Well another birding year comes to an end and I had quite a good year with 269 different birds seen and out of these I managed to photograph 201 .
The highlight for me were three new American birds added to my British list with Magnolia Warbler , Canada Warbler and Northern Harrier .
Lets hope 2024 brings us some more good birds to go for ! And a Happy New Year to my readers .
A quick look around my local parch Bowling Green Marsh this morning did not turn out to bad with the following birds seen . 2 Greylag Geese , 20+ Northern Pintail , 2 Little Egret , numerous Black-Tailed Godwit and a loan Bar-Tailed Godwit in with them , 60+ Pied Avocet , 1 Common Snipe . And a female Peregrine Falcon and a female Western Marsh Harrier kept all of the waders nervous and very flighty .
A look down near the viewing platform got me some European Goldfinch , 2 European Greenfinch and a male and female Eurasian Bullfinch .
A trip up to Abberton Reservoir today with my birding mates Paul Bray and Andy Bond in hope of seeing an American duck that has been there for a while now a male Canvasback and after a bit of a search we got on to the bird that was in with a flock of over 500 Common Pochard . It spent most of the time with its head tucked in but I was lucky enough to get a shot of it as it had a quick look around . I had only seen one of these birds before in Britain and that was way back in 1999 and funny enough that was at the same reservoir !!
Also in the flock was numerous Tufted Duck . 2 Greater Scaup and a female Red-Crested Pochard . We then went to another area of the reservoir where we saw 2 Velvet Scoter , 4 Goosander and a male Common Goldeneye . We then went in search of some Bohemian Waxwing in Colchester and we managed to see 10 of them .
On the way home we saw 14 Red Kite over the M4 in Berkshire a nice end to a long days birding .
I went over to the Exminster Marshes this morning to look for a reported Red-Breasted Flycatcher but there was no sign of it today . And there was not a lot else to see with the best being Mistle Thrush , Song Thrush , Redwing . Common Stonechat and Common Kestrel
And around the Exe Reedbeds there was 2 Common Kingfisher and a brief view of a Bearded Reedling .
A morning look at Bowling Green Marsh turned out quite good , with the following birds seen .
This Grey Heron waited patiently for quite a while before he caught his breakfast , also seen were 4 Greylag Geese , numerous Northern Shoveler , a Water Rail , a female Western Marsh Harrier , a female Eurasian Sparrowhawk and a few Long-Tailed Tit
A look around Bowling Green Marsh did not get a lot at all , but I did see .
2 Greylag Geese , numerous Northern Pintail , Black-Tailed Godwit , Common Redshank and a Lesser Black-Backed Gull and on the far side of the marsh there was a female Western Marsh Harrier hunting over the reed bed . And a look at the Clyst Estuary got me a few Pied Avocet and a Common Gull .
Out around Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham this morning getting some practice in with my new camera and was quite pleased with some of my efforts lol .
Another trip down to Cornwall again this morning . But this time it was just over the border at Calstock to look for another American bird but this time a duck a Green-Winged Teal and as you can see it showed very well .
These birds used to be semi rare when I started birding but now they seem to turn up most years .
A late afternoon trip down to the Clennon Valley Lakes to look for a Hume`s Leaf Warbler that was found a few days ago by local birder Mike Langman .
And it was not long before we picked the bird up and it showed quite well but was constantly on the move in fading light , but it was nice to see this Asian migrant .
Not a lot to report today . On the fields by Darts Farm in Topsham this morning there was a large flock of Dark-Bellied Brent Goose and in with them was a few of the Pale-Bellied race hrota .
Then a look around the Ludwell Valley C P got me a White-Throated Dipper , a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Grey Wagtail .
And a quick look at Bowling Green Marsh got me around a dozen Redwing and 4 Common Blackbird .
A trip down to Cornwall today to look for an American White-Crowned Sparrow that seems to have taken up residence at a garden in Rosudgeon . And we didn`t have to wait too long before the bird showed to us very well . This is only the second one of these that I have seen in Britain with my first back in 2008 in Norfolk
We then went to Loe Beach to look for a couple of reported juvenile Surf Scoter and after a bit of a search we managed to get on to them . So a nice end to a days birding with Paul Bray , Dave Boult & Dave Land .
A look around Bowling Green Marsh this morning got me the following birds .
Numerous Northern Shoveler & Common Teal , a male and female Gadwall , 2 Greylag Geese , Numerous Black-Tailed Godwit , 10 Dunlin , 8 Northern Lapwing , a Common Snipe , a Water Rail , Song Thrush and Common Chiffchaff .
Another trip down to Dawlish Warren again in hope of getting a shot of the Pallas`s Warbler but today there was no sign of it at all .
But I did see , numerous Long-Tailed Tit , a European Green Woodpecker , Great Spotted Woodpecker , Eurasian Sparrowhawk , 4 Goldcrest , 2 Firecrest , 4 Common Chiffchaff , a Siberian Chiffchaff , a Common Stonechat and a female Eurasian Bullfinch .
Today I got my 13th Pallas`s Warbler for Britain with one showing in the entrance bushes at Dawlish Warren . I got the news late on this bird today so I was a little bit late for the party lol .
But I was lucky to be stood in the right place when it showed again and got a nice but quick view of the bird that is a winter visitor to Britain from the far east .
I got my first view of one of these birds way back in 87 in Holkam Woods in Norfolk and the last one I saw was 3 years ago at Sand Point in Somerset so it was pleasing to get another one in my home county of Devon .
A trip down to Broadsands with Paul Bray this morning to look for a Slavonian Grebe that had been reported there . Now Slav Grebe was a bird that you could see quite often in the South West but I am afraid that is not the case now . And today our luck was out as we gave the bay a good scan but there was no sign of the bird .
And the best that we saw today were 4 Great Northern Diver with one in nice summer plumage . 2 Great Crested Grebe and 8 Razorbill .
A look around the Exminster Marshes this morning got me the following . Numerous Dark Bellied Brent Goose , 2 Greylag Goose , Grey Heron , Little Egret , 2 Female Western Marsh Harrier , Eurasian Sparrowhawk , Peregrine Falcon , 20+ Redwing , Fieldfare , 4 Common Raven , Cetti`s Warbler and 2 Common Chiffchaff .
A look at Bowling Green Marsh this morning got me over 100 Pied Avocet , 50+ Dunlin and a few Common Greenshank .
I then went over to have a look around the Exminster Marshes and I managed to see numerous Dark Bellied Brent Geese , a Snow Goose , a female Western Marsh Harrier , a Eurasian Sparrowhawk , 3 Cetti`s Warbler , 2 Fieldfare and the bird of the day a nice Water Pipit .
I thought that I would start the day off at the Exminster Marshes but I found out that the road was still deeply flooded so that was the end of that😂
So I carried on down the Estuary and in the fields around Cockwood there was around a Dozen Cattle Egret and a large mass of corvids . And back at Starcross there was a Goldcrest and 3 Firecrest..... I just seem too be seeing these all over the place at the moment !
I got up early today and did a seawatch from the raised beach huts at Exmouth and was rewarded with my first Leach`s Storm Petrel since 2009 and lucky enough it was not too far out in the bay heading west .
Also seen were numerous Northern Gannet , 9 Common Scoter , 2 Great Northern Diver , 2 Pomarine Skua , 2 Manx Shearwater , a single Great Shearwater , 3 Black-Legged Kittiwake , 3 European Shag and another smallish petrel that was just to far out for I D . On the way back home a stop off at Mudbank Lane in Exmouth got me 9 Red Knot , a Grey Plover and a Common Kingfisher .
News of a Red-Breasted Flycatcher at Berry Head saw me and my mate Andy going down to look for it , and after a bit of a search we got nice views of the bird and it was my first one seen for 4 years .
Also seen were 3 Firecrest and 2 Goldcrest . And a quick look around Brixham Harbour got us around a dozen Ruddy Turnstone and this nice Great Northern Diver .
