Yarner Wood

I want to start this blog post with a bit of a disclaimer and some (hopefully) common sense nature-watching advice.  Even during my short visit I saw some questionable behaviour, so just wanted to stress...

It is VITAL that anyone watching any birds nest, particularly those of scarce species, does so at a suitable distance and in a way that the birds are unaffected by your presence.  Listen for alarm calls from adults and juveniles and watch the adults behaviour. If there's any change in that, like for example adults flying around with beaks full of food but not actually going to the nest, then get the hell out of there!  It's a crucial time when young are in the nest, the adults need to get food down their gullets in such high volume that any delay could be costly, plus there's always a danger that a frequently disturbed nest could be completely abandoned.  

On the other side of the coin though, and despite my big red text, there does seem to be something of a taboo about watching birds nests.  With good field craft it shouldn't be a problem and can prove so educational, engaging and rewarding.  Be aware of the law though, stay well away from any Schedule 1 species (even though I think the list is in need of a bit of an update!).

Right, let's crack on with the post...

At the end of May I spent a few hours one morning at Yarner Wood for a change of scenery.  I am as devoted to my patch as any patch birder, but still sometimes think it's good to have some 'away time'. Especially in a spring that for much of we were locked down for!

Such a species-rich woodland

As a coastal patch birder, a place where spring and autumn migration is such a major factor in the birding calendar, it's easy to associate species with the 'wrong' habitat.  Redstarts and Pied Flies for example, well for me that's April, or mid Aug - early Oct on Beer Head, in thickets of scrub on the edge of open ground.  But of course that isn't their true habitat at all.  Taking the time to see these species in their breeding sites actually serves as a good lesson, this is the reason they make the epic journey here from South Africa and why we sometimes are lucky enough to see them on the south coast.  

I don't think I've actually explained the above paragraph very well, but hopefully you kind of get my thinking?  Seeing them in their true home, in the middle of the breeding season frantically feeding young, actually completes the bigger picture.  I just need to go and seem them in their wintering quarters now! Jess? :-)

Anyway back to this visit and Yarner Wood was absolutely superb.  I have been there many times but never have I seen it so busy with birds.  I think in the past I have timed visits to coincide with a good amount of song, whereas during this visit there was very little in song.  That was clearly because everything looked so busy feeding young, and due to the late May date I should imagine many of the young were only a day or so off fledging. Big young need big amounts of food!  I have also heard it is a good Pied Fly season, with just under 100 nest boxes occupied by this species here. Redstarts and Spot Flies seemed numerous and active too but I don't know the numbers of these.

Hopefully these few picture will set the scene better than any of my blurb...

Male Pied Flycatcher - I saw at least 16 Pied Flies during my quick loop walk

This female Pied Fly bringing a Large Yellow Underwing back for breakfast

A super male Redstart - saw five Redstarts in total (3m, 2f)

A lady Redstart with bling!

I knew it was going to be a good visit even before I'd entered the wood.  From the entrance gate itself opposite the upper Trendlebere Down car park, there were two Pied and a Spotted Flycatcher, a Garden Warbler, then about ten paces inside the gate a male Redstart. Magic!

A great start!

So that's 16+ Pied Flycatcher, five Redstart plus four Spotted Flies, five Willow Warbler, one Garden Warbler, heaps of Siskin, two Lesser Redpoll, and...

The other reason for my visit at this time of year was to catch up with a rapidly declining species that I just don't see enough of.  The only reason I am posting this is because I know they have now fledged and disturbance to the nest can no longer be an issue.

Although early spring is often quoted as the time of year to find this species, it's this week for me when the young are noisily advertising their presence. To be honest, how any nests of this species are successful is a miracle to me - the young literally don't stop calling and if I can find them then any potential predator can too! 

I must stress, in keeping with my opening paragraphs, the hour I spent watching these adult Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers coming and going, I did so from a considerable distance (as can be seen by the amount of foliage in the pics between me and the nest hole!).  The only time I heard them alarm call, when the male also gave a bout of song, was when a Great-spotted Woodpecker landed on the top of the nesting tree. My heart was in my mouth as Great-spotted Woodpeckers will happily raid a nest, but gladly this one flew off without causing any damage.  

You can see from the quality of my pics that my aim was to watch and enjoy. Photos were almost an after-thought...

The male - or some of it anyway!

The female and one of it's offspring just

Such a privilege to find and be able to study this rare species.  These were my first Lesser Spots for so many years and what a way to see them.

The adults really do not hang around the nest site, they were in and out in less than ten seconds on most occasions, with a nest visit roughly every four minutes.  Interestingly the male visited far more often than the female.  On the occasions that both parents arrived at similar times, one would wait out on a nearby tree for the other to feed the young before moving in themselves.  In typical Lesser Spot fashion I loved the way they appeared and disappeared, so ghostly-like. Out of nowhere there'd be one on the nesting tree, and after a quick visit to the nest hole it would fly back into the wood and simply melt into the canopy.

What a fantastic morning and I hope you've enjoyed me reliving it :-)

Turtle Dove

I undertook my daily exercise a lot earlier than usual today, as Mike B who found a Turtle Dove last night, reported early this morning it was still present in exactly the same spot.

When I walked past about five hours later, thankfully it was still in exactly the same spot. And what a stunner.  I do hope you enjoy this little video...

And here's a still...

They are rare yes, but they are absolutely beautiful too

The Turtle Dove, as am sure you are all aware, is a rapidly declining UK species. Sadly it really is a bird that when you do get to see one, you must appreciate that it may well be your last.  Well in the UK anyway, thankfully they still seem to be fairly numerous abroad.  This was only my third ever Turtle Dove in these parts, my first was a purring male in Beer on 13th May 2012, and the second a very showy autumn bird on Bridge Marsh in October 2016.

I have also got a lockdown house list update to report.  After 12 days of no additions, today I have added two species to the list bringing the total up to 87.   One of them, Reed Bunting, being completely expected given the fact they nest about 1/4 mile away, the other however a full fat house tick!  At about 8:30 this morning a Spotted Flycatcher flew in from the south, pitched up for less than a minute in a tree on the edge of Seaton Cemetery (as viewed from my bedroom window) before flying off low north east.  Result.

Stay safe everyone.

Axe Cliff and Surprise Crossbills

Yesterday morning, although it was clearer than I was hoping, I went up to Axe Cliff soon after dawn. After a short while I realised I was actually grateful the sun was shining, it was a real pleasure to be out with the fine weather ensuring the local breeders were showing and singing well...

Male Yellowhammer with a back drop of Lyme Bay and Beer Head

I was staggered by the numbers of Common Whitethroats around.  In recent years there's normally about six singing males in the area of Axe Cliff that I cover.  Yesterday however I noted 13 singing/displaying males, along with a 14th non-singing bird. They were all behaving like they were local breeders too - so is it simply going to prove a good summer for the species? Has anyone else noted good numbers of Whitethroats this year?  On the other side of the coin though, I usually come across one or two singing Lesser Whitethroats here, but none during this visit.

The Whitethroats were all sat out proudly and partaking in frequent song-flights

This one on a more natural perch

A lovely highlight was a Hobby that flew low east across the fields soon after I arrived, with the only definite 'grounded migrant' being my first Spotted Flycatcher of the year.  Not that it stayed grounded for long - it soon continued west along the cliff edge.

This morning during a family outing I was surprised to hear Crossbills calling from Bovey Down, then about half an hour later watched two flying around above me calling at nearby Blackbury Camp.  Presumably the date indicates local breeding?  Mid summer is usually our best time to see (or more often just hear!) Crossbills, when family groups are dispersing from their breeding grounds.  Anyone with more experience of the Crossbill breeding cycle have any thoughts on this? Could they actually be breeding here!?

Autumn Adjourns

The blog posts have dried up because autumn has...

It has been really stagnant out there for the last week and a bit (but boy have I been trying!). We had a sudden and surprising influx of Grey Plover at the end of last week, Phil had a staggering nine on the evening of Thursday 22nd, with one still present for me the following morning. On Sunday morning another couple had arrived/returned to make three...

A true record shot!

Bar-tailed Godwit numbers seem to be dwindling now, but other wader counts have been very samey with less than ten Dunlin, a couple of Ringed Plover, five Common Sandpipers and not a lot else. I'm hoping the upcoming new moon along with some wind and rain will encourage a bit more variety, but it's looking like the Black Hole Marsh autumn is done now, as the marsh often seems to largely lose its appeal to wading birds by the end of September.  

The clear skies and light winds this morning meant there was only one place to go, Beer Head...

It's getting towards my favourite time of year for weather - I just love cool, crisp and blue late autumn mornings.

Overall it was pretty quiet, but it was nice to see a few different bits and pieces - this list is a mixture of grounded birds and fly overs;

14 Skylark 

200+ Swallow

80+ House Martin

11 alba Wagtail

2 Grey Wagtail

100+ Meadow Pipit 

1 Whinchat

2 Stonechat

3 Blackcap

5 Chiffchaff

1 Spotted Flycatcher

c30 Chaffinch

1 Siskin

1 Yellowhammer

In brief, the bushes were quiet and overhead a little less quiet!  The lone Siskin I think confirms my suspicions that this isn't going to be one of those amazing Siskin autumns - hopefully this won't be the case for all the finch species though.

Annoyingly for some reason all the subjects I tried to photograph this morning were in some way obscured...

Whinchat - the clearest of them all.

A hiding Spotted Flycatcher.

Even this Small Copper suffered from a blade of grass!

It was nice to see Ian Mc at Beer Head this morning back fresh from his holidays, he ventured further west than I did and saw another two Whinchat and a Reed Bunting.  It's great to have another pair of eyes back on the patch, I get the feeling coverage has been pretty poor on weekdays this month - there's only so much ground one pair of boots can cover!

Birds aside, I've been seeing the odd Clouded Yellow around which is nice, including a male on Beer Head this morning.

Let's hope the next blog post is a bit more exciting...

Osprey

A quick check of Seaton Marshes before work yesterday meant I happened to be in the right place at the right time when an Osprey decided to use our little valley as a highway out of the UK. 

I knew there was one about for a good five minutes before seeing it as all the birds up river scattered in a way they only do for an Osprey. I actually thought I had missed it as I'd been waiting for so long, but all of a sudden it came cruising down river with a few Rook in pursuit...

The bird began circling just south of Seaton Marshes hide, and before I knew it it was high above Axe Cliff Golf Course and still gaining height.  Next stop France...

This was - amazingly - my first Osprey of 2016. Usually see a few in spring and autumn but not this year, they've all been on the Exe!

I had a good walk around Black Hole, Stafford and Colyford Marsh this morning and saw;

21 Dunlin

1 Curlew Sandpiper

3 Knot

2 Ruff

16 Bar-tailed Godwit

2 Common Sandpiper

3 Wheatear

2 Yellow Wagtail

10 Chiffchaff

1 Spotted Flycatcher

Wigeon numbers are increasing by the day on the Estuary now, am keeping a close eye on them as an American flavoured one in eclipse plumage could easily sneak through.

Photo Poll Results

For the last two mornings we've been plagued by the dreaded fog. It's mostly affected high ground so I haven't even bothered with Beer Head and Axe Cliff, the valley however has been a bit clearer at ground level so I have put all my effort in here...

A lot of stomping and scanning has failed to produce the goods. The wader variety and numbers seem to be dwindling as each hour passes, except for an usually high number of Bar-tailed Godwits (my highest count being 12 on Black Hole Marsh yesterday morning). I've really been hoping for a Wryneck but as yet I've not fallen over one. At least this morning there was clearly an increase in Sedge Warblers (15). This gave me the encouragement to work extra hard for an Aquatic but alas no pale central crown stripes, although there was one scarily yellow juvy Sedge (not the one pictured below)...

Seeing as though things are still quiet, it's time for me to waffle again.  And today's waffle is about the results of last week's Spotted Flycatcher photo poll.  I'm delighted to announce that my favourite won with an enormous 75% of the 96 votes cast...

I know there will always be a market and a desire to get the cracking full frame bird photos, and like anyone I absolutely love to see a pin sharp close up of a nice bird. But very rarely do these photos actually excite me or stay with me for long. Personally I am all for flying the flag for the 'record shot'. You know, the photos that show you more about the moment than the cost of the photographers lens. Let's look at those Spot Flies again.

This is a Spotted Flycatcher....

 

This is a migrant Spotted Flycatcher that's pitched down on top of a blackthorn bush on Beer Head, hoping to refuel on insects flying in the early autumn sunshine before continuing on its long migration to Africa...

OK, the photo doesn't necessarily tell you all of that, but hopefully you get what I mean.

 

I mean come on, how many full frame Wheatear photos do we have to see each year... oh yeah, that reminds me...

 

In my defence there is plenty of habitat detail in the shot giving it some atmosphere!

Back to record shots, this Whinchat photo (showing one of three Whinchat on Seaton Marshes yesterday) is dreadful, but I love how vivid those supercilia are and how charismatic the bird looks...

Long live the record shot! 

Why Blog?

I'm sure this is a question most bloggers ask themselves every now and then. If not maybe it's good to?

Me, a blogging birder - birder first mind!

After a couple of exciting days birding on patch, I've reminded myself exactly why I like to blog and why I started this blog in the first place (eight years ago amazingly!). The last sixth months have seen very sporadic blog posts at times due to various factors, so if you've stuck with me through this thank you so much! The last few days though have really encouraged me to keep it up regularly now - having retired as County Recorder, and with my Dartmoor RSPB surveys completed, I do have a bit more time to type. So type I will. But anyway, back to the title and why I blog....

 

There are clearly different 'types' of birding blogs out there. There are those whose authors use their blog as a platform to showcase their photography or art, basically an online gallery with a few words. Then there are those that are about far more than just the birds, more about the blogger to be honest. Paragraphs about his/her emotions, their daily life and lots of reminiscing.  I really enjoy reading some of these blogs, and occasionally a post may appear on my blog similar to this type (like this one?), but Axe Birding is first and foremost a birding blog.

Hopefully the last couple of posts have shown the excitement and joy that birds, birding and wildlife gives me. I absolutely love going out birding, but I also get great joy in sharing my encounters and experiences with others, I always have. In my mid teens, after returning home from a day out with my Dad I couldn't wait to tell Mum what we'd seen, and then I'd be straight on the phone to fellow birders excitedly informing them of our day (which in hindsight at times could have been very gripping for them, but it was never meant that way!). This is just what makes me tick, I don't do it to boast/show off/gloat, I do it because I just enjoy sharing it. Simple.

When I was at Beer Head yesterday I met a couple of sets of birders who had come here on the back of reading my blog the previous evening about my morning up here on Thursday. I mean how fantastic is that - my hastily put together blog post inspired others to get out and enjoy what I think is such an incredible wildlife experience. Brilliant!!

The other thing I like to do with my blog is inform and maybe even educate if I can. I think if you have a passion for something it's a natural thing to do, wanting to educate and coach others who may be new to it.  Obviously there are so many teaching tools out there for birding these days, but I would like to think my occasional gull posts and some of ringing posts can be described as being educational...

Personally as well, for me, my blog is my diary. So some (most?) of the posts may just be my sightings for that day - not everyone's cup of tea at all - but it's my diary, just a very public one!

One thing I think is important though is to always adapt and change a little, just to keep things fresh. So I would like to make this a more interactive blog if I can, and in the future I've got a few ideas, including to possibly host some guest blogs from individuals who don't have their own blogs to showcase their talent/passion.  

Anyway, on the interactive thing... I have a poll! Now I am not saying either of these Spotted Flycatcher photos (both taken at Beer Head yesterday) are that good, but I would love to know which one YOU prefer:

A

B

Which photo do you prefer?

A

B

Sage Quotes

Thanks for voting (if you haven't, scroll up a bit and vote!) and as ever, thank you for reading Axe Birding :-)

Beer Head Bird Binge

Very different weather conditions up Beer Head this morning, not a cloud in the sky and hardly a breath of wind. 

Pre-dawn looking east to Seaton Bay and Axe Cliff

A few hours later looking west

After yesterday's debacle I didn't even consider bird ringing this morning, I just packed my bins, camera and a breakfast bar and went for a wander - well I clocked up 4 miles actually!  The birding was so exciting, there's nothing better than being surrounded my migrant passerines at a beautiful location such as Beer Head, and in such nice weather too! I'm also desperate for a patch Ortolan and now's as good a time as any to try my hardest for one. 

A beautiful scene, but can you spot the Whinchat?

I was up here for four hours from 06:10 and noted; 

1 Egret sp. (this was so annoying. Rear end views of a large and deep wing-beating Egret heading NE overhead just after 9am - well aware how tricky it is judging size on lone white birds though so could do nothing more with it)

2 Skylark

2 Tree Pipit (over)

50+ Yellow Wagtail (c25 with sheep with more overhead)

40+ Wheatear

2 Whinchat

3 Stonechat (juvs)

4 Redstart (2m 2f)

2 Garden Warbler (one in Dell, one Branscombe slopes)

3 Blackcap

1 Lesser Whitethroat (stunning fresh juv in Sheepwalk, gutted it never popped back out for a pap. Oh and sorry Ian P!)

12 Whitethroat 

15 Willow Warbler

8 Chiffchaff

6 Spotted Flycatcher 

So, far fewer Tree Pipits than yesterday, but more of everything else. I had the feeling some of these birds were remainders from yesterday, for example two of the Spot Flies were with a female Redstart and flicking between the Sheepwalk and the Hollow, just like yesterday.

And here's a few more pics...

One of the Whinchats and it's shadow!

Juv Stonechat

Same again, a juv Stonechat

The colours on autumn male Wheatears are amazing. So much more than those beige juvs!

Spot Fly

Another Spot Fly

An elusive male Redstart - all of the four were buggers to get a good look at

Yellow Wags by their second most favoured choice of livestock!

Yellow Wag posing a bit better

Ok I think that's enough bird pictures for now.  Having a P900 makes it hard not to point and shoot and everything you see, however far away!

What was extra rewarding about this morning was the trek out to the upper slopes of Branscombe...

Short grass and plenty of bare ground and scrub

Almost every time I come out here and have a good look around, despite how yummy the habitat looks, I rarely see much at all.  That was different though today, and the area shown in the  photo above was home to ten Wheatear, four Whitethroat, two Redstart, two Blackcap, one Garden Warbler and a Spot Fly. It was just after I took this photo when I picked up the flying Egret, can't lie it did put a slight downer on things - I never like things getting away from me.

After Beer Head I gave the Estuary a couple of sweeps looking for big white things (whatever their bill shape!), failed on this but saw a lovely juv Marsh Harrier.  I would have said this was the bird Tim Wright saw a couple of days ago, but I don't think it was because this is the first Marsh Harrier I've ever seen here actually arriving - all the previous ones I've stumbled upon in the valley have already been over the marsh hunting.  I first clocked it thanks to an alarming Herring Gull behind me high above the hill above Axmouth.  It seemed to be drifting high west, but then dropped like a stone...

Marsh Harrier losing height!

And began to hunt over the marsh, with Crows in attendance as ever...

You can just about make out the pale fringes to the coverts, making this a juvenile

It's amazing to see how this species has increased here, in line with an increase and spread in breeding range across the UK. Ten years ago they weren't even annual, but this is probably our fifth of sixth individual of this year alone...

So all in all, a cracking morning, one that really got my juices flowing. But I must say it does feel like I am missing something.... Oh yes, now where's that Ortolan...

.

Mega Beer Head Morning

Mixed emotions from Beer Head this morning. One of my best ever early autumn falls, but I was bird ringing and managed to catch not that much at all!!  I knew it was going to be good straight away, as I was walking out to my net site in the half-light of dawn I saw a Spot Fly on a low fence with half a dozen Wheatear, and two Tree Pipits flew over calling.

The first two hours were really amazing, with birds just suddenly appearing in the bushes, but then quickly disappearing too.  The field I was ringing in was then completely invaded with Wheatears when a huge flock dropped in, but again they pretty quickly moved off west. Yellow and Grey Wags and Tree Pipits kept zipping overhead, it really was all go and so so exciting!!! At about 9am though it all went quiet. And I mean really quiet, the bushes just went bird-less. So weird how this happens...

But my one 60 foot mist net that usually catches most things I see was completely and utterly useless.  The north wind was just strong enough that birds could clearly see it as they were flying around, under and over it.  It may as well have been painted neon yellow to be honest - well it couldn't have done any worse! So so disappointing in this respect (especially as I saw the star bird of the morning 'bounce out'), but a superb few hours at the same time!

Pointless mist net!

So, forgetting about the ringing (which is what I should have done at 7am and just gone for a wander!) this is what I saw;

1 alba Wagtail
3 Grey Wagtail
30+ Yellow Wagtail (some with cattle, others over west)
15 Tree Pipit (my highest ever count for Beer Head, all overhead)
25+ Wheatear
2 Redstart (m and f)
1 Pied Flycatcher (a bit of a Beer Head mega, last seen bouncing out then flying around my mist net! Gutting)
5 Spotted Flycatcher
1 Blackcap
1 Garden Warbler
4 Whitethroat
10 Willow Warbler
5 Chiffchaff
1 Goldcrest (my first of the autumn here)

Ian Mc, Ian P and my Dad were also up Beer Head this morning, and from what they told me I reckon you could add another one or two Redstarts, a couple more Spot Flies and a load more Whitethroats to my totals.

Epic epic epic morning. Really hope we get many more like this, but it would be nice if I caught a few of them next time...

The Birds

It's time to review what the birding has been like on the Axe over the last month or so, and what I've seen...

I'll start back when I first became laptop-less, in late August.  The Baird's Sand proved a one day wonder on Black Hole Marsh, but the Wood Sands lingered.  Although big numbers were only present for a couple of days, there were between five and 14 for the next few weeks - still amazing numbers when talking about Wood Sands!  What proved as amazing as the numbers were the views they were offering...

Personally I think there's not many places better for seeing wading birds up close in the UK than Black Hole Marsh.  Just look at that Wood Sand in the photo above, it couldn't be closer to the Island Hide!

We had quite a few juv Little Stints over the course of August/September, never more than two at a time, but we probably had about seven or so over the course of the autumn.  Curlew Sands though have proved scarce this autumn, and all we managed were a couple of juveniles on 24th Aug...

A front view and a back view! Both are Curlew Sands I promise

Otherwise we had good numbers of Ruff (up to double figures) and the odd single Knot, Turnstone, etc...

Knot

Black Hole Marsh really came good on 30th/31st Aug. Late on 30th a patch first and Devon mega appeared in front of Tim Wright, a Citrine Wagtail! (the grim details and a photo here).  Sadly after barely a minute it flew off and was never seen again. Gutting.  The following morning birders searching for the rare waggy turned up a cracking Spotted Crake and a Wryneck - on fire!!!  I didn't see any of the three rarities, but so happy for the chaps that did and very pleased for the patch. A Bittern was seen on Colyford Marsh by many on 8th Sept, but since then Black Hole and Colyford Marsh have remained rarity-free zones. 

Over on the Estuary  it's been fairly quiet.  The small wader flock from Black Hole Marsh could often be seen here at low tide, and good numbers of gulls on 21st Sept included 180+ Great Black-backed Gulls and a lovely first-winter Yellow-legged Gull.  I saw my first Wigeon of the autumn on 24th Aug (it was actually on the sea), but from mid Sept numbers have been building, there are probably about 80-100 present now.  A nice surprise this morning were two Pintail on Colyford Marsh scrape, my first ones this year. Unusually a Razorbill has been present for a good few weeks on the Estuary, often on the river as far north as the Tower Hide. Bit of an odd sight.

Back to the sea, and an evening walk along Branscombe Beach with Jess and Honey on 29th Aug showed there were large numbers of Gannets offshore (despite no wind at all), and thousands of whitebait washed up on the beach.  

I was interviewed by BBC Radio Devon about this, not quite the 'freak phenomenon' they were hoping for though!

Because of this, the next morning I spent a few hours at Spot On Kiosk, and was rewarded with lots and lots of birds. Most of these were feeding gulls and Gannets, but I did see c35 Manxies and at least six Balearic Shearwaters, a couple of which were lingering and feeding offshore.  A Greenshank in-off was a bonus too, and vis mig over the beach included three species of wagtail for the first time this autumn (Pied, Grey and Yellow).

A bird ringing update will be in another post (once I have IMPR up and running again), but I have spent a fair bit of time at Beer Head, and have had some good mornings there without really seeing anything that special. You don't always need rare birds to have a good day.

The 1st Sept was a pretty good morning up there, in two hours I logged 25 Yellow Wags, one Grey Wag, two Tree Pipit, eight Wheatear, two Redstart, three Spot Flies and a late Swift.

The best day for me though was 17th Sept. Up to the day before I'd seen just a handful of migrant Meadow Pipits, but it was bursting with them!  I left the head 3.5 hours after arriving, and had counted at least 750 Mipits, some flying straight through, but most landing among the long grass in large flocks briefly before continuing on west.  It felt so so good for a rare pipit, but sadly it never happened.  The bushes were just as busy as the fields, with good numbers of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, what will probably prove to be my last Willow Warbler and Redstart of the year and a single Spot Fly.

A beautifully well marked juv Spotted Flycatcher

More recently, the 30th Sept was a windy morning, but hirundines were streaming through in their thousands at Beer Head, all going east. In with them plenty of Meadow Pipits, a few finches and on the land a Wheatear and a Spot Fly.

The best day for vis mig variety was even more recently, on 3rd Oct. I was up there ringing and it was fairly foggy, but birds were piling through north.  Several large flocks of Linnets, Goldfinches and Siskins, almost continual Chaffinches and Meadow Pipits, numerous Pied and Grey Wags, the biggest movement of Skylark of the autumn so far (35+), a couple of Redpolls, singles of Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer, and best of all at least two Crossbill. If only the bushes were as busy!  I did see a Firecrest, but sadly didn't catch it...

The only notable birds I've seen since the 3rd were this morning's Pintail that I've already mentioned, and a Firecrest in the middle of Colyton during a dog walk on Sunday morning.

It feels good to be up to date, so from now on as I see I will post, yes regular blog posts will resume.  And I look forward to compiling the bird ringing post too, that will probably come early next week.