Guess What.... Sea watching off Seaton again!

Well yesterday turned out to be yet another terrific day watching the waves in Seaton Bay!

It was an odd mix of what felt like an underwhelming, under delivering and at times frustrating morning sea watch (so a typical Seaton seawatch!) and then an over achieving evening sea watch which I was absolutely thrilled I took a gamble with.

The hours of darkness before saw a strong south westerly wind blowing for most of the night, which continued throughout Thursday, although the wind turned a bit more to the west as the day went on.  The clouds also cleared, with heavy cloud and a few rain showers during the morning watch but almost uninterrupted blue skies and sunshine for the evening watch.  In between, a wet weather front came through late morning/early afternoon which instigated the change in the weather. 

You can see from my weather summary of the day why I was fully expecting to have a brilliant morning and not so much in the evening.  But this is how my two watches turned out, both from my prime spot of The Spot On Kiosk on Seaton Beach. It was nice to be joined by James Mc for most of the morning watch.

06:10 - 08:10 (west unless stated): 13 Common Scoter (10 east) 300+ Gannets (estimate), 7 Fulmar, 2 large Shearwater sp (ultra distant passing in quick succession at 06:55 just before visibility dropped, we both felt they were probably Greats), 13 Balearic Shearwater, 10 Manx Shearwater, 10 small Shearwater sp., 2 Arctic Skua (d/ph chasing Kitts heading east, then a slender juv west which both had us worried about LTS!) and 19 Kittiwake.

17:30 - 19:30 (west unless stated): 120+ Gannet, 9 Fulmar, 2 Cory's Shearwater (absolutely epic!  They flew west together at 18:55 just after a good flurry of shearwater passage, turning south about half way across the bay. The feeling when the first one came into view with that distinctive wing shape will be etched on my brain for a long time!), 14 Balearic Shearwater (some fairly close), 70+ Manx Shearwater, 1 Arctic Skua (pale sub-adult lingering for half an hour, on sea and chasing gulls), 243 Med Gull (***patch record*** and not expected!  At the start of the watch a feeding flock way to the east seemed to contain lots of Meds, then about half-an hour later they started pilling through west in flocks of up to 60 birds until I finished, although they slowed down for the last thirty minutes. I would estimate the flocks were made up of about 60-65% juvs, most showing a lot of 1st-winter feathering now. An absolutely phenomenal passage), 60+ Black-headed Gull and 45 Kittiwake (many of these came through mixed in with the Med Gulls).

 

One of the closet Kittiwakes passing, a lovely fresh juvenile

 

So in short there were two stand outs from the day, both from the evening watch - two Cory's Shearwater and a mind blowing passage of Med Gulls which was an absolute privilage to witness.  More of this please!

 

Still Watching the Waves

We've had some reasonably good sea watching weather since my last post.  At bit more rain at times would have been good, but the wind on some days has been pretty much spot.  There's some more to come too which I am hopeful about!

I will start with the most recent watch whilst it is still fresh in my mind, this morning.  Conditions were far from ideal, but yesterday ended with heavy rain and a strong south westerly wind so I wanted to chance it incase anything was reorientating or still hanging around.  Desite the lack of wind there was a good amount of cloud cover at the start of the watch, however by the end of it I don't think the conditions could have been worse for this pastime...

Pants!

 

It was so worth the effort though.  1.5 hours from 06:10 gave probably the strongest passage of Gannets that I've seen this year (including plenty of juvs) and an impressive eight Arctic Skuas!  

Full totals (west unless stated):  11 Common Scoter (1 east), 3 Balearic Shearwater, 1 Manx Shearwater, 9 Shearwater sp. (distant), 1 Great Crested Grebe, 450+ Gannet, 3 Fulmar, 8 Arctic Skua (5 west together after chasing Kitts at 06:25, adult pale and dark-phased west at 06:40 and finally a pale immature persistently chasing a Kitt away to the east at 07:30), 35 Kittiwake and 2 Yellow Wagtail (over the beach).

Yesterday, when the rain and real winds were happening, I had time for an evening seawatch from Seaton Hole 17:30 - 18:45.  A nice passage of Balearics and three Arctic Skuas the highlight of this watch, with full totals (west unless stated): 26 Balearic Shearwater, 18 Manx Shearwater, 70+ Shearwater sp. (going both ways further out), 22 Gannet, 1 Fulmar, 3 Arctic Skua (all appeared to be dark-phased, flew in from south, landed briefly then got swept away east with the wind) and 41 Kittiwake.

Back on 14th we had another day of nice blustery southerly winds, building as the day went on.  I missed a patch Cory's Shearwater by about twenty minutes, but a 40 minute sea watch from 13:00 showed 90 Manx and 6 Balearic fly west.  Nice to see so many shearwaters out there, even though they were only small ones for me.  A Sooty few east not long after I left too, so not very well timed at all by me!

Away from the sea I have been lucky enough to see three Ospreys on the Axe in the last ten days, all juveniles and all from my office! One on 12th had several fishing attempts on the lower Estuary and remained for at least the rest of the day and possibly into the following day.  On 18th one came low down the Estuary, then gained height and circled up high above Axe Cliff, presumably then leaving the UK for the summer.   The third was today, and seemed to be as brief as Sunday's as it flew high down the Estuary and looked like it then went straight out to sea.  

Since my last post I have managed my first bit of autumn vis mig too, with a few hours at Axe Cliff on the morning of 17th giving me a Tree Pipit and three Yellow Wags west overhead.  Hardly busy but it's nice to get off the vis mig line for the season!  

Oh and I cannot forget to mention I've had another juv Yellow-legged Gull, a lovely tall and pale bird from a Birdwatching Tram on 11th...

As expected, plenty of first-winter scaps visible

 

And there we have it, you are all caught up!  Hopefully I'll have more skuas to blog about soon. 

More Seawatching

With Cory's Shearwaters reported off Portland on multiple days within the last week, showing they have made it this far up the channel, I have been keen to get down to the sea whenever I've had the chance.

My usual sea view from my favoured sea waching point in Seaton, the Spot On Kiosk

 

An evening sea watch on 2nd August was completely speculative as there wasn't even any wind.  But three Balearic Shearwaters, my first of the year, flew west together at 8pm and made the visit worthwhile. Also 11 Med Gulls west, including nine juveniles.

Yesterday morning (8th) two hours from dawn in more promising conditions gave me a nice little haul, but again no big 'uns.  The shearwaters I did see were two Balearic and one Manx, all west as single birds. 

The main highlight of the watch was a surprise pair of Garganey, including a male (either juv or eclipse adult) which flew west at 06:25.  Another pair of small duck flew west about half an hour later, but neither of these was a male Garganey so they were definitely a different pair and I saw nothing to suggest they weren't Teal.  Also three Common Scoter west.

Another nice highlight was a close dark-phased Arctic Skua which flew slowly west at 06:20.  It came through within the Gannet passage that started up at about 6am, in all I logged 130 fly west including a decent number of juveniles - a promising sign after the bird flu tragedies they've endured in recent years.  Also three Med Gulls west and a half-a-dozen Kittiwake.  A Ringed Plover called a few times but I have no idea which way it was going as it remained invisible.

Finding myself glued to the weather forecasts even more than usual at the moment, longing for some hefty Atlantic storms...

Spring, Summer and Autumn in one post!

Well I did promise I would complete my summer sightings in a blog post, and here it is, with a bit of previously unposted spring action too...

As usual the post breeding passage of wading birds started not long after the northbound passage of wading birds came to an end.  Here were some of the best spring waders I saw this year, only posting now because I didn't blog about them earlier in the year.  It was a shockingly poor spring here, for basically all migrating birds, but especially waders with no big wader days at all.  This lovely Grey Plover on 14th May was probably wader of the spring for me...

Such a smart wader, with a couple of Whimbrel behind

And who doesn't love spring Bar-tailed Godwits.  There were nine on Black Hole Marsh on 24th April, including this group of six...

Such stunning birds - with lots of sleep to catch on clearly!

 

And now to autumn.  Well, 'wading bird autumn' anyway...

No massive rarities as yet but there has been one major highlight for me, with my first (very nearly complete) summer-plumaged Spotted Redshank on the Axe - in well over 20 years of birding here! Thank you Clive for finding it on the Estuary early on the morning of 24th June (never gives up does Clive!). I saw it on Black Hole Marsh once the tide had risen, it did wake up a few times but the only photos I managed were of it asleep...

Absolute beauty.  A rare bird in any plumage here so this was something else!

Otherwise wader-wise during the last month or so, it's been the usual selection of birds including the odd Green Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover and Whimbrel, with Black-tailed Godwit and Reshank numbers already up to the 50 mark.  I was surprised to see 11 Lapwing too a few days ago, usually only get the odd one until much later on. There has been Sanderling and Ruff recorded as well, but not by me.  Sadly no Avocet breeding success this year, after what was presumably the pair from last year had their eggs predated by a Fox back in the spring  The adults, and a third bird, did hang around for several weeks after, even mated again and looked like they were beginning to settle down on a new island, but this was all for show as nothing came from it.  A realy shame but that's nature.

In the gull department, as expected Mediterranean Gulls have been passing through for about a month now.  My biggest count was 16 on 20th July which included nine juveniles.  Although I havent been looking through the big'uns with the same frequency as in other years, I have still managed two juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls so far...

The first bird on a wet and windy 15th July seemed to be regretting its life choices!

Bird two, already showing some first-winter scaps, taken during a birdwatching tram trip on 28th July.  A lovely 'smooth' and pale bird.

 

I even got my moth trap out a few nights ago for the first time this year, but I will save that for the next post so this one can remain strictly birds-only.  Check back soon...

Unseasonal Skuas

Been glancing at the sea as often as I've been able to over the last couple of weeks.  The weathers not been right for sea watching not by a long way, but the prospect, however slim, of a Red-footed Booby is worth every spare second I have!  Although I must admit, I feel like the opportunity has slipped through the net now...

An immature Red-footed Booby, photographed on Monday 24th June briefly off Portland Bill and then seen and photographed perched on a boat further east off the Purbeck coast the same evening, seemed to then disappear.  Until...

A lady waiting for a bus at Sidmouth sea front at about 5pm on 2nd July took several photos of an odd-looking bird close in off the beach circling with Herring Gulls.  Thankfully she then sent the photos to Paul Bolden's website (www.wildlifeindevon.org.uk) allowing Paul and Mark to raise the alarm, it was the Red-footed Booby! I spent most of the next afternoon/evening looking off here from various different vantage points, checking cliffs, bouys, boats and even the large crane that has been over Seaton for the last 12 or so months!  However no reward that night, and no Booby since but it has to be somewhere...

My unseasonal sea watching hasn't been without highlights though.  As ever, if you put the effort in you will get rewards, even if it's not the main prize you were hoping for.

Best of all was on the evening of 7th July, in pleasant weather with excellent viewing conditions, when I was shocked to pick up a near adult pale-phased Pomarine Skua powering west.  I watched it for almost five minutes as it flew through the bay and then around Beer Head.  A treat in any year, but particularly so after such a poor spring for skuas and sea watching in general here.  No spoons but that didn't take away from its pure awesomeness.

A still taken from a phone-scoped video. Looks miles out but wasn't that bad a view at all by Seaton standards!

Have also had two Arctic Skuas, both pale-phased adults or very near-adults, these flew high east together at 20:40 on the evening of 13th.  The sea was completely flat with a light northerly wind and there wasn't much else moving at all (as you'd expect in those conditions!).  Like the Pom, these were my first of the year.

To have these skuas around (plus a Long-tailed Skua in the Exe last week) in such still conditions means there must be plenty of food around. Promising for the next few months ahead.

Med Gulls are to be expected at this time of year moving offshore, and I have seen a small number moving west including my first juvenile through on the 13th.    Two Teal bombing around on 3rd were less expected, as have been the few small flocks of Common Scoter either on the sea or flying west.  Not seen any Balearic Shearwaters here yet, but a few Manxies have been passing by. 

Cetaceans have been OK too, with several sightings of Common Dolphins (although always small numbers) and on 13th three Harbour Porpoise showing well, including a calf.

A typical Porpoise view!

Check back soon for some more updates from the patch, including news of two of the best looking wading birds around...

Patch Tick - Aurora Borealis!

I have spent many hours looking up at the night sky hoping, and sometimes even expecting to see the Northern Lights.  Over the past couple of years the prospect of seeing Aurora on the south coast of England has increased, I can recall at least three nights being out knowing Aurora is a real possibility.

On two of those nights I could see nothing.  On the third night I could again see nothing, but my phone camera revealed a light green hue in the sky.  I felt cheated.  And reading some more into it I realised this is what most/all 'sub-optimal' Aurora experiences are like... not an experience at all! Such a disappointment.

Still for some reason that didn't put me off going out on the evening of Friday 10th May, as this was reported to be one of the most severe solar storms possible...

I went out at about 10:40pm, and from my vantage point west of Colyton, just above the clouds that sat low in the sky to the north, I could see a faint green hue.  It was much more extensive through my phone camera, but at least I could actually see some colour with my naked eye this time!  

Distant Aurora! A wispy green hue.

 

I honestly thought that was it.  I stayed for half an hour admiring this whiff of green, but just as I was about to leave... well what happened next will stay with me forever...

The only way I can explain it is that the sky quite literally lit-up.  A bit like being in a dark theatre and the spot lights suddenly turn on, with bright lights piercing through the empty blackness. But these spot lights were coloured and on a scale of epic proportions!  

The night sky, up to directly above me, was suddenly a mix of blue, green, purple and pink, in these huge and mightly impressive towers of light...

A night-time rainbow

I cannot tell you how impressive these beams were - literal towers of light.

 

I am not ashamed to say it moved me.  Seeing something so mind blowing on such an incomprehensibly epic scale completely knocked me off my feet.  I immediately phoned Jess who I knew was in bed, and got her up and out in the back garden (where light pollution is an issue) and she couldn't believe it!  When I got home 20 minutes later we swapped over so she could go out and admire the Aurora at a darker spot.

It varied in intensity up until when I went to bed at 1am, and at one stage I could see movement in the light.  These were my views from the back garden at about mightnight...

The beams got even more striking and bright!

So many beams!  Filled so much of the sky.

Only included this pic as it actually includes my house!  My house and the Northern Lights.

 

Many people are saying this was a once in a life-time show of the Aurora Borealis.  I sure hope not, but if it turns out to be I am so glad I witnessed it.  

Cirl Bunting - The Seaton Story

Finally, finally, finally... bloody finally!

When I was starting out in birding in the late 90s and early 00's, enjoying frequent weekend birding trips out with Dad, the rule was you had to go west of the Exe Estuary to see a Cirl Bunting.  Sometime in the mid to late 00's, Budleigh and Otter Head became home for an isolated small population, which has steadily increased in numbers since.

In 2019, just a few miles from our patch boundary, Cirl Buntings appeared around Weston and towards Sidmouth (see blog post HERE). They've remained in the area ever since but haven't obviously spread out, with no records within approx two miles of our western patch boundary at Branscombe.  With them being SO close though we have been on the look out. 

However our efforts have proved nothing but frustrating, despite seemingly having plenty of ideal habitat.  They've even leap-frogged us, as are now present and breeding at several sites along the south coast of west Dorset, as far east as Portland Bill.  They've even gone inland of us too, with a single male (possible two) present for a second year near Axminster.  You really cannot blame us for feeling like we have some sort of Cirl deflective force field around our patch!  Well that was up until eleven days ago anyway...

I really have not been out at all much this year, it has been extremely busy at work opening a new attraction in town.  However on the morning of Monday 8th April I had a spare hour, and spent it traipsing around Axe Cliff Golf Course in the hope of turning up a Hoopoe or Woodchat Shrike.  No such luck, but on the east side of the Golf Course as I was walking along a narrow hedge-lined track, a familiar rattle sounded out.  It took me a while to see it, but there perched on the opposite side of the hedge right in front of me was an absolutely knock-out male Cirl Bunting, singing proudly. A patch tick!

Unfortunately however, as I went for my phone to grab a record shot/video it slipped away. I was convinced it was just going to pop up again somewhere nearby, but there's been no sight or sound during the ten days since! Gutting for everyone that missed it, but am sure it or another will surface soon.  Well actually, another one already has, the very next day...  

Local birder Leon came across a female Cirl Bunting on Beer Head on the 9th, and unlike me actually managed a pic, which I hope he doesn't mind me sharing here...

Female Cirl Bunting at Beer Head (c) Leon on 9th April 2024

So it looks like the force field is down! Hopefully it remains down and within a few years we will have breeding Cirl Buntings.  I did always think that as soon as one shows up the flood gates would open.

I won't leave it so long before the next blog post.  I have the whole of this spring to date to recap on, not that it has been anything that special - yet.  For now though, have this Wheatear shot, a nice Iceland/Greenland male too...

Colyford Common - 14/4/24

Casp Wakes Me Up From Winter Slumber

Well if one thing was going to get some life in this blog it was going to be a Caspian Gull wasn't it!

At the turn of the year I was fully intending to do a full 2023 patch birding review, especially as 2023 was such an epic birding year on the Axe.  Certainly my (and the?) best year on the Axe in the last ten or so years.  I am still hoping to write it, even if it is for selfish reasons so I can re-live it, but am so proud of how well the Axe patch scored in the 2023 Patchwork Challenge competition.

Anyway, for now, my first decent Gull of the year.  It's been a really poor first few months of 2024 on the Axe, low numbers of winter visitors and no rares or even scarce birds really.  So I was thrilled to spy this lovely first-winter Caspian Gull out of my office window on the afternoon of 20th Feb...

Lovely grey mantle and o-so-white!

Great Casp-stance here. Long thin legs and an almost equally long neck! Lots of pale on bill too.

Nice flash of its white tail, not to mention showing off some of the plainest greater coverts I have ever seen! Solidly plain dark tertials too.

Photo shows how much it stood out from all other first-winter birds in the flock. Such a sleak and pale bird which looked really clean.

Hopefully you won't have to wait another two months for the next post... but am sorry if you do!

A Calm Seaton Bay

I had a bit of a shock when I looked out over a calm Seaton Bay on Tuesday morning... there were birds!

Not flat calm but good enough!

Go back by over a decade or so and Seaton Bay wasn't all that bad for wintering sea birds. Don't get me wrong it was never in the same league as Torbay or Portland Harbour, but it was always worth a look.  A double-figure flock of Great Crested Grebes were a constant magnet, and there always used to be a wintering Common Scoter flock off the Harbour which would sometimes attract Velvet Scoter (have managed double-figure counts of this species here before), Long-tailed Duck and Eider. Scarce grebes were pretty much annual, most often Slavs but have seen a few Red and Black-necked too, and there were always good numbers of Red-throated Diver often with a few Great Northern.  

However this is a dim and distant memory now, although it is clearly not just a Seaton thing. You only need to look at how unusual and restricted large Common Scoter flocks have become on the south coast, and as for the scarcer grebes - Slav is almost a county/south west rarity now!  Another good example of a similar decline, although neither were ever common here, is Red-breasted Merganser and Goldeneye. Really quite shocking when it is so drastic over such a relatively short period of time.

Anyway back to Tuesday.  Half-hour at the Spot On in the morning was brilliant fun.  The Wigeon from the Estuary were floating around in small flocks, as they often are when disturbed from the valley, but a young drake Eider was a surprise find tagged on to the end of one of these flocks (my second record of the year).  Three Common Scoters were on the sea closer in, with two Great Crested Grebes out towards Seaton Hole and over 40 Razorbills spread all over.  Divers were represented by two Red-throats and a lovely close Great Northern feeding well, the latter a species most often seen flying through here so a close settled bird was very much appreciated.  On the move were a Dunlin in/off, two Brent Geese east, another seven Red-throated Diver and eight Common Scoter west, as well as a small number of Kittiwake and Gannets flying back and forth presumably feeding.

So nothing earth shattering and nothing like 'the old days', but enjoyable winter birding nonetheless.

Sea Keeps On Giving

Another wet and windy one last night, blowing in for most of the night from the south west.  So the sea was yet again calling me when I woke up this morning...

Conditions were far less dramatic than I was expecting on Seaton Beach at 07:30, quite different to what was forecasted too.  Despite a load or rain during the night there was not a drop during my 1.5 hour watch, and although there was an onshore wind from the south west it had dropped in strength and sea conditions, although of course rough, were nowhere near the mighty waves we've seen with the other recent storms.    It took about half an hour for the horizon to show though, with a sea mizzle (wasn't a fog or mist so am calling it that!) not clearing until nearly 8am.

Quite pleasant to be honest!

Despite the slightly tamer conditions it was yet another really good sea watch.  It had an 'end of the season' feeling for sure, but I love sea watches that result in a variety of species going into the notebook, and this one had that!  

07:30 - 09:00 at The Spot On revealed (west unless stated):  79 Gannet (flying both ways and feeding), 64 Kittiwake, 22 Common Scoter (1 east), 18 auk sp., 10 Dunlin, 8 Brent Geese (dark-bellied), 2 Great Northern Diver and singles of Long-tailed Duck, Pintail, Arctic Tern, Red-throated Diver and Turnstone.  Also noted one Bottlenose Dolphin - my first here for over a decade! 

The Arctic Tern was brilliant, and not expected on this late date at all - my latest ever tern in the UK excluding the few over-wintering Sandwich Terns I've seen.  Although it has been a brilliant year for sea watching on patch, I haven't done well with terns seeing just Sandwich and one pair of Common Terns all year. I had accepted this as my tern-fate for 2023, but at 08:15 the lovely sight of a delicate tern appeared to the east, and as it passed by I could see on plumage it was a first-winter Arctic, not to mention its wonderful buoyant flight.   Just about managed some video of it too...

 

The rarest bird of the watch was of course the Long-tailed Duck, however it was so nearly 'one that got away' in more ways than one!  I was so distracted videoing and watching the Arctic Tern that I hadn't been scanning the waves for several minutes, and as soon as my eye went back onto my scope aimed  towards the horizon, a flock of five birds came though. First one was an auk sp., with three Common Scoter but at the back was a smaller paler duck.... oh crap!  And ten seconds later it was gone around the corner... 

I knew what it was on shape and structure, just didn't have the confidence to call it due to lack of plumage detail and time on it.  I alerted others there was an interesting 'small duck' on the way west with 3 Common Scoter, and put the following message on the local sea watching WhatsApp group - only included here so you can see what I was thinking...

Then at about 09:10 I received a wonderful message from Mark B that read...

"Paul d hopes nose 908am long-tailed duck with 3 common scoter".

As I already knew what it was, that was all I needed to cement the record.  However I thought I would do some time calculations just to see if the timings fit. I saw it at 08:18 and Dan had it fly west past Sidmouth at 08:31.  So as you can see from this map, that is just over 7 miles in 13 minutes...

 

Some calculator-cleverness tells me it was flying at about 32 mph. So let's see how far Hope's Nose is from Seaton, for a duck who is following the coast...

If my calculations are correct, which they may not be, I would say a Long-tailed Duck passing Seaton at 08:18 flying at 32mph would reach Hope's Nose approximately 49 minutes later (according to an online speed calculator).

08:18 + 49 minutes = 09:07. Seriously!

Honestly I didn't need this calculation to have this Long-tailed Duck (which is my first here since 26th March 2021) but the fact it passed Hope's Nose almost on the dot is just brilliant!  Am so pleased Paul D decided to sea watch at Hope's Nose this morning.

Other notables during the watch listed above include the female Pintail that flew close west past me at 07:48, then went past Dan at Sidmouth at 08:05 (slow for a duck!), the Turnstone which is a decent November bird for the patch and it's always good to see a flock of Brents over the sea.  The Kittiwakes weren't coming through in close tight flocks like the sea watch last week, but dripping by in two's and three's mostly at distance. 

I keep expecting each of the last few sea watches to be the last one of the year. Can't help but feel the same considering the date today, but am really hoping it isn't...

Vis Mig and Wood Pigeon Count

We've had three really nice mornings during the last week that have seen a heavy passage of Wood Pigeons fly west.  I didn't have any time to stand and count on two of the days (5th & 11th - both great days) but on 6th I did...

I spent 07:30 - 08:30 at Cliff Field Gardens in Seaton, my chosen Patchwork Challenge patch vis mig spot.  It is dreadful to be honest, although higher in altitude than the town and beach, the site is still far lower than Axe Cliff to the east and Seaton Hole/Beer Head to the west.  There isn't a view inland, although the view of the bay is really nice, but worst of all it is just too noisy with the constant sound of crashing waves to the south and traffic noise along Beer Road to the north. 

The blue arrow is pointing at Cliff Field Gardens.  Including this spot for vis mig was the only reason for that narrow extension of my Patchwork Challenge patch west along the coast.

Last time I tried watching from here the passerines were mostly too high to hear/identify, however during this watch they were much lower, presumably due to the northerly wind.  The following went into my notebook during the hour:

17,400 Wood Pigeon, 330 Chaffinch (some lovely flocks of up to 30 birds), 130 Starling, 65 Jackdaw, 40+ Stock Dove, 30 Goldfinch, 25 Linnet, 12 Siskin, 3 Brambling, 1 Redpoll, 1 Redwing, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Great Northern Diver and 1 small goose sp. in/off (presumably a Brent but always in bad light).

Hopefully the video gives you a flavour of the Wood Pigeon passage, with all the biggest flocks out over the sea...  

And now the moment you've all been waiting for... the result of my Count the Wood Pigeons post!

Despite almost 200 post views I have only had five guesses, so many thanks to those brave enough to offer their opinions!  The guesses ranged from 550 to 1500.  The average of all guesses comes in at 914, with the mid-point (middle point between highest and lowest guess) at 1,025.  This is pleasingly close to the figure that went into my notebook when I saw the flock in the field, a simple '1k'.  

Here is the (poor quality!) video again...

And here is that video in three stills.  I have counted from the front of the flock just as I would in the field, but probably missed a few birds between capturing frames...

Just under 500 in the first frame!

500 in the second frame!

And an odd 82 following on from the last few from the final block of 100 in the third frame.

So the answer is (give or take the odd one) 1,082!  Well done Nick Page for being the closest, matching my in-field estimation of 1,000.

Another storm is coming through in the morning, but I've probably only got time for a beach walk or two so hopefully that will reveal something.

More Super Seaton Seawatching!

If you've come back looking for the answer to yesterday's 'count the Pigeon' post, you'll have to check back again sometime because this morning I had a thoroughly enjoyable hour long sea watch that I just have to blog about!

Yet another wet weather front arriving from the south west came sweeping through this morning, another fairly rapid one too as it was calm and clear when I went to bed last night and the wind had died right off again by 10am this morning.

I only had time for an hours sea watch, from 07:30, and for much of that the visibility was seriously hampered by rain and murk. However birds were always passing and it was really hard to pull myself away.  The following went in my notebook, all west:

174 Kittiwake, 16 Gannet, 13 Common Scoter, 6 Brent Geese (two three's), 2 Dunlin and singles of Pomarine Skua (juv at 08:15), skua sp. (sub-adult either Arctic or Pom at 08:00), auk sp. and small wader sp.

The first three Brents which quickly headed out

Two of the next three Brents which were a bit closer

 

The huge highlight, literally, was my fourth species of skua for the year!  I was feeling a bit deflated as the skua sp. that came through at 8am, a pale-phased sub-adult, passed during a period of heavy rain out in the murk, spending as much time behind the waves as it did over them so I just couldn't clinch it.  But at 08:15, closer in another skua came into view low over the waves, it then gained height to beat up a Kittiwake, before dropping back down low to the sea and continued flying west.  A lovely pale juvenile Pom Skua, really cold toned with a pale rump and head and striking double-white underwing flash.  For a split-second after I first spotted it my brain started at Bonxie before I zoomed in and saw the pale and realised it wasn't quite that big - never ever had that with an Arctic!  

The Kittiwakes were great value today.  We rarely get a decent passage off here, and when we do they are usually distant.  This morning they were coming through mostly mid-distance low to the sea, sometimes in really tight flocks but other flocks were more spread out - the biggest being of 32 birds.  Mostly adult birds with about 10% of the flocks being juvs.  Gave me hope for a Little or Sabine's to come through with them, but wasn't to be.

The small wader sp. was a bit annoying, as it could well have been a Grey Phalarope.  A bit like the skua sp. it came through during a period of heavy rain and I only glimpsed it on three brief occasions as it flew west low over the sea, but everything looked right for this species.  Never mind, one for another day maybe!?

A walk along the beach at lunchtime hoping for something left behind showed nothing in the surf, however a flock of 30 Common Scoter flew west just at the time I was looking out towards the horizon. 

Count the Wood Pigeons

These few days of clearer, calmer and slightly cooler weather have provided the perfect opportunity for Wood Pigeons to migrate along the south coast, in numbers.  Always an incredible spectacle to witness.

Yesterday morning (6th) I enjoyed a terrific hour of vis migging from Cliff Field Gardens, which I will post about in greater detail soon enough.   However in the meantime, take a look at this video...

The video shows one of the flocks of Wood Pigeons that came past me heading west during my watch. And I am intrigued to know how many birds you think are in this flock?  

Counting large flocks of birds is always a great challenge, especially when they are flying through quickly and when there are several flocks passing at the same time, all in different directions and at different distances. And flocks of all different shapes too!

As vis miggers and sea watchers will know, it can get a quite frantic and almost overwhelming at times, so I cannot recommend enough honing your flock-counting skills.  Saves valuable time getting a semi-accurate count at a glance.

Try not to pause the video, just watch it through in one go, although feel free to watch it a few times as you'd usually get that chance in the field. Probably best to make the video full screen for ease, sorry the quality isn't great.

Answers in the comments or via Twitter please, don't be shy.  However if you aren't confident enough to announce your best guess, I hope you still think of one and check back here in a few days time for the answer!  

A Tale of Two Storms

I would like to thank the author of the Dawlish Warren Blog for the following line, which was posted on the eve of Thursday 2nd. I couldn't have put it better myself...

"Storm Ciaran blew through overnight and took all the birds with it".

The southerly element of the storm came through during the hours of darkness, and a couple of hours before dawn the eye of the storm passed and the wind switched to a north westerly.  I knew this epic storm wasn't going to produce a lot of birds but did hope it would leave something interesting behind, but nothing at all here!  Lots of big waves though despite the wind direction at daybreak, and plenty of flooding which caused a fair bit of damage in Seaton.  

Looking west along Seaton Beach

The road behind the sea front a couple of days after Ciaran

This was an hour before hide tide on Thursday so a lot more destruction still to come.

The mind boggles at how much more severe the damage would have been if the wind stayed southerly for a few more hours, or if this storm came during the larger tides of the previous weekend. We dodged a bullet I think, but we will not keep dodging them.

I did sea watch 06:45 - 08:00, then checked the very flooded valley.  Literally nothing of note to report.  

Later on in the day storm-driven sea birds, mostly Leach's Petrels, were being reported from sites mostly east of the Isle of Wight.  By the end of the day several places reported three-figure Petrel counts, and it is clear to see from the track of the storm why.  Storm Ciaran followed the black line in the below map and that is exactly where the seabirds were pushed too, hitting land just east of the Isle of Wight where they then carried on flying/being pushed east...

Thanks to @danholley_ for this image

So Ciaran came and went and underwhelmed, but I could see in the forecast something else on its way.  Due to make landfall on Saturday morning, a blustery southerly with lots and lots of rain expected to clear within an hour of dawn.  I could just see what was going to happen... 

During Friday all the places that had seen the Leach's and Euro Stormies fly east on Thursday reported several flying back west.  The birds had a nice calm day and the first half of Friday night to fly west in an attempt to reorientate, and my thinking was they'd then get trapped by this fast moving very wet front forcing the already tired and battered sea birds up into Lyme Bay.  

So me and my high expectations were on Seaton seafront 6:50 - 08:30 on the morning of Saturday 4th... and I was wrong. 

Seven Skylark low west over the waves were the only birds smaller than a Black-headed Gull over the sea.  It wasn't a bird-less sea watch, just highlight-less one with no obvious storm-driven sea birds evident. 

The following went into my notebook (all west): 15 Brent Geese (all dark-bellied, flocks of 7, 2 and 6), 8 Common Scoter, 3 Kittiwake, 2 Med Gull, 1 Great Crested Grebe and several Gannets. 

All a bit disappointing to be honest.  I was really feeling like my hopes of a patch Leach's Petrel, a bird I haven't seen here (or anywhere) since 29th November 2009 were fading, yet again. 

However, as the day went on, and whilst I was off enjoying some family-time at Budleigh Salterton, it became apparent my predication was at least semi-correct, I was just six hours out!  From late morning onwards Leach's Petrels were being seen in Chesil Cove and off Portland Bill.  

We were back home at about 3pm and didn't really know what to do next. The only thing I did know was that Harry was hungry and I was feeling ornithologically frustrated, so...  

Shortly after 3:30pm Harry and I settled down for a picnic on Seaton Beach, as you do on a windy November day with frequent rain showers!  Harry had a fully stocked lunchbox and I had my telescope...

Lunchtime!

I knew I had as long as it would take for Harry to eat his lunch, but it turned out I didn't need that long at all!

During my second scan, over a lovely pale-coloured and far less rough sea, there was a Leach's Petrel!  Mid-distance so the views were really nice as it slowly made it's way west, not in any hurry at all. I enjoyed great views of its upper side in particular, the grey carpal bar really standing out its otherwise dark upper wing, and could even make out the tail-fork and white in the rump! Having not seen a Leach's for so many years but plenty of Euro Stormies in that time, I think this made the overall shape and flight-style even more striking.  It always looked in complete control, cutting through the air above the waves with ease and grace, unlike a Euro which I always think look like they are frantically flapping to remain airborne!  

After a minute of good views I lost it as it dropped into a trough between waves and I just couldn't pick it up again.  I used this time to message out the news, checked in with Harry who had just polished off his yoghurt, then went back to the scope.  Just under five minutes later, it or another Leach's Petrel came into view.  This was on the same line out from me but at a much greater distance.  I couldn't pick up any plumage features on this bird, it was just a dark Leach's Petrel-shaped bird, flying like a Leach's Petrel, distantly low over the sea.  From as soon as I picked it up it seemed to be flying out slightly south and I lost it about thirty seconds later.  It could easily have been the same bird as the first so I will be recording it officially as '1+', but I guess it could just have easily been a second bird (which is how BirdGuides reported it!?).

About ten minutes later lunch was finished, which coincided perfectly with the arrival of a nasty squall, so we packed up and headed off.  It was probably one of the best picnics I have ever been on, even though I didn't eat anything!   

A happy birder and a six year old with a full tummy!

This just proves to me that that you really do make your own luck. 4th Nov 2023 could so easily have gone down as yet another disappointing day of sea watching off Seaton, were it not for this fifteen minute window that I managed to snatch.  A terrfic and highly satisfying result - my best ever Leach's Petrel views on patch! 

Here Comes Ciaran!

As I write this I can see and hear Storm Ciaran taking hold outside.  It is going to whip through really quickly overnight and by dawn will be a north westerly but there's got to be chance of sea birds lingering in the bay for daybreak.  I'll be trying that is for sure - I've not seen a Leach's Petrel on patch for over ten years!

The reason I wanted to blog was because I had a lovely morning of vis migging on Monday morning. The skies were mostly blue, very little wind and from before dawn Wood Pigeons were moving west along the coast - with more flying south down the valley to join the westward route.  Plenty of Stock Doves mixed in too, as well as several flocks of Jackdaws and Starlings. 10,700 Wood Pigeons was my final count for the morning.

Wood Pigeons looking cool!

A distant flock passing Seaton Clock Tower

The downside of vis migging in Seaton is that it doesn't have the elevation.  I would usually head to Axe Cliff to vis mig at this time of year in these weather conditions, but I wanted to stay within my Patchwork Challenge patch hoping to add some species to the list.  However any passerine hopes were quickly dashed with all the small dots too high to hear, flying west.  Out of the small percentage that were low enough to ID, three were Bullfinch which was a nice sight flying west together.  But no hoped for Brambling, Woodlark, Crossbill, et al.

The day improved even more during my lunch break, as I stumbled upon my first Black Redstart of the autumn - a stunning (presumed) adult male!  

Took this with just my phone camera! No optical assistance at all.

Wish me luck for the morning...

The Casps keep coming and so does the rain!

Nicely following on from my last but one blog post a brief look at the Estuary gulls eary afternoon on 28th revealed... a first-winter Caspian Gull.

I watched it briefly over and in the water from Coronation Corner, but it slipped off just before Clive arrived.  Thankfully when I changed position I could see it again, it had landed just around the corner up river.  Photos are beyond dreadful but I could see it was a new first-winter Caspian Gull for me.  Not as lumpy as the previous two and more advanced in first-winter plumage, stonking white-head too...

Worst Caspian Gull photo I have ever taken

So although I certainly hadn't seen this bird before, it could have been one of Phil Bentley's birds from the 23rd.  In short it was my third first-winter in a week but possibly not increasing the overall Axe Casp total.  Looks like the total has gone up by another one today though as Tim had a colour-ringed cold toned first-winter from Tower Hide this afternoon.  

It has not just be raining Caspian Gulls here recently, but raining rain too!  A heck of a lot of rain, with the most severe flooding of the autumn in the valley this morning...

Day-break was still a long way off when I took this

As ever the excess water brings out more ducks than we can usually see.  110 Teal, 45 Wigeon and singles of Shoveler and Pintail (a female - poorly pictured below) were on Bridge Marsh this morning.  Just over the road opposite Axmouth FC (site of the sole Axe Dowitcher record!) were 115 Lapwing, 55 Black-tailed Godwits, a Ruff, a Green Sandpiper, a Greenshank and five Cattle Egrets.  

Female Pintail

 

With the strong south westerly wind and overcast skies today I gave the sea some attention too.  My main goal being a Little Gull having missed at least three on patch this year.  Still not my day for one of these, but am hopeful the winds forecasted during the week ahead will do the trick. I did put another previously dipped species for the year to bed though thanks to a message from James Mc who was sea watching from Lyme Regis.  

I actually had just left the sea as a heavy shower moved in and was desperate to check the flood water in the valley, but I'd got as far as Coronation Corner when a WhatsApp flashed up...

"Mega alert RB merg heading your way"

I went straight back to the sea, set my scope up, phoned James and literally as I was saying hello a female Red-breasted Merganser zoomed west through my scope view - at great speed! Eight minutes it took to get from Lyme to Seaton, that's a flight speed of about 40mph! I was expecting it about five minutes later so very nearly missed it. Many thanks James.

Also during my morning seawatch I logged singles of Balearic Shearwater, Great Crested Grebe and Great Northern Diver, 7 Common Scoter, c25 Kittiwake and plenty of Gannets. All flew west except for five of the Scoter and the Balearic.

I went out again mid-afternoon today for a quick sweep of  the remnants of the flood and the Estuary, with a look through the gulls revealing a rather interesting second or third-winter Yellow-legged Gull-type.  Need to do some more digging but thankfully Tim got some excellent pics of it from Tower Hide.  My current thinking is a Yellow-legged Gull from the Atlantic coast (NOT Azorean) although I could so easily be completely wrong - it doesn't even have yellow legs!  Probably another post to follow on this intriguing bird.

For now, batten down the hatches as Storm Ciaran is on its way, and it looks like it is going to be something quite spectacular...