A Balmy Boxing Day Walk at Branscombe

Long time no post!  Sorry, it's been a busy few months with lots going on. But before I go any further let me wish you all a (belated) Merry Christmas.

Late this morning we went for a family walk in Branscombe. It was really mild out, with plenty of Robins, a Dunnock and a Goldfinch in full song - and then this Peacock butterfly came flying past...

Around the sewage works I couldn't find any Firecrest or Yellow-browed, but among the eight or so Chiffchaffs were two lovely examples of tristis Siberian Chiffchaff, the first ones I've seen this winter. I couldn't get any decent photos of either of them as they never came that close, but here's two record shots of one bird...

Like a ghost in the undergrowth!

Almost didn't post this one as it's so dreadful, but it does show upperpart colour well, more like a Garden Warbler than a Chiff!

Beer Head from Branscombe - shame a Great Spotted Cuckoo didn't fly into view!!  It felt warm enough for one.

And lastly, as I've not posted a shot of him on here for a while, here's our little man enjoying Christmas 2018...

He's turning into such a wonderful young man

Really hope I don't keep you guys waiting as long for the next blog post...
 

Spring Wader Passage?

Just a couple of snippets of interest from the past few days to tell in today's blog post

Friday morning last week saw a slight surprise in the form of a Ringed Plover on Seaton beach. This was probably our first true sign of spring passage as there's not been a Ringed Plover on patch since October 2016. With the temperatures turning mild later this week I wonder if any other signs of spring will emerge?

On Thursday of last week it was nice to see two good-looking tristis Chiffchaffs at Colyford WTW.  The first bird was ringed (presumably the bird ringed here by Mike Tyler on 28th Dec 2016) and came straight in to a recording of tristis song. The second bird was along the lane just north of the WTW, and looked even smarter than the ringed bird with proper 'Daz white' underparts, but it never called. Sadly neither posed well enough for photos, but if they stick around some more hopefully I'll get some shots.

It's been great to see far more Med Gulls about recently. In the first winter period they were so scarce here, but in the last few weeks I've been seeing ones and twos far more frequently. Adults in all stages of head moult and a couple of second-winters too, probably over ten different birds in the last two weeks, including sadly one with a damaged wing by the tram sheds.

The only bits of interest from today include the wintering Grey Plover still on the Estuary, a drake Gadwall for its second day hanging out below the Tower Hide, and the Brent Goose that has been around since Saturday on Colyford Marsh.

I hate posting photo-less posts, so have a token Kestrel from mid January.  There seems to be a few more of these about than the last few years, with at least five wintering on patch...

What's The Hold Up?

I often find March a month of frustration when it comes to birding. You feel like you've turned the corner from winter to spring, but nothing actually happens... and that's exactly what is going on at the moment. Usually though there is an obvious reason why nothing is happening (snow, a blasting cold northerly wind, storms on the migration routes, etc) but at the moment there seems to be no apparent reason.  Every day a check of BirdGuides shows an almost complete void of early spring migrants which just seems really odd, yes there's been the odd Sand Martin, LRP, Garganey, plus a bit of obvious spring stringing - but way short of what I have been expecting. Really hope things pick up soon.

Despite the lack of any spring migrants elsewhere, I did give Beer Head a wander late morning yesterday but came up with nothing more than five Stonechat...

I've included this photo more for the blue sky!

It's not just the summer migrants in short supply, with a new moon this week I've been expecting some wader passage on the Estuary (maybe an Avocet, Barwit, Ringo or Grey Plover?) but I've seen absolutely nothing new. 

The sea has also been dire, mind you it has been dire all winter.  We usually have double-figure counts of Great Crested Grebe here, but three has been my max count all winter, and there only seems to be one left now.  These, along with Cormorants and Shags, are the only species of sea birds I've seen settled on the sea in Seaton Bay ALL winter!  Dreadful.  I did have another look this morning, but after seeing nothing except, surprise surprise, one Great Crested Grebe, I decided to give Branscombe a look...

Finally some birds!  Although many were off to the west (with five being too far away to positively ID) there were divers. 12 Red-throated and three Great Northerns to be precise. The second closest of all of them was a stunning full summer plumage Red-throat - what a treat!  Also 10+ distant auks on the sea but nothing else. There was nothing really moving over the sea at all, so two Common Scoter east and a flock of 15 west were notable indeed.

Once I had given the sea the attention I felt it required, I wandered up to the sewage works. Several Goldcrests, a green Chiffy and an absolute stunner of a tristis Siberian Chiffchaff - a real pallid grey bird - greeted me.  Sadly it was never close enough for pics, but you should know by now that never stops me...

Awful pic, but not a hint of green or yellow anywhere!

A Much Needed Patch Update

Well I've got a few days to talk about in this post. And because today has produced the best bird, I'll start here and work backwards....

Thursday 17th

It was a non birding morning for me today, well pretty much a non birding day. But at about 10am I had a phone call from Ian Mc, he had a wader on Colyford Scrape from the hide that was ringing alarm bells. An hour later when I was almost available to twitch it, I found out it had yellow legs - but had flown off.... FLIPPING HECK!

At half 11 I was back on patch, and Gav had seen it and was convinced it was a Temminck's - Devon's first November record I believe. By the time I had got to Colyford hide all the key features had been seen.

Don't get me wrong, it is a cracking bird, with bright yellow legs, and a proper patch rarity - only our second ever. But a yellow legged stint in mid November, after the autumn that the UK has had, just a bit gutting....

Cracking bird like I said though - mustn't be ungrateful!

It's with a Lapwing flock rather oddly, and every time the birds on the scrape were flushed by a Peregrine, it always flew around with them before returning to the scrape.

Wednesday 16th

With a whole load of Desert Wheatears turning up in the UK the previous day (including a corker my mate Dave tripped over on Skomer - lucky bugger!), I just HAD to walk this first thing in the morning...

What wonderful Desert Wheatear habbo!

I walked the whole of the beach! At the very start of the walk I saw these two crackers...

Just a pity the sun didn't come out for me!

And by the end of the slog - that was still all I had seen! Oh well, it had to be done.

I then had a quick look up the estuary, and was excited when my eyes could see about seven brown blobs on Bridge Marsh...

Ooohhhh - grey geese!

Bugger it - they were Greylags! There were still 12 Brent Geese on Colyford Marsh, and about a billion Canade Geese.....well about 70!

Tuesday 15th

Today was the day I did the dirty on the patch (see my previous post!), but not until I had given the Beer Cemetery Fields a good look...

There was very little grounded, it was in the air where of the action was happening. With the south easterly wind, all vis mig was heading that way - including loads of Wood Pigeons! In just over an hour I counted 17,600...

It was quite a spectacle!

Also overhead my first Brambling of the autumn, 20 Redwing, two Fieldfare and a Mistle Thrush.

Monday 14th

I put lots of leg work in with very little to show for it, despite a couple of flocks of Redwings flying low over the house soon after dawn. My first stop was Lower Bruckland Ponds, where the previous day James Mc had seen a very grey Chiffchaff.

I had seen bugger all, and was just heading back to the car, when I could hear a tristis-type Chiff calling. It was very elusive, and I didn't get enough on it to 'tick off' all the important plumage features, but it was very grey indeed with not a hint of yellow or green. Although you wouldn't know that from the only photo I took of it...

You can barely see it I know!

As I said though, it sounded spot on - nothing like the other calling greenish Chiff that was present.

The best the river offered was a Knot with the Blackwits off Coronation Corner...

Yes another awful photo!

When I pulled up to check the Swan flock near Boshill Cross, they all took off. That was because of this...

After some dinner!

The weekend as usual was a birding free zone for me, although on the way to Kilmington on Saturday afternoon I saw a nice flock of 60+ Fieldfare near Whitford bridge.

And that's that. Hopefully I will keep on top of blogging for the remainder of the autumn. Yes - I still think there is more this autumn has to offer...