Backwater Birding - Seaton, Devon (3 Viewers)

[Gavin Haig]

Tour-leading

Had a very pleasant day with old buddy Paul from London. Stopping off with us for a while en route to Cornwall he had already sent me a shopping list of required year ticks so I could arrange the tour. We started the day at Lower Bruckland Ponds where we saw nothing on the list. On to the estuary, where the 2 Egyptian Geese were present on Bridge Marsh, and we saw nothing on the list. Seawatching was next on the agenda. One and a half hours later we had finally dented the list - with Gannet(!) and a single Manxie W. Not much else was rash enough to be anywhere near the coast in a NE and bright sunshine, just 6 Sandwich Terns, 5 'commic' Terns, 1 Dunlin, 1 Swift and 1 Swallow all coming in. On to Beer Head, where we once more saw nothing on the list, plus the added bonus of no migrants at all. Superb views of a wrecked container ship though.....

The sunshine tempted us to think about alternative activities, and we began to head off to a butterfly site that Paul had up his sleeve. But it gradually got cloudier and less butterfly friendly. Paul's resolve was broken very easily when his pager announced the presence of a Woodchat Shrike at Dawlish Warren. He stamped and pouted, demanding a rapid and immediate detour to see it. As a helpless passenger, what could I do? A very nice Devon tick for me, and year-tick number 3 for Paul. Forgive the off-patch pics.

Off to Lyme Regis for year-tick number 4 - a Dipper with its offspring on the River Lym.

After a pub dinner this evening we notched up number 5 with a churring Nightjar at Trinity Hill.

 

[bun]

After looking at Gav,s highly gripping pictures of the Dawlish Woodchat (super pic,s they are too) i decided to give Beer Head a really good looking over in the vain attempt of trying to find one - i should of stayed at home, it was almost birdless apart from the usual finches, linnets, goldfinches, greenfinches..ect...then tried the the Branscombe side plenty of blackthorn, gorse and scrub and a few more birds managed to see 5 whitethroat, 2 blackcaps and had cracking views of a pair of Lesser Whitethroat feeding 2 fledglings and scoulding me with a blue tit like trill when i got to close..on the way back i saw 1 more whitethroat, 2 kestrel and 2 canada geese flying west, but no shrikes - a pretty quiet day, but i will try again tomorrow!

 

[Steve Waite]

Had a few hours out late morning - dragonflies were just too much of a lure!!!

Pulled up at Lower Bruckland where I was greeted by another Dragonfly man, an important one too! Devons Dragonfly Recorder - Dave Smallshire!!! We spent the next couple of hours looking downwards - 4 male Red-eyed Damselflies plus the usuals. Nice bird highlight too in the form of a first-summer Hobby which spent about ten minutes feeding low over the pond - cracking. I had to leave Dave for work - but I've just returned home to a voicemail on the phone - "Scarce Chaser Lower Bruckland"....WOW! First for the Axe!!!! For the double grip he also sent a me a photo of it!!!!

 

[Roger Boswell]

With mentions of Whitethroats, can anyone tell me if this is a Whitethroat or Lesser Whitethroat from these rather poor images. The bird was seen on the cliff-tops between Ladram Bay and the river Otter.

Roger

 

[KarenWoolley]

I visited Bruckland Ponds again today, stacks of dragons and damsels and some butterflies. It really is a lovely place to visit in the glorious sunshine.|=)|

Butterfly highlight was 2 Painted Ladies, my first this year.

Dragonfly highlight was a Red-veined Darter, well I think so anyway, have attached pictures for confirmation - Steve? (it certainly had a bright blue lower eye! is this diagnostic?)

I don't have a good dragonfly/butterfly book so I've also put a couple more photos on that I'm not certain about, one is a terneral 'something or other' (darter?). I think the last one is a Four-Spotted Chaser?

I spent over a hour driving round in the dusk/dark last night and failed to see any Little Owls.................... they're obviously hiding from me!!

 

[Steve Waite]

Hi all!

Nice pici of a stunning male Red-veined there Karen, the first mature one seen so far - mine was a dull teneral thing! Yes that is a Four spotted Chaser (also a good sighting) and lastly a teneral Common Darter. Keep taking those pics Karen!!!!!

Had a rather pleasent evening walking up the river. Great to see three recently fledged juv Stonechats - with both mother and father feeding them well! Also stacks of Reed Buntings - at least 12 singing males, with a few females and juvs around too. Not much else seen though, singles of Whimbrel and Shoveler the only sightly unusual sightings.

 

[Terry Smith]

With mentions of Whitethroats, can anyone tell me if this is a Whitethroat or Lesser Whitethroat from these rather poor images. The bird was seen on the cliff-tops between Ladram Bay and the river Otter.

Roger

Roger,

Your photos depict a male Common Whitethroat!:brains:

Terry

 

[Fraser Rush]

Well folks, now it's June and the Autumn passage is about to commence, I thought I'd let you all know the plan regarding scrapes and flooding.

Firstly the big scrape on Colyford Marsh - the one you view from the hide or the platform.

This scrape, as you all know, is only filled by heavy rain or big tides, it has no 'proper' water supply. Fortunately, following last year's work, we now have some control over the water level. With the recent heavy rain the scrape is presently not far short of full.

So the plan is to lower the water a little bit this week or next until there is just a bit of mud for waders to use (you know the sort of thing - wood sand, green sand, greenshank, terek sand etc.) In theory it should then get progressively lower through evapouration until mid July when it might get a bit of a top-up from a biggish tide. Then more evapouration between tidal top-ups in early, mid and late August. September should be easier to manage as the tides are higher and evapouration will be less. The scrape should be back to full by the end of October

So what can go wrong ? 1. evapouration losses might be very rapid - depends on the weather. 2. the tides might not be that high after all - also depends on the weather. Worst scenario is that it should be OK for waders for half the time between now and October but might be totally dry for some of that time. Best scaenario, wall to wall waders for the whole of that period. As a firm believer in Murphy's law, I'm sticking with the worst scenario.

Secondly the wet patch at the south end of Colyford Common. Here we can control the water flowing into the area and the level of the water flowing out of it - hoorah ! the perfect system.

Well almost, it would be fine if it hadn't remained partly wet due to the two periods of heavy rain through the spring/early summer period. Ideally it should be completely dry through this period to build up populations of non-aquatic creepy crawlies which then get flooded out, into the waiting beaks of all those terek sandpipers.

The plan is to flood this area in late June and then to keep it flooded until it dries out naturally again next spring. The levels will fluctuate a little bit during this period but it should always be shallow enough to interest any passing terek sandpipers.

Finally the scrapes at Seaton Marshes will, as always, have to wait until October to be filled. The target here is to achieve optimum winter levels of both grass and water by the end of October.

Hope the birds appreciate all that !

Fraser

 

[Fraser Rush]

Oh and another thing.

I have a Nikon Coolpix 4500 for sale. This is the digiscoping camera, the model used to capture many of the fine images in the Axe Estuary Bird Report. I plan to put it on ebay soon where it should fetch at least £100. If you want to save me the trouble and buy it for £90, contact me via pm.

It's just occurred to me there is probably a whole raft of rules about advertising on this thread. Apols. if this breaks one or all of them. In my defence I would say my motive is entirely honourable - I'm just looking to increase the supply of good images for next year's bird report.

Cheers

Fraser

 

[Hawfinch John]

Further to my previous report, I have seen the tawny a couple of times again and last night 2 owlets!

 

[Terry Smith]

Black Stork reported on Birdguides this morning at 5.45 flying from Southleigh towards Northleigh. Anyone know anything about this?

 

[Steve Waite]

Black Stork reported on Birdguides this morning at 5.45 flying from Southleigh towards Northleigh. Anyone know anything about this?

Yes!!!! After a message from Frazer late last night saying a contracter had reported a Black Stork in Southleigh yesterday afternoon I went out there early today with Bun leaving here at 5:30. Really not expecting to see anything I was half-tempted to sleep through the alarm, but I dragged myself up and out. Picked Bun up and we were in Southleigh by 05:45. Parked up, and about a minute later as we were walking along a lane with the main stream just the other side of a low hedge, suddenly we heard the beating of some very large wings...and...!?!??? BLOW ME DOWN, BLACK STORK!!!! Feet away!!!!! It flew up from this stream, circled round low, then headed off over a few houses and behind some trees,
staying very low. What a bird. As its legs trailed when it took flight my instinct was to check for rings, pleased to report the presence of no rings on either leg!! What a bird, boy we were not expecting that!!!

 

[Terry Smith]

So Steve is it still in the area? And do you have precise directions for it?

 

[Jos Stratford]

Dear all,
I happened to be riding that nice little seaside tramline yesterday morning and looking forward to an ice-cream when this big funny birdie flapped over - I was rather surprised at how big it was and that it had an almost red nose, so I took a photo with my Kodak Brownie, sorry for the fuzzy snap. Could anybody please help me to identify what it is and tell me if I qualify for Seaton Bonus Bonanza points.

 

[Steve Waite]

So Steve is it still in the area? And do you have precise directions for it?

Hello, sorry bout that Terry - I went straight out again after my first post! It flew out of the stream at SY205935 (where the stream flows right next to the road) and it flew NE from here up the valley towards Bonehayne - we lost it behind trees and houses. It remained low so I am sure it touched down again not far away - just a pig of a place to view with valleys and streams everywhere with not many vantage points. Maybe this evening will be a good bet if it returns to the same section of stream??

I've just been dragonflying at Lower Bruckland and was rewarded with super views of the Scarce Chaser in the NW corner of the site - what an attractive beast!!! Also a Four-spot Chaser plus the usuals.

 

[Terry Smith]

Thanks for the info Steve. I know the area, and can visualise how difficult it must be to be able to work the area - as you say, too few a vantage point.

Let's hope it's relocated (maybe in a less inaccessible area!).

 

[bun]

Afternoon folks, earlier i walked up the River Coly as far up as i could go, also walked around a few streams between Northleigh and Southleigh but no luck, but i still got a feeling its in the valley somewhere as steve and Terry mention lots of inaccessible places and few vantage points, when it took off it done a small circle and flew low like it was looking for somewhere to settle hopefully it hasnt gone to far and will return to the same spot it was in this morning, and hang around for everyone to see.

 

[James McCarthy]

Dear all,
I happened to be riding that nice little seaside tramline yesterday morning and looking forward to an ice-cream when this big funny birdie flapped over - I was rather surprised at how big it was and that it had an almost red nose, so I took a photo with my Kodak Brownie, sorry for the fuzzy snap. Could anybody please help me to identify what it is and tell me if I qualify for Seaton Bonus Bonanza points.

As we all know this forum has had its fair share of highlights (birds and otherwise), many of the jokes have had me grinning but Jos - as we reach the centenial page - can I nominate this post the best, one which had me cackling with laughter at work...and at a loss to explain to those around me.
Great bird to round of the 100 & good on you Steve & Bun, getting up before 6 on an 'impossibly possible' deserves the reward

 

[Andrew]

Searched high and low from early afternoon until eight in the evening and the closest I came to for my efforts was a bird flushed from the stream below the house at Knowle Hill which I did not see well enough. No obvious red legs so probably a Grey Heron. Spoke to several farm workers and locals and no one had seen anything.

One woman thought I said "Have you seen a big black dog in this field?" and she replied "Yes, many times" which raised my eyebrows until she said "I have one myself in my garden there!"

Met a Polish farm worker who simply replied "I do not know, I do not live here" and gave a gormless stare! Pure irony. (Do not tell me I need to explain!)

Only met one other birder all day. A Red-legged Partridge was by the farm at Scruel Barton (what a name, eh?) and a Green Woodpecker was by Southleigh Church.

Yes Gav, I did nip into Seaton for half an hour for the usual!

 

[Steve Waite]

Well done for all the effort everyone..boy I hope it hangs around!!!!

I've been awake now for nearly 18 hours, so my bed is calling me loudly!!! In my lunch hour (5-6pm) I went along the river. A smart adult Pale-bellied Brent Goose was off Coronation Corner (probably present since yesterday), also here a 1st-summer Med Gull, 5 Ringed Plovers and 4 Dunlin.

Fraze, we owe you one, thanks for the message last night.