An afternoon trip out to Yarner Wood on the edge of Dartmoor to look for Lesser Redpoll and I was lucky enough to get them right away as I entered the wood with two birds showing very well .
Also seen was a brief view of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but as my knee was beginning to ache I decided to call it a day .
This is my first day out for a while since damaging my knee just over a week ago . So I went to my local patch Bowling Green Marsh and was lucky enough to find this Great White Egret in front of the hide with a couple of Eurasian Spoonbill .
Now Great White Egret used to be a rare bird in this part of the country but now they seem to be getting a little more frequent ! But I still get a bit of a buzz when finding one 😀
Also seen was my 1st Ruff in Devon this year & 2 Red Fox .
A trip up to Cheddar Reservoir this morning with my mate Andy Bond to see what we could find and we saw the following . A nice raft of 12 Greater Scaup , 7 Common Pochard , a male Goosander , 2 Great Crested Grebe , a Common Gull , 2 Mediterranean Gull , a nice juvenile Little Gull , a Grey Wagtail and 4 Meadow Pipit .
We then had a look at Decoy Lake for some reported Ring-Necked Duck but we could not find them , but we saw a few Gadwall , 3 Great White Egret and a Great Bittern was heard booming !
There were still two Eurasian Spoonbill on Bowling Green Marsh this morning along with a large flock of Black-Tailed Godwit and a Mistle Thrush .
I then went to Woodbury Castle to look for Brambling and this time I found the finch flock but again there was no sign . But a Eurasian Treecreeper showed well . On then to Woodbury Common to again look for Dartford Warbler and this time I found 3 male and a female bird .
A quick look around Bowling Green Marsh before the rain came in got me 30+ Northern Pintail , 4 Common Shelduck , 8 Northern Shoveler , 2 Eurasian Spoonbill , a Little Egret , 1000+ Black-Tailed Godwit , 2 Bar-Tailed Godwit and 6 Eurasian Curlew .
And then rain stopped play !!
My day started off again at Bowling Green Marsh with only a single European Spoonbill . There was also 30+ Northern Pintail , 200+ Black-Tailed Godwit and a 100+ Common Redshank . I then went to Darts Farm to look for some reported Swan Geese but they turned out to be Hibrids with Greylag Geese .
Across on the other side of the road the female Common Stonechat was feeding very well .
I then went to a private site and saw 2 Northern Goshawk , 2 Common Raven , 2 Common Skylark and a Common Buzzard .
I got up early this morning in hope that the Scaups from yesterday may have come onto the marsh , but there was no sign of them today .
But I did see 2 European Spoonbill , 100+ Pied Avocet , 100+ Black-Tailed Godwit , 2 Bar-Tailed Godwit , 6 Dunlin and around half a dozen European Robin .
A late morning trip up to Woodbury Castle to again look for Brambling . A quick look got me 2 Stock Dove and a Eurasian Treecreeper . But as I was there I got news of a Lesser Scaup and 3 Greater Scaup seen off of Exmouth . So I got back in the car and headed for there only to be told halfway there that they had flown up river , I went to Exton Station and checked the estuary but there was no sign of them so I headed for home .
I was only in for a short while when I got a call from Rob and Steph Murphy telling me that they were viewing them from Lympstone and that they would keep an eye on them for me until I got there . I soon got there and got nice but distant views of them .
Many thanks to Rob and Steph
A trip down to Ruan Lanihorne in Cornwall this morning in hope of seeing the Sociable Lapwing that has been seen there on most days . But our luck was out as it picked today to not show at all !!!!
Not a lot else to report but this Common Greenshank showed well and a 1st winter Little Gull dropped in but was soon out of view as it was lost from sight as it dropped into one of the gullies .
This morning I went up tp the RSPB Reserve at Greylake in hope of seeing a Green-Winged Teal that has been seen there but there was no sign of it anywhere in with the 1000s of ducks . But all was not lost as I got my best views ever of the superb male Baikal Teal . Also seen were 2 Common Crane and a male Merlin .
I then stopped off at the Burrow Mump and saw 30+ Cattle Egret and a look around the Swell Wood area got me 5 more Common Crane and 6 Great White Egret and as it had now started to rain I headed for home .
There had been news of Brambling being seen at Woodbury Castle so I thought that I would go and look for them . But I searches everywhere but couldn`t find any finches at all . But I did find my 1st Eurasian Treecreeper of the year . Also seen was a Eurasian Nuthatch and Great Tit , Blue Tit , Coal Tit and Long-Tailed Tit .
I then had a look around the fields by the Otterton Sewage Works and saw 4 Red-Legged Partridge and a male Eurasian Sparrowhawk .
I went out to Yarner Wood on the edge of Dartmoor this morning in hope of seeing Lesser Redpoll but my luck was out today as after much searching none were seen . But a bonus was seeing Marsh Tit and a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker .
I then went to Stover Park to look for Eurasian Treecreeper but again no joy . And only the usual woodland birds were seen along with a Eurasian Jay .
My first day out after the Norfolk trip was at my local patch Bowling Green Marsh where I saw the following . 6 Northern Pintail , 2 Common Pochard , 2 European Spoonbill , a Little Egret a Common Snipe , a Winter Wren and a male and female Eurasian Bullfinch .
I then had a quick look around Darts Farm and that got me another Little Egret , 5 Rook , a Song Thrush that was singing its head off ! And a female Common Stonechat .
Here are a few photos from my 4 day trip to Essex , Suffolk and Norfolk . also seen along with these were Barnacle Goose , Pink-Footed Goose , Bewick`s Swan , Ferruginous Duck , Barn Owl , Pallid Harrier , Hen Harrier and Merlin ......Other shots in older posts !!
