Red Sky at Night

The evening of the 23rd produced one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen.  To see people of all ages simply standing on the spot looking up was quite surreal, with others rushing to get better views.  It all started when I walked out of Co-op clutching dinner...

I relocated to the seafront where I watched this...

Become this...

Absolutely mind-blowing.  And to top it off, when the sky was lit-up only by this amazing red glow, a group of four Cattle Egrets flew in off the sea and headed north west.  A nice little surprise.

To bring you completely up to date with my local sightings, this morning a female Pintail flew up river with a flock of about 50 Wigeon, two Redwing came flying out of an Axmouth garden, four Dunlin flew up river and I could make out at least two Cattle Egret near Seaton Marshes.

The Beast From The East

We may not have had any significant snow fall here in East Devon yet (that is about to change!) but like elsewhere we have had freezing temperatures and that bitter east wind. It's been seriously cold...

Black Hole Marsh pre-dawn on Tuesday

A 100% frozen Black Hole Marsh on Tuesday

Even the Estuary has had icy edges this week

More Estuary ice

Lower Bruckland Ponds today

Bird-wise we have seen the expected increase in wildfowl and wader numbers, which I will summarise below, but my highlight of the week so far is a passerine. I haven't seen Bearded Tit on patch since Oct '13, so a series of 'pings' emanating from the vast Axe Reedbed this morning, followed by brief flight views of one bird, was a real treat. Only the third time I've ever seen this species here, they are less than annual and often not twitchable.

I haven't seen as many different ducks as I was hoping, for example no diving ducks. But following on from Mike's flock of 20 Pintail (mostly males) that flew in off the sea late on Monday, on Tuesday morning at least three were still on the river. Pity the whole flock didn't stay though - would have been a great sight!

Today the two Ringed Plover and Greenshank were still present, joined by ten Dunlin and later in the day, an impressive flock of 184 Golden Plover feeding with Lapwing opposite Stedcombe Vale.  Jack Snipe and Grey Plover have also been seen on the Axe today, and am sure there's more out there to find. The Marsh Harrier is also still around.

Golden Plover and Lapwing

Ditto

Back to passerines and although there have been more Redwing, Fieldfare and Meadow Pipits about, I've not noticed any major movements yet like the 2010 cold snap.

I'll finish this post with a snap I took this morning of a Fox at Lower Bruckland Ponds. It had curled itself up on the sheltered side of a small mound, with the sun shining upon it. He/she looked absolutely gorgeous and in really good condition...

Fox

The 'W' Word

Well it's hard not to think of winter when you see the first of these of the autumn loafing on the Estuary...

Male Wigeon

Otherwise it was much the same on Black Hole Marsh, although it was pleasing to see the Greenshank on here - a gorgeous silverly juv.  Yesterday it was nice to see a Green Sand close to the Island Hide, they have been present in unusually low numbers this autumn...

Juv-1w Green Sand

Such a pity the sun wasn't behind me for this photo!

Winter Weather At Last

Finally it feels a bit more like winter. Not sure what all these flowering daffodils and primroses are going to make of it though...

I've not been out birding much at all so far this year, so yesterday it felt like a real privilege to be stood in the middle of a lovely little mixed flock of Goldfinches, Siskins and Redpolls...

A small part of the flock

Lesser Redpoll

Male Siskin

It was one of those occasions that watching these birds feeding, whilst stood in bright sunshine, transported me off this earth and in to a different world... 

Isn't it amazing just how powerful and almost magical the simple pastime of watching birds can be...

A Touch Of Frost

So nice to feel a chill in the air this morning - a proper winter one.  The cars took several minutes to defrost this morning, the crystal clear over night sky had given us a sharp frost this morning...

I had high hopes for today to be honest. I wasn't expecting grey geese, wild swans or masses of ducks, but I was hoping to see some Warblers.  Chiffchaffs have been very scarce for several weeks here, with very few at the usual wintering sites, but a tour of the likely spots today showed at least 14.  Rather unfairly though, I didn't see any other species of Warbler!  In fact I didn't even see a 'grey' Chiffchaff - they were all green collybita birds. 

I really did spend all my birding time today looking for warblers, and haven't seen much else.  Bun and my Dad have seen at least four Black Redstarts between them, all new in, and another species that's had a poor showing here so far this autumn.  I didn't see any of today's birds, but on Saturday just gone was thrilled to see one just down from my house, a nice first-winter male...

Forecast doesn't look too promising for the morning - be a good day to catch up with emails I think...