da2m
Well-known member
hi steve, yes it is the same bird first seen in Jan,
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Devon Birding (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter JRE
- Start date
Kev Rylands
Well-known member
Can't believe you dipped Great Black-headed Gull and Parrot Crossbill though!
Not sure about the dead Otter but a few adults have become road casualties at the top end of the Exe. Hope it was collected and sent away for analysis. B4 you ask I can't remember where/who to!
Birds - Green Sand at Bowling Green plus six Little Grebe, including two ages of juvenile.
Cheers
Kev
da2m
Well-known member
nice might take a look tomorrow evening.
Ranger James
Well-known member
Anyone heard of a whooper swan on the otter at the beginning of the month? local birder to Seaton photographed it and put it on the backwater birding blog - but not on here. Thought I'd let you guys know, to give you somethig to get out and about for. Seems very early?
Kev, oodles of green sandpipers over here in Seaton, you shoudl come over and find our first wood sand for the year for us.
See you all soon,
James
Kev, oodles of green sandpipers over here in Seaton, you shoudl come over and find our first wood sand for the year for us.
See you all soon,
James
Tav94
Well-known member
Warren House to Sussens Platation.
Firts birds were 2 Wheatears at the car park with Meadow Pipits and a few Blackbirds.Made my way down to the Golden Dagger Mine lots of Meadow Pipits and a few young Chiffchaffs on a small waterloged area there were 2 Grey Wagtails,5 Pied wagtails and 4 Goldfinches having a bath.On the way back went up through the plantation herd a Greenwoodpecker then saw 2 fly across a clearing.Next birds were 2 Redstarts, then a Willow or marsh Tit not sure wich one it was futher on had 3 more redstarts all looked like this years young.
Firts birds were 2 Wheatears at the car park with Meadow Pipits and a few Blackbirds.Made my way down to the Golden Dagger Mine lots of Meadow Pipits and a few young Chiffchaffs on a small waterloged area there were 2 Grey Wagtails,5 Pied wagtails and 4 Goldfinches having a bath.On the way back went up through the plantation herd a Greenwoodpecker then saw 2 fly across a clearing.Next birds were 2 Redstarts, then a Willow or marsh Tit not sure wich one it was futher on had 3 more redstarts all looked like this years young.
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Andrew
wibble wibble
Had a good walk from Halberton to Tiverton on the Grand Western Canal.
Six Kingfishers, a Garden Warbler, some Chiffers, some Blackcaps, a Whitethroat, a tree foraging Reed Warbler (No, it's bill was too long for starters!), six Spotted Flycatchers including one kid nagging it's Mum/Dad, a few Swifts and a Silver-washed Fritillary.
Nice toasted teacake and cuppa at the Canal Tea Rooms to finish it off with.
Six Kingfishers, a Garden Warbler, some Chiffers, some Blackcaps, a Whitethroat, a tree foraging Reed Warbler (No, it's bill was too long for starters!), six Spotted Flycatchers including one kid nagging it's Mum/Dad, a few Swifts and a Silver-washed Fritillary.
Nice toasted teacake and cuppa at the Canal Tea Rooms to finish it off with.
The Kerreran
Has hat, will stand in the rain
Took an afternoon-evening trip around East Devon today. Yup, a sunny day in August, but all the talk of Honey Buzzards, Little Owls, Melodious Warblers, and of course Black Storks were just too much to resist... |^|
First stop was Beer Head - hadn't been there before, it was as much a recce as a Melodious hunt - lots of people around, so the birds were keeping themselves scarce, mostly Willow Warblers calling from cover, though there was a nice f. Kestrel patrolling the undercliff west of the Head, and parties of Swallows which would turn out to be present all through the day. Heading back to the car park [thanks to East Devon Council for the highly generous charges, by the way.... :eek!: ] passing the area of slightly scrubby wood that comes down towards the path, I hear a sparrow-like call and see a fairly bulky looking warbler flying into cover - grey-brown uppers, yellowy unders, [a duller yellow than the young Willow Warblers] no prominent supercilium, legs looked pale, but no good look at the bill [Argh!]. Melodious? Could be.. Certainly didn't get another sniff of it. :: Shrugs philosophically :: Hey, there's always Portland, right?
So, Beer Head is a very nice spot, Melodious is a 'Might be', now on to Shute Hill, hoping for a good Honey Buzzard vantage spot. Again lots of Phyllo's in cover - here mostly Chiffchaff - plus Goldcrest, a few Siskin, and a Mistle Thrush stuffing itself on berries. View by the Beacon's great of the Axe estuary, though you can't see much else.
After getting slightly, er, lost :: Embarrassed cough :: and seeing no Little Owls at Musbury [probably too early] I set down at the Colyton Village Picnic Site. Now there's a nice panorama - everything except the Axe estuary! About 40 Herring and 80 Black-headed Gulls were going after flying ants, a couple of Willow Warbler and 3 Great Tit close by, and a single Rook crossing the valley westwards.
Colyford Common was a different story. Firstly, I have to express my appreciation for all the work that's been done there :clap: - if only Exminster were set up like this! Ok, the birds; 8+ Goldfinch, 2 Willow Warbler, 50++ Swallow, 3 House Martin [over, south], 40+ Starling, 119 Black-headed Gull [no Mediterranean seen among them], 1 ad. Yellow-legged Gull [with ad. Herring Gull, flew south at approx. 7-20 pm], 3 [2 juv. + ad.] Shelduck, 5 Shovelor, 1 Redshank, 3 Dunlin, 4 Curlew, 5+ Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Wood Sandpiper [7-10 to 7-30], ~50 Snipe [flying in from south, one pursued by Swallow!], lots of midges.
The Yellow-legged was lovely; stood among the Black-headed, side-on, with the Herring next to it it seemed just to let me be certain. Wow. When I arrived, there was only a single Green Sand in sight, I moved to the viewing platform to try to get a better angle - couldn't see it! Back to the hide, and there was another sandpiper - paler, greyer, yellow legs, good supercilium. They eventually pass each other - yup, smaller and slimmer. :-O
I'm just leaving when Phil of AxeValleyBirding arrives, we start chatting, we go back into the hide - now there are 3 Green Sands and Common Sand, but no Wood. Eyes have been off for less than 5 mins.. :-C More Green Sands emerge from the marsh, as well as the Shovelor, which make me feel a bit less stringy, and the Wood could have emerged again after I left. On the plus side, staying on til half 8 or so also let me see the Snipe flying in in groups of 9 to 25, and seeing one poor Snipe getting chased by a Swallow. [I never knew Swallows were so badass ]
Finally, on my way home I stopped off at Ideford Common to finish my flask of coffee and see if any Nightjars were still about. That'd be a 'Yes' then. 3+ churring males, and sightings down to 15' [nice female / juv.] and a very good Kestrel impersonation by a male - I didn't know they could hover that well! - were the highlights. Or so I thought until I went back to my car, and saw two little green eyes seeming to float over the bank by the main track to the carpark. I came right to the edge of the ditch - maybe 6' away - and it just sat there in the torchlight, my first Woodcock. B Amazing.
If anyone's still awake after all that, thankyou for putting up with me!
First stop was Beer Head - hadn't been there before, it was as much a recce as a Melodious hunt - lots of people around, so the birds were keeping themselves scarce, mostly Willow Warblers calling from cover, though there was a nice f. Kestrel patrolling the undercliff west of the Head, and parties of Swallows which would turn out to be present all through the day. Heading back to the car park [thanks to East Devon Council for the highly generous charges, by the way.... :eek!: ] passing the area of slightly scrubby wood that comes down towards the path, I hear a sparrow-like call and see a fairly bulky looking warbler flying into cover - grey-brown uppers, yellowy unders, [a duller yellow than the young Willow Warblers] no prominent supercilium, legs looked pale, but no good look at the bill [Argh!]. Melodious? Could be.. Certainly didn't get another sniff of it. :: Shrugs philosophically :: Hey, there's always Portland, right?
So, Beer Head is a very nice spot, Melodious is a 'Might be', now on to Shute Hill, hoping for a good Honey Buzzard vantage spot. Again lots of Phyllo's in cover - here mostly Chiffchaff - plus Goldcrest, a few Siskin, and a Mistle Thrush stuffing itself on berries. View by the Beacon's great of the Axe estuary, though you can't see much else.
After getting slightly, er, lost :: Embarrassed cough :: and seeing no Little Owls at Musbury [probably too early] I set down at the Colyton Village Picnic Site. Now there's a nice panorama - everything except the Axe estuary! About 40 Herring and 80 Black-headed Gulls were going after flying ants, a couple of Willow Warbler and 3 Great Tit close by, and a single Rook crossing the valley westwards.
Colyford Common was a different story. Firstly, I have to express my appreciation for all the work that's been done there :clap: - if only Exminster were set up like this! Ok, the birds; 8+ Goldfinch, 2 Willow Warbler, 50++ Swallow, 3 House Martin [over, south], 40+ Starling, 119 Black-headed Gull [no Mediterranean seen among them], 1 ad. Yellow-legged Gull [with ad. Herring Gull, flew south at approx. 7-20 pm], 3 [2 juv. + ad.] Shelduck, 5 Shovelor, 1 Redshank, 3 Dunlin, 4 Curlew, 5+ Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Wood Sandpiper [7-10 to 7-30], ~50 Snipe [flying in from south, one pursued by Swallow!], lots of midges.
The Yellow-legged was lovely; stood among the Black-headed, side-on, with the Herring next to it it seemed just to let me be certain. Wow. When I arrived, there was only a single Green Sand in sight, I moved to the viewing platform to try to get a better angle - couldn't see it! Back to the hide, and there was another sandpiper - paler, greyer, yellow legs, good supercilium. They eventually pass each other - yup, smaller and slimmer. :-O
I'm just leaving when Phil of AxeValleyBirding arrives, we start chatting, we go back into the hide - now there are 3 Green Sands and Common Sand, but no Wood. Eyes have been off for less than 5 mins.. :-C More Green Sands emerge from the marsh, as well as the Shovelor, which make me feel a bit less stringy, and the Wood could have emerged again after I left. On the plus side, staying on til half 8 or so also let me see the Snipe flying in in groups of 9 to 25, and seeing one poor Snipe getting chased by a Swallow. [I never knew Swallows were so badass
]Finally, on my way home I stopped off at Ideford Common to finish my flask of coffee and see if any Nightjars were still about. That'd be a 'Yes' then. 3+ churring males, and sightings down to 15' [nice female / juv.] and a very good Kestrel impersonation by a male - I didn't know they could hover that well! - were the highlights. Or so I thought until I went back to my car, and saw two little green eyes seeming to float over the bank by the main track to the carpark. I came right to the edge of the ditch - maybe 6' away - and it just sat there in the torchlight, my first Woodcock. B
Amazing. If anyone's still awake after all that, thankyou for putting up with me!
The Kerreran
Has hat, will stand in the rain
Yeah, I do get a bit carried away now and again.. [and again and again.... Ahem], but it was a good day.
Thanks for that link - I had no idea that was going on [shows how often I get to Exminster..] and it should help the birds a lot. Now all we need is a nice hide. Even a slightly ratty cramped for more than two people got to wade through mud and jump a stream to get to hide will do..? :: Looks hopeful ::
Thanks for that link - I had no idea that was going on [shows how often I get to Exminster..] and it should help the birds a lot. Now all we need is a nice hide. Even a slightly ratty cramped for more than two people got to wade through mud and jump a stream to get to hide will do..? :: Looks hopeful ::
da2m
Well-known member
oh my god, what is going on in seaton. how gutted are we all just down the coast.
i went to hope nose hoping to find something exciting. fulmar, sarnies, kittiwakes and a beleric shearwater made an appearance. also a ringed plover was on the tiniest bit of beach, that was a bit uncommon for this site so i believe. still nothing like a audiouns or what ever the bloody rare bird was. [email protected]$#@&ds
i went to hope nose hoping to find something exciting. fulmar, sarnies, kittiwakes and a beleric shearwater made an appearance. also a ringed plover was on the tiniest bit of beach, that was a bit uncommon for this site so i believe. still nothing like a audiouns or what ever the bloody rare bird was. [email protected]$#@&ds
The Kerreran
Has hat, will stand in the rain
Snap and double snap! Went to Hope's Nose for a quick couple of hours this afternoon - 2 Balearics [one very obliging], 3 Bonxies [the first of which went after three adult Great Black-backeds and gave 'em hell! ], 4 Manxies, a brief distant Stormie, a good 100 Gannet, mostly 1st and 2nd year birds, 40 odd Kittiwake, 4 Fulmar - two of which were very dirty looking, maybe lightly oiled?, a Whimbrel, and 2 small fast waders - no visible white on them, but they were skimming the wavetops and I lost them fast.
Right, I'm to my bed - tomorrow Seaton!!!
], 4 Manxies, a brief distant Stormie, a good 100 Gannet, mostly 1st and 2nd year birds, 40 odd Kittiwake, 4 Fulmar - two of which were very dirty looking, maybe lightly oiled?, a Whimbrel, and 2 small fast waders - no visible white on them, but they were skimming the wavetops and I lost them fast.Right, I'm to my bed - tomorrow Seaton!!!
The Kerreran
Has hat, will stand in the rain
Results from today's match-
Larus audouinii 1
Cinclus cinclus 0
Common Sands, Whimbrel, a very nice Blackwit, another Axe Snipe flypast, and my fourth Turtle Dove of the year [and indeed life] were the highlights.
Oh well, he says philosophically, at least I got to spend a lot of quality time studying gull plumages...
Odds on the Audouin's showing up at Chew, anyone?
Larus audouinii 1
Cinclus cinclus 0
Common Sands, Whimbrel, a very nice Blackwit, another Axe Snipe flypast, and my fourth Turtle Dove of the year [and indeed life] were the highlights.
Oh well, he says philosophically, at least I got to spend a lot of quality time studying gull plumages...
Odds on the Audouin's showing up at Chew, anyone?
kingfisher
Scouser in exile
Ok whoever nicked the Auouin's Gull from Seaton, can you please return as I would very much like to see it, I could not get away from work, just typical.
