Nearly There

With it being nearly the end of the year I took a look at my local patch Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham this morning and it got me numerous Eurasian Wigeon , Northern Shoveler and Common Teal , 8 Tufted Duck & 4 Gadwall , I then walked down the lane to look for Common Snipe but I couldn't see any , but I did see 20+ Redwing and a Mistle Thrush .
I then had a look at Darts Farm but the only birds of any note were 4 Common Stonechat and a Winter Wren .

Eurasian Wigeon ( Anus penelope ) . Bowling Green Marsh . Topsham . Devon

Bowling Green Marsh

Sue and I went for a walk around Topsham this afternoon with our first stop being at Goosemoor to look for the Bearded Tits that had been seen there  but today there was no sign of any at all but we did see a Water Rail .
We then went on to Bowling Green Marsh where wildfowl was in abundance with numerous Common Teal , Eurasian Wigeon , Northern Shoveler & Northern Pintail , also seen was a male and female Tufted Duck . Waders seen today consisted of Common Redshank , Common Greenshank , Black-Tailed Godwit and Dunlin .

Northern Shoveler ( Anas clypeata ) Male & Female . Bowling Green Marsh . Topsham . Devon

Pomarine Skua

A trip down to Dawlish Warren this morning to look for a lingering Pomarine Skua and I managed to see it out in the bay putting on a few piratical chases of small gulls etc , also seen were numerous Northern Gannet . 60+ Great Crested Grebe , quite a few Common Guillemot and Razorbill , a Great Northern Diver and a Red-Throated Diver .
I searched the sky for flying Reindeer but had no luck at all so I had to settle for these Fallow Deer instead lol .

A very Happy Christmas to all of my readers .

Fallow Deer ( Cervus dama ) . Powderham . Devon

Family Birding

Today I took my Daughter and grandson for a walk on the Highway Rat Trail a trail made for small children at the Great Haldon Forest in Devon . It was not really a birding day but I still kept my eyes open and managed to connect with 2 Common Crossbill , a male Great Spotted Woodpecker , 12 Long-Tailed Tit , 6 Coal Tit and a Common Raven .

Great Spotted Woodpecker ( Dendrocopos major ) . Haldon Forest . Devon

Birding Cornwall

A trip down to Cornwall today with my mates Andy and Ken with our first stop being at Porthpean ,we arrived just as the light was starting to rise but there was quite a bit of sea mist to start with . But we managed to start picking out some birds after a while and in the end we had see 8 Common Scoter , a female and a juvenile Surf Scoter , 2 Great Northern Divers , 2 Red-Necked Grebe , a female and a juvenile Long-Tailed Duck , 21 Black-Legged Kittiwake and 4 Northern Fulmar .
We then went to Colverack where there was numerous gulls around the small harbour including this smart looking 2nd winter Iceland Gull , the day then started to fizzle out a bit but we did see 6 Little Grebe on Long Rock Pool and on the Hale Estuary there was an impressive flock of European Golden Plover that was well over 1000+ birds .

Iceland Gull ( Larus glaucoides ) . Colverack . Cornwall

Bearded Reedling

There was still 2 Bearded Reedling showing on Goosemoor in Topsham this morning , but they were a bit more harder to get in the open than the last couple of days .

Bearded Reedling ( Panurus biarmicus ) . Goosemoor . Topsham

Hen Harrier

Early this morning I went up to the Uphams Plantation area of Woodbury Common as a female Parrot Crossbill has been reported there , I searched the area for a couple of hours without getting anything on the bird , but then again I didn`t see any Crossbill`s at all .
The best bird that I saw was a female Hen Harrier that went across the common quite quickly heading for the Yettington area of the common and its my first on the commons for quite a while , also seen were 4 Common Raven , a European Green Woodpecker and a male European Bullfinch .
I then headed back to Topsham to see if the Bearded Tit`s were still showing and today they were but I only saw one male and a female bird but I expect that the others are still there somewhere .

Common Raven ( Corvus corax ) . Woodbury Common . Devon

Bearded Reedling

News of some Bearded Reedling showing at the Goosemoor Reserve in Topsham had me going down to see if I could see them as it has been quite a while since we have had some local ones . And my luck was in as they were showing quite well but were always a little bit distant while I was there , I managed to see 3 males and 2 female type birds but I expect that there may have been more in the reedbed . Later on in the afternoon I came across some thrushes feeding on a Cantonyaster bush and had very nice views of Redwing and Fieldfare making it a very nice end to the day .

Bearded Reedling ( Panurus biarmicus ) . Goosemoor . Topsham . Devon

Fieldfare ( Turdus pilaris ) . Topsham . Devon

Redwing ( Turdus iliacus ) . Topsham . Devon

Barred Warbler

Myself and Andy Bond made the trip up to Titchfield Haven in Hampshire this morning to look for a wintering 1st winter Barred Warbler that has been showing very well there . Andy needed it for the year but I had seen one in October in Cornwall but I had never been able to photograph one before so that was my main objective and as you can see it turned out very well with the bird showing very well at times .
The weather was very cold so we then headed for home as the snow started to fall and near Dummer in Hampshire we saw 2 Red Kite , we then saw another one over the M3 near Thruxton , and on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire we saw another 2 Red Kite , 20+ Fieldfare and a Common Raven .

Barred Warbler ( Sylvia nisoria ) . Titchfield Haven . Hampshire

Wednesday 6th December

Five Hawfinch were still on show this morning at Pines Hill in Exeter but they were very mobile , also seen were 20+ Common Linnet . I then had a look around the Ludwell Valley Country Park but I only saw a Water Rail , a Common Kingfisher and 5 Winter Wren .
I finished the day off at Goosemoor in Topsham but there was only a few Common Greenshank and Common Redshank on show .

Common Greenshank ( Tringa nebularia ) . Goosemoor . Topsham . Devon

Very Slow

I had a look around the Bowling Green Marsh area this morning but as you can expect for this time of year the birding was a bit slow , but I did see the usual Mistle Thrush still guarding its mistletoe . And a look around the small copse at the top of the lane got me 20+ Redwing , 8 Goldcrest , 7 Great Tit and a female Eurasian Bullfinch .

Mistle Thrush ( Turdus viscivorus ) . Bowling Green Lane . Topsham . Devon

Tuesday 28th November

Ken Montandon , Andy Bond and myself made the trip up to Wishmore Bottom in Berkshire to look for some Parrot Crossbill that had been seen there . We had a bit of a walk to reach the spot where they had been seen but it was well worth it as we saw 16 of them showing very well flying from tree to tree and it was a new bird for Ken & Andy .
We then carried on to Staines Reservoir in Surrey to look for an American Horned Lark the American version of our Shore Lark and we managed to get views of it but it was always very distant , also seen was a Water Pipit and a Black-Necked Grebe .

Parrot Crossbill ( Loxia pytyopsittacus ) ( Male ) . Wishmore Bottom . Berkshire

Parrot Crossbill ( Loxia pytyopsittacus ) ( Female ) . Wishmore Bottom . Berkshire

Water Pipit ( Anthus spinoletta ) . Staines Reservoir . Surrey

Northern Lapwing

Todays photo is of one of our common birds in Britain the Northern Lapwing a very beautiful looking bird , it also goes by two other names , the Green Plover and Peewit and can be seen in very large flocks at times , it was taken on Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham where there was also a female Common Pochard , 2 female Tufted Duck and a Common Kingfisher .

Northern Lapwing ( Vanellus vanellus ) . Bowling Green Marsh . Topsham . Devon

Peregrine Falcon again !

I started the day off at Goosemoor in Topsham where there was still a bit of early morning mist still hanging over the water , there was not a lot to be seen with only 2 Common Greenshank , a Little Egret and a fly over Common Raven . So I then took a look at Bowling Green Marsh on the way there I saw a Mistle Thrush sat in its tree guarding a big batch of Mistletoe and at one point it chased off a Great Spotted Woodpecker , on the marsh I saw 200+ Black-Tailed Godwit , 9 Dunlin , a single Ruff , 2 Little Grebe , a young Peregrine Falcon then flew in and caught one of the waders and sat there eating it for quite a while giving me quite a wait to get this shot of it in flight as it flew off again towards Goosemoor .

Peregrine Falcon ( Falco peregrinus ) . Bowling Green Marsh . Topsham . Devon

Hawfinch

This morning I went up to the Haldon Forest in hope of seeing the Hawfinch again . At first I went to a spot where I have had Common Crossbill before but after a bit of a search I gave up as none were on show and all that I saw were 20+ Common Chaffinch and a Eurasian Nuthatch .
I then went to the spot where I had seen the Hawfinch a while back and I started picking up single birds  that were flying into the wood and in the end I saw about 20+ of them but it took quite a while to finally get one that was sat out in the open , I also saw two flyover Common Crossbill .
I then headed for home stopping off on the way at the Matford Pools on the edge of Exeter , where the drake American Wigeon was again in with the flock off Eurasian Wigeon and was showing a lot better today than the other day , so a nice end to todays birding .

Hawfinch ( Coccothraustes coccothraustes ) . Haldon Forest . Devon

American Wigeon ( Anas americana ) . The Matford Pools . Exeter . Devon

American Wigeon

This morning I went for a look for White-Throated Dipper`s on the small stream in the Ludwell Valley Park but there was none to be anywhere today but I did see , 2 Common Gull , a Green Sandpiper , a Great Spotted Woodpecker , 2 Grey Wagtail , 3 Winter Wren and a flock of Long-Tailed Tit .
News then broke of a drake American Wigeon in with around 30 Eurasian Wigeon on the Matford Pools on the outskirts of Exeter , so I made my way there but I only could get distant views of the bird ! but lets hope that it hangs around for a while and we can all get better views of it .

American Wigeon ( Anas americana ) . Matford Pools . Exeter . Devon

Exminster Marsh to Turf Locks

I had a walk around the Exminster Marshes to Turf Locks but I didn`t see anything out of the ordinary but I still enjoyed my birding .
On the way I saw 500+ Canada Goose , an Egyptian Goose , Numerous wildfowl with Eurasian Wigeon , Northern Shoveler , Common Teal & Mallard , also seen were 20-30 Common Blackbird ! a Redwing , a Song Thrush , 6 Common Stonechat , 20+ Meadow Pipit , 2 Eurasian Bullfinch and singles of Common Kingfisher , Cetti`s Warbler and Reed Bunting .

Common Blackbird ( Turdus merula ) . The Exminster Marshes . Devon

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis ) . Turf Locks . Devon

Thrushes

There were thrushes flying around everywhere this morning so I went for a walk around the Topsham Cemetery and I saw numerous Redwing , 10 Fieldfare , 4 Mistle Thrush and a few Common Blackbird . I also noticed that the young Peregrine Falcon was again perched on top of the water tower keeping an eye on everything that was going on .
In the afternoon I went across to the Exminster Marshes where I saw an Egyptian Goose , a Common Raven and a male Eurasian Bullfinch .

Mistle Thrush ( Turdus viscivorus ) . The Topsham Cemetery Grounds . Devon

Peregrine Falcon ( Falco Peregrinus ) . The Topsham Water Tower . Devon

Egyptian Goose ( Alopochen aegyptiaca ) . The Exminster Marshes . Devon

Tawny Owl

This morning I came across a Tawny Owl that was being mobbed by 20+ Common Starling and 3 Mistle Thush as it was sat in a Yew tree in the grounds of the Parish Church of St Margaret`s in Topsham Devon .
Later in the day a look around the Topsham Cemetery grounds got me 20-30 Redwing , a Common Buzzard , 6 European Greenfinch and 2 Common Chaffinch .

Redwing ( Turdus iliacus ) . The Topsham Cemetery Grounds . Devon

Peregrine Falcon

This young Peregrine Falcon was causing quite a stir today as it was perched on the Water Tower outside my house in Topsham , and a walk around the cemetery grounds got me 20+ Redwing , 2 Grey Wagtail , 2 Eurasian Jay , 6 Goldcrest and 2 Grey Squirrel .

Peregrine Falcon ( Falco peregrinus ) . The Topsham Water Tower . Devon

Purple Sandpiper

This morning I went for a quick look at Maer Rocks in Exmouth for Purple Sandpiper`s and after walking out to the far end of the rocks I managed to see 5 of them , it is great to see them back on the rocks again and they should stay for the winter period , also seen were 6 Ruddy Turnstone , 5 Eurasian Oystercatcher and a single Rock Pipit

Purple Sandpiper ( Calidris maritima ) . Maer Rocks . Exmouth . Devon

????

This morning I went over to East Budleigh as a possible Italian Sparrow has been found there , I managed to get a quick view of the bird and fire off these few shots of it but it was soon lost from view again , I don't know if the sighting of the bird will ever come to anything but it was good to see it anyway ...just incase lol ( Many thanks to Chris Townend for getting the news out and sorting out viewing ) .
I also had a look for Purple Sandpipers on Maer Rocks at Exmouth but I didn`t get the tides right as it was just starting to come in , but I did manage to see one bird .

Italian Sparrow ( Pastor italiae ) . East Budleigh . Devon . ?

European Golden Plover

I popped in to Bowling Green Marsh this morning but didn`t stay long and I saw 6 Pied Avocet & a couple of Meadow Pipit , a look at the Exminster Marshes then got me numerous Black-Tailed Godwit & Dunlin , a 100+ Eurasian Curlew and around 150-200 European Golden Plover .
The last stop was at Darts Farm in Topsham where 3 Common Buzzard were putting on a bit of a show .

Black-Tailed Godwit ( Limosa limosa ) & Dunlin ( Calidris alpina ) . The Exminster Marshes . Devon

Common Buzzard ( Buteo buteo ) . Darts Farm . Topsham . Devon

Hawfinch

I made the trip up to Haldon Forest this morning to have a look to see if there was any Hawfinch around as some was seen there yesterday , I met up with another birder Dave Land and after a short while Dave found 2 birds sat on top of a tree and we fired off a few shots of them .
We then started to see small flocks of them and in the end we had seen 30 to 40 birds . Throughout the years there have been Hawfinch around the area but this year there has been an irruption of them into Britain so perhaps this is why we are seeing more of them this year and lets hope that they stay around the area for the winter period .   

Hawfinch ( Coccothraustes coccothraustes ) . The Great Haldon Forest . Devon