Yellow Wagtail

 An hours walk around the cow field area of Orcombe Point in Exmouth before the heavy rain set in , got me 6 Yellow Wagtail but I expect that there were more . Also seen in the area a Common Kestrel , 2 Northern Wheatear , a Common Raven , a Common Whitethroat and a Common Linnet .

Yellow Wagtail ( Motacilla flava flavissima ) . Orcombe Point . Devon

 

Cetti`s Warbler

I decided to walk to Bowling Green Marsh this morning and the 1st bird on my list was a Firecrest that was at the top of Bowling Green Road . I then had a look from the hide but I only saw Common Redshank , Eurasian Curlew , Whimbrel and a Ruff .

So I went down to the viewing platform where I had an amazing encounter with a Cetti`s Warbler a bird that can be hard to see let alone get good shots of . But this bird kept on getting closer and closer until it popped up right in front of me 👀 . Also seen were 2 Common Buzzard , a Common Kingfisher and at least 4 Common Chiffchaff .

Cetti`s Warbler ( Cettia cetti ) . Bowling Green Marsh . Topsham . Devon

 

 

 

 

Saturday 26th August

 This morning Paul Bray and myself went to look for a reported  Black-Crowed Night Heron that had been seen in the Riverside Country Park in Exeter but after a 2 hour search there was no sign of the bird .

But we did see 3 sightings of Common Kingfisher , 10 Barn Swallow , 2 Common Swift , a Common Chiffchaff and a European Hornet .

Later in the early evening news came out the B C Night Heron had been found again so off I went again too look for it , I was lucky enough to catch up with it this time but as you can see the views were very restricted .

Black-Crowned Night Heron ( Nycticorax nycticorax ) . The Riverside Country Park . Exeter . Devon

 

Melodious Warbler

 This morning I got my 4th Melodious Warbler in my home county of Devon with a bird showing on Orcombe Point . The bird was found early in the morning but by the time I had got there it had gone into cover and it was a bit of a wait until it showed again . But even then it was still in and out of cover ! 

Just a strange coincidence it is 3 years to the day that I found one of these birds on my local patch at Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham .

I also saw a Common Redstart , 2 Common Whitethroat , a Sedge Warbler , 6 Yellow Wagtail , a Northern Wheatear and a few Common Linnet to add too todays notebook .

Melodious Warbler ( Hippolais polyglotta ) . Orcombe Point . Devon

 

Curlew Sandpiper

 I had a  look at Bowling Green Marsh this morning and found my 1st Curlew Sandpiper of the year . The bird was at the right from the hide and kept going behind an overgrown island so for quite a while you could just get it when it came back into view .

Also seen were 8 Red Knot , 2 Bar-Tailed Godwit , numerous Eurasian Curlew , Common Redshank and Black-Tailed Godwit . There was also a fly through Common Sandpiper and a Common Raven .

Whimbrel ( Numenius phaeopus ) . Bowling Green Marsh . Devon

 

Bar-Tailed Godwit ( Limosa lapponica ) . Bowling Green Marsh . Devon

 

Little Stint

 A morning trip with Paul Bray to Blackhole Marsh in East Devon to look for a Little Stint that was found there yesterday . And our luck was in as the bird was still on show but was always a little bit distant .

Also seen were 5 Pied Avocet , 3 Common Sandpiper and Common Redshank , Common Greenshank , Black-Tailed Godwit , Common Buzzard , Barn Swallow and European Reed Warbler .

Little Stint ( Calidris minuta ) . Blackhole Marsh . Devon

 

 

 

Pied Avocet ( Recurvirostra avosetta ) . Blackhole Marsh . Devon

 

Common Redshank ( Tringa totanus ) . Blackhole Marsh . Devon

 

The Exminster Marshes

 A look around the Exminster Marshes this morning got me the following birds .

8 Cattle Egret , 7 Little Egret ,  Common Buzzard , Northern Wheatear and a flock of Rook .

Also seen were a few Migrant Hawker Dragonfly .  

Wood Sandpiper

 News of a Wood Sandpiper showing on Blackhole Marsh in East Devon saw me getting in the car to see if I could catch up with it . And on getting to the marsh I soon got onto the bird that spent most of the time that I was there with a Green Sandpiper .

The only other birds of note was a female Pied Avocet that was with 2 juvenile birds , and 20+ Barn Swallow .                  

Wood Sandpiper ( Tringa glareola ) . Blackhole Marsh . Devon

 

Saturday 5th August

The weather was quite rough this morning so I went down to the raised beach huts at Exmouth to do a sea watch , And I saw some nice birds with my first Sooty Shearwater of the year being the highlight .

Also seen were 3 European Storm Petrel , 2 Arctic Skua , a Pomarine Skua , 20 Common Scoter , 24 Sandwich Tern , 5 Common Tern , a single Arctic Tern And numerous Northern Gannet and Black-Legged Kittiwake .

Sea Watch

This morning I went down to Exmouth to do a bit of Sea Watching and it turned up . 8 Northern Gannet , 6 Black-Legged Kittiwake , a single Balearic Shearwater , 2 Sandwich Tern , a Common Tern and a very nice Roseate Tern . Not large numbers but it was still good to get out again .

On the way back home I had a look at Bowling Green Marsh where I saw  numerous Eurasian Curlew , 8 Dunlin , a juvenile Ruff , a Great Black-Backed Gull and a Stock Dove .

Ruff ( Philomachus pugnax ) . Bowling Green Marsh . Topsham . Devon