I started the day off at Goosemoor and I saw 7 Common Greenshank , 2 Stock Dove . a singing European Reed Warbler and a Blackcap .
The next stop was at Bowling Green Marsh . Black-Tailed Godwit with most of them in nice summer plumage was the most numerous bird . Also seen were 11 Little Egret , 9 Northern Lapwing , a Ruff , my first Green Sandpiper of the year on the Exe Estuary........ And a Red Fox
A VIEW TO A KILL
No birding done today . But I came across this male Eurasian Sparrowhawk on a fresh kill just yards from my house . also seen today was a European Green Woodpecker .
Well today I finally caught up with my first Common Sandpiper of the year that was showing on Bowling Green Marsh ....Yippee lol
Not a lot else to report but there was numerous Black-Tailed Godwit & Common Redshank , around 30+ Eurasian Curlew , 2 Whimbrel , 7 Dunlin and 2 juvenile Mediterranean Gull,.
A look at Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham got me 3 2nd summer Mediterranean Gull . Not a lot else was seen due to the marsh being very overgrown .... Ohhhh how the RSPB have let this marsh go to rack and ruin !
But I did see a single Grey Heron , 9 Little Egret , numerous Common Redshank , 6 Black-Tailed Godwit a Lesser Black-Backed Gull and a Stock Dove .
Paul Bray , Mark Bailey , Dave Boult and myself started the long journey from Exeter to Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire at 3am this morning to look for a Turkestan Shrike also known as ( Red-Tailed Shrike ) .
As we were near to getting are destination we saw are 1st bird of the day a Red Kite that slowly drifted over our car . We arrived at the car park and then had a long walk to the spot where the Shrike was showing but the bird was quite distant in a hedgerow and you could only get nice views of it through a scope .Getting a shot of it was a different matter and I could only manage to get these record shots of it . But who cares as I was stood there looking at another new bird for me in Britain , and they do not come along very often these days 👀😀
We then went out to the cliffs were we got nice views of the Black-Browed Albatross that has returned to the same spot with the Northern Gannets as it was last year . Also seem were 7 Atlantic Puffin , numerous Razorbill ,Common Guillemot and Black-Legged Kittiwake and back around the car park there was quite a few Tree Sparrow .
