Whooper Swans, Waders and Vis Mig

Right I need to start blogging more frequently now, otherwise my 'catch-up post' is just going to get longer and longer!  So this post is just about today, but check-back soon for more about the previous ten days or so..

I managed to squeeze in an early morning check of Black Hole Marsh today.  In general wader numbers have dropped a bit although of the lingering birds there were still seven Ringed Plover, two Greenshank, two Ruff (male and female), two Curlew Sandpipers (including the limping bird), a Bar-tailed Godwit and a Little Stint present. An Avocet was a new arrival, feeding frantically in the south east corner of the marsh, and before dawn a flock of at least 15 Cattle Egret briefly dropped in before continuing north up the valley.  

Good job Avocets are mostly white, because it was distant and in poor light!

 

My walk to work this morning was a delight with very busy skies overhead, as birds were migrating through in the clear weather.  Most numerous were Meadow Pipits, Skylarks, alba Wagtails, Siskins, Chaffinches and Linnets, but I also recorded four Redpoll, a couple of Greenfinch and a Crossbill.  A more concerted effort would have revealed some excellent counts I suspect.

Excitement levels moved up a notch when a message from Mike Morse at West Bexington came through alerting us to six Whooper Swans flying our way over the sea.  I waited and waited, but no sign,  although I was surprised to see the sheer number of birds feeding over the bay - mostly gulls - plus two Grey Heron that flew distantly west together...

Two vis migging Grey Heron about a mile out photobombed by an Atlantic Bluefin Tuna!

 

An hour later and news came through they had indeed made it to us, with six Whooper Swans on Black Hole Marsh.  I managed to catch up with them just as they took flight...

Not very satisfactory!

 

 

Thankfully they almost immediately landed again, with the six spending most of the rest of the day on Colyford Marsh with the Canada Goose flock, looking absolutely awesome...

All adults

  

They looked absolutely brilliant in the with the geese

Wonder where they are heading to winter? Presumably somewhere west, Ireland maybe?

 

Whooper Swans have become more regular on the Axe again, with records in each of the last six years except for 2023.  This follows a drought period with very few records, in fact just one in the eight years prior to 2019. Today's flock is the largest herd I have ever seen here and certainly the largest group to have been recorded on the Axe in the last 30 years at least.  Four is my previous highest count, with flocks of this size seen in March '05, Feb '09 and March '10.  

What a lovely early October treat!  More of this please... 

Gulls are back!

This was due to be a post about all the wonderful autumn migrants I have been enjoying over the last week or so, however I am sorry to report that blog post went out the window as soon as I started looking at gulls late this morning...

After a prolonged spell of settled weather, today saw the first good southerly blow for a couple of weeks with plenty of heavy squalls.  Naturally gull numbers increased on the Estuary because of this, and in amongst them were some nice highlights.

Late morning/early afternoon there were two Caspian Gull in with the large gulls between Coronation Corner and Tower Hide. 

This bird was a clear first-winter, looking amazing on the water, on the deck and in flight...

Found during a rain storm hence the darkness to the above photo! Still striking though

 

It's the bird with tail tip hidden and slightly looking down - such a great shape!

 

Nice pale underwing with some brown blotches, but also note clean white tail and solid dark secondary bar

And a better view of its upperwing pattern

The other Caspian Gull present was not so straightforward to age.  The amount of clear grey on the upperparts sent me down the second-winter route at first, but I think it is just a very advanced first-winter due to lack of any older feathers in the coverts and it's mostly dark bill.  If you read this and disagree, please let me know...

Not the lankiest of Caspian Gulls, but it's still got a good neck on it

 

Wave if you're a Caspian Gull!  Perfect underwing shot, and the lack of any white on P10 another pro-first-winter point

 

So yet another Axe Casp-double!  At least...

This evening when I went for another look along the Estuary there were far less gulls present but at about 5:30pm things became a bit complicated!  The above bird was still present in the flock on the salt marsh opposite Coronation Corner, appearing just after the flock had been flushed.  Just before this flush though I had picked up this bird... 

Certainly looks similar to the above bird, but can't help but think it has more patterned mantle/scaps. The awful light doesn't help that's for sure! 

 

Another decent underwing shot

Then just to make it even worse, after this flock had been flushed again, with no Casps coming back, about ten minutes later way up river in the gloom I pick up this Casp...

And who are you!?  

I am going to stick with two birds today, unless closer scrutiny of my photos reveal otherwise. Still, that takes my 2025 Axe Casp total to 14 birds which I am flabbergasted by!  

Over the years southerly storms in October have proved the best weather and time to see the older age classes of Yellow-legged Gull on the Axe - which remain pretty scarce here.   This came good again today, and during the earlier gulling session of the day I picked up a whopping four Yellow-legged Gull.  One a first-winter, of which there have been many around over the last month, but the other three were older birds, and all of different ages which was nice.

 A second-winter...

The closest bird.  Not easy to tell here but it's leg were pale yellow

A third-winter...

Note the darker mantle colour, long wings, square head shape, and pale yellow legs all visible here

 

And an adult (or very near adult)...

Mantle colour and overall size obvious here despite the distance

 

The adult was still present when I came back at 5:30pm...

Pictured here with Herring, Lesser and Great Black-backed Gulls for comparison...and Cormorants!

Away from the gulls I saw four Little Stint, five Curlew Sands and a Ruff on Black Hole Marsh today, and a Bar-tailed Godwit on the Estuary. Loads of Snipe about too, many showing well in the rain but others flying around having been disturbed by this chap...

Not a gull!  Never known an autumn on the Axe when Marsh Harriers have been as ever-present as they have been this year

Don't worry, as long as I can avoid gulls for the next day or two, the blog post that was supposed to be here will come - I have quite a lot to tell you all about so I can't leave it much longer!  Thanks for reading... if anyone still is! 

 

Black Hole Marsh Update

I have got a fair bit to blog about from the last few days, but instead of cramming it all in to one long post, I'll split it up into more digestible bite-size blogs, starting with wading birds...

Over the last week Black Hole Marsh has proved a constant source of entertainment.  Low water levels have ensured wading bird number have remained fairly good with a nice selection of species present. We are however struggling to pull in the headliner at the moment even though a nice peep or other species of American wading bird is surely overdue.  

The scarcer species have been well represented, with Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint and Ruff being present daily in varying numbers for over a week now.

All three of the aformentioned species are shown in this photo, plus a Dunlin

 

My highest count for those three species have been three, two and three respectively, however I know Curlew Sands have peaked at five and this morning there's four Little Stints present.  All have been juvenile/first-winter birds, which I presume suggests it's been a good breeding year for waders.  It's easy to forget that in some years some of these species don't turn up at all, so we must always appreciate them when they are around...

Lovely Little Stint - such great birds

Same Little Stint different view.  Can see the first-winter feathers coming through here

 

This Curlew Sand had a limp sadly, hopefully it isn't terminal

Singles of Bar-tailed Godwit and Knot have been lingering for a while now too, and last Friday I was surprised to find a Spotted Redshank amongst the Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank flock just in front of Island Hide, along with five Greenshank.  

Lovely first-winter Spotted Redshank with such vibrant red-orange legs! Our and my third of the year.

 

We've had a couple more single Glossy Ibis since the flock of twelve dropped in on 23rd (as blogged about HERE), but whether it relates to one elusive lingering bird or different individuals briefly dropping in I don't know.   Also Phil found a Garganey last week that stayed a couple of evenings.  Never an easy bird on the Axe, but I have done well for autumn Garganey in recent years so didn't mind missing this one as much as I would usually have.  

Hopefully be another blog post in a couple of evenings time, so check back soon!  Will be all about vismig and a cracking fall of autumn migrants.

 

Glossy Ibis Flocks and More Migration Magic

Back up to Beer Head again this morning, although it was very much on my mind I would have to be off by around 8am again. I really hate rushing when I am birding, but when it is all I can do I must learn to be ok with that.  Not used to it yet though!

Lots of birds again, and another really nice rarity highlight too.  At 07:35 I picked up a flock of nine Glossy Ibis out from the Lookout flying high over the sea, they gained height and steadily flew east, then turned north east into Seaton Bay, following the shape of the coast.  They were obviously the same flock that were seen to drop in late last night on the Otter Estuary by Chris T, however I wasn't expecting them so a nice surprise.  

Such an exciting sight!

Gaining height

And here's a short video... 

 

The flock was seen again when they flew distantly east offshore from Abbotsbury Swannery at 9am, surprisingly with a tenth bird in the flock.   I can only assume the single Glossy Ibis that Tim C saw briefly at dusk last night on Black Hole Marsh had joined them?  Maybe the flock flew up the valley a bit or possibly even landed briefly? The fact the flock took 1.5 hours to fly just over twenty miles between me at Beer Head and Joe at Abbotsbury suggests they must have at least deviated a bit or landed briefly en route?

Back to Beer Head, and although it was still busy, it didn't feel quite so manic as the previous morning.  450+ Meadow Pipits included c200 grounded birds, but a lot more were flying straight over today without landing, presumably due to the lighter winds.  Only recorded 12 Siskin today, but variety overhead (other than the Ibis flock!) included a very vocal Golden Plover that flew west, east, then finally back west again, a flock of three Snipe that zipped north over me just as I got back to my car, two Yellow Wagtails and nine alba Wagtails.

Hirundines however had upped their game from yesterday, and during my visit I recorded a whopping 1,700+ House Martins and 600+ Swallow.  Most of these flew east overhead, however when I went to leave, the wires and airspace over the campsite were absolutely jam packed with mostly House Martins.  What an incredible sight.

See all those white dots on the wires above the caravans - they're all House Martins!

 

A real treat to see such big numbers

 

Grounded migrants included 30+ Chiffchaff, five Blackcap, three Stonechat and two Wheatear.   I wasn't able to cover the bushes on the east side of the head though so there could have been much more about.  

Late this afternoon my Axe Glossy Ibis count went up by twelve more, as a flock was seen flying down the river past Black Hole Marsh.  I could see them u-turn and come into land on the upper Estuary from my office, making it a 21 Ibis day for me! This brings my all time Axe total of Glossy Ibis up to 57 birds. Bit mad to think there have been several single flocks bigger than this in the UK over the last few weeks!

We are clearly going through a really exciting and productive spell of autumn migration at the moment.  Ofcourse all the rarities and scarcities are great, but it is so fantastic to see the sheer volume of birds moving through at the moment.  

 

 

Quail

Beer Head was absolutely exhilarating this morning.  Felt like the flood gates had well and truly opened with migration in full-flow.  I wasn't able to give it anywhere near the time it deserved as I had to be away by 8am, but wow.

The calming sunrise before things got a bit crazy!

 

Before I write about the spectacle, I will write about the surprise rarity from the one big stubble field...

I had just put up a small group of Skylarks that were still flying around me, when from near my right foot, emerging from an area of longer stalks of stubble a game bird shot out - looking small but at the same time surprisingly long-wined, and showing a golden striped back on an otherwise brown body - Quail!  It happened about ten paces on from me taking this photo of a Wheatear lit up by the first sunshine of the day...

The soft early morning light gave everything a warm orange glow

 

The yellowy stripes running down its back, continuing all the way down its rump looked almost Jack Snipe-like.  The morning sun must have been catching them as they really stood out on its otherwise plain brown back and wings.  It flew low rapidly across the field directly away from me, then as it came into land it slightly banked and fanned a short all-brown tail before dropping in to some long grass at the edge of the field.  I rushed straight over with camera in arms, but it literally melted away and there was no further sign of it.

Something that really threw me at first, which I had never heard before, is on take-off it made a noise, a soft double-noted 'kreear kreear'. Repeated a couple of times.  Literally a sound I have never heard before, either in real life or a recording!  Reading up since, pleased to see this is a known call (although transcribed in many different ways) however I can't seem to find any recording of it. Presumably because any would-be sound-recorders never know it is about to happen!?  

I cannot believe how lucky I was.  It's a big field and I just took one route through the middle of it, which happened to take me within less than a meter from where this bird was hunkered down.  If I had taken any other route, or if this bird was elsewhere within the field I would not have known anything about it.  It's also not a field I would have even considered for Quail, I was actually hoping for a nice wader like a Dotterel or better.  But as I said in an earlier paragraph, it came up from a patch of taller stubble, probably 7-8 inches high - more than enough to hide one of these!

This was my first (live) Quail record for the patch. And actually I think very much deserved due to the multiple summer evenings I have spent over the years walking and driving around the fields behind Axmouth failing to find even a single singing male! As is so often the case with a semi-expected scarcity, it actually happened when I was least expecting it.

Meadow Pipits, hirundines and Chiffchaffs were the main movers this morning.  Over a thousand Meadow Pipits moved through Beer Head whilst I was there, with big flocks continuously dropping in and flying on, presumably due to the fairly strong northerly wind.  Almost as many (estimated at 900) hirundines flew east as well, again staying really low.  Accompanying them were 30+ Siskin, with several singles and small flocks over.  

Chiffchaffs were littered across the site, with at least fifty in small groups along the sheltered hedgerows.  Six Wheatears, three Blackcap and two Stonechats were the only other grounded migrants noted, however am sure if I had longer and was able to cover more ground I would have uncovered far more.  Still not seen a Redstart here this autumn!

It felt criminal walking away from such an exciting birding and busy migration event, but was pleased to at least see a snippet of it.

Will be trying again in the morning, that is for sure. 

 

Migrant Moth Influx

I haven't done much moth trapping over the last few weeks, well since the Convolvulus Hawkmoth, mostly due to the unsuitable weather conditions.  However last week I could see in the forecast that the nights of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were looking promising with temperatures not due to drop below 15 degrees (they remained at 17c on one night in fact!).  And with a blustery south westerly wind blowing, I hoped that migrant moths would be well represented, which they indeed were...

This weather produced an actual influx of migrant moths into my garden.  Mostly micros, but it involved numbers of migrant species I simply don't usually trap in Seaton.  

My migrant totals from the three nights were: 101 Box-tree Moth, 71 Rusty-Dot Peal, 42 Rush Veneer, 17 Olive-tree Pearl, 4 Dark Sword Grass, 2 Pearly Underwing, 2 Vestal and singles of Silver Y, White-speck and Clancy's Rustic.  Who knows how far the 17 Blair's Mocha, 5 Four-spotted Footman and 3 Portland Ribbon Waves had travelled to get to my garden, but mentioning them in case they were migrants too.

Clancy's Rustic

White-speck

The second of my two Vestals - neither were that red

Pearly Underwing

Dark Sword Grass

So although no stand out rarity, plenty of variety and the Vestals, Clancy's Rustic and White-speck were all new species for the garden.

Apart from the migrants it was nice to catch a lovely Red Underwing on the Friday night, and my first ever Madder Pearl (also known as Coastal Pearl) the night before...

Not quite revealing its underwing, but could already tell it was going to be red and not blue

 

Good to see it though just to be sure!

Madder Pearl - a species that isn't all that common and mostly found in the south west

 

We seem to have gone into a much cooler spell of weather now, so that's the trap packed away until we get some warmth again, if we get any more this year that is.

 

Wryneck and Two Caspian Gulls

Although it's not been seen since 4th Sept, presumably the same Wryneck was seen again yesterday and several times today from Seaton Marshes hide.  

I couldn't get down there until late afternoon, and except for a ten second view soon after my arrival it didn't show again until the light had gone.  Still, it was nice to have views of it on the deck, although they were rarely clear and it was always generally moving away from the hide... 

Really was gloomy by this point

Could often only see the top half of the bird in the long grass

 

 We eventually managed prolonged views of it perched up on a fencepost as well which was nice....

Spot the Wryneck!

 

Always great to see one of these crackers

 

This is the fifth Wryneck I have seen on or near to Seaton Marshes, our prime location for this species.

Whilst waiting for the Wryneck to show, checking the gull flocks in the field to the north and on the Estuary revealed the presence of two more first-winter Caspian Gulls.  Distant views, but both striking birds...

Such a big white head!

 

Nice views of its first-winter scaps

This bird was even more distant and in shockingly poor light, but a lovely long bill on it and classic Casp head shape

 

Somehow even managed a flight-shot!

 

Also picked out another first-winter Yellow-legged Gull...

Left hand bird, nicely advanced on its way to first-winter plumage

 

Otherwise this week I had two very different mornings.  On Tuesday morning clear skies and light winds saw some vismig start up.  Had several pulses of Meadow Pipits over west, along with a few Grey and alba Wagtails, and my first vismig Siskin of the autumn.  Hopefully there are hundreds more of them to come!

Wednesday morning saw me at the sea front, where Phil joined me for a seawatch.  Gannets were pilling through west, saw over 350 in the hour I was there.  Also west were two single Arctic Skuas, 14 Balearic Shearwaters, 18 Kittiwake, 10 Common Scoter (six east) and a Ringed Plover.

I have given Black Hole Marsh a couple of checks over the last few days too.  Two Ruff and a juv Curlew Sandpiper being the highlights for me, although we have had up to four of the latter. A juv Bar-tailed Godwit is another new arrival that's been around on the Estuary for the last couple of days.  Oh and yesterday I had yet another first-winter Yellow-legged Gull...

Taken through a dirty window! It flew off before I could take a clear shot

 

 I have two days off now, I wonder how many more Caspian Gulls that means for me!?  

Caspian Gull Influx Continues

What an incredible past week for gulling.  Having already seen four Caspian Gull on the Axe this autumn (30th Aug, 2nd Sept & 12th Sept), I was not prepared for what the last few days have brought... literally a fall of Caspian Gulls!  

As I type this I have seen eight different Caspian Gulls this autumn, bringing my 2025 total to ten birds.  I have probably missed another three or four birds (all Tim W) that have been seen within last week, so that brings the Axe's 2025 total of Caspian Gulls to 13/14 individuals. The previous best annual total was of six birds in 2023, and the all time Axe total of Caspian Gulls has just broken the half-century mark (with 27% of them occurring in 2025!).

So, my birds since the two on 12th September are...

This not-so-well marked first-winter off Coronation Corner late afternoon on 13th, which was nice to share with mid-Devon birder Roland who was keen to see one...

Back left in the line of three, those plain greater coverts really stood out!

 

Really nice shape to this bird 

 

Its open wing showing slightly dusty underwing coverts but overall pale

 

This absolutely banging first-winter off Coronation Corner late afternoon on 14th...

There is simply nothing I can say about this one except PHWOAR!

 

Crazy that those two gulls are the same age!  

Then two (my fourth Axe Casp-double) late afternoon on 15th, including this tall first-winter...

A very long and elegant bird, although all my views were only from this angle

 

At the time I thought this could have been one of the birds I had on 12th, which was also lanky, in a similar state of moult and sat in exactly the same place.  However a closer look at my photos has revealed some differences in the plumage, most notably in the tertials...

Notice the difference in the white, particularly on lower three tertials

 

The other bird on 15th was finally a different age-class, a striking second-winter...

Not the cleanest of mantles but a great shawl on it!

 

It actually stumbled over here, which caused it to flap and allowed me to take this handy shot!

 

Talking about different age-class, one of the birds I missed was a stunning looking 3rd-winter from 11th. Despite seeing so many, it was still a bit painful to not see this one as we don't get many older birds here.

As well as the Casps, finally we are getting some young Yellow-legged Gulls having not seen many at all this summer.  I have seen four in the last few days, including these two on 14th...

This one looked a bit Caspian-like in head and bill at times, but prolonged views helped show its true shape

 

This one was a bit of a brute!  Quite GBBG-like in overall structure and head shape

 

It remains to be seen whether this is just a short-term influx or something more prolonged.  Will numbers drop away before the winter arrives, or are we set-up for a winter festooned with Caspian Gulls?  

Also, is this a one-off for 2025 or is this the 'new normal' for Caspian Gulls in this part of the South West? To me it all feels very different, like a big change may have happened, but I suppose I wouldn't be surprised if we do go back to them being scarce again - just not sure when that might be!

There are a couple of interesting points I do want to add (yes the words 'interesting' and 'Caspian Gull' can go together!).  

• Speaking with some of the hard-core Gullers from the east of the country, they report that not only are they not seeing a similar surge in Caspian Gull numbers, but Casp numbers are actually down compared to recent years.  

• This influx appears to be fairly localised to West Dorset and East Devon.  Yes the Exe Estuary have had a few over the last few weeks, but no numbers like here or at Portland Bill where a similar influx has been documented.  Cornwall County Recorder and good friend Bob B tells me that none whatsoever have been reported in Cornwall recently! 

 

So I wonder if the above two points simply suggest that the Caspian Gulls that would usually be making landfall in Kent/Sussex/London/Suffolk have been blown up channel and been dumped here instead?  If so - let's hope they stay!  I am also in no doubt that the excellent feeding conditions in Lyme Bay over the last few weeks have helped, with huge feeding flocks often visible out in the bay, made up mostly of large gulls.

Will try and start looking at birds that aren't gulls soon, however with this much quality about it's hard to ignore the Estuary at any time of day!