I was going to take a break from birding today after yesterdays long trip . But news came out of a Whooper Swan just up the road from me at Clyst St Mary so I went to take a look at it .
You go all year nearly without seeing one and now I have seen 5 different birds in December , thats birding for you lol !
A trip up to Samlesbury in Lancashire today in hope of seeing the Belted Kingfisher a new bird for Britain for me with Mark Bailey , Dave Boult and Kevin Rylands . We arrived in the dark and made the journey up the path and across the field with trepidation as it was like a quagmire in the falling rain .
We stood in the rain for quite a while before we got our first sighting of the bird at just after it got light at around 8.35 it showed on and off for a short while and we got a nice view of it at 9.45 sat right out in the open on the top of a tree . the last sighting was around just after 11o/c , all the views were distant and I only managed to get one shot of it that is not worth posting on here lol
Great days birding Many Thanks Mark .
My final present yesterday was a calling Tawny Owl outside of my house in Topsham and it was my first one this year .
Today I went down to Exmouth in hope of catching up with Common Goldeneye but again I had no luck but I did see numerous Eurasian Wigeon & Northern Pintail , 3 Great Crested Grebe , a Ruddy Turnstone and a male Black Redstart .
Another trip over to the Exminster Marshes again this morning . And Tundra Bean Goose was the bird that I was looking for today as one had been reported earlier and after a bit of a walk I soon got on to the bird that was in with some Canada Goose and a Greater White-Fronted Goose , the birds were always distant and that with the bad weather made it hard to get a decent shot of .
Also seen were 100+ Dark Bellied Brent Goose and in with them was a juvenile Pale Bellied bird of the race Hrota . I then walked down to the other end of the marsh where the Pink-Footed Goose was still showing , and the 3 Whooper Swan from yesterday were still showing well today .
A couple of distant shots of todays Whooper Swan`s that were briefly on the Exminster Marshes today and they are a very good bird to get as they a quite rare bird for the marshes . I was quite lucky to get these as I only managed to get there quite late and by all accounts they flew off again a little while after I left .
Happy Days .
Another look for the Pink-Footed Goose on the Exminster Marshes this morning and today my luck was in as it was showing in with a huge flock of Canada Geese , I just got there and got on it and was able to fire off a few shots . When along came the farmer on his quad bike to gather up his cows and flushed the flock out onto the Exe Estuary near the Turf Locks . So I went to look for them and I was able to pick it out again in with the Canada`s . But they did not stay out there very long before flying back to the marsh further down in the fields below the Turf Locks .
Not a lot else seen with the highlight being a female Western Marsh Harrier .
Today I went over to the Otter Marshes near Otterton in Devon where there was the incredible sight of over 30+ Greater White-Fronted Goose of the Russian race . At first we could not find them but then we had a phone call telling us where to look and we soon connected with them .
Also seen was a White-Throated Dipper and 2 Grey Wagtail .
A trip down to Broadsands in South Devon this morning to look for Black-Throated Diver as there has been up to 4 seen in the bay in the last few days . But I could only manage to see 2 distant birds . Also seen were a few Northern Fulmar .
The next stop was at the Clennon Valley Lakes where I saw 2 Siberian Chiffchaff , a Common Chiffchaff , a Goldcrest and a nice Yellow-Browed Warbler that was on the move all the time making it hard to get a shot of in the tops of the trees .
A trip up to Exmoor this morning in hope of seeing Hen Harrier but our luck was out today . We did see a possible but never got enough on it to confirm it .
But we did see 2 Short-Eared Owl , numerous Common Raven , a male Peregrine Falcon , 5 Red-Legged Partridge , numerous Fieldfare , 20+ Redwing , 2 Eurasian Jay and 2 Red Deer .
Our last stop was at Braunton Marsh as we had come looking for some Whooper Swan and we managed to see just one of them in with some Mute Swan . We also saw 200+ European Golden Plover .
I started the day off at the recreation ground in Topsham . Where I saw a couple of Common Gull and then this Common Kingfisher that flashed past me and landed on the fence .
A look around Bowling Green Marsh then got me 2 Egyptian Geese , 2 Common Pochard , 8 Dunlin , 3 Common Greenshank , a Meadow Pipit , a Eurasian Jay and a European Greenfinch .
I went for a look at Bowling Green Marsh this morning as there was a report of some Egyptian Geese . But they were gone again before I got there . But I did see 17 Greylag Geese , a male and female Common Pochard , a Great Spotted Woodpecker , 20+ Redwing , 2 Fieldfare , a Song Thrush and a Eurasian Bullfinch .
I then had a look at the Exe Estuary from Cockwood Steps and saw 200+ Brent Geese , 2 Great Crested Grebe and 20+ Red-Breasted Merganser .
A trip down to Exmouth this morning to look for Firecrest and I went to where I had seen them before at Madeira Way and today I saw 2 of them . Also seen was a Song Thrush and a Common Raven .
I then had a look at Maer Rocks and saw 20+ Ruddy Turnstone and 4 Purple Sandpiper .
