Slapton Ley etc

A family walk along the higher ley at Slapton today threw up a marsh harrier, a bittern and whilst watching a short eared owl quartering over the reeds we accidentally flushed another one on the beach side of the road. The owl returned to sit on the beach where its plumage made it virtually invisible. Cettis were still singing and a kingfisher flew upstream of the bridge.

Also the juvenile Berwick Swan has returned to Aveton Gifford and seemed to be particularly vocal.

[Tim Clyburn]

Exmouth and Otter

Maer Rocks - 0740 - 10 common scoter, 3 great northern diver, 2 velvet scoter, 1+ red-throated diver, 2 turnstone, 1 eider, 1 great crested grebe, 16 dark-b brent goose.

Mudbank - 0835 - 4 greenshank, 4 teal, 2 goldeneye, 1 shoveler, 2 pale-bellied brent goose.

Carter Park - male black redstart (photo).

Otter Estuary - fw caspian gull (see field notes), 1+ ad mediterranean gull, 1 male black redstart (first beach east of Otter Head).

Maer Rocks yesterday - late pm - 1 purple sandpiper, 15+ turnstone, 2 great northern diver and 1 eider.

The caspian gull was present for about 5 minutes at 1pm before the whole gull flock was spooked and the caspian flew upriver, past me in the east hide and then back south and out of sight. A large, long-necked classic first-winter bird, very beautiful.......if gulls are your thing!

Broadsands

The odd calling tristis type chiffchaff was still present with at least one collybita chiffchaff in the marsh, also two Water Rail.

At sea there was a big dispersed flock of feeding Kittiwake 400+ and Gannets 60+ on the Torquay side of Torbay. Off Broadsands there were 6 Great Northern Divers (none very close!), 5 Black-necked Grebes, 13 Great Crested Grebes, 1 Common Scoter, 3 Razorbill and 1 Guillemot. The auks and a good number of Shags were feeding very close to the shoreline taking tiny bait fish. 

Velator reserve

Big increase in Blackbirds yesterday - 15 ringed along witha Redwing and a Song Thrush. STill scores of Greenfinches taking advantage of the berries and feeders - 38 ringed.

river torridge landcross n devon

adult whooper swan with 2 mute swans , seen from iron bridge landcross at 10.00 hrs today

Middle Soar

Wing-tagged Great Bustard in the 'pepper pot' field, and 6 Golden Plover in the field next door. [photos from Barry Rankine]

Thurlestone Bay

Had a day off patch- Went to Chew and had 3 American waders - Sharp Tailed S'piper, Spotted S'piper & 2 Long B Dowitcher, on the way back stopped off to look at the Red B Goose at Darts Farm .

Bob B on site here ,7 Bearded Tit & Kingfisher at South Milton Ley also a male Tufted Duck flew east .

In Kingsbridge he had an Osprey over Tesco's flying NNW at !2.00

islay marsh

10 spoonbills including adult with white ring FJ9 on its left leg, also adult with yellow flag on its right leg. also adult med gull at westward ho.

River Plym estuary

At 13.00 Thursday Dec 1st the juv. Spotted Sand' was on the west bank of the river mouth where it runs into the wider estuary by Blaxton Meadow. 1 ad. Common Sand' and a juv. Greenshank were nearby.

A December Wheatear!

This Wheatear was on Seaton Marshes this afternoon. One was also seen here on the last day of November so it's presumably a lingering bird (it could even be the yacht club bird?). Easily the latest I've ever seen - in fact there's now only two months of the year that I've not seen Wheatear on patch!

Also this afternoon, on the Estuary were 6 Med Gulls (4 adults; 1 colour-ringed, and 2 2nd winters) and the 7 Greylag Geese still feeding on Colyford Marsh.

Mansands

On the way down the track this morning at about 8:15, looked out to sea, which was quite calm and saw a pod of about 12-15 Dolphins heading towards Sharkham Point and Berry Head, it looked as if there were a couple of young ones as well, pity they were too far to get a photo of them. The cold morning seem to have brought out a few birds, there were around 9 Bullfinches near the carpark and loads of Songthrushes in the bushes and also two Fieldfares. There were 3 Firecrests, with two in the woods as you walk down and another in the reeds by the beach. Also a male Reed Bunting popped in for awhile and two Chiffchaffs. A nice lot of birds on the marsh with 44 Teal, 12 Mallard, 14 Moorhens 29 Snipe and 3 Grey Herons. The coastguard cottages still had a couple of Black Redstarts on them (sorry no Wheatear!) the only new attraction coming to Mansands will be the new hide that will be going up sometime soon.

Powderham Marshes

Mid morning visit. Two , possibly three green sandpipers including one seen near to the Swan's Nest with 18 curlews. The fields of sun flowers are certainly attracting finches. Difficult to count or even estimate but at one time I thought the flock had about 300 birds in it - mostly linnets and chaffinches with over 50 greenfinches. Elsewhere one chiffchaff (alongside the railway), 16+ reed buntings and 8 skylarks flew over calling. In the distance, near the lagoon on Exminster Marshes a peregrine was calling and stooping repeatedly. I was unable to see the cause. A small group of 8 pipits were close to the road onto the marshes but I was unable to confirm their identity - almost certainly meadow pipits.

Broadsands

0930-1200
Slavonian Grebe very close in the bay along with 2 Black-necked Grebes. Also a couple of Razorbills with a Guillemot very close, fishing just off the shore line. 2 Great northern divers in the bay with another probable out towards Hopes Nose but too distant to confirm ID.
Tristis/eastern type Chiffchaff in company with a Colybita Chiff also present.

Exe Valley wetlands south of the double locks.

The small but perfectly formed starling roost performed again yesterday eve 16:15 ~ 16:30.  Two or possibly three sparrow hawks put on quite a show looking for a late night snack.

Greylag movements

More info can be found here http://www.bto.org/ai/pdfs/53move.pdf

The wintering population in Spain follows the channel coast and no doubt some pass through Devon and elsewhere with the right conditions, contrary to assumptions in Birds of Devon.

southcott valley bideford east

ruff still present

hartland point

9 red throated diver,2 balearic shearwater,1 great skua,30 kittewake, between 08.00-09,45

Trowlesworthy Warren, Dartmoor

Redhead goosander on the River Plym.
70 fieldfare in berry-laden hawthorn scrub.
Sparrowhawk over.

Exminster Marshes

A mid morning visit coincided with the high tide. Also very mild with virtually no wind. Altogether a very pleasant day. Continuing the greylag theme - 6 flew north high over the marshes but turned and eventually landed near to the lagoon. They appeared nervous and took a long time to land. Unfortunately almost as soon as they had landed a RAF helicopter flew low over the fierlds and most of the birds took to the air. At that point I counted 10 greylags of which 4 flew east towards BGM.

Also on the marshes - c300 Canada geese and lots of teal, wigeon and 30 shoveller. I counted 9 gadwall on the lagoon. Over 400 black-tailed gowits, c200 curlew and 226 lapwing were roosting. A few snipe were flying around. Near the Turf there were a few winter thrushes 20+ blackbirds, 2 song thrushes, 30 fieldfares and 11 redwings. On the canal bank I saw 2 Cettis and heard a further 4. Two water rails were calling from the reeds on the eatern canal bank.

Clennon Valley

A walk around the ponds this morning produced: 1 Mediterranean Gull (ad), 8 Chiffchaff (all collybita types), 6 Goldcrest, 3 Water Rail, 2 Teal, 4 Shoveler, 7 Tufted Ducks, 6 Snipe & 1 Little Egret.