammals stole the show with this Mountain Hare...
Still with white bits on its ears
And several hundred Red Deer grazing beside the river...
It was quite a sight!
We headed back to the B and B, preparing ourselves for a very early wake up the following morning... (stay tuned!)
I was hoping to write this post yesterday at the latest, but this is the first chance I've had. I should really be out looking for a Sand Martin - but can't face the disappointment of not seeing one - some would say "how pessimistic!", I say "just being realistic!"
Before I write about Saturday afternoon, the night before was the first night of the Garden Moth Scheme. I woke up to a car with a layer of ice over the windows, and a sharp frost on the lawns, so I was somewhat surprised to find five moths in the trap! Four were Common Quakers, but the fifth was another new species for the garden...
March Moth; the female is flight-less
Saturday afternoon, as the post title suggests I joined my old man who provides the commentary for the Stuart Line bird watching cruises on the River Exe. The skies were grey, but it wasn't as cold as expected and I had a thouroughly enjoyable three plus hours on board the Tudor Rose.
I'll use photos to tell the tale of the trip....
The 'Tudor Rose' is the smaller boat used by Stuart Line, they usually use the larger 'Pride of Exmouth' for these trips. She is currently undergoing a service on the edge of the Estuary...
The Tudor Rose is still a lovely vessel though...
With a very comfortable and warm downstairs...
Complete with a very complete bar...
As I was with the 'expert guide', we boarded the boat first. Here are all the punters excitably waiting to join us...
Then they were allowed on, full house...
We set sail from Exmouth Docks at 13:30, and headed south to the river mouth...
And we carried on going south along Exmouth sea front...
The tide was crazily low, so we spent a fair bit of time down the lower part of the Estuary/the sea! There were vast sand bars and mussle beds exposed becuase of the low tide, this is looking NORTH towards Dawlish Warren. Yes, this could normally be described as 'the sea'...
And whilst out here, we had our first glimpse of the 'rivals'. The RSPB also do these Exe Estuary cruises, and funnily enough Saturday's one was being lead by my mate Ed...
We turned around, then began heading back north, passing Dawlish Warren sea front...
Then Warren Point...
And along past the Bite and Dawlish Warren hide...
Here we started noticing waders, with flocks of Bar-tailed Godwits on the shore along with a few Turnstone and Sanderling, and on the water good numbers of Shags...
Heading up past Starcross and Cockwood, about six Greenshank fed on the edge of the Estuary, and I picked out the wintering Long-tailed Duck with a couple of female Goldeneye though the trio remained very distant. We then passed the very grand Powderham Castle...
A decent flock of Brent Geese were here on the water's edge, though soon flew over towards Exminster Marshes...
As we approached Turf Lock...
A nice Slav Grebe popped up next to the boat...
And gave the opportunity of taking a photo of a Slav Grebe and a Curlew in the same frame, something I have always dreamed of!!?!...
When we got to the area where the Clyst Estuary flows into the Exe...
A cracking female Scaup offered good views...
Red-breasted Merganers were common throughout the trip, so had to take at least one photo of some...
It was from here that we started seeing really good numbers of waders, including plenty of 'the bird' many people come on this boat to see...
Grey Plovers, Dunlin, and Black-tailed Godwit were the most numerous waders up here, though surprisingly few Knot. A large flock of Blackwits were feeding in an area of cut reeds...
We got to Topsham, where the turn around point is...
Then headed back down river, and docked back in at Exmouth at 16:50. A very enjoyable trip, it was great to see so many places I've been birding before from a different perspective!
Well I hope this post hasn't bored you too much, and maybe it has inspired you to try this trip out for yourself. If you do STILL need convincing though, I have four words that just may do just that... home made minestrone soup! :-)
