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

A Good Day

This morning I was invited out to a private area in Longdown to look for Hawfinch ( Many Thanks ) . I got there around 6.45 just as the birds were coming out of their roost and in the end I had witnessed the amazing sight of seeing 70 to 80 of them at least ! but this early in the morning was very hard for photography and this was the best I could manage today , later in the morning I took a look around the West Town Farm area and saw another 4 of them flying over .
Later in the day news came out of a Dusky Warbler seen at the Clennan Valley Nature Reserve so my mate Andy an me went down to look for it , we managed to get ok views of it but it never came out into full view .

Hawfinch ( Coccothraustes coccothraustes ) . Longdown . Devon

Rain

This morning I went out to West Town Farm near the village of Ide and I arrived just as it started to  rain but I still managed to see a fly over Hawfinch , 20+ Fieldfare , 9 Redwing , a Great Spotted Woodpecker , a Eurasian Jay , 2 Common Raven and a Eurasian Nuthatch , but by now the rain had started to pour down so I called it a day and headed for home .

Ring-Necked Duck

A day out in Cornwall today with my mate Andy . And our first stop was at the Dozmary Pool on Bodmin Moor to look for a male Ring-Necked Duck and we found it in with a flock of 20+ Tufted Duck but it was on the far side of the pool .
We then made our way down to St Gothian Sands to look for a White-Rumped Sandpiper that has been on show for a few days , but you wouldn't believe our luck as today was the day that it decided to move on , we then had a Merlin that put up a large flock of Common Starlings , and then at Treen we had this very obliging juvenile Rose-Coloured Starling .

Rose-Coloured Starling ( Pastor roseus ) . Treen . Cornwall

A visit to an old haunt

This morning I went out to a spot near the village of Ide where I have seen Hawfinch before and with so many being found in Britain at the moment I thought that there was a good chance some may have been showing again ! but I was out of luck as none showed , but there were a few Fieldfare and Redwing , 2 Eurasian Jay and a calling Firecrest .
I then went for a look around the Exminster Marshes but not a lot was seen as they were working with diggers out on the marsh clearing out the streams , but I did see 2 male and 2 female Common Stonechat and 2 Cetti`s Warbler .

Common Stonechat ( Saxicola torquatus ) . The Exminster Marshes . Devon

If and If Not`s

I went to an area this morning that I have had Eurasian Woodcock before but after spending quite a while there looking for one I had to give up in the end . I then went for a walk around the Aylesbeare Common reserve but the only bird of any note that I had there was a single Dartford Warbler , I then had a look at the Bystock Reserve as I heard that 3 Firecrest were seen there the other day , but today no sign of any at all and all I saw was this Common Moorhen and a few Common Darter that are still on the wing .
I finished the day off at a private area near the village of Lympstone where I saw 2 male and a female Cirl Bunting and a couple of Yellowhammer`s .

Common Moorhen ( Gallinula chloropus ) . The Bystock Reserve . Devon

Common Darter ( Sympetrum striolatum ) The Bystock Reserve . Devon