Today was my first venture out in 10 days as I have been ill with a virus . But today I had a look around Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham and I saw a very rare bird for the marsh a Great Bittern . In all the years that I have birded the marsh I have only seen two of them on the marsh before today .
I could only get these distant shots of it in very bad weather , but I am still pleased with them .
I had a look around the Topsham Cemetery Grounds on a cold and icy morning and to my amazement I found a Hawfinch in with a mobile finchflock comprising of European Goldfinch , European Greenfinch and Chaffinch . Now Hawfinch is a very rare bird to get in this area . But a few years back we had a small flock of them in the cemetery when there was snow on the ground . But I was really chuffed to see this one .
Also see were a few Redwing and a Eurasian Jay .
A trip out today with Andy and Tim to look around South Devon and in a field near Modbury we saw a few Greater White-Front Geese , 3 Barnacle Geese and 2 Egyptian Geese .
We then moved onto Beesand Ley for the male Ring Necked Duck and got good views of it , also seen was a female Black Redstart . On the to Slapton Ley where we saw the Black-Necked Grebe that was out on the sea . And on the Ley Great White Egret showed well .
The last stop of the day was at Brixham Harbour and there was 3 Great Norther Divers on show also seen were 5 Purple Sandpiper .
1st stop today were the fields around the Kenton area where I saw European Greenfinch , Common Linnet and European Golden Plover . But no sign of any Red-Legged Partridge 😒
The next stop was at Dawlish Warren and a sea watch turned up 20+ Great Crested Grebe , 3 Common Guillemot , Common Scoter , Red-Throated Diver and Great Northern Diver .
The last bird of the day was Cattle Egret with 20+ of them in fields near the Powderham Estate .
A quick look at frozen Bowling Green Marsh today had me looking around the bushes and I saw Mistle Thrush , Winter Wren and Common Raven and a European Green Woodpecker
The actual lake was completely frozen over for the second day and all there was was a Carrion Crow skating on the ice ☺
I just stayed to do some local birding today and a look at the Exe Estuary got me Great Crested Grebe , 4 Ruddy Turnstone and a Spotted Redshank . Bowling Green Marsh was completely frozen over so there was not a lot to see with the best bird being a Eurasian Bullfinch .
I then had a look at Tremletts Marsh and saw a Little Grebe and when I was driving out I flushed a Jack Snipe and I was well pleased with that .
I finished my day off at the Topsham Recreation Ground with a nice male Common Goldeneye .
The day started off at Brandy Head near Otterton where a sea watch did not turn up much at all but 20+ Red-Throated Diver were good to see along with 3 Razorbill .
The next stop was at Seaton to look for a Lesser Whitethroat and we were in luck as the bird showed right away . 2 Female Black Redstart were also seen .
We then decided to do our 1st trip out of Devon to look for a couple of Tundra Bean Goose that had been reported at Charminster Water Meadow and after a bit of a search we saw them ok .
Would you believe late in the day news came out of a Tundra Bean Goose on my local patch Bowling Green Marsh.................Grrrrrr Thats birding for you 😡
The day started off at the Mincinlake Valley Park in Exeter to look for a Yellow-Browed Warbler and I managed to see it a few times but it was always on the move . Also seen was a Eurasian Treecreeper , Eurasian Nuthatch , 3 Firecrest and a few Eurasian Siskin .
I then had a look at the stream that runs through Wonford in Exeter and saw 4 Green Sandpiper and a White-Throated Dipper .
I then had a look around around Bowling Green Marsh and saw 21 Greater White-Fronted Goose and a Western Marsh Harrier .
