Spent a lovely sunny day down Slapton way. Started at the Memorial car park - GC Grebe S and 5 more on the sea off Torcross, and the Velvets that are so elusive at Dawlish Warrren were less so here - 8 present and accounted for. :t: Heading inland towards Ireland Bay, I was surprised to be flown over by a GN Diver at an altitude of maybe 40', heading N and evidently unimpressed with the Ley! The bay proved to be Marsh Harrier and Firecrest-less, though a f. Blackcap, Treecreeper with a 20-strong tit band [ mostly Long-tails too ] and 5+ singing Cettis made the trip interesting. On the north end of the Ley, loads [ that's a technical term, by the way
] of Tufties and Coot, plus a dozen pairs of Gadwall, but no grebes or Pochard. Having heard all the reports of Scaup, and after careful scanning, I found only a f. Tufty with substantial white around the bill base, but also a black bill tip with pale band, and a small crest..
Stokely Bay, and the southern end of the Ley had all the Pochard - 20+ and GC Grebe - 16+. Also 13 Goldeneye [ 6 m. ], 3 very dark-looking LBB with the bathing gulls, a Water Rail right in front of the hide, more Cettis, and, count 'em, 4 Scaup. :-O m. and 3 f., 2 of which looked immature, with pale ear coverts and reduced white on one, and a hint of pale ear coverts on the other.
Round the hill to Beesands, with 8 GC Grebe on the sea, a Raven patrolling the area, and ~500 gulls and 15+ Gannet in a feeding frenzy well out in Start Bay. Off Hallsands were the 8 Velvets, and further out were ~75 Common Scoter, with a GC Grebe N. No sign of the reported f. Long-tailed Duck off the Cricket Inn, and to add insult to injury, I spotted a colour-ringed wagtail, but the little blighter pulled a Houdini before I could get a good enough look :-C. On the Ley, 150 Pochard [ 117 m. ], 52 Gadwall, 2 Tuftie, 2 GC Grebe, 1 Beast of Beesands! After all the stories of the horror and loathing it's struck into even the doughtiest birder's heart, I have to say.. Huh?!? It's not
that bad - yes, a purple and neon pink bill isn't the prettiest thing I've ever seen, but the poor lass is still easier on the eye then the eclipse male of the species. :bounce:
Time pressed and the tide was coming in, but I had to have another look and, yup, you guessed it, close in by the low protruding rocks of Tinsey Head [ about half a mile south of the pub, though standing outside the pub was a good vantage point - coincidence?
] was the Long-tailed. B
After handily beating the tide to get back unsoggified, it was back up to the bridge for dusk - no Bittern, but 2 large bat sp. S - Greater Horseshoe maybe? - and 10+ Snipe S.
