I went down to look for a reported Barred Warbler on Colyford Common this morning . And after a bit of a walk from the car park I arrived to find some birders already there and they said yes that it had shown a bit earlier . So I picked a spot to look at some distant bushes when all of a sudden out it popped giving us a brief view .
I saw it at around 9.30 and then stayed for another two and half hours but there was no more sign of it .
A trip down to Cornwall today with Dave Land and Paul Bray in search of Lesser Grey Shrike that had been found on Bodmin Moor near Minions . And it did not take much time to connect with the bird that put on quite a show for us and all the other birders there .
This is my 5th one seen in Britain with my last one seen at Mount Batten Point Nr Plymouth in 2016 . So many thanks Dave .
Earlier on in the day I birded the viewing point area of Bowling Green Marsh . Where I saw the following birds . Little Egret , Whimbrel , Cetti`s Warbler , Common Chiffchaff , Blackcap & also seen sat out in the open eating Blackberries was this very nice Wood Mouse .
This morning I went down to do a seawatch from the raised beachhuts at Exmouth . It was quite windy so my hopes were high , but most of the birds were too far out to be able to name them .
But I did see numerous Northern Gannet , 2 Great Shearwater , 5 Balearic Shearwater , a single European Storm Petrel , 2 Arctic Skua and my 1st Great Skua for a couple of years .
A walk from the Fishermans car park on the Exminster Marshes to The quite a way down the sea wall got me the following birds .15 Mallard , 4 Gadwall , Common Buzzard , Common Kestrel , a few Barn Swallow , Cetti`s Warbler , Northern Wheatear , 6 European Greenfinch , a small flock of Common Linnet . And a large flock of Common Starling that I did check for Rosy Starling but I had no luck .
A quick look at the River Exe at Topsham Recreation Ground got me a Curlew Sandpiper , 2 Dunlin , a Black-Tailed Godwit , 3 Common Redshank , 2 Common Greenshank , 3 Little Egret and 2 Great Black-Backed Gull .
AMERICAN WARBLERS
A trip over to St Gothan`s Head in Pembrokeshire West Wales this morning with my mates Andy and Ken to look for the reported Magnolia Warbler that has been there for a few days . And after a bit of a wait this stunning bird showed very well out in the open for a short spell but from then on it was always on the move .
While we were there , we heard breathtaking news of a Canada Warbler that was found on a different part of the headland . So we then headed for there in anticipation . We arrived at a small copse that was filled with 100+ birders and after searching for it for quite a while I then picked a spot and leant against a tree in an area where the bird had been seen before and I was in the right spot when the bird popped up right in front of me in the open . I let out a call and around 8 people close to me got onto the bird before it then dropped back into cover again ..... Absolute Magic 👀
In the copse that was filled with birders many calls went up of its here ! causing a rush of people from one spot to another with people falling over and falling out of trees just trying to get a glimpse of the bird .
These two birds are both new birds for me and puts my British life list on 496 . Four more to go to the magical 500 .
The birding today was dead slow as I first went to Bowling Green Marsh but all that I could put in the notebook today were 100+ Northern Pintail , Numerous Common Redshank , 3 Common Greenshank , 10 Northern Lapwing , 2 Red Knot , Dunlin and Whimbrel .
I then went for a look at the Exminster Marshes and saw 100+ Eurasian Curlew , 3 Common Buzzard and 2 Common Kestrel .
I birded Orcombe Point in between the heavy rain this morning so I didn`t see a lot . But I did manage to see a male Common Kestrel , 7 Yellow Wagtail , 2 Meadow Pipit , Willow Warbler , Common Chiffchaff , 4 European Robin and 20+ Common Linnet .
The weather looked good for a seawatch this morning , so I went down to Exmouth as the rain just started to fall and went to my favourite spot and settled in for a couple of hours birding .
At first I was only seeing numerous Northern Gannets going through . But then I got my eye in and started to pick up Balearic Shearwaters and a few Manx Shearwater going through with them . I then got a Great Shearwater and 2 Cory`s Shearwater great sightings of 2 birds that are very hard to catch up with in local waters . There was 5 other large Shearwater that also went through but they were too for out for me to be happy to name them . Also going through were 2 Arctic Skua , 4 Black-Legged Kittiwake and the bird of the day for me a nice juvenile Sabine`s Gull a nice find for me and my first in Devon since 2017 😁
I birded Bowling Green Marsh this morning in a heavy thunderstorm but I was ok inside the hide lol 💧💧💧💧💧💧
But I still saw 2 Pied Avocet , 3 Curlew Sandpiper , a juvenile Ruff , 2 Common Greenshank , a Whimbrel , a Bar-Tailed Godwit that was in with numerous Black-Tailed Godwit and a Common Kingfisher .
Another trip down to Orcombe Point this morning to look for the Eurasian Wryneck again and today showed a lot better and I got a lot better views than yesterday . But as you can see I struggled getting a decent shot of it 😔.
This morning started early at Bowling Green Marsh and I managed too see 3 Curlew Sandpiper , Ruff , Whimbrel , Bar-Tailed Godwit and a Little Stint . I then had a call telling me from local birder Matt Knot telling me that he had just found a Eurasian Wryneck , so off I went in hope of seeing it and my luck was in as I got views of it feeding on the path in between the dog walkers flushing it off of the path .
A few more birders turned up in hope of seeing it but the bird had gone into cover and after a bit of a wait we decided to go to Seatown in Dorset where an adult Woodchat Shrike was showing well . And after a long climb up steep steps we got very nice views of the bird .
A late dash down to Bowling Green Marsh on the evening tide got me 2 Little Stint , 2 Ruff and a nice looking Curlew Sandpiper , but the light was too bad for any photo`s .
A look at Bowling Green Marsh just after high tide this morning did not get me much at all with the usual Common Redshank and Black-Tailed Godwit in large numbers , also seen were 12 Dunling , 2 Common Snipe and a Red Fox .
So I then took a look at the Exminster Marshes where the highlight were 4 Ruff seen together from the viewing platform . along with a Common Kestrel , 2 Common Chiffchaff and a Common Raven .
Not a lot to report lately . But here are a couple of moths that I have had in the garden in the last few days . With the Box Tree Moth a new one for me .
Well today got me only my second Ortolan Bunting in Devon , with one seen near the Budleigh Salterton golf course . My first one seen in Devon was at Bantham in South Devon on the 24th August 1996 .
I have only seen 8 in Britain with the 1st on 16 / 10 / 88 and the last one 5 / 9 / 2002 so its been a long wait of 21 years until todays bird .
Also seen today at Bowling Green Marsh were 2 Ruff , a Green Sandpiper , a few Red Knot , 20+ Dunlin and a nice Curlew Sandpiper .
Todays birding was done from the hide at Bowling Green Marsh and I saw the following birds . Egyptian Goose , my first 2 returning Northern Pintail of the autumn , a Curlew Sandpiper , 10 Dunlin , 6 Red Knot , a juvenile Ruff , 2 Whimbrel , a Spotted Redshank , numerous Common Redshank , 20+ Common Greenshank , a Common Buzzard and a male Common Kestrel .
A trip down to Marazion in Cornwall to look for an American wader a Buff-Breasted Sandpiper that has been seen on the beach . And after not very long we were getting nice views of the bird along with a some other nice waders that included . Little Stint , Common Ringed Plover , Sanderling , Red Knot , Ruff and Ruddy Turnstone .
We then went to Pendeen Point do do a sea watch and that turned out very well as we saw numerous Manx Shearwater , 20+ Balearic Shearwater , 5 Great Shearwater , a single Cory`s Shearwater , 20+ Northern Gannet , 3 Northern Fulmar , 20+ Common Scoter and 4 Norther Wheatear were also seen nearby .
This mornings birding started off at Goosemoor but all that I saw there was 8 Common Greenshank and a flock of Long-Tailed Tit . So I went to Bowling Green Marsh where I saw a few Red Knot and Dunlin and a look around the viewing platform got me a Common Kingfisher , a Great Spotted Woodpecker , a Common Raven , a Cetti`s Warbler , a European Reed Warbler , 2 Willow Warbler and numerous Common Chiffchaff .
Then late in the afternoon news came out of an Osprey that was sat on a tree in the Powderham Estate so I went and got nice but distant views of it .
Another walk to Bowling Green Marsh and I arrived at the hide to find 3 Common Kingfisher chasing each other around . A look at the waders then got me 20+ Red Knot , 2 Ruff , 3 Bar-Tailed Godwit , 10 Dunlin and a scattering of Whimbrel .
I then went to check the bushes around the viewing point area where I saw a few Common Chiffchaff , a nice Blackcap , a European Reed Warbler and my first Reed Bunting on the marsh for quite a while . I then walked back home and at the top of Bowling Green Road there was a couple of nice Firecrest on show , always a great days birding when you can end up with these stunning birds .
