Thurlestone Bay

A quiet day livened by the finding of a Greylag Goose on the back marsh at 12.00 ( also 35 Canada Goose )  My first 'summer ' record for the patch

Otherewise a Kittiwake and 6 Whimbrel were the only birds of note .

Bob B still has the Garden Warbler in a private garden on the edge of the patch

Exminster marsh

A quick look around the marsh this morning between 08:00 and 10:30 produced good views of the adult spoonbill on the scrape by the fishermans car park and the Glossy Ibis was mobile but gave good views around the scrapes between the middle car park and the fishermans car park

A summer plumage Black tailed godwit was nice and still 3+ gadwall 4+wigeon and 2 tufted duck also plenty of sedge and reed warblers, 3 cetti's and 2 stonechat

Instow Cricket Ground up to Jetty Roost.

05:45 - 07:30

Just 1 1st summer Mediterranean Gull (un-ringed) on the cricket ground.
Apart from c200 Oystercatchers and 3 Whimbrel, there were no waders at all on the foreshore, yet there was plenty of food in the form of sandhoppers.
Just 2 Swift; 1 Buzzard; 2 Common Whitethroat and 1 male Stonechat.
Very poor showing.

Yarner Wood

A visit late morning/early afternoon was excellent today. Two drake Mandarins were on the car park pond. A female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and a singing Wood Warbler together gave me a rather nice binocular-full! Two other Wood Warblers were found, together with good views of Redstart, Pied  & Spotted Flycatchers and Tree Pipit. A Tawny Owl was heard calling and a Lesser Redpoll was in song nearby. A male Grey Wagtail was collecting food on the pond.

Dartmoor

32 Carrion Crows and 15 Buzzards on the ground on the slopes of Great Mis Tor this afternoon.
J&M Daniels

Thurlestone Bay

Some interesting birds for June on the patch today - highlights were - Adult female Marsh Harrier over the marsh from 06.30-10.00, this one has a full tail. 2 Manx Shearwater, 3 Guillemot , 2 Razorbill, 1 Sanderling, 31 Oystercatcher, 7 Whimbrel,  1 Yellowhammer, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Garden Warbler, 4 Common Gull , 68 species recorded

Berry Head & Torbay

0600-0800hrs: Manx Shearwater 17 > S, Whimbrel 1 >N, Swift 6 > S over sea, 6 Common Scoter on sea just off headland, 7 Harbour Porpoise including one small calf.

Torbay: from Berry Hd I could see a distant group of Scoter toward Paignton, a stop off on the way home and closer view gave a count of 32 Common Scoter, also 2 Sandwich Tern.

Berry Head

at the quarry late morning a Wheatear was a surprise, on the way back up this Hummingbird Hawkmoth appeared briefly.

Exminster marsh

A quick look around this afternoon from 15:00 and 17:30 Glossy ibis still showing well from the canal bank by fishermans car park Also 1st summer med gull, 3 gadwall,2 tufted duck , 2 wigeon, 3+ hobby, peregrine, kestrel, 9+ little egrets and 5 whimbrel flew over heading north. Received a call just after I left that the spoonbill had flown back in

Lundy - yesterday 30/5

2 male Subalpine Warblers caught and ringed in Millcombe Valley yesterday morning. One at least sighted later in the afternoon. [Derren Fox]

Exminster Marshes

Spoonbill and Glossy Ibis still present on exminster marshes this morning and showing well from lane and canal footpath. [David Smith]

Liverton

Had a great non-avian highlight at Liverton this morning - a Swallowtail butterfly flew by at 12:15. Unfortunatly i was at work and did not get a chance to have a good look around for it afterwards. As i am not a great butterfly expert i would not know much about the provenance of a record like this but if there are any butterfly twitchers who maybe interested the grid ref is SX803752. I believe this is known as Old Liverton, about 1km towards Haytor from the bigger part of Liverton which is across the A38 from Trago Mills. I have lifted a couple photos of the internet to show exactly where.

Another Red Kite

Another Red Kite seen over the M5 near Exminster Marshes about 9:30 this morning.

More Red Kites!

David FitzGerald mentioned his sighting on Radio Devon today and more Red Kites were phoned in to his show - one at Paignton lunchtime (damned!) and another over Okehampton about 14.30hrs. And another just seen by Perry Sanders 15.05hrs drifting over Dean Prior Nr Buckfastleigh

Update and from Mark D's front garden - thanks Perry

South Brent

David FitzGerald, presenter at Radio Devon, has just called me to report a red kite over the A38 at South Brent.

Thurlestone Bay

A very quiet day in the Bay. Thurlestone Marsh last night the first Satarling roost with 50 birds on the wires at 20.30.

This morning the female Pochard still on the front pool , also the adult female Marsh Harrier over the reeds.
 Went for a walk round the whole of SOUTH MILTON LEY- talking with Bob B he is concerned about the low numbers of Reed/ Sedge this year . My totals were -  8 Reed Warbler/ 5 Sedge , 2 blackcap,  2 Whitethroat, 2 Reed Bunting, 10 Chiffchaff.

Has anyone else noticed any similar reductions on their local patch? 

Exminster

Spoonbill this afternoon, visible from canal footpath  [Gray Clements]

Plym Estuary & Saltram

A few bits of interest today including a juvenile Tawny Owl fresh out of the nest, a Spotted Flycatcher, a family party of 8 Grey Wagtails and a drake Mandarin. Also Nuthatch, and both Great Spotted (3) and Green (1) Woodpeckers.

Sherpa Marsh

Delighted to also find a female Pochard with seven ducklings. I'm pretty sure this is a first certainly for this part of North Devon, unless anyone knows otherwise?

Lundy

Golden Oriole (female type), Firecrest, 8 Spotted Flycatchers and a little influx of Phylloscs today.  [Kevin Hale]