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A Devonian Goes to Budleigh Salterton! (1 Viewer)

Andrew

wibble wibble
10-04-03
Location : Budleigh Salterton, Devon. SY075825

To start off a gloriously sunny day I did a brief seawatch from a bench on the front near the car park which was delayed by an overeager parking inspector forcing me to buy an hour’s parking. There was quite a lot to be seen at sea and there was an uplifting sight of a flock of 13 Common Scoters flying eastwards eventually becoming obscured by the haze. The only other birds I managed to identify were six of today’s 19 Cormorants and some gulls. Many birds could be seen flying past in the shimmering heat. Inland, I could see 2 Buzzards riding high on thermals over the houses behind the playing fields. As I had paid the parking fee, we had lunch in the car park before driving round to White Bridge.

We decided that we would walk up the east bank of the Otter estuary and visit the hide. There is a public footpath along the edge of a field that runs high above the estuary lined with several trees and it dips once to a brief wooden walkway and back up again. The walkway gives good views of a small wooded area to the east and some reed beds to the west where many warblers can be seen in the warmer months. The initial stages of the walk provided some of today’s 3 Great Tits, 17 Chaffinches and 8 Wood Pigeons. We came to the dip and looked into the thick trees for signs of early migrants only finding some of the earlier birds and some of 8 Blue Tits, 4 Robins and 9 Greenfinches. There were no warblers of any kind but there was a small cluster of exquisite Common Fumitory and patches of Common Field Speedwell flowers, quite a few early Bumblebees and a few Peacock butterflies.

We arrived at the hide half an hour after setting off and as I expected there was no one inside. All the hatches were opened and my scope set up. A quick glance through my binoculars revealed nothing out of the ordinary. There were many birds but only common ones with no special migrants to shout about. Recently, there had been a few exceptional birds seen here such as some early Swallows, a few Little Ringed Plover, some Common Sandpipers and a White Wagtail. Using the scope and binoculars I counted 15 Teal, 11 Wigeon, 21 Shoveler, 200+ Herring Gulls, 27 Mallards, five of 11 Great Black Backed Gulls, 6 Common Gulls, only one Oystercatcher and a single Little Egret. A Curlew could be heard calling out, but I could not locate it. In the white blossomed trees directly below the hide there was a lone female Goldcrest in close proximity showing off her yellow crown stripe. I spent some time practising some photography using my camera and scope, the subjects were a distant Cormorant and Herring Gull. Unfortunately, the results were not of an acceptable standard due to excessive use of zoom and poor light.

I had enough of the mundane variety of birds after a patient wait for any exciting arrivals so it was time to make a move. Coming out of the hide we would normally make our way back to the car park and venture up north of White Bridge. Something made us walk further on and this was a good move because we came to a dividing mound between a weedy uncultivated field and a ploughed field lined with some bare trees. In the trees were about thirteen of today’s staggering total of approximately 107 Linnets. These were brown birds with reddish chests in the males and striped chests in the females complemented by black edged tails, black bills and legs. The males also sported some red on their foreheads. Another small group of eleven were behind us high up in some trees singing away. There were other birds here including 3 Blackbirds, a single Magpie, one Wren and 4 Goldfinches.

Moving onwards to the end of the path we saw more small groups of Linnets in the trees and feeding in the ploughed field, it seemed the place was alive with these beautiful finches. On the path ahead of us were the day’s only 2 Dunnocks foraging in the sandy dust. We came to an inviting headland which looked like an ideal bird habitat. There was a sharp rise at the edge which I looked over into the sea from a sharp drop and this made me feel quite light headed for a while. Back on safer ground away from the edge I recovered to watch 3 Stonechats and some of 9 Rock Pipits. From here we could see Budliegh Salterton from the cliff top.

I tried taking some photographs of the birds with no luck due to their refusal to cooperate! The Rock Pipits were running about in the unploughed grass which was very uneven and full of tufts making them hard to follow. I had identified them as Meadow and Water Pipits before the correct conclusion of Rock Pipits. This was such an unusual place to see them as the rocks were a long way down. The only reason I could muster was that they were looking for breeding sites as they seemed keen on any holes or depressions in the grass. Since coming home I have learnt this is a breeding site for these birds. It was only when a flock flew up to a small windswept tree on the edge of the cliff that I counted at least nine.

We were sitting on the grass watching these birds and looking to the east at some visible sandstone cliffs I spotted something I had never seen before. There were some gull like birds flying around with a set of grey upper wings and all white body and some were roosting in pairs on the shelves of the cliffs. As soon as I spotted their tubenoses I shouted out “Fulmars”, there was a total of 9 Fulmars that I could see. Some were on the sea but a few moved about quite a bit so there may have been one or two I missed. Some pairs appeared to be doing some courtship rituals of pointing their bills upwards and making some sort of noise occasionally grapping each others bills. It is hard to believe these cute looking birds actually have a fearsome reputation of spewing nasty stuff if you get too close to them. I tried taking some photos but the sun was shining on the cliff producing a tremendous shimmering haze. There was only the one decent record photograph of a Fulmar out of several attempts.

Meanwhile, I spotted a large black crow on a fence post further up the cliff top path and it was one of two stunning Ravens preening itself. A rambler flushed it away but it soon came back to be joined by another passing over at which point they both disappeared beyond the ploughed field. For the second trip in a row, we had to suffer frenzied cyclists speeding along the path and it was annoying seeing all the birds fly away as they moved along the path at a high speed throwing up dust. Some lemon tea helped to while away the time till the birds settled down again.

I looked out to sea and could see lots of Cormorants and Shags flying past but only managed to count 9 Shags and some more Cormorants. The Shags were in spectacular breeding plumage with bold orange cheek patches and prominent crest plumes on their heads. I took one or two satisfactory pictures of these birds on a rock. Whilst looking out to sea I jumped up and down at the sight of a Great Northern Diver cruising along to the west. It was producing some spotty patches on it’s back towards a breeding attire. I tried taking some shots and managed to get them in frame but the overuse of zoom meant they were no good for anything other than record shots.

With tea time approaching we decided to make the undesirable yet inevitable return walk. I met the Stonechats again on the edge and managed one decent photograph of a male on a bramble. High up in a tree nearer the hide were two birds singing, a male Chaffinch and a Goldfinch. They were no more than a foot away from each other so they must have been trying to out sing each other.

By now the Linnet count stood at fifty seven and I returned to the initial Linnet source between the two fields. Walking closer to attempt a picture or two, I flushed out a flock of more than fifty feeding in the weedy stubble field. The flock moved into a leafless tree and it was a sight to behold. The entire tree was full of brown dots as if there were small fruits all over the tree. The last birds to be added to the list were a couple of ring necked Pheasants.

Today had been very enjoyable and it was quite fortunate that we had decided to walk on from the hide. This resulted in the discovery of a fresh birding spot with huge potential for arriving migrants in the spring as well as the departures in the Autumn. The whole day was rounded off with some fish and chips which were delicious yet regrettable!
 
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Another great report Andrew, i know the area very well so i was walking every step with you, funny enough i am planning a trip there in the near future, the photographs are very good esp the Stonechat.

Thanks Andrew
 
Andrew

Excellent report. I was there 2 weeks ago. In many ways the best part of the area was the walk south from the hide. I tt saw the flock of linnets and the dunnocks in the dusty area as well as the stonechats in the scrubby area just back from the cliff, and of course the Rock Pipits behaving like Meadow Pipits.

Your report reminded me of a good day

Thanks

Steve
 
Glad to remind you of your good day. The Rock Pipits amused me too, it was a struggle to see their leg colour in the grass!!
 
Sounds like a grand day! Fulmars was a great sighting. We have to go "out" to sea, to see them. Nice pictures, I should try to include some in my next report.
Fish and chips sound good to me!
 
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