Little Gull

Not a lot to report today as I only had a quick look around the recreation ground in Topsham but I did see the 1st summer Little Gull and managed to grab this distant shot of it , not a lot else to report with only 50+ Herring Gull , 2 Great Black-Backed Gull , 6 Little Egret , a Eurasian Oystercatcher and a Water Rail . 

Little Gull ( Hydrocoloeus minutus ) . The Topsham Recreation Ground . Devon

Dragonflies

A morning/afternoon look at Bowling Green Marsh got me the smart looking adult Mediterranean Gull and a Sandwich Tern and also singles of Bar-Tailed Godwit , Grey Plover and Eurasian Oystercatcher .
Other things of note were Southern Hawker , a female Broad-Bodied Chaser and a Red Fox .
This evening there was a bit of fun as someone had claimed a possible Hudsonian Whimbrel on the Clyst Estuary so I went down to have a look and found a Whimbrel ok but for over an hour of looking at it I couldn`t get any features on it to turn it into a Hudsonian but then it started to wash and preen itself and you could then tell then right away that it was just one of our normal Whimbrel !!! ...still you have to look as you never know !!!

Better luck next time lol

Broad-Bodied Chaser ( Libellula depressa ) ( Female ) . Bowling Green Marsh . Topsham . Devon

Southern Hawker ( Aeshna cyanea ) . Bowling Green Marsh . Topsham . Devon

Common Shelduck

Another look at Bowling Green Marsh this morning but again the birding was rather slow , numerous Common Shelduck were on show today !! but the only other birds worth talking about were Mediterranean Gull`s with the smart adult bird , two 2nd summer birds & a 1st summer bird , and 3 Stock Dove dropped in but were not on the marsh for very long .

Common Shelduck ( Tadorna tadorna ) . Bowling Green Marsh . Topsham . Devon

Lympstone Common

I decided to go up to the commons this morning to look for Butterflies but the first things I came across were 2 very noisy juvenile European Green Woodpecker that were chasing each other around the fir trees , also seen in the area was a Common Buzzard , a male and female Common Stonechat & Willow Warbler , Common Chiffchaff & Blackcap .
The Butterflies that I saw today were 3 Silver-Studded Blue the first of the year for me , 4 Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary and 2 Speckled Wood .

European Green Woodpecker ( Picus viridis ) ( Juvenile ) . Lympstone Common . Devon

Silver-Studded Blue ( Plebejus argus ) . Lympstone Common . Devon

Bowling Green Marsh

A look this morning at my local patch Bowling Green Marsh didn't get me much at all as can be expected for this time of year , but I did see hundreds of Black-Headed Gull`s , 3 Mediterranean Gull`s with a nice adult bird , a 1st summer & a 2nd summer , also seen was the 1st summer Little Gull but I only got a quick view of it before it was lost from view , a single Sandwich Tern was seen along with 8 smart looking Bar-Tailed Godwit , 20+ Black-Tailed Godwit , 2 Whimbrel and a couple of Black-Billed Magpie that were pretending to be Oxpeckers lol .

Mediterranean Gull ( Larus melanocephalus ) . Bowling Green Marsh . Topsham . Devon

Black-Billed Magpie ( Pica pica ) . Bowling Green Marsh . Topsham . Devon

Long-Tailed Duck on the Exe ?????

Today I saw the amazing sight of a summer plumaged female Long-Tailed Duck seen on the Exe Estuary off of Exton Station , I can here a lot off you thinking So !!! but it shouldn't  be anywhere near the Exe Estuary at this time of year so is quite a rarity , the bird was in very close at times allowing me to take these nice shots of it .... Birding !! you can never guess whats next lol
A look at Bowling Green Marsh later got me the 1st summer Little Gull , a 2nd summer Mediterranean Gull and a European Reed Warbler .

Long-Tailed Duck ( Clangula hyemalis ) . The Exe Estuary . Devon

Bee Orchids

With the birding a bit dead at the moment !! I went up to Pynes Hill on the edge of Exeter again this afternoon and found some more Bee Orchids and they were a lot more easier to photograph than birds lol .

Bee Orchid ( Ophrys apifera ) . Pynes Hiil . Exeter . Devon

Another shot of the 1st summer Little Gull from Bowling Green Marsh this evening

Little Gull

Not a lot to report today !! but yesterdays 1st summer Little Gull was showing very well on the River Exe off of the Topsham Recreation Ground , the only other thing seen were a few Barn Swallow and Common House Martin that were feeding over the river , and a fresh Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly .

Little Gull ( Hydrocoloeus minutus ) . The River Exe , Topsham . Devon

Tawny Owl

Early this morning I had my first Tawny Owl of the year calling outside of my house in the Topsham Cemetery Grounds , later in the day I went up to Pynes Hill an area on the outskirts  of Exeter to look for Bee Orchids and I saw a quite a few of them ! also seen were the following Butterflies ... Meadow Brown , Large Skipper , Small Tortoiseshell , Marbled White and Red Admiral .
This evening I had a look at Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham and saw a 1st summer Little Gull  ( a first for Devon this year ) , an adult summer plumages Mediterranean Gull and 4 Sandwich Tern .

Marbled White ( M . galathea ) . Pynes Hill . Exeter . Devon

Large Skipper ( Ochlodes venatus ) . Pynes Hill . Exeter . Devon

Hudsonian Whimbrel

News of a Hudsonian Whimbrel at Church Norton in West Sussex had my mate Andy Bond and myself making the long journey to see if we could catch up with it as it is a new bird in Britain for the both of us ! the bird is the American cousin of our Whimbrel but differs by having a more distinct head pattern , dark underwings and a fully dark rump and tail pattern , the bird was always very distant today as the tide had gone right out but all of the main features were clinched .
This was my third tick of the year and all of them were American wader pullbacks .....Amazing  !!!!
There was not a lot else to be seen but 2 Little Tern , a full summer plumaged Little Gull , and singles of Bearded Tit & Common Cuckoo were nice and this Barn Owl was in the church yard but alas it was only a captive bird ! but I just couldn't resist getting a shot of it anyway .

Barn Owl ( Tyto alba ) . Church Norton . Sussex

Whinchat

A look at my local patch Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham today got me a nice summer plumaged Red Knot , an adult and a 1st summer Mediterranean Gull and a juvenile Yellow Wagtail ( now hang on I know what you are all thinking....me as well , that its a bit early for a juv Yellow Wag but believe me I would not put it out on here if I wasn't sure at what I saw !!! )
Later in the day Andy Bond and myself had a look around the Sousens Down area but there was no sign of the bird that we were looking for .......!!! but we did see 3 nice male Whinchat , a male Common Redstart and 3 Common Cuckoo were in the area .

Whinchat ( Saxicola rubetra ) . Sousons Down . Dartmoor . Devon

Green Hairstreak

I decided to have a look around the Lymptone Commons this morning in hope of maybe seeing a few Butterflies , there was a slight breeze so that didn't help much but I got the main one that I was looking for the Green Hairstreak a stunning looking butterfly ! and in the end I managed to see five of them , also seen were 10+ Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary , 4 Speckled Wood , 2 Small Heath and a stack of Common Heath moths , there was not a lot of birds around but a singing Garden Warbler was nice .

Green Hairstreak ( Callophrys rubi ) ( Male ) . Lympstone Common . Devon

Green Hairstreak ( Callophrys rubi ) ( Female ) . Lympstone Common . Devon

Common Heath ( Ematurga atomaria ) . Lympstone Common . Devon

Marsh Fritillary

This morning was spent at Knowstone Moor looking for Marsh Fritillary and I was lucky enough to see quite a few of these delightful Butterflies and also seen were around a dozen Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary these were not expected to be out yet so were a very nice surprise , today was not a birding day as such but still Common Cuckoo , Tree Pipit and Willow Warbler were seen and a Garden Warbler was heard singing .

Marsh Fritillary ( E . aurinia ) . Knowstone Moor . Devon

Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary ( C . selene ) . Knowstone Moor . Devon

Aylesbeare Common

With the weather quite nice I decided to spend this  morning on Aylesbeare Common in East Devon and it did`nt turn out to bad as I saw 20+ Common Linnet , 4 Yellowhammer , 3 Dartford Warbler , a male and female Common Stonechat , 2 Stock Dove and a Common Buzzard .
Also seen was a female Common European Adder ( I have yet to see a male on the commons ) and the following Butterflies .. 12 Small Heath , 4 Brimstone , a Common Blue and a Large White .

Dartford Warbler ( Male ) ( Sylvia undata ) . Aylesbeare Common . Devon

Common Stonechat ( Male ) ( Saxicola torquatus ) . Aylesbeare Common . Devon

Yellowhammer ( Male ) ( Emberiza citrinella ) . Aylesbeare Common . Devon

Monday 1st June . 2015

My mate Andy Bond had just returned from a holiday to Mexico and was desperate to go for the Greater Yellowlegs that is still showing at Titchfield Haven in Hampshire so I made the trip with him even though I had seen the bird a week or so back ! the day started well with 2 Red Kite seen at Taunton Cross near Kilkampton in Devon at 7.25 am , we arrived at Titchfield Haven & we got news that the bird was on the scrape inside the reserve so we paid our money to get in only to be told that the bird had flown off towards the floods again but before we left the reserve we did see this superb looking summer plumaged Curlew Sandpiper allowing me to get my best ever shot of these birds , we then made our way to the Postbrook Floods and this time we got the Greater Yellowlegs ok but it was on the far end of the floods but we got good views in the end leaving Andy cock a hoop !
We then decided to go to East Sussex in hope of seeing a female Red-Footed Falcon that is being seen at Barcombe Mills and after a bit of a walk we came across some other birders and was told that the bird had been showing very well and after a little while there she was flying right in front of us and perching on the trees and bushes , I have been lucky enough to see a few of these birds now but I always get a thrill when I see these superb falcons , also seen flying around with it were two Eurasian Hobby , we got soaked by the heavy rain at one time but it was well worth it in the end .

Curlew Sandpiper ( Calidris ferruginea ) . Titchfield Haven . Hampshire

Greater Yellowlegs ( Tringa melanoleuca ) . Posbrook Floods . Titchfield Haven . Hampshire

Red-Footed Falcon ( Falco vespertinus ) . Barcombe Mills . East Sussex