I went down to Bowling Green Marsh early this morning in hope that yesterdays American Wigeon had joined up with the Eurasian Wigeon on the marsh , I searched for quite a while but had no luck !
I did see 3 Greylag Geese , numerous Common Teal and Northern Shoveler , 2 male and 2 female Tufted Duck , a female Common Pochard , a couple of Grey Heron and a Cetti`s Warbler . And on Bowling Green Lane the Mistle Thrush has returned to the tree with the mistletoe in it .
I had a look at the Exe Estuary from Cockwood Steps this morning and I saw a female Red-Breasted Merganser , the long staying Slavonian Grebe , a Great Crested Grebe and 50+ Dark Bellied Brent Goose .
I then carried on to Dawlish Warren and added 2 Great Norther Diver , a Rock Pipit and a very late Common House Martin to the day list and then I headed for home . I had just got home and made a cup of tea and settled in to watch a movie when I got a message from Exmouth Birder Matt Knott telling me that he had found an American Wigeon in with the Eurasian Wigeon at Mudbank Lane . So I jumped in the car and got there as fast as I could , Matt was still there and soon got me on to the bird , we watched it for a short while but then all the wigeon became agitated and flew off to the other side of the estuary and we soon found out why as a couple came out from behind a nearby screen in full view of all the birds !
A quick look around the Exminster Marshes this morning was rather slow birding as I only saw a male Peregrine Falcon , 2 Common Buzzard , a Common Raven , a Cetti`s Warbler , a few Goldcrest . and a male and five female Common Pheasant . Lets hope for a better day tomorrow lol .
I stated today off dodging the rain showers at the Ludwell Valley Country Park in Exeter . Where a walk along the stream got me 2 White-Throated Dipper , 2 Grey Wagtail , a Common Kingfisher , 2 Eurasian Jay and a small flock of Long-Tailed Tit that were slowly passing through the trees .
I then met up with my mate Andy and he wanted to go up to Chilcombe in Dorset to look for a bird that spends most of its life well out to sea and winters off of South West Africa , a Grey Phalarope and this one had stopped off on rout and was constantly feeding up before carrying on with its long journey south .
Today there was news of a Snow Bunting seen at Dawlish Warren so I decided to go down and look for it but on the way there I got news that it had flown off . But I still carried on just in case it returned but it never did .
But I did see a superb male Common Eider that flew around Warren Point and out to sea .There was also a fly over calling Yellow Wagtail , a few British Pied Wagtail , numerous Meadow Pipit , 8 Common Stonechat and a few Common Linnet . And on the way home a stop off at Cockwood produced 6 Cattle Egret .
A look at Bowling Green Marsh got me 2 male and 2 female Tufted Duck , 2 Northern Pintail , a female Common Pochard , 30+ Pied Avocet , 4 Bar-Tailed Godwit , a Spotted Redshank , the resident Lesser Black-Backed Gull and 2 Common Raven .
This European Green Woodpecker dropped into next doors garden this morning . I tried to get the best shot of it as I could and just had to settle for this one . I hope it stays in the area for a while and perhaps I can better it .
Off this morning to Aveton Gifford in South Devon to look for a reported Lesser Yellowlegs that has been showing on the main pond for a few days now . And after a bit of a wait the bird showed itself but the viewing was always quite distant , but still better than not seeing it at all lol
Lesser Yellowlegs is an American wader and when I started birding back in the 80s it was a very rare bird in this County , but now it seems to turn up quite more regularly but it still holds its panache and is still a very exciting bird to see .
A trip up to North Devon today as a Paddyfield Warbler had been reported from Yelland Pond . I arrived to find a a few birders already there and they told me that the bird had shown early in the morning but had not been seen for a while . But after a while it was found again but it took me a while to get on to it , but I did managed to fire off some shots of it , the I D of the bird was then starting to be questioned so fellow birder Mark Bailey then sent one of my shots off to other birders and the bird was then reconfirmed as a very pale looking Great Reed Warbler . Not the bird we were after but still a very good bird for my County of Devon .
Another nice thing seen today was my first ever sighting of a swimming Grass Snake !
Just a few shots of some Ring Ouzel seen today at the Avon Dam on Dartmoor . I saw 8 birds in total with 1 adult male , a few 1st winter males and a few female birds .
I went down to look for a reported Great White Egret on the River Kenn but there was no sign of it , so I went to look for it in Powderham Park and found it on the main pool . It is a bird that we do not get in Devon very often but an hour away in the county of Somerset there are plenty of them .
As I was looking at the bird a flock of 20+ Cattle Egret flew in and landed next to it . And what with a few Little Egrets seen out on the Exe Estuary I managed to see all of the 3 Egrets that we get in this Country in the same day .
This morning I took a look around the top fields at Gore Lane in Exmouth but there was not a lot to be seen . And the best thing that I saw was was a Common Raven being harassed by all the other corvids in the area , add to that 6 Common Skylark , 12 Meadow Pipit , 8 Common Stonechat , 1 Common Chiffchaff and 6 Common Linnet .
I then went to Bridge Marsh near Seaton where I saw a Pink-Footed Goose that showed for a short while before being lost from view in one of the gullies . And as I was stood looking at it a Firecrest was in the bushes behind me .
Today I saw only my 6th Red-Necked Phalarope in this Country . A bird that breeds in Northern Scandinavia then migrates to its wintering grounds in the Arabian Sea area . And if you are very lucky you sometimes get juvenile birds dropping off on route in this country to feed up , as this one had done near Luccombe in North Somerset .
Today is my birthday..21 again lol . So like I usually do I went out birding with my first stop at Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham . The hide is closed again so viewing is very restricted . But I looked at what I could and was lucky enough to find a Spotted Redshank that was in with quite a few Common Redshank and also seen were numerous Black-Tailed Godwit , 2 Bar-Tailed Godwit , a Mistle Thrush , a fly over Redwing ( winter is coming ! ) and quite a few Goldcrest .
I then went to the other side of the Exe Estuary and at Cockwood there was 13 Cattle Egret in with the cattle. On then to Dawlish Warren to look for a reported Yellow-Browed Warbler and I managed to hear it on call 3 times but it just would not come out into the open , also seen was a Common Kingfisher and a fly over Barn Swallow .
The weather was very nice this morning so I went for a walk around the Exminster Marshes and I saw the following birds . A male Western Marsh Harrier that was sat on a post out in the middle of the marsh , a Common Kestrel , a male Eurasian Sparrowhawk , 2 juvenile Northern Wheatear , a male and 2 female Common Stonechat and 30+ Common Linnet .
I also saw my first Clouded Yellow Butterfly of the year . So my morning walk was worth it after all lol .
The birding in the South West of England is very slow at this precise time . But I still went out to see if there was anything around ! My first stop was a look at the River Exe at Countess Wear but all that I saw was a Common Sandpiper and a Great Cormorant .
So I went for a look around the old sludge beds in hope that there would be a few birds on show but it was dead with only a Eurasian Jay . But I did see a few Dragonfly with a female Migrant Hawker , a Black-Tailed Skimmer and a 4 Common Darter . And the following Butterflies were also seen , Speckled Wood , Small White and Red Admiral .
