STOP PRESS

DEVON BIRD NEWS has moved...find it HERE


Monday 1 November 2010

Berry Head

Left: Lesser Redpoll.
After yesterdays horrible conditions it looked good for Berry Hd, still and sunny perfect to find a pallas's warbler that seem to be all over the S & E coast at the moment. Checked the top half decent overhead passage in 1 hour while I was checking the bushes: 200+ Wood Pigeons, 100+Jackdaws, 5 Brambling, 1 Reed Bunting, 3 Lesser Redpolls, 40+ Skylark. but no warblers.
The Quarry - normally a good migrant area was devoid of birds shaded and cold.
The woods were also shadowy in the early morning so little there. The path and trees up behind the stone cottages were calm, sunny and alive with birds. First 15+ Long-tailed tits, 4 Chiffchaffs, 8 Goldcrests, the second go at pishing suddenly saw a small silvery warbler drop into the budleigh beside me, after a minute or two I got enough to know it was Pallas's and not Yellow-browed warbler. Suddenly another movement caught my eye there were two now in the same bush!
Above: Pallas's Warbler the first picture rules out Y-bW the second poor but the best I could get! Sometimes you should just enjoy watching the birds..
Also in area: 1 Firecrest, 1 Treecreeper. Nigel Smallbones reported a Black Redstart at the coastguard station.