A timely message from Tim tonight (I had just finished eating dinner!) informed me of two Glossy Ibis that had just dropped in at Black Hole Marsh. I was down there pretty sharpish as the light was going fast, and am glad I did because shortly after I filmed the last part of the below video they flew off south downriver. Am not sure how far they went but I could so easily have missed them completely tonight...
Both birds were clearly juveniles/first-winters, presumably been blown across the channel with this southerly wind. My first Glossy Ibis on the Axe since the four that lingered in January 2022 -
although I did miss a brief (less than one day bird) on 14th Sept of the
same year.
Been a nice selection of wading birds about over the last week, including two each of Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper, up to ten Ruff (with a couple still remaining), a Bar-tailed Godwit and the odd Greenshank and Green Sandpiper. Still no American wader for me but I feel like it is close now.
In the meantime I hope you enjoy this Little Stint video (but I am sorry about the wobble midway through!). Don't forget to click on settings to improve the playback quality, 1080p is the best...
Wow it really has been a day of all the emotions when it came to birding... or lack of!
With neither species of large shearwater on my patch list, this summer/autumn I have put as much time in as possible during the right weather in an attempt to change that. So far though no luck despite the record numbers in UK waters. Then came today, a day that I didn't have much time, and what happened today? The remanence of Hurricane Lee delivered big shears a-plenty deep into Lyme Bay, with double-figure Cory's count off Dawlish Warren, several of both species off Portland Bill and Budleigh (!?), as well as a Great Shearwater behaving like a Herring Gull off West Bay!
This is where the frustration and exasperation came into play. I was at work with all the news coming through and there was nothing I could do about it. Ian M did watch Seaton Bay for a couple of hours first thing, but he missed out on big shears too although he did have a good count of Balearics. So although I hadn't missed any that were actually seen here, it didn't help with my mood and I still felt like I was missing out.
Late this afternoon I managed to get out of work a bit early, so hot-footed it to The Spot On Kiosk where Ian and Phil were already in situ. By this time the wind had dropped right down rounding off the top of the waves but it was still lumpy out there and there were still frequent rain showers passing through. Over the sea though there were no birds, other than a few Gannets. Things were looking bleak.
Yet another heavy shower came through at about 5pm, encouraging Phil and Ian to head home for tea, which to be honest sounded like a good move. However my lift was still over an hour away so I sat it out.
The rain stopped and within moments I picked up a Storm Petrel. It was close too which was nice, although I kept losing it in the swell. A few minutes after that (now 5:22pm) I was scanning further to the right to see if I could pick up the Stormie again, when the underside of a shearwater flashed up into my scope view from below, extremely close in. It dropped behind a wave and then emerged again to reveal itself as a pristine Great Shearwater! A first for the Axe patch!
This is where sheer joy and jubilation came in, as well as utter shock, surprise, disbelief and the shakes!
However I then completely fluffed up, as I spent about thirty seconds rummaging around in my rucksack for my camcorder, before remembering it wasn't even in there! I grabbed a couple of 'barely' record shots with my phone camera, quickly messaged it out on WhatsApp and phoned Phil, before going back to my scope and enjoying it again.
To my surprise, over what was now a fairly smooth (and otherwise completely bird-less) sea, it kept flying deeper into the bay - behaving nothing like any shearwater I have ever seen here! It got about half way along the beach towards Seaton Hole, before it veered out south and headed for Beer Head. Absolutely incredible views.
As it got to Beer Head another rain shower came in and I lost it.
Yes that is a Great Shear! The Axe's first!
A few minutes later Ian and Phil returned... no sign. I felt gutted for them both, and really disappointed, it honestly completely dampened the buzz I'd felt ten minutes earlier.
Ian and Phil left again, and I alerted birders further west along the coast in case the Great Shear had kept going. I wasn't so sure though, I knew there was a chance the band of rain may have stopped it in its tracks.
About ten minutes later a second Storm Petrel flew west (a bit further out this one), and then at 6:12pm I saw the Great Shearwater again! Flying east and further out - but it was lingering! My phone kicked into action again...
I then felt nervous and anxious, as the Great Shear would sporadically drop on the sea and disappear completely, or worse on occasions it would fly even further out...
But then I heard the sound of cars as Phil and Ian arrived (again!) and am so so pleased to say all was put right. Complete and utter joy and relief plus the buzz from the bird returned! Kev, Tim and Tim made it down too, with the shearwater remaining in view until I left at 6:40pm. I know Tim managed some proper photos of it, I will put a link to them when they are online.
It is not often that a seabird can be twitched! Especially not a shearwater and not here!
Although I cannot of course be 100% sure, I am as good as that this was Gavin's earlier bird at West Bay as it just did not behave how a big shear should, especially not a Great! This made it even more perfect for me, knowing it was enjoyed by him too.
An absolutely amazing experience, watching such an epic and rare bird casually gliding over the bay backwards and forwards for so long, not to mention the ultra close first flypast. Quite sureal really. No waves, no other birds, just us and it. Incredible.
Black Hole Marsh has been terrific at pulling in wading birds this autumn. Any spare time I've had in a morning or evening it's been hard to go anywhere but here! Well why would you when the potential is so vast!?
I managed to miss our (hopefully) first American wading bird of the autumn, with a Pectoral Sandpiper found by Tim late afternoon on 10th. It flew off a couple of hours later, which was a bit annoying as I managed the miss the equally brief bird Phil found 366 days before too!
I did see the second best wading bird of the autumn though, with a juvenile Spotted Redshank here for a couple of days from 7th. Unfairly scarce on the Axe now, especially considering the fact we used to have at least one wintering bird every year up until the early 2000's. The only view I had of this bird was distant and well after sunset, hence this appalling record shot...
Still identifiable - just!
And now for some better footage! This morning Black Hole Marsh held a juvenile Little Stint, two juvenile Curlew Sandpipers, five juvenile Ruff and a Green Sandpiper. All of these species featuring in this little video clip...
Also in recent weeks we have had a couple of Knot, two different Bar-tailed Godwits, five or so Greenshank and up to 19 Ringed Plover. Not bad at all! Could do with more Dunlin though, numbers well down in general.
Non-wading bird highlights for me in the valley since my last post includes my first two Wigeon of the autumn on morning of 7th, a couple of fly-through Ospreys, up to 13 Cattle Egret seen daily and a lovely first-winter Yellow-legged Gull on the lower Estuary for several hours on 10th...
Phone-binned photo! Saw all the critical features including nice open wing views, but that body shape very typical of YLG.
Well I was quite content with my couple of hours of birding in my Patchwork Challenge patch this morning...
I'd seen good numbers of warblers on Seaton Marshes, along with several Yellow Wagtails and three Kingfishers. And on Colyford Marsh, having missed three less than one-day birds this year, finally Marsh Harrier made it on to my Patchwork Challenge list...
Think this photo just about rules out Golden Eagle?
But then, just before 08:30, for the first time this year I had to abandon my Patchwork Challenge patch and twitch Beer Head as Kev had found a patch first - of one flavour or another...
Kev had stumbled upon a hippolais warbler, either an Icterine or Melodious, luckily for me who didn't have much time, in a large area of scrub not all the far from where we park. Twenty minutes later I was there, but as I walked to join the trio of birders who had seen it, they reported they had last seen it fly out of the isolated scrub patch it was in and towards Beer Head Caravan Park. I immediately felt like I was in a dipping scenario.
I was wrong. A few Willow Warblers appeared right beside me, and soon after Clive turned up, out emerged a plain looking face - followed by a bloody Icterine Warbler!!!
I say 'bloody' as this was NOT expected! Far rarer than Melodious down here, and we are on a stretch of coast that in late August during southerly winds you'd almost describe as optimum for this Mediterranean species - but we are yet to record one.
I had two clear and decent bin views of it, then for the third time it showed I fired up my camcorder. At the end of this very short bit of film, it jumps out to the left of frame and very sadly was never seen again. Here is the vid...
Note the tail-dipping, almost flycatcher-like behaviour and even the fact it is at the top of a tree! All good Icky behavioural traits.
And here's a couple of stills from this video, quite pleased how they have come out...
Such a prominent almost solid pale wing panel
The yellow on this bird was restricted to its throat and face, with maybe a touch on its breast
Tail down and head up
A tail-pump in action!
And now for a proper photo of it! Taken by finder Kev, thanks for the great find Kev...
What a pic of a patch first! And of a warbler - better than any warbler photo I have EVER taken!
Kev's photos show so many of the good pro Icky ID pointers. The steely blue legs, really long bill and pale wing panels can be shown by Melodious, although all three would be unusual I guess. However those lovely pale edged/tipped greater coverts, tertials and primaries, as well as the long primary projection are solid Icky features.
Then there was how it looked and behaved in the field. I have always found Melodious to be a bit Garden Warbler-like. Fat and lazy. And rounded, with round heads and blunter more rounded wing tips. Whereas, just like this bird, Icterines look a bit un warbler-like, almost Flycatchery, and just very pointy with long wing-tips and a long bill.
Additionally, although I don't at all think this is proven it's just something I have found in the past, I find Melodious tend to showmore of that 'open face look' that you expect from a hippo, whereas Ickys display darker ear coverts and sometimes a more noticeable supercillium, so giving slightly less of that 'open face' appearance.
So, that was that. Field birders happy with ID, others on local and county Whatsapp groups happy with ID (including a wonderful annotated copy of Kevs photo by Mike Langman). But then this comes out on BirdGuides...
Oh, really!?
This took me right back to the Beer Head Blyth's Reed Warbler that Kev also found back in 2020.
That was reidentified as a Marsh Warbler on BirdGuides whilst all onsite birders were well down the Blyth's Reed route... It did then slow down its song during the afternoon so it is a good job a tiny winged dark brown acro appeared hoping around the bottom of the bush at the end of the day otherwise the doubt probably would have been the death of that record (the full tale can be read about on THIS blog post).
So, with some doubt added to the mix today, although many were well on the Icterine side of the fence, I knew I had to ask a man who has seen and handled a lot more Melodies and Ickys than me. I hope Martin Cade doesn't mind me copying some of the contents of his response on here...
"This is an Icterine: the secondary panel is way too
white and conspicuous for a Melodious, the primary projection is long,
the primaries are strongly tipped pale, the tertials are very
clean-edged and dark centred, the greater coverts have decent pale edges
and tips and, on the video, it dips its tail quite conspicuously. For
me this all equals a certain Icterine.
I’m
usually ultra-conservative but for me there’s no doubt about this one –
wouldn’t it be funny if new evidence emerges that completely refutes
all I’ve just written!!
Hope that’s useful and doesn’t put a cat amongst the pigeons if everyone’s decided it’s a Melodious".
As you can see from the last line, I did not include in my email what I thought it was or what the field views suggested.
Thank you again Kevin, just reward for your continued perseverancewith this site. Am just sorry that more didn't connect with it - I consider myself extremely lucky to have arrived just in the nick of time.
Spent a lovely evening at Black Hole Marsh last night. And it started really well as a Wood Sandpiper was calling as I walked through the entrance gate, not that I could see it (and didn't for the rest of my visit!).
From the Island Hide there were three lovely juvenile Ruff, two Greenshank, plenty of Black-tailed Godwits including a big increase in gingery juvs and a few Dunlin and Ringed Plover. So lots and lots of birds. But then, just before 8pm, something put everything up, although it was an odd flush with very little noise but a huge reaction.
I soon saw why...
A juvenile Goshawk was chasing a Wood Pigeon low over the boundary of Black Hole Marsh and Colyford Common, before giving up, gaining some height and powering on off to the west. What an awesome sight.
A video grab
Such a distinctive shape - as ever when you see a Gos you know it is a Gos! If you are ever not sure then it isn't one!
And off it went...
What was almost as incredible as seeing the Gos, was seeing the effect it had on the birds on Black Hole Marsh!
For the next twenty minutes after the Gos flew through, literally nothing moved. Pretty much all the wading birds clumped together and formed a super-flock on the far side of the marsh, with the entire northern half of the marsh remaining bird-less, that was except for one of the juv Ruff which was literally cowering underneath a wooden bridge - I have never seen a bird look so petrified! It took half an hour for the Black-headed Gull flock to return too. Just amazing, I have never seen anything quite like it before, and I have seen all sorts of flushes here from White-tailed Eagle to White Stork and Common Crane!
Sorry - there are no birds here anymore!
What an amazing way to end a day, quite possibly the best way...
As the title suggests it has been a good few days!
We have been blessed with good wading bird numbers over the last week or so on the Axe, particularly on Black Hole and Colyford Marsh. An adult LittleStint that lingered for almost a week was probably the highlight, but there has also been two juvenile Ruff, two juvenile Knot, a juvenile Turnstone, up to six Greenshank, seven Avocet, double-figure counts of Dunlin and RingedPlover, plus the odd LittleRingedPlover and GreenSandpiper. Add to that the first returning Yellow Wagtails and Wheatears, as well as a couple of Ospreys passing through (which unlike everything else above I have missed) the birding has been excellent!
And then came the Birdwatching Tram on Sunday evening (20th)...
Midway through the trip when we were by Tower Hide, a large gull on the Estuary caught my attention during a cursory scan of the modest-sized gull flock. It looked large, white-headed, white-fronted, and showed several moulted scapulars...
So a Yellow-legged/Caspian Gull... but something just didn't feel right for YLG
When I am leading the birdwatch trams I don't carry my telescope, so with just bins I knew my camera was the key to getting any real detail on this bird. So I started papping and spent less time looking, not what I would usually do but necessary considering the circumstances.
About two minutes later, and once I put the camera down - it flew! Gleaming white underwings were obvious, so I scrambled for the camera again and managed to fluke a flight shot by just pointing it in the general direction it was flying!
Once back home a quick review of the pics showed promise for it being a Caspian Gull, so I sent the photos to Rich Bonser (who shared it with others) and all came back with 100% Casp! RESULT!
The flukey flight shot! Shows very pale underwings and critically the perfect 'venetian blind' inner primary window
Note big grey moulted scaps, plain greater coverts and all black tertials
A very familiar shape, nice full chest, a bit of a 'saggy nappy' appearance and a relatively parallel bill with minimal goyns angle. Am just not used to seeing so much streaking on a Casp but that's because I have never seen one so young!
Long tibia, and the makings of a neck shawl I would say... Lovely mousey brown juvenile feathers too, a really nice colour (as brown goes!)
This, if accepted, will be the 30th Caspian Gull for the Axe. But for me it is one of my favourites as a juvenile has been high on my wanted list for years. The (and my) previous earliest autumn date for an Axe Casp is 3rd Sept (although I didn't actually fully confirm it until late October - read HERE for all the details!) so this is the first August record. Am absolutely chuffed to bits and a very educational bird for me.
And as if this lump of brown wasn't enough excitement for the 22 passengers onboard the birdwatching tram last night, about twenty minutes later I found them another lump of brown! A slightly stripey one...
An autumn Garganey - a real treat!
At first, like the 16+ Teal it was feeding with on the mud on Colyford Scrape, it was surprisingly elusive and hard to keep tabs on. But by the time we left the scrape (about five minutes later) it had ventured closer and was the only duck on the water...
What a beaut and what a view!
Maybe an adult female? Not too sharp on autumn Garganey ageing/sexing though, thoughts please?
What a fabulous double-whammy!
And today it got even better, as Clive found a Curlew Sandpiper on Black Hole Marsh. I haven't seen a Curlew Sand on the Axe for many years, we just haven't had good numbers of them in the UK for several autumns now.
When I saw it it remained distant on the far side of the marsh, so please excuse this awful phone-scoped record shot...
Always knee-deep in water! This shot shows the bill shape really well if nothing else.
Am looking forward to seeing what else August 2023 brings us! Hopefully a proper rare wader is on the cards...
Following the absolutely epic day of seawatching in Cornwall in early August, I knew I had to return to normal birding expectations as soon as possible. And what better way to do that than instead of pointing my scope on the Runnel Stone off PG - pointing it at the horizon from Seaton Beach!
Still, this hasn't been without highlights, and we have had some pretty wild weather at times. In date order...
4th August
It wasn't actually seawatching weather at all, with a flat sea thanks to a gentle north west wind. I was there to scope behind any distant boats incase a Storm Petrel or two might be visible. There weren't, but my searching was interupted by bird-shapes flying through my scope view far more often than I was expecting - including my first Balearic Shearwaters for Patchwork Challenge!
19:20 - 20:20 from Spot On Kiosk produced: 3 Balearic Shearwater (1 w with a Manx at 19:52 and 2 w together at 20:10), 58 Manx Shearwater (4 w, 54 e), 11 Sandwich Tern, 1 Mediterranean Gull and 1 Ringed Plover.
5th August
This was a proper rough day, with lots of rain, gusting south westerly winds and big big waves! I was keen, really keen, watched from Fisherman's Gap 05:20 - 09:50 and saw (west unless stated): 6 Arctic Skua (an awesome group of 5 and a single e), 1 Skua sp. (e), 54 Common Scoter, 41 Kittiwake, 15 Manx Shearwater, 2 Sandwich Tern, 3 Mediterranean Gull and 1 Yellow-leged Gull (juv).
Love Seaton Beach when it looks like this!
So not a dreadful haul, infact those Skuas were really nice to see, but considering Dan just along the coast at Sidmouth had 18 Storm Petrels, with a Sooty Shearwater seen just west of him, and a Pom Skua seen flying my way 13 miles east of me - I was really disappointed with the lack of quality.
12th August
Conditions not all the appalling but a south westerly breeze and some overcast skies were enough to have me watching from Spot On Kiosk 07:10 - 08:40 showing (west unless stated): 1 Balearic Shearwater (07:40 and fairly close), 90+ Gannet, 12 Kittiwake, 6 Manx Shearwater, 1 Sandwich Tern and 1 Mediterranean Gull.
Had another look in the evening 19:05 - 19:50: 6 Balearic Shearwater (two 3's), 17 Manx Shearwater and 24+ Shearwater sp. All distant and all west.
14th August
Another wet and wild morning so I watched from Fisherman's Gap. The entrance to the public toilets isn't the most pleasant place to stand early on a Saturday morning, but the cover is much appreciated especially during the wet bits!
06:00 - 09:40 produced (west unless stated): 1 Storm Petrel (finally! Came through at 09:05 nice and close which meant all my scanning on 60x zoom was futile!), 1 Balearic Shearwater (09:25), 5 Arctic Skua (a single and two 2's within a fourty minute period - lovely prolonged views), 110+ Gannet, 46 Kittiwake, 42 Common Scoter, 11 Shelduck (one flock), 6 auk sp., 5 Sandwich Tern, 3 Mediterranean Gull, 2 Whimbrel (1 e, 1 out) and 1 Turnstone (flew out, possibly flushed off the beach).
I have done more birding than just seawatching, but I will leave that for another post. But there is one more thing I'd like to add to this post, and please take this as your reward for reading all of the relatively mundane sightings above...
Back to my Cornwall seawatching post, and in particular that Fea's-type Petrel that I was really fortunate to get on as it quickly flew west past Porthgwarra. Well next to us in the front row of seawatchers were the supreme duo of Ryan Irvine (who was expectionally helpful to all present, loudly announcing directions) and Mike McKee. Mike has a brilliant video recorder setup on his telescope, and he filmed the Fea's for exactly the period of time I was watching it. Well I picked it up at the same time but I did see it for an extra couple of seconds as it chased a Manx Shearwater before going out of view to the right (I was sat a little further left than Mike). His clips shows that I watched it for about a minute, which oddly felt more like twenty seconds at the time...
What a brilliant reminder of this nugget of seawatching gold, and I love how the video captures
how frantic the situation was with many struggling to get on it. That is mostly Ryan you can hear trying to help all.
And back again to reality! As always, thanks for reading...
It's certainly not that I haven't wanted to go for a seawatch in Cornwall, but on at least one day in each of the last eight plus years, James Mc has invited me to join him for a Pendeen or Porthgwarra jolly and I just haven't been able to go. Yesterday I realised why - it was because I was waiting for yesterday - the absolute perfect day!
There has been exceptional numbers of big shearwaters off Cornwall and Isles of Scilly for the last week and a bit, and last weekend the weather for yesterday was looking promising enough to clear the diary for a day of seawatching! So at 2:30am yesterday (Weds 2nd) James picked me up from home, we collected Dan from Sidmouth and got down to Porthgwarra for shortly after 5am!
Looking east from the main Porthgwarra seawatching point
We spent the next four hours at PG, before relocating to Pendeen (the north coast) as the wind was due to switch from WSW to W and then NW. We watched from the bottom of the slope at Pendeen 11 - 2 with seawatching royalty, Mark and Del, before making our way back home. I was even home for Harry's bed time!
The view from the lower slopes of Pendeen
What my eyes witnessed during these eight hours of sea watching was simply mesmerising. Literally overwhelming numbers of passing and feeding shearwaters, some skuas for good measure and even two rarities! I will list the totals first before going into more detail...
Porthgwarra 05:20 - 09:50
5,000+ Cory's Shearwater (split between passing and feeding birds),c100 Great Shearwater, 40+ Sooty Shearwater, 2 Balearic Shearwater, 10,000+ Manx Shearwater, 1 Fea's Petrel (07:20), 6 Storm Petrel, 1 Wilson Storm Petrel (09:30), 1 Great Skua, 3 Pomarine Skua (all immatures), 3 Yellow-legged Gull (ad and 2 juv) and 1 Ringed Plover.
Cory's Shearwater is a bird that is a real highlight on any seawatch, you'd watch all day in the hope of seeing one or two, and if you are really lucky you might just get to double-figures. So what we saw was really something else. The big feeding flocks at Porthgwarra remained distant, but passing birds came in really close at both sites, and the opportunity to see them so well and to study so many was incredible. Being on the north coast the light was much better at Pendeen, so although there were fewer birds here (not that 100+ is anything to be sniffed at!) the views were even more pleasing to the eye!
Although I was expecting to see Great Shearwaters, I was not expecting to see as many as we did! Some of these showed really well too, passing in close at PG. The Sooty Shearwaters were good value as always, with good views of at both sites and then there was the Pendeen Manx passage - exceptionally close and constant! Counting in the field was impossible, so I took a thirty second video which when counted revealed 400 birds! Although it wasn't always that heavy, it was always happening so 100,000 in three hours is probably actually an undercount - even though it sounds absurd!
Storm Petrels are always good to see, and the views at Pendeen were really nice. Views more distant at PG however the Wilson's Storm Petrel really did put on a show. Once called, it didn't take long to get on and it spent about five minutes feeding close in and in near-constant view. A bird I have always wanted to see in the field from land just to know what it looks like - big and 'paddle-shaped wings' come straight to mind! It really did behave like a butterfly over the sea, not in full panic mode like Euro Stormies always seem to be in!
When the shout of 'Fea's' went up I cannot even describe the panic. Not just myself, it was palpable within the entire crowd of watchers! I am pleased to say I managed to get on it, although not until it was in line with the Runnel Stone so I probably only got 40 seconds of views. Lovely grey upper parts (like nothing else really) with darker wings and a paler rump, and then those tell tale black underwings contrasting with a clear while belly. Wing shape I found not at all dissimilar to Cory's with an obvious kink in the wing, but it wasn't doing the high-arcs often associated with this species (or group of species I should say!). The holy grail when it comes of seabirds so I do feel somewhat jammy!
Finally I must give the skuas a paragraph. They've been so few and far between this year, so to get three species was a real treat. As we all know Great Skuas (Bonxies) are in real trouble with Bird Flu having decimated the breeding population, so it actually felt like a bit of an honour to see one off PG. The Pom's were great, although not sporting the spoons of an adult they had all the feel of big bruisers. The closest skuas were the Arctic's at Pendeen, which included two adults.
Thankyou to James and Dan for the company, and it was good to see a few down there that I knew, including our very own Kevin plus Mark and Del as mentioned above. Shout out to the Cornish seawatchers too, really friendly and helpful to all present with no elitism or snobbery at all.
Three was not a crowd. Great company all around.
The scene when we left Porthgwarra
This is where most seawatch from at Pendeen, the lighthouse.
And to give you a true feel of the day have a watch of the video below. It doesn't include any of the rarities or skuas, when they came by I just wanted to watch them with my own eyes. However I wanted to capture a 'flavour' of the day and am quite pleased with some of the Cory's and the Sooty footage...
Now all I need is a Cory's off my part of the coast...
Absolutely thrilled to cash in on a real rarity on the Axe patch in recent years, some skua passage!
This spring was a complete non-starter for any sort of sea watching, and recent years haven't produced the goods either. Just the odd skua here and there for me.
We've had plenty of windy and some very wet weather over the last week or so, often from the south, and each time I have looked the sea has been quiet. Friday evening (15th) was the best it got for me, with 48 Manx Shearwater, 22 Gannet, 12 Med Gull (including my first juvenile of the season) and a CommonScoter west in 90 minutes. Not exactly thrilling though.
Mobile camera pic of juv Med Gull
However on Saturday evening, and following an increase in wind speed, news came through on the local WhatsApp Group of three skuas past Budleigh and more importantly, two heading towards Seaton from Charmouth! I was at Seaton beach for 19:10 and over the following 80 minutes was absolutely buzzed to see seven Arctic Skuas* fly west!
One pale phased adult south west at 19:10, thanks to Ian Mc for getting me on this one as I was just getting out of the car at the time!
Dark-phased adult and immature west at 19:15, these came in quite close and chased a Herring Gull for food. These were the two from Charmouth - thanks Richard!
*A small and slender immature west at 19:22. Looked good for a Long-tailed at first but seemed to show too much white in wing when I zoomed right in. Very hard to be sure at the distance though and would have preferred much better views. Frustrating really but I think probably a small Arctic.
A dark-phased adult and unaged bird west at 19:40, landed on sea during a heavy rain shower, then continued west at 20:05.
A immature distantly west at 20:14.
Other than these skuas, just three Manx Shearwaters, six Med Gulls and 25+ Gannet went by. I think the skuas were probably some of the birds that had been off Dawlish Warren for the previous week or so, maybe they'd just been blown deeper into Lyme Bay with the strengthening wind. There was no other skua passage noted outside of our corner of Lyme Bay that evening as far as I am aware so it wasn't part of a widespread movement.
Skua-induced smiles? No, more like big crashing waves and the promise of a late bed-time!
Away from the sea, four Crossbills were vocal on Bovey Down on Sunday morning during a dog walk. Along with, very sadly, a dead not quite fledged juvenile Nightjar on the main track...
Sorry it's a bit grim! No neck suggests predation?
Stunning pattern on the flight feathers!
Think there is at the most only two pairs here, so quite a significant loss to the local population sadly. The site is getting more and more grown up so not sure how many more years Nightjars will be there for, though thankfully there are other recently cleared sites locally they could relocate to.
Am pleased to say the three Avocet chicks are doing well. The parents are still proving absolute heros and now the chicks are considerably bulkier I'm hoping they've passed their most vunerable phase.
They have been sharing the marsh with the first few returning waders, including Little Ringed Plovers and Green Sandpipers. And just around the corner, after 11 years in situ the man-made Sand Martin 'bank' has suddenly proved attractive to a brand new (presumably failed breeders from elsewhere?) colony of Sand Martins...
An amazing sight - it is great to sit there and watch them coming and going
On the Estuary things have been quiet, just a few more Black-tailed Godwits and Curlews appearing, plus the odd Mediterranean Gull and yesterday my first juvenile Yellow-legged Gull of the year...
A beast, and a nice contrasty one too
Portland Bill recorded a record 18+ juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls yesterday so we could be in for a bumper year, which will be nice!
Also yesterday, thanks to a timely message and regular updates from Tim Clarke, I saw three juvenile Goosander fly north up the valley distantly from my office. My second sighting of this species on patch this year.
We have been hiding a little secret! Well two fairly sizeable black and white ones to be more accurate...
And then there were four! Hatched yesterday morning and left the nest mid-afternoon...
The first Avocet breeding record for the county I am told! What a turn up for the books, although have to say it did feel on the cards considering the increase in their UK breeding range and the fact that in recent years late spring Avocet records on Black Hole Marsh, often involving multiple birds, have been getting more frequent.
Avocet is traditionally a rare winter visitor and scarce passage migrant on the Axe. It is now a rare winter visitor, regular passage migrant and breeder!!!! I guess we will just have to wait to see if it is a one-off or the start of a new era.
It is really good to know the habitat here can support a breeding pair though, even if it does turn out to be a one-off. Shout-out to the parent's who have been amazing throughout, sat tight on the eggs at all times and chasing absolutely everything away! They are so vocal, I hear them almost every night from the house (which makes a nice change from the constant cacophony of Oystercatchers!).
Let's hope the young ones make it through to fledging. Good luck Axe-born Avocets!
NB Breaking news - a third chick has now been spotted! A day later than the appearance of the first two.
Yesterday was forecasted to be the last day of sun, so I was keen to finally get out and do some proper dragonflying! I can't tell you how good it felt to immerse myself in the world of Odonata for several hours.
With only two ponds left to check at Lower Bruckland Ponds, despite seeing plenty I hadn't come across anything unusual. But I was then stopped in my tracks by a beautiful copper-coloured Hawker landing on a close reed fringe, it stayed put just long enough for me to get my bins on it... NORFOLK HAWKER! Those green-eyes offering a striking contrast to the gorgeous copper body colour (far from being brown!).
Unfortunately within seconds of seeing it, it took flight and gained height. Over the next half an hour I had four more brief flight views of it over the same pond, but no more perched views and no chance of any photographs, the patrolling Scarce and Four-spotted Chasers would soon see it off. Always a shame not to get a pic of a rarity but such a thrill to find!
This was its favoured pond, one of the smallest at Lower Brucklands but also the most vegetated around the edges
This species, formally restricted to East Anglia, suddenly appeared in Weymouth about four or five years ago with numbers growing here every year since. In Devon, except for a lone insect on Exminster Marshes for a few days in 2018, they appeared at Slapton last year, with several seen including at least one egg-laying female, so it is no surprise they are again there this year. Also this year they have been found on The Somerset Levels, with singles also at Abbotsbury and Portland. Although they are clearly spreading well, and certainly a species on my 'hoped-for' list, I honestly thought we were still a few years off them appearing here, and was convinced Vagrant Emperor and/or Hairy Hawker would fall first!
Am super pleased to say Tim White saw it again this afternoon and managed some photos too! Let's hope more follow and they secure a foothold here.
Lower Bruckland was as ever teeming with Odonata, although to me Emperor numbers are way down with far fewer patrolling the banks. Chasers/Skimmers included 60+ Scarce Chaser, 18 Black-tailed Skimmer and 14 Four-spotted Chaser. 20+ Common Darter were all fresh tenerals and a fine male Golden-ringed Dragonfly was patrolling the corner of one of the top ponds. Amongst the small beasts 10+ Red-eyed Damselfly, these down in numbers from my last visit here. Both species of Demoiselle were on show, and are now regular here...
Beautiful Demoiselle
Banded Demoiselle
Lovely male Scarce Chaser with mating scars
Common Darter teneral - Ruddy ruled out by white on legs
I then dropped down to the River Axe, where there were a further 18+ Scarce Chaser and large numbers of White-legged Damselflies...
Must have seen at least 100 of these
A check of a final site, a large pool near the River Coly, added three Broad-bodied Chaser.
So all in all a bloody enjoyable three hours out in the sunshine!
Bird-wise, June hasn't been as quiet as it often can be. Three year-ticks in the first half of the sixth month certainly isn't to be sniffed at, these being...
Hobby - excellent views of a pair hunting dragonflies (mostly Scarce Chasers!) on 5th. The cold northerly wind was keeping both the dragonflies and falcons low allowing for really superb views!
Too quick for my camera despite the great views
Common Tern - saw the back end of a pair fly in off the sea and disappear up river on the morning of 6th, they then spent the remainder of the day on Black Hole Marsh. Shocking that it has taken until now to see this species on patch this year, but it reflects the sad state of terns locally (probably in part to the national picture too) and also the lack of decent sea watching conditions this spring.
Gadwall - June/July in recent years have proved the time to see this species on the Axe, when moulting birds join the equally tatty Mallards. The three on night of 10th actually stayed separate from the Mallards just north of Tower Hide, with the drake still showing some aspects of its former plumage.
Drake and two females
Other than these year ticks, 16 Sanderling on/past Seaton Beach on 2nd, with another the following day, and a handful of Ringed Plover on the Estuary during the same few days show there has been a bit more wader passage. It has not been anywhere near the volume I am used to seeing here in late spring which is really disappointing, but I think this reflects more the fine weather we've experienced and less to do with populations/overall numbers.
Tawny Owls have been good value locally. Plenty of young calling particularly at dusk, with a showy ball of fluff currently on Seaton Wetlands...
A ball of fluff with a face!
Mum is never far away either...
Sublime!
The sad tales all over social media about dire moth numbers this year have not at all encouraged me to put the moth trap out. I am a fair-weather moth'er as it is, so I certainly don't want to run an MV if all it does is depress me about the state of our environment. However the calmer and warmer forecast for the night of Friday just gone (9th) was enough to tempt me to get the Robinson out, and am pleased I did as many of my favourite early summer species were waiting for me on Saturday morning...
Eyed, Elephant, Privet and Small Elephant Hawkmoths
One of my favourites - a Mocha
A close up of the SmallElephantHawk
Green Oak Tortrix - caught nine of these on a night that saw a huge UK influx of this species
Have only really had one proper look locally for Odonata during this fine weather, on 5th, the same time I was watching the Hobbies mentioned above. To suddenly see good numbers local of Red-eyed Damselflies is quite odd, having not seen one here for so long! Otherwise plenty of Scarce Chaser as expected, plus my first Common Darter of the year with at least twenty tenerals seen flying up from and perched on the reeds. Black-tailed Skimmer, Four-spotted Chaser, Golden-ringed Dragonfly and Emperor werealso on the wing.
Male Scarce Chaser head on
Female ScarceChaser
Hopefully I will get a bit more time to look at insects before the weather changes. Never know what is around the corner when it comes to UK weather so need to make the most of it whilst it is here!
