Devon Birding (4 Viewers)

[Roy C]

Just returned from a walk along the Tarka Trial out to Isley Marsh and 3rd time lucky the Cattle Egret was there, 4 Spoonbill also present.

Stu

Glad you finally caught up with it Stu, I also saw it this afternoon but it was a couple of fields back from the Tarka Trail in a field with horses besides the farm - much too far away for any snaps :C

 

[Gosbirder]

Hello to you all!

Its probably old news on the forum but if anyone is doing the bay it may be worth checking Youngs Park, Goodrington. The male Penduline when not at Clennon shows really close there, ideal for photos. Can be viewed from the car park(with the beach huts) or path at the rear of the boating lake.

 

[Jon Turner]

Hello to you all!

Its probably old news on the forum but if anyone is doing the bay it may be worth checking Youngs Park, Goodrington. The male Penduline when not at Clennon shows really close there, ideal for photos. Can be viewed from the car park(with the beach huts) or path at the rear of the boating lake.

Useful information this, I might just get 'down south' tomorrow and this will be the main target.

Had a lovely cycle ride from Fremington Quay to Instow this morning, pausing along the way to find the Cattle Egret with the roost of 4 Spoonbills and several Little Egrets in Isley Marsh RSPB. A Merlin also flew over the saltmarsh and landed a fair distance away.

Jon

 

[parttimer]

Glad you finally caught up with it Stu, I also saw it this afternoon but it was a couple of fields back from the Tarka Trail in a field with horses besides the farm - much too far away for any snaps :C

Thanks Roy same view as I had I thought it was the horses tail until it walked of in the opposite direction. :-O

Stu

 

[Jon Turner]

Anyone heard or seen Woodlarks over the weekend?

Jon

 

[Gosbirder]

A shot of Mansands 'Ley' today. The Ley lost it waters about 3 weeks ago. It wont be repaired. Always looks 'good' when you hike down to Mansands and look at it. I have had some fantasic views of Water Rail there with very little effort. Compared to the birds that were on it a few months ago there was very little today except for a few Snipe,Teal, Common Gulls and the usual suspects. 2 Chiffchaff down there calling to each other.

 

[da2m]

Anyone heard or seen Woodlarks over the weekend?

Jon

a woodlark was singing on haytor saturday afternoon. also present was a large flock of golden plover, ravens, yellowhammer,stonechat and a wren.

 

[Jon Turner]

a woodlark was singing on haytor saturday afternoon. also present was a large flock of golden plover, ravens, yellowhammer,stonechat and a wren.

Thanks for that, I'll bear it in mind if I head south, but with the PT not on show today, it looks unlikely tomorrow.

Jon

 

[Kev Rylands]

The Scaup and a Green Sandpiper still on the main scrape at Matford today with eight Greylag (a group of six and a pair) still on Exminster Marshes, no Sand Martins yet though...

Re woodlark - birds were active in the spring weather this weekend but a public forum is not the place to be mentioning possible breeding sites of this or indeed any Schedule 1 species.

Cheers
Kev

 

[Jon Turner]

The Scaup and a Green Sandpiper still on the main scrape at Matford today with eight Greylag (a group of six and a pair) still on Exminster Marshes, no Sand Martins yet though...

Re woodlark - birds were active in the spring weather this weekend but a public forum is not the place to be mentioning possible breeding sites of this or indeed any Schedule 1 species.

Cheers
Kev

oops, hadn't thought of it like that, sorry.

2 Sand Martins seen at Wrafton Pond this afternoon, although they had moved on by the time I went down.... humbug!

I'm going to look at the Caen river tomorrow, just found out that there have been 2 Ruff down there! Will post here if I find them.

Jon

 

[Gosbirder]

The Scaup and a Green Sandpiper still on the main scrape at Matford today with eight Greylag (a group of six and a pair) still on Exminster Marshes, no Sand Martins yet though...

Re woodlark - birds were active in the spring weather this weekend but a public forum is not the place to be mentioning possible breeding sites of this or indeed any Schedule 1 species.

Cheers
Kev

It would be nice if a certain website that posts local sightings would take this advice...Or, people just didnt send them in the first place.

 

[Gosbirder]

The Scaup and a Green Sandpiper still on the main scrape at Matford today with eight Greylag (a group of six and a pair) still on Exminster Marshes, no Sand Martins yet though...

Re woodlark - birds were active in the spring weather this weekend but a public forum is not the place to be mentioning possible breeding sites of this or indeed any Schedule 1 species.

Cheers
Kev

It would be great if a certain local website that posts sightings would take this advice...Or, people not send them to it in the first place, send them to the DBWPS instead.

 

[Jon Turner]

Got down to Braunton Pill early enough to see the 2 Ruff before the weather closed in. No sign of any Sand Martins though.

Jon

 

[RegTelescope]

Calling all Devon birders ...

In April 2007 I visited Bowling Green Marsh and a Laughing Gull that had been around the area for a few days or more dropped in.

I would be quite keen to know if anyone has a picture of this bird and, if so, whether it would be possible for me to have a copy of it for possible use in my blog?

If anyone can help me, please PM me. Thanks in anticipation.

 

[parttimer]

Got down to Braunton Pill early enough to see the 2 Ruff before the weather closed in. No sign of any Sand Martins though.

Jon

Hi Jon

I had a single female Ruff on the Great Field along with 3 Black Tailed Godwit on the 07/01, I believe somebody was flying off to sunny climes at the time.

 

[Jon Turner]

Hi Jon

I had a single female Ruff on the Great Field along with 3 Black Tailed Godwit on the 07/01, I believe somebody was flying off to sunny climes at the time.

Moi? It was often cool to cold in Spain, sometimes with torrential rain and thunderstorms, but great to see House Martins on the nest and Swallows singing. Not long now, I hope....:bounce:

Jon

 

[parttimer]

Moi? It was often cool to cold in Spain, sometimes with torrential rain and thunderstorms, but great to see House Martins on the nest and Swallows singing. Not long now, I hope....:bounce:

Jon

It is always one of the high points of my year the returning Swallows and Martins also the Brent Geese returning to the Skern in the Autumn.

Stu

 

[socksitis]

It would be great if a certain local website that posts sightings would take this advice...Or, people not send them to it in the first place, send them to the DBWPS instead.

Perhaps these people who report sightings to this website have an interest in the wildlife in Devon and do not know of the protocol of reporting species to the county recorder or the risks associated with reporting their sightings. Maybe if ther was a link/message placed on this site for guidance such postings could be avoided, Educate not criticise?

 

[Gosbirder]

Perhaps these people who report sightings to this website have an interest in the wildlife in Devon and do not know of the protocol of reporting species to the county recorder or the risks associated with reporting their sightings. Maybe if ther was a link/message placed on this site for guidance such postings could be avoided, Educate not criticise?

Perhaps that is right and Im sure that they do have an interest in the wildlife of devon, and I agree that a link would be good. By mentioning that the sightings of these birds should go to the society was my 'attempt' to educate apologies if you thought that it was a criticisim. Im not criticising so much the people that send their sightings but surely the person who runs the website is aware of this and should'nt put sightings of schedule 1 birds in potential breeding habitat on the page in the first place. It is a useful site and certainly very popular with a lot of people.

 

[Mike Cross]

It would be great if a certain local website that posts sightings would take this advice...Or, people not send them to it in the first place, send them to the DBWPS instead.

Quite right why should the great unwashed, the hoy poloy, common or garden birders know about the whereabouts of scarcer birds. Keep it in the realms of the elite. That's what I say.