Backwater Birding - Seaton, Devon (1 Viewer)

[picknage]

hi all, i talked with Andrew Coates and he gave me permission to post some pictures of the hoopoe. seems like i got it a wrong and that it turned up several times on april 26th, not several times over a few days. sorry for any confusion!! he is quite happy for them to be used for any reports etc if people want to use them.

 

[picknage]

not quite sure what im doing with the attachements but lets try again.....

 

[picknage]

and again.....

 

[Steve Waite]

Just as I was getting over the pain....and now the pain has become 10 times worse!!!! But still, thanks Nick for taking the time to upload the pics, I can open both no problem - what a bird!

Started the day with a seawatch, 05:40 - 07:00 from the Spot On. It was rather slow really (all west unless started): 3 Great Northern Divers (a two and a single - nice to see!), 22 Gannets (17E), 4 Whimbrel (3E,1W), 1 Curlew (E), 2 Kittiwake and 6 Sandwich Terns. A rather nice bonus was a Little Ringed Plover which flew out from the direction of the river, and headed off high west - luckily it was a very vocal one, otherwise it would have slipped the net!!! During the day I attempted two other seawatches, an hour from 14:20 was dire but for a close Kittiwake blogging, and half hour from 18:00 produced 24 Manxies, 2 Sandwich Terns and a Kittiwake.

On the river today: 13 Dunlin, 4 Whimbrel and 17 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and at Colyford Common this evening: the Dunlin flock again, a Common Sand on the scrape, 2 Lapwing (male and female too!!!) and 6 Redshank (including a pair mating). Beer Head this morning was virtually migrant-less! Oh well, try again tomorrow!!!

 

[Steve Waite]

Can anyone tell me when the Purple Sandpipers should be setting off? I was surprised to see 12 of them sheltering on the Cobb wall this morning

Hi Roger,

They should be gone within the next week or two...I bet they are looking really smart. Just MAKE SURE they stop off at Seaton on their way through, just one will be fine!

 

[Roger Boswell]

Hi Roger,

They should be gone within the next week or two...I bet they are looking really smart. Just MAKE SURE they stop off at Seaton on their way through, just one will be fine!

Thanks Steve

It was rather blustery yesterday am and most had their bills tucked well in. None in sight today - but it wasn't high tide.

The Grey Wagtails on the Lim are certainly looking smart - especially the two males.

 

[Steve Waite]

Won't be much more birding for me today, am off to Exeter, though I may be able to squeeze a quick seawatch in before I leave.

Alarm went off at 05:15, I jumped out of bed, looked out the window, and then jumped straight back in again!!!! Not even a slight breeze. I finally made it out at about half 8.

Dunlin was the main bird today, a look from the farm gate at 09:00 showed 17 feeding together, I thought to myself how nice it is to see a little gang of these building up. After an uneventful look on Seaton Marshes, I went back to the farm gate about an hour later...and was absolutely staggered to see a whopping 181 of them!!!!! Counted 175 the first time, and the second time I made it 181, that's after they finally settled down. WOW! A really HUGE count for the Axe that!!!! I was rather miffed there wasn't anything else mixed in...not even a Ringed Plover!!! Also on the river was a 1st-summer Med Gull and on a sad note, a few very badly oiled Black-headed Gulls - all black ones, not nice.

Had two quick looks at the sea mid and late morning: 2 Sandwich Tern, 2 Curlew, 2 Whimbrel, 10 Common Scoters E and 1 Dunlin flying around looking lost...probably lost his 181 mates!!!!

Also visited Colyford Common early afternoon, 89 of the Dunlin had moved here (couldn't see the remaining 92 anywhere - though the tide is starting to drop so they might reappear). A look over the fields behind Axmouth gave only one Wheatear.

 

[Gavin Haig]

The Dunlin Cometh....

Steve sent me a text earlier - 'I'm all Dunlin-ed out', he said. Not surprised - he's been counting them all day. I'm not sure what the total is. Big, though. Hopefully Steve will post later. I saw just 9 early this morning on the river, and 15 while seawatching this evening.

A Common Tern was feeding in the flat calm bay first thing, then it or another was on the river a little later. A half hour stare at the sea was undisturbed by any other birds. Unless you count Cormorants. I don't. Perhaps I should? No, no - that would just be silly.

Today's highlight was a seawatch late afternoon/evening, during which 5 Arctic Skuas went by - a three and a two. Well, the two actually didn't get further than the bay - they liked it and stayed, sat on the sea and had a go at a passing Sandwich Tern. Still there when I left. They were all dark phase except one of the three, which was 'darkish'. Great stuff. I like skuas. The rest of this evening's customers comprised the following (not counting Cormorants): Manxie 71/6 (W/E), Gannet 33, Sandwich Tern 2, Common Scoter /6, Whimbrel 21 (I blithely announced '14' until Karen suggested I look again - it's a good thing someone's doing it properly), and a single, solitary, Billy-no-mates Kittiwake.

As there are a few Storm Petrels around the S coast just now, we were looking carefully. Now, when you are excitedly anticipating an imminent Storm Petrel, and then you spot a tiny dark thing fluttering through the waves it, of course, triggers a little release of adrenaline, and all that that entails. This is perfectly acceptable when the tiny dark thing is in fact a Stormie, but very tiresome indeed when it's a Swallow, and your nervous system is already well stressed following the protracted raising of two oafs. Thankfully it was Karen who kept spotting Swallows.|=)| She must have noticed how relaxed I was, though, and decided I needed to join in the 'fun'.
"Ooh, ooh - two tiny dark things!!"
"Where? Where?" I'm going, adrenaline surging.
"Ummm..........oh...just Swallows"
"Ok. Right-o then" I force, calmly, heart hammering.

Seawatching's fun........................|=)|

 

[KarenWoolley]

The Arctic Skaus were still lingering on the sea when Ian and I left at 7:30, If anyone gets down early enough tomorrow they may still be around.


The 'tiny dark things' continued, as did the adrenalin. Ian had a Swift and I had a House Martin!!! :eek!:


Good news. The weather forecast is now for South westerlies to continue into the weekend.

I'm pretty new to seawatching, but quickly becoming hooked!|=)|

 

[Steve Waite]

Well, after writing my last post, I went straight back out to do some seawatching. I joined Ian, who left at 15:20, I finished at 17:00. I clocked 110 Dunlin (including 2 flocks of 40) fly west, Ian had another 15 (plus 2 Sanderling) before I got there, also a single earlier....that makes a day total off 307 (322 if Gavs 15 are additional to mine!!!). WOW!!! Surely a local patch record broken???

Anyway, what else did I log - highlight were the three Arctic Skuas which came into view at 16:40 - they came in and then flew up high off the mouth of estuary, before dropping back down to sea level, 2 dark and 1 intermediate. The supporting cast include (nearly all west): 46 Gannets, 49 Manxies, 3 Whimbrel, 4 smart Kittiwakes and 6 Sandwich Terns. Also lots of Swallows coming in off, and a fair few Swifts.

Good work guys, we covered the sea well this afternoon....may this tactic produce many Poms....

 

[Ranger James]

Steve - any more sightings of oiled gulls? am concerned that we report evidence of oilings as soon as they are seen so the local situation can be monitored.

Great work on the seawatching guys, been a productive few days across the south Devon coast for you nutty types.

James

 

[Simon Wakely]

We took this picture last spring, sorry it's taken me a while to post, I just found it and thought you would like to see it. Sorry about the resolution.

 

[Steve Waite]

Seawatching very much the name of the game today. The day started with little wind, but since late afternoon it’s started blowing a gale!!!! I’ll give the results of the different watches separately – all were from Spot On Kiosk. Nearly everything was traveling west, but if anything flew in any other direction I’ve put it in brackets afterwards, but note these are included in the total.

05:40 – 08:00: 5 Great Northern Divers (2 sum plum; Ian M had 2 more later), 67 Gannets (5E), 34 Fulmar, 2 Egyptian Geese (which landed ON the cliffs at Seaton Hole!!!!) 1 Mallard, 14 Common Scoter (6E), 2 Curlew, 44 Whimbrel (41W, 2 in and 1 out), 16 Dunlin, 1 Sanderling, 1 Arctic Skua (an intermediate one again), 1 1st-summer Med Gull, 6 Kittiwake, 12 Sandwich Terns, 3 Common Terns, 1 Commic Tern, and 3 Razorbills. Also a Seal off the river mouth, I couldn’t quite determine the species of it, though am leaning slightly in favour of Common Seal as it didn’t look that big.

10:30 – 10:45: 6 Whimbrel (5 in and 1 out) and 6 Sandwich Terns.

11:35 – 12:25: 1 Gannet (E), 3 Fulmar, 12 Common Scoter (sat on sea), 2 Whimbrel, 1 1st-summer Med Gull (maybe same bird as earlier), 4 Kittiwake, 7 Sandwich Terns and 2 Auk sp. Also a nice little flock of waders came flying along the beach, landing a short distance west of me, the flock consisted of 10 Dunlin, 1 Ringed Plover and 1 Sanderling…nice!

14:45 – 16:45: Now this one was exciting! I’d been there about 15mins when I picked up a few Commics appearing from the west, next thing I know they were everywhere!!!! Gav joined me and counted c125 in all – a mega count for the bay, easily the most I’ve ever seen here. Half the flock stayed distant and then soon disappeared, but the other half came closer and revealed 2 Arctic Terns (I only got on to one of them), also mixed in were c15 Sandwich Terns. After the Terns had dispersed, there I was casually scanning the seas when into my scopes view fluttered…at last….a STORM PETREL!!! YIPPY! First it was heading east, but then u-turned and we followed it quite some way west – sorry for all who missed it. Other birds seen include: 2 Whimbrel, 129 Dunlin (all but 7 flew west), 1 Ringed Plover (on beach), both the Common Scoter flock and the 1st-summer Med Gull were still present.

19:00 – 20:00: 2 Gannet (1E), 3 Fulmar, 1 Manx Shearwater, 6 Oystercatchers, 56 Whimbrel, 26 Dunlin, 4 Sanderling and 10 Sandwich Terns.

On all watches Swallows and Swifts were arriving in/off in good numbers.

Away from the sea, Simon and Sue had 2 Greylag Goose pinned down for me on Colyford Marsh….2 new ones I guess, they are still there this evening. Also here this morning were 19 Dunlin and a Common Sandpiper, on the estuary were two 1st-summer Med Gulls. Late afternoon I got a phone call from Nick Page to inform me of a big mixed bag of waders on the estuary, I went down there and saw 75 Dunlin and 2 Sanderling…the latter a bit of a rarity on the river! The whole flock was obviously new in – which is going to bump the Dunlin count up for the past few days! What a period for wader migration!!!!!!

I’ve just worked out the Dunlin count for the last two days, give or take 1 or 2, it stands at…..665!! Mega!!!!

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Sorry to hear about the oiled birds you're getting down your way guys, those gulls, and especially the oiled House Martin . Not that I'm jealous of your seawatching. In fact I've managed to dip out on no less than 13 seabird patch ticks off my local patch at Portishead over the last few days. Pretty cool huh.

 

[Simon Wakely]

James, yes a black head, covered in oil on coranation corner at 10 o clock. It was a sad sight. On a good note we found our pic, Happy Birding.

 

[Gavin Haig]

.....I've managed to dip out on no less than 13 seabird patch ticks off my local patch at Portishead over the last few days. Pretty cool huh.

Hi Laz. I've just rushed out to post you a copy of 'The Aims and Objectives of Local Patch Birding' by U.T.Beltt, as it strikes me you may benefit from it. Please note the comment in the first paragraph of chapter 1 -

'...one of the local patcher's principal aims is to see stuff. Another aim that is right up there with seeing stuff is NOT missing stuff...'​

I think you'll agree that Mr Beltt has hit the nail on the head there? Also, if you flip past the 7 (highly instructive) chapters on the various 'Joys of Gripping' you come to the one entitled 'Dipping is NOT Cool'. Good reading. Mind you, wise though his words are, UTB doesn't do irony........|=)|

As Steve says, mention of terns galore got me down to the seafront this afternoon (125 commics in total, Steve - I tried not to include Sarnies) where it was extremely difficult to pick out any Arctics. I got onto just one, also. They were whizzing by so quickly, and every bird I grilled turned out to be a Common - except one, of course! After a few big circuits of the bay they just vanished. The Storm Petrel was very welcome, of course, but also very distant. A little later I popped down to the shelter for a quick seawatch (17:00 - 17:45) and can add a few to Steve's totals: Dunlin 56, Whimbrel 23, Kittiwake 1E, and another Storm Petrel - also distant and very unsatisfying, with just 2 rather brief glimpses. Hirundines and Swifts trickling in all the time.

I think we are very fortunate indeed to have such great birding still available even when the weather is foul.

Simon - has that Blue Tit been telling fibs?

 

[bun]

Evening folks, didn't fancy going up Beer Head after work was a tad bit breezy and a little bit damp, so instead had a sea watch from Beer 6.15 - 7.45, best bird was a dark phase Arctic Skua, strangly going East when apart from 2 gannets everything else was going west, also saw all west - 5 manxies, 3 sandwich terns, 5 gannets and a flock of c15 common scoter sat on the sea, also 18 swallows in off, strange sight especially in the weather conditions.

 

[Steve Waite]

As Steve says, mention of terns galore got me down to the seafront this afternoon (125 commics in total, Steve - I tried not to include Sarnies)

Ta Gav - I've edited the first post. Heard about your Dunlin count - so they are already in the total, your Whimbrel make it at least 140 for the day!!!! What a superb day, looks almost like this was one of THE places to be seawatching today....superb!!!!

 

[KarenWoolley]

Well I missed TWO Storm Petrels today. There’s always tomorrow though, she says optimistically!|=)|

After Gavin left me in the shelter at around 5.45 I continued to watch in the driving rain until 6:30. Birds seen were all west unless stated otherwise. Gannet 3, Kittiwake 4 (1 East), Sandwich Tern 1, Common Scoter 1, Dunlin 33, Manxies 2 and a steady trickle of Swallows and Swifts.

 

[Gavin Haig]

Seawatch this morning (06:00 - 07:30) will probably be my lot for the day. It wasn't bad, considering the light W breeze: Gannet 30/4 (W/E), Great Northern Diver 6 (a nice highlight - most in summer plumage), Common Scoter 5/18, Dunlin 7, Whimbrel 2, Sandwich Tern 10, Razorbill 1, Med Gull 1 1st-summer, 'commic' Tern 2, Manxie 6.

No Storm Petrels, despite winding up the zoom to max for a while.....