A quick visit to the Otter Estuary got me a Water Pipit on my 4th try this year 😀 Also seen were 2 Meadow Pipit , 12 Common Ringed Plover , a Common Kestrel and a male and female Common Stonechat .
Also seen was a nice display of Otter tracks on the mud under White Bridge . Great to know one at least is about on the River Otter .
Birding Somerset
Our 1st stop of the day was at the RSPB Reserve at Greylake but there was not a lot on show with only 5 Water Rail and a Cetti`s Warbler worth talking about So we went on to the Ham Wall Reserve where the birding was a bit better and we saw numerous Gadwall , 5 Great White Egret , 2 Egyptian Geese , a few Western Marsh Harrier , a Great Bittern was seen in flight and another 4 were heard booming . We then went to the Sharpham Lane area of Ham Wall were we saw 100+ Greylag Geese and a ( Russian ) Greater White Fronted Goose .
Our last stop of a good days birding was at Swell Wood with 2 distant Common Crane .
Todays photos are 2 of our beautiful common birds that we all take for granted .
A morning look at Bowling Green Marsh hide got me 200+ Northern Pintail , a Mistle Thrush , a male Peregrine Falcon that flew in and put everything up but then left again with nothing .
I then walked down to the viewing platform area and I saw a Water Rail , a Eurasian Bullfinch and 30+ European Goldfinch . I then came back home and had a look around the Cemetery Grounds where I saw my 1st Goldcrest of the year .
A walk down to the Turf Lock got me the wintering Long-Billed Dowitcher that was showing extremely well to quite a crowd of people .
The only other thing of note was a flock of over 300 European Golden Plover .
Today started off at the Recreation Ground in Topsham where this pair of Common Goldeneye were performing very well . Also seen were 2 Reed Bunting .
I then went down to Cockwood in hope of seeing Cattle Egret . But they were not in their usual fields so I had to search a little bit before I found 30+ of them . Later on I found some more of them at the back of Exminster Village .
The last bit of birding today was around the fields near Kenton and I saw around a dozen Fieldfare and in with them were a few Redwing .
I went to have a look of off Brandy Head again this morning but just as I arrived it started to bucket down with rain . So my look only produced 5 Red-Throated Diver before I headed back to the car a bit wet .
On the way home I had a look at Bowling Green Marsh where the best bird on show was this Spotted Redshank
A trip down to Cornwall with Andy and Tim to look for the Booted Eagle ., and I am happy to say that we had nice views of it sat in a tree . But it was a bit of a shame that we never saw it in flight as we moved on to catch up with other birds !
And at Sennen Cove we were lucky to see the Bonaparte`s Gull that has been on show there . Backup birds were Mediterranean Gull , 12 Red-Billed Chough and a really smart male Black Redstart .
Our last stop of the day was at the Trenance Boating Lake in Newquay where we saw the long staying female Long -Tailed Duck
A walk with Sue through the Riverside Country Park in the falling rain got me the following birds . White-Throated Dipper , Little Egret , Green Sandpiper , 3 Grey Wagtail and a Common Chiffchaff .
Distant views were had today of the American Green-Winged Teal from the viewing platform on the Exminster Marshes .
Also seen was the 1st winter male Greater Scaup , a pair of Common Pochard , a female Common Goldeneye , Western Marsh Harrier , Common Buzzard and Peregrine Falcon .
I went down to Exmouth this morning to look for the Common Eider that have been showing there and after quite a search I managed to see 3 of them . Also seen were 20+ Brent Geese and a Red-Breasted Merganser .
I then went to have a look at the brook that runs past Phear Park and I found the elusive Black Redstart that has been there since the start of the year .
A walk around the Riverside Country Park in Exeter got me 20+ Eurasian Siskin , 3 Redwing , 3 Song Thrush , 10 Long-Tailed Tit , 3 Grey Wagtail and a European Green Woodpecker .
I then went to the Brandy Head area near Otterton where I saw a Black-Throated Diver , 4 Red-Throated Diver , 20+ Common Scoter and 2 Red-Legged Partridge .
A trip up to Somerset with my mate Andy with our first stop at the Cheddar Reservoir to look for some reported Black-Necked Grebe . And after we walked nearly all around the reservoir we got nice views of them in the end . Also seen was Goosander and Great Spotted Woodpecker .
We then went to the Steart Marshes as there has been an American wader a Least Sandpiper showing there . And when we first got there the bird was so distant that it was just a dot , but all of a sudden something put all the waders up and the bird landed a lot closer to us , so we were well pleased with that 😀
Also seen were 2 Peregrine Falcon , a Merlin and 2 male Western Marsh Harrier .
A look at the sea from Brandy Head this morning got me 20+ Common Scoter , a Velvet Scoter , 2 Common Guillemot and a large flock of 30+ Northern Fulmar .
Also seen nearby was a Peregrine Falcon , Common Buzzard , Common Raven and a small flock of Redwing .
A stop off after my hospital visit at the Ludwell Valley Country Park in Exeter got me 2 Green Sandpiper after a bit of a search . And as I was watching them 2 Eurasian Collared Dove dropped in . My first of the year and a bird that does not get much attention on the blog . Also seen was a Grey Wagtail .
This afternoon I made a quick dash up the Woodbury Castle to look for Brambling and it took me a while to find the finch flock . And just as I found them a woman and her dog walked right through them scattering the whole flock 😒
So I walked around looking for the flock again and I got onto a Eurasian Treecreeper just as it started to snow ! I was beginning to get a bit wet so I thought I would call it a day . But as I was heading back to the car I found the finch flock again and there was a male Brambling , cracking bird 😀
A trip down to Beesands this morning to look for the drake Ring-Necked Duck and the bird showed very well all the time in with a flock of Tufted Duck .
Our next stop was at Slapton Ley in hope of seeing the Red-Necked Grebe that has been here for a few days . And as you can see our luck was in but the light was awful for photography . The only other bird of note was a nice Firecrest . On to our last stop of the day at Brixham where we saw 4 Purple Sandpiper and 2 Great Northern Diver .
I went up to Woodbury Castle this afternoon to look for some reported Brambling but again I was out of luck . But I did see a nice pair of Eurasian Bullfinch .
On the way back home I stopped of at Bowling Green Marsh where I saw a Mistle Thrush , a Common Kestrel and around a half a dozen Common Linnet .
Saturday 4th January
I went down to the Brandy Head area to look for the Velvet Scoter that has been seen there but I was out of luck . But as I was scanning the sea I came across a Slavonian Grebe a bird that is now quite hard to come across down here in the South West . I watched the bird for quite a while as it drifted towards Ladram Bay where I lost view of it .
Not a lot else to report with just 6 Northern Gannet & a Northern Fulmar . A look then at the Otter Estuary got me a male Goosander , Common Sandpiper & a Common Kingfisher .
Sunday 5th January
I went down to the Otter Estuary to look for a reported Snow Bunting and today my luck was in as my birding buddy Tim who had put the news out was still there and soon put me on to it .
I then went to Brandy Head again and still got no luck with the Velvet Scoter in awful weather . But I did find a nice Siberian Chiffchaff near the Otterton Sewage Works .
My 1st stop today was at Bowling Green Marsh where I got my 1st view of this year of the long staying Long-Billed Dowitcher .
On then to Exmouth to look for a reported Yellow-Browed Warbler but there was no sign of it today . News then came out of yesterdays Red-Necked Grebe seen off of Shelly Beach but again there was no sign of it after much searching . But this Great Northern Diver showed quite well eating a flat fish .
A look at the Exminster Marshes this morning got me a 1st winter Greater Scaup , Common Pochard , Common Goldeneye , Western Marsh Harrier , Cetti`s Warbler and Common Chiffchaff .
The next stop was at the Turf Locks and I saw the following Common Kingfisher , Common Sandpiper , Grey Plover and European Golden Plover .
Well the only place to go this morning was the hide at Bowling Green Marsh to get out of the bad weather . And most of the usual birds on the marsh were seen this morning . But it was good to start the year off with Egyptian Goose , a pair of Gadwall , Spotted Redshank and a Water Rail .
