My look at Bowling Green Marsh this morning got me 2 female Common Pochard along with a few Tufted Duck , 400+ Pied Avocet , numerous Black-Tailed Godwit , 12 Common Snipe , 5 Dunlin , 20+ Northern Lapwing , 100+ Common Redshank with a Spotted Redshank in with them , 2 Common Chiffchaff and a few Goldcrest .
Tuesday 27 December 2022
Sunday 25 December 2022
Wednesday 21 December 2022
Isabelline Wheatear
Yesterday news came out of an Isabelline Wheatear showing on Colyford Common near Seaton in Devon and seeing that it was only the second record for my home county of Devon , Paul Bray , Dave Boult and myself shot off to see if we could see it . Our luck was in and we got nice views of it but I was not happy with my shots of it so this morning another trip was made to see if I could better yesterdays efforts and I am pleased with them today .
Also seen were numerous Meadow Pipits , a Water Pipit and a Rock Pipit .
Saturday 17 December 2022
Feeding Frenzy
I enjoyed watching a feeding frenzy of Redwing and Common Blackbird near my house in Topsham this morning .
Tuesday 13 December 2022
Better Light
Another trip down to Phear Park in Exmouth this morning to see if I could get better shots in the morning light of the Olive-Backed Pipit that was found yesterday . And I am well pleased with the results and well worth the trip .
Monday 12 December 2022
Olive-Backed Pipit
Late news today of an Olive-Backed Pipit found in Phear Park in Exmouth . So I shot off to see if it was still on show and my luck was in😉 as when I got there the finder John Walters was still there and soon got me onto the bird .
I managed to fire off a few shots but the light was fading fast and these are the best that I could manage but I am pleased with them as I have never been able to photograph one of these birds before . I have only seen these birds twice before with my 1st being on the Scilly Isles way back in 1989 and my 2nd was in Brixham in 1997 so it was a long 25 year wait to see this bird again .
Friday 9 December 2022
Wednesday 7th Decenmber
A look at Bowling Green Marsh this morning got me a few Northern Pintail & Northern Shoveler , a male and 3 female Tufted Duck , 8 Greylag Geese & 6 Common Snipe that showed very well . A female Western Marsh Harrier then flew in over the reedbed putting everything up , & 4 Common Buzzard and a Common Kestrel were also seen .
On a walk back up Bowling Green Hill and after a bit of a search a Firecrest finally showed itself .
Monday 5 December 2022
Somerset Birding
A trip up to Chew Valley Lake in Somerset this morning got me the following birds . With numerous Tufted Duck and Common Pochard , a few Gadwall , around a dozen Common Goldeneye , a 1st winter male Greater Scaup , a very nice female Smew ( the bird that I had come for ) & 4 Goosander . 3 different Grebes were seen with Great Crested Grebe , Black-Necked Grebe and Little Grebe also seen were 10 Great White Egret and 2 Western Marsh Harrier .
On the way home we stopped of at the village of Stathe where we saw 36 Cattle Egret and a single Common Crane .