Although we are not really in lockdown any more, my lockdown house list lives on. Well things aren't completely back to normal yet are they!?
I added the 88th species to the list on Thursday, although it took a couple of hours of watching and waiting. A Spoonbill (that was earlier seen over Eype and Abbotsbury) dropped into the Estuary late afternoon on Wednesday, and was still with us the following morning. I was determined not to let this species avoid the list again, as the one I found on Black Hole Marsh on 10th April had left us before I'd made it back home! Anyway, finally at 09:45 on Thursday, from my bedroom window I spied the distinctive shape of a Spoonbill flying high downriver, before it circled up and seem to head off south west. I don't often say I deserved a bird - but I think I did this one!
Thursday afternoon, our family walk took us along a stretch of river home to at least four Dippers - two adults and two juveniles. One of the juveniles was loitering in the area we had stopped for lunch and showed extremely well throughout. What an absolutely superb bird, and a true delight to be in such close proximity of it for so long. Good to see it being so independent too with not a single visit from either of its parents during the hour we were there. I do hope you enjoy this photo overload, from what was a very special hour for me...
And to finish a short video clip, but before playing be sure to click on settings and change the quality to 1080p HD...
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 - CommonRedstart. 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.
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...
Today is the first day this week that I've managed any time out birding on patch. And that's with the whole week off work! I managed two looks along the Estuary at mid tide (early morning and mid afternoon) and an early afternoon visit to Black Hole Marsh. It was quite a fruitful day really with my totals being;
42 Wigeon
50+ Teal
1 Spoonbill
7 Ringed Plover
2 Dunlin
1 Curlew Sandpiper
1 Little Stint
19 Ruff 1 Bar-tailed Godwit
2 Green Sandpiper
5 Common Sandpiper
1 Spotted Redshank
3 Greenshank
There's two stand outs on that list, Spoonbill and the exceptional Ruff count. The Spoonbill was completely jammy as I saw itwith my naked eye from the kitchen window flying south west away from Black Hole Marsh. Doubt soon crept in with such a brief and distant naked eye only view, but sure enough when I went down to Black Hole an hour later... "there was a Spoonbill here about an hour ago, didn't stay long though and flew off towards the Estuary". Presumably this was also the bird that dropped in briefly at Abbotsbury today.
As for the Ruff. Wow. Just wow. I had at least ten early morning on Black Hole Marsh, Dad had 14 mid morning and when I went down there early afternoon there was an incredible 19 on view. All were juveniles, and they were mostly hanging out in two flocks of seven with the rest loosely dotted around. Not sure if this is a record count for the patch, I highly doubt it as 'back in the day' am sure Phil saw loads together at times, but my previous highest single count here is of 17. Can't remember the date off hand but it was in the winter during a very cold snap with lots of snow and ice around.
Six of the 19 Ruff on Black Hole Marsh this afternoon
The Spotted Redshank was the lingering juvenile on Colyford Scrape, and the Curlew Sandpiper (juv), Ringed Plovers and my highest count so far this autumn of Wigeon were all along the Estuary this morning.
In other news, it's that time of year when I need to edit my mini-bio to the right of this page, and increase my age by one. Though to be honest life is going by so quick it feels like I'm changing this at least three times a year! At the age of 32, well, I can't even begin to explain just how happy and content I am with life, it would take pages and pages of text. But the source of it all is simple...
The weather conditions were absolutely perfect for a spring fall this morning, with a north west wind and really nice thick covering of cloud. There was even a little bit of drizzle not long after dawn!
It started quite well with an early visit to Black Hole Marsh showing that overnight two Reed Warblers had dropped in, with both singing from the strip of reeds up to the Tower Hide. I just love migration, not there one day, singing in full voice the next!
I then headed up for a good stomp around Axe Cliff, which started off well with a single Tree Pipit over north soon after my arrival. Not a common spring migrant so great to get one on my Patchwork Challenge list so soon. This was however a false start, with little else passing over and the bushes being incredible quiet migrant-wise. A singing male Lesser Whitethroat towards the end of my walk did somewhat make up for all the fruitless trudging around mind - another decent year tick. But what really made the walk worthwhile was this wonderful Hare...
I have missed a couple of good birds today. One was a Spoonbill that Phil had briefly drop onto Black Hole Marsh at 1pm, which interestingly looks to be the same Spoonbill that was on Bowling Green Marsh up until 11:30 today. But more gripping year listing-wise was a Grasshopper Warbler heard reeling for twenty minutes on Colyford Common by a visiting birder mid morning.
I did try tonight for the 'Gropper' in case it started up again at dusk, which they can sometimes do if they haven't moved on, but my plan didn't work out. It wasn't a wasted trip though as I got to see Goosanders again, with three circling over Black Hole Marsh before dropping onto the Estuary at 20:05...
A drake and two female Goosanders
In my last post I was wrong to presume the lone Cattle Egret that I've been seeing for a couple of days, and the lack of any Cattle Egrets in the Borrow Pit at dawn, meant we were down to just one bird. Twilight Tim has seen seven over the past two days, which actually makes me wonder if the lone bird was bird number seven, which has now joined up with the regular six?
So to summarise today, an okay day but considering the date and the weather it should have been much better. Sometimes I really do wish our patch was somewhere else in the south west, at a real migration hot spot like Lands End, Portland or Charmouth...
Well Tuesday night ended not how I was expecting it too!
Whilst I was at work (until 10pm) Mr White texted with news that two Spoonbills were on Black Hole Marsh. For an Axe year lister Spoonbill is a bird you want to see, some years you will get several, but other years you may get one or even none. I had to see these birds...
The skies were clear, I knew it was a full moon, and Spoonbills are big and white... I had come up with a cunning plan! At 22:10 I pulled into Black Hole Marsh car park where Tim met me, and we walked up to the Tower Hide. The view from the Tower Hide with my naked eye at 22:15 was this...
Now I really don't praise my optics as much as they deserve, but wow, just wow. My Nikon Monarch Binoculars and Telescope literally brought the marsh alive, and there as clear as (not quite but almost) day were the two Spoonbill. I was expecting them to be fast asleep on one of the islands, but in fact they were constantly feeding, which I guess explains why Spoonbills so often sleep for hours upon end during the day! Watching two Spoonbills sieve the water for food with those long sweeping neck movements, surrounded by numerous Shelduck and Grey Heron at 22:20, with just the slightest of natural light from the full moon was an absolutely awesome experience.
The next morning (Wednesday) we had cloud! And lots of it, so I was out early hoping to cash in on the surely guaranteed mega fall of spring migrants. Well no, there was no mega fall, there was definitively a bit of a fall, but it was just Willow Warblers and Wheatears, and not many of them. There was enough to keep me walking around the next corner hoping for something better, but the best I managed was our second Sedge Warbler of the spring, this one singing on Stafford Marsh (with the Borrow Pit bird still in situ). Both Spoonbills were still present and one Cattle Egret (which I think is the only one left?) was with the cattle on Colyford Common - making this a four Heron species day for me!
Here's some pics (and I won't ever make any excuses for too many Wheatear photos!)...
Male Wheatear Seaton Marshes 12/04/17
Male Wheatear Seaton Marshes 12/04/17
Male and female Wheatears Seaton Marshes 12/04/17
Day Spoonbills... so boring compared with night Spoonbills!
A nice Devon Red and our last remaining Cattle Egret?
There was one last surprise for me on Wednesday, an even flukier Osprey than my first of the spring! I was out driving the work's van up Colyford Road, could see the gulls making a fuss and my eyes locked on to an Osprey in with a bunch of spiraling gulls somewhere above the Estuary just south west of Tower Hide. I had to put my eyes back to the road, and by the time I'd found somewhere safe to pull in I couldn't pick it up again, although could tell it was probably still around as the waders and ducks on the Estuary were now going nuts. Turns out from others already in the Tower Hide that it then spent the next half hour on our little Estuary, before flying off east. Yes I would have liked better views but pleased to have seen it nonetheless. I understand our third Osprey of the spring was seen this afternoon, although I couldn't pick it up from my house so no such luck for me today.
This morning I had virtually no time, just half an hour for a quick scoot around the marshes. Couldn't find anything obvious new, except for a second singing Sedge Warbler on the Borrow Pit. One male seems to be happy on the island, with another along the back edge where a small line of reeds are (this is the one that's been there since Monday). No Reed Warbler yet for me.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who's got this condition, but I find it impossible to drive past the Estuary without stopping and looking. Whatever I'm doing, wherever I'm going, whoevers in the car - it doesn't matter. I just can't drive between Seaton and Axmouth without stopping at least twice. So taking this into account, it really is surprising how few birds of note I have seen on the Estuary this autumn. In fact, apart from the Caspian Gull, I can't recall anything else that's made this blog from my Estuary checks. Thankfully though yesterday saw an injection of semi-quality.
At about 08:30 whilst I was stood at Coronation Corner this immature Spoonbill flew in and fed amongst the resting Gulls...
Everyone see the cheeky adult Med Gull in the lower photo? Bun texted the news out on my behalf (faulty phone - thanks Kevo), but it seems this Spooner stayed only briefly as it wasn't there twenty minutes later.
Another sweep of the Estuary early afternoon revealed something that's much more up my street (although don't get me wrong I have nothing against Spoonbills!) an absolute stunner of an adult Yellow-legged Gull...
What an absolute beast. It wasn't the biggest YLG I've ever seen, being only very slightly chunkier than the surrounding Herring Gulls, and with a not too massive beak, so I reckon it's a female. But I just love the combination of the clean white head and breast, dark grey mantle, extensive black on the primaries and bright yellow legs of this species - one of the smartest adult large gulls around I'd say. It certainly brightened up what was otherwise a dull day for me.
The over night rain has certainly done the trick. As is often the case though in wet conditions, Beer Head watchers came back with little, whereas the marshes and river valley have been jumping!
The best passerine migrant I've seen this morning was a male Redstart on Seaton Marshes, which was fascinating to watch. I first picked it up distantly on fence posts along the ditch that divides the two fields south of Seaton Marshes, but realised each time it flew it was moving a little further north. It continued making short flights until it came to the ditch that borders the southern edge of Seaton Marshes. It then started moving west along this ditch, doing exactly the same making short flights from post to post. When it came to the last bushes before the cycle track it spent about five minutes here, often feeding on the ground...
Beaut! Wish it was a tad closer though.
Then all of sudden it flew on to the cycle track, perched up in a sycamore, and just after I took the following snap it melted away through the trees towards the church yard...
Fly little bird, continue on your journey. And good luck!
The most numerous migrant in the valley was Willow Warbler, and today's the first day they've out numbered Chiffchaffs (only saw 8+ of these). There were at least 70 spread around various sites, with several small flocks and many singing...
Welcome home!
There's plenty of hirundines around too, not loads, but certainly more than there has been. All three species were hawking over Colyford Common.
Rarest bird of the morning though was a stunning breeding plumaged Spoonbill on Colyford Marshes. I don't think I've ever seen a smarter example of one, really vivid yellow on the neck - what a stunner!!
Bit of an odd thing this morning was making friends with a Pheasant! I think it was probably being over territorial as it followed me from Stafford Marsh across half of Colyford Common...
I even ended up opening gates for it!
All I had time for yesterday was a quick walk around Seaton Marshes. Most notable sighting was a vocal Grey Plover over west, which was presumably the departure of the long staying bird on the Estuary.
It was very nice to see a decent spring fall today, but things are still running very late. Most years the first decent Willow Warbler arrival is within the first week of April - I wonder if things will catch up or whether the entire spring will be a week or two behind previous years?
Saturday was a non-birding day except for a quick and urgent look at the Estuary mid afternoon, this was because earlier in the day 'Sidmouth Clive' had seen a Spotted Redshank from the Seaton Marshes Hide. Now up to about ten years ago, we used to have one or two Spotted Redshank winter on the Axe annually, but in recent years you don't usually see them here until mid autumn, and only in ones or twos. So as you can imagine I was very keen to see this bird as soon as I heard about it, and am pleased to say I did rather rapidly connect with it - a beautiful bird in winter plumage.
Later on in the day Jess and I went for a wander around town, and jammed the Spoonbill in the corner of Seaton Marshes right by the cycle path. It's odd how this bird disappeared for about a week and has suddenly reappeared, maybe it ventured into Dorset for this time as I've noticed the numbers at Lodmoor have varied from two to four.
Sunday was as usual a day spent at work, but with blue skies greeting me when I finished at 16:15 I was keen we went for a late afternoon stroll, but to where? I suggested to Jess we gave Beer Head a visit - where better to enjoy sun, sea and stunning views!? Quite by chance I then found out a few Wheatears had made landfall to south Dorset during the afternoon, what a stroke of luck! Pleasingly Beer Head came good, and the first spring migrant made it on to my year list - Wheatear. There were two actually, both stunning males, but neither very obliging. Still, the first Wheatear of the year just HAS to be photographed how ever far away and with whatever camera you have on you...
What a great sight!
Today, I headed over to Branscombe for about 7:45. The sea wasn't as flat as I was hoping, and I could only see three Great Northern and three Red-throated Divers on it. Over it, a female Red-breasted Merganser flew east with six Common Scoters, with a further eight Common Scoter past by 08:30. Although Merg isn't a year tick for me, it's a good reminder of how the sea can produce a good bird at a moments notice. I think I need to spend a bit more time looking out there - there are several gaps on my year list that more time sea watching could fill.
Nice to see we are having an early summer again this year - it could be July or August out there right now. Wet wet wet!
I've had a very exciting addition to the year list since my last post, Spoonbill! It's a cracking adult, and was first spied late Tuesday flying west over the Estuary before it appeared to drop down on to Seaton Marshes. Thanks to Neil and Ian for informing me about this.
So, early on Wednesday I was out - along with Gavin and Tim. No sign during a brief look over Seaton Marshes and around the Borrow Pit, then a look up the Estuary failed to locate it. To be honest it wasn't looking good, Gav went home, Tim back to Seaton Marshes and I tried Black Hole Marsh. It wasn't at Black Hole either, but wandering back to the car I suddenly spotted it flying from Seaton Marshes towards Coronation Corner. A short while later I found out why it was flying - Tim has relocated in on Seaton Marshes on his return visit. So that was that, and it is still with us today. This Spoonbill wasn't just an addition to the patch year list (a very welcome one at that - less than annual here), it was also an addition to the house list! I saw it twice during Wednesday morning from home, once from the bedroom and once from our new table in the kitchen. On both occasions it was flying south.
I would now love to be posting some photos of it, but I simply don't need to because there's some excellent photos HERE and HERE.
I managed another year tick today. The plan was to go to the Tower Hide for lunch, I had it all packed and everything. I was presuming there were going to be lots of gulls on the Estuary given the weather, I was wrong. No large gulls at all in front of the hide, but there were four Ringed Plovers. Now there's only two species of birds that has been seen on patch in 2013 that I've not seen, Black-throated Diver and Great Skua, I am dead pleased with that. These Ringed Plovers were more proof that there's some wader passage going on at the moment, I hope for some more in the next few days.
Due to the lack of gulls, I didn't eat my lunch in the Tower Hide and I headed back home.
But the lack of gulls wasn't the only reason I stayed so briefly in the hide Stand by for a rare rant...
I am a birder who does prefer to be alone in a bird hide, but I am more than happy to share one - I think birding is a great hobby to share. But when I walked into a rather busy Tower Hide today, I immediately noticed not one of the windows were open. Maybe not such of an issue if its a nice day, but they were all steamed up and soaking wet! I tried my best to be polite and tried to focus my scope though the glass, but this wasn't working, so I had to open one. This was immediately greeted by groans, a "your letting a draft in" and a couple of "oh it's cold". I'm sorry, but it is a BIRD HIDE!!!! If you want to stay warm and see nothing, go home. Bird hides are outside, and outside it can be cold, wet and windy.
Apologies for the lack of blog posts - when I've been on this laptop within the last few days I've had much more important things to think about! I have been updating the Devon Birding Blog when I could though.
So, I hope you are ready to read one monster blog post covering the last FOUR days! It is worth reading as I have seen lots of nice stuff. The best day was today, and that's right at the end. So you may as well read the rest of the rubbish between that and this....
MONDAY
Spent the first couple of hours of light at Colyford Common - it was freezing! Three Ruff flew low north west over at 8am, and amongst the frost were one Water and 11 Rock Pipits and a Green Sandpiper.
A look along the A3052 revealed 13 Golden Plovers (one by the pig fields, 12 beside Boshill Cross). All day small flock of Lapwing were flying south down the valley and presumably out to sea.
A good look along the Estuary and over Colyford and Seaton Marshes produced wildfowl totals of: 12 Brent Geese (the same flock as a couple of weeks ago), c450 Wigeon, 380 Teal (a good count for us), 11 Shoveler and six Gadwall...
Four drakes - Gadwall aren't common here
Shoveler on ice from Seaton Hide
Two adult Med Gulls were on the Estuary and a look at Lower Bruckland Ponds showed no unusual ducks, but a Cetti's Warbler was my first ever there.
Tuesday
This was a day of limited birding for me. First thing I had to carry out my monthly bird survey in private woodland near Colyton. I was surprised to see quite a bit of snow still on the ground (bearing in mind we hadn't had any at all in Seaton!)...
There were even some light snow showers
I flushed four Woodcock during my walk round, which was nice! Even nicer though was a lovely flock of ten Lesser Redpolls.
Small flocks of these just oooooze with character - I love 'em!
I returned home, and stayed here for a good while. Early afternoon though a text from Dad tempted me out down to the Estuary to see three Goosanders...
The same three Gav saw on the sea the previous day maybe?
Whilst here, out of nowhere, this appeared....
...a sleeping adult Spoonbill! For much better pics of it click HERE
Later, a further check of the Estuary produced five lovely Ruff just north of Coronation Corner, four Med Gulls and a 'weirdo' Gull. At first I thought my 'weirdo' Gull was a LBBGxHerring, but it may just be a weird yellow-legged Herring Gull. I took this photo at 16:15; it was almost dark, with an exposure time of 1/4!...
Its legs were yellow - just not bright yellow like an adult YLG. Also note slightly darker mantle shade, slighter size and intense head streaking
Tuesday didn't end well! The alarm at work wouldn't set, so I didn't get out of there until 23:30!
Wednesday
Up for work at 7am, then after a short three hour shift a sweep of the Estuary showed a Knot and the Spoonbill still. I then returned home to bury myself in my laptop once more! I really should have had a kip - 'cuz I was knackered and was due back at work at 17:00. Yes - a lovely split shift!
I got fed up with my laptop, so mid afternoon had another look about. Couldn't find anything different - well that was until I had a look at the small flock of Swans opposite Stedcombe House at 16:00. There sat an adult Bewick's Swan...
Nice!
At first I presumed it was the same bird we had last winter - that often frequented the same spot. But its bill pattern gave the game away - quite different from last winter's bird. Here's a closer pic of today's bird, with a head shot of last winter's bird cut and pasted in...
See, quite different; and it's even obvious on photos as crap as these!!
Today - what a day!!
I woke up to this...
White out!!!
Our road was an ice rink - so I knew I couldn't go out in my car. As I was tucking into my Cheerios, out the front room windows I noticed a small flock of Lapwings fly west. So I kitted myself up and headed out...to the front garden!
Bloody hell it was BRILLIANT! When I started I really didn't think I was going to witness a cold weather movement on the scale that I did!! I watched and counted 08:40 - 12:00.
Most of the birds were flying west, except thrushes and Starlings which were mostly flying north east. So if I haven't put a direction after a species assume this is the way it was going.
I can see the sea from my place, and I could see ducks flying over it. But I only counted ducks which were obviously flying over land - this gave me two garden ticks!! Ok, so this is what I saw....
22 Shelduck 140 Wigeon (50 north) 21 Teal (6 north) 4 Shoveler (in with a flock of Shelduck - garden tick!) 6 Tufted Duck (a mega garden tick, 3 of each sex; they flew west but soon came back east) 1,453Lapwing (the largest single flock was of 70 birds - a well impressive passage) 1 Golden Plover 1 Curlew 30 Common Snipe (a few of these flew north, have only ever seen a couple of these from the garden before today!) 1 Redshank (flew north - second record for the garden) 5 Buzzard (all singles - and all were properly 'on the move') 2 Kestrel 90 Wood Pigeon 1 Mistle Thrush 63 Fieldfare 259 Redwing 86 Starling 1,154 Skylark (biggest flock was of 230 birds - saw even more later in the day as well!) 14 Meadow Pipit 40 Linnet
There were probably loads more finches involved in this movement, but separating 'vis mig' birds to birds moving from garden to garden from where I watched is almost impossible.
Well what a morning! I really wasn't expecting that!! Here's a couple of pics...
Lapwing flocks
Snipe
After lunch, I gambled and got in my car! Thankfully I made it in one piece to the sea front, and spent 13:35 - 14:35 looking out to sea.
First of all, Skylarks were still moving. During this watch, and during the rest of the day I counted another 930 over west - with several flocks well out sea. For me then, that makes a day total of 2,084Skylarks west - epic!!!!
Now to the sea, and it was clear wildfowl were also well on the move. On the sea there was a large flock of Wigeon, Teal with a few Gadwall. Now and then though, some would leave this flock and fly upriver, but also several flocks came in from the south and the east and joined them.
Wildfowl quality came in the form of three Eider on the sea (1 immature drake) and a nice flock of 16 Pochard and three Tufted Duck which flew in from the south, then west, then east, then west, then east, then finally away west...
Any fresh water diving duck is a rarity here!
Further interest over the same came from seven Red-throated Divers (4 on the sea and 3 west) and 12 Great Crested Grebes (easily my highest count so far this winter).
It was very hard to tear myself away from this action - but I did and took a look along the Estuary. A female Tufted Duck and 40 Dunlin being the only note worthy birds.
Had a nice surprise at the Farm Gate though. Funnily enough I was scoping up the field were Gav had just found a few Woodlark, when I suddenly realised I could hear Woodlarks! Two flew low north (and slightly west) over Norcombe's field - result! I wonder if these two and Gav's are from the wintering population that normally resides in the stubble fields above Axmouth.
A quick stop up the road showed the Bewick's Swan was still present with our flock of 12 BrentGeese.
Seaton Marshes was pretty much my last port of call - and the lagoon was smothered in ducks! Nothing out of the ordinary though. There wasn't much on the Borrow Pit either, but a single Grey Plover flew over heading north east. Ian Mc had seen one earlier on the Estuary, but as this had come from the direction of the town I presume it was another.
So what an excellent day indeed! Phew! Now time to ruin it and go to work. I do have one last picture for you though, taken during my visit to Seaton Marshes...
He was searching non stop for food!
Well I hope you enjoyed reading this mammoth post! I wonder what tomorrow will bring....
