A White-winger on the Otter!

My weekly visit to the Otter at Budleigh produced a surprise star! It started with a wander up the East side of the estuary with Vera. It was a gorgeous sunny day, in fact a bit too sunny as the glare prevented me from  seeing anything other than silhouettes on the estuary. There was a fair amount of activity in the trees including Long-tailed, Coal & Blue Tits, Chaffinch, Greenfinch & Bullfinch. Meanwhile several Skylarks were singing overhead across the fields.

View from the East side

I gave V her tea & left her in the van whilst I walked up the West bank. There weren't many gulls on the meadows, just a few Herrings and a Greater Black-backed. Normally I just hang about there for a while & then head back, but the hide was full so I decided to have a quick dash down to the front to see if there were any divers or grebes. When I looked East, I saw a couple of divers, but I couldn't work out what they were. It was flat calm, but a bit hazy. I was going to be cutting it fine for collecting Simon at 1645, but I decided to live dangerously & head down to the end of the spit for a closer view. It was only when I got half way along that I noticed another birder on the point & recognised  David, who led the the DBWPS meeting on the Otter & knows what he's talking about, or should I say looking at. Handy!

He told me that he had a couple of Red-throated Divers in the scope, then casually mentioned that there was a Glaucous Gull on the estuary behind us. I think I probably started jumping about in excitement at that point! David quickly located it for me, swimming about in among the Herring Gulls. I then found it in my scope & had a long look. Lovely white Primaries, in fact fairly white all over with pale markings. I looked it up & we concluded that it was a 1st Winter bird. This wasn't just a Year List tick, but a Life tick for me!

Update: Well, it just goes to show that I need to do more homework when it comes to gulls! It turns out that it was in fact an Iceland & not a Glaucous Gull. Oh well, just a Year tick then. In fact, I'm debating whether I can count it at all. I think I'd better stick to something easier, or maybe take up basket weaving.

What a lovely day for an Glaucous Iceland Gull!

It's one of those.....

I couldn't resist another quick look at the divers. There were 6 of them, they were difficult to see as but it looked like they could be Red & Black-throated Divers.

It was now 1645 & I still had to get back to the van at the White Bridge & then drive to East Budleigh. I finally got there at about 1715. Luckily, Simon's still talking to me!

Year List now on 141 & 1 Sub-species

Yarner Wood

I've only been to Yarner Wood once before, and that must have been over 5 years ago. I decided to go again yesterday and have another bash at finding a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (LSW) before the leaves come out & make it even harder than  it already is.

They've built a nice new hide in the car park overlooking a small pond. There were feeders quite close to the hide, but it didn't look very promising.....not a bird in sight. I thought I'd give it 5 minutes & I was glad I did. It didn't take long for a couple of Siskins to arrive, followed swiftly by Coal, Blue & Marsh Tits and a couple of Nuthatches. A Jay swooped down over the hide & a Raven was 'korrping' overhead.

The new hide

View from the hide

I then walked up the track behind the car park & saw a couple of Treecreepers & a flock of Long-tailed Tits, one of which looked like it was engaged in a spot of early nest building, flitting about with a beak full of moss. I came to the Field Museum, which was actually a museum piece itself, with a few ancient displays.

The 'Field Museum'

I walked through the woods to the old hide, which has an excellent view across a small valley. I opened the flaps in the hide & was amazed by how close the feeders were, with the nearest being only about 3 or 4 feet away. I was enveloped in a cloud of birds, with a constant stream of tits, Nuthatches & the occasional Siskin to-ing & fro-ing between the feeders & nearby trees. It was mesmerising watching them & listening to their whirring wings. A pair of Ravens flew over so low that they sounded a bit like swans going over. A Great Spotted Woodpecker (GSW) visited the surrounding trees a few times, so I was hoping that the LSW may turn up as well. It didn't!

The hide 

The view from inside

I eventually managed to drag myself away for a late lunch in the new hide before heading up a path onto an area of heathland. As I climbed up I thought I heard the call of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker coming from the valley. It was a little way off, and as I started to make my way towards it, it stopped. I listened to the call on my App, and I'm fairly sure it was what I heard, but not sure enough. If only I'd worked out how to record on my phone before it started to call! I know now for next time.....

I continued across the heath & a Buzzard made a low pass. The only other bird I saw was a male Stonechat.

Out onto the heatland

I considered heading off for a look at Haytor, but couldn't resist another visit to the hide on the hill.  I had the same constant stream of Blue, Great, Coal & Marsh Tits, plus Chaffinches & Siskins. No Nuthatches this time, but the GSW not only visited the trees 3 or 4 times, but also the peanut feeder. No sign of the LSW though. Oh well, I'll just have to come back another day!

Riverside Valley Park

I popped out for a few hours yesterday afternoon to visit the Riverside Valley Park which follows the River Exe & the Exeter Ship Canal into Exeter. I’ve never been there before so went to explore & hopefully see Green Sandpipers which have been reported there recently.  I checked Devon Bird News before leaving the car park & as it showed a Green Sandpiper at Matford Marsh a few minutes walk away, I went there first. Sure enough, there was one Green Sandpiper bobbing away......another one for the Year List.

I checked the Exe from the bridge before going into the park, there were 2 Lesser-black Backed Gulls in with the Herring Gulls. 

Looking South down the Exe 

 I walked North in the park to the first pool, which has a viewing screen not designed for people of 5 ft 4. The bottom hole was too low & the top one too high! I ended up kneeling on the gravel, not very comfy. There were just a few Wigeon, Teal &  Mallard, a snipe & a Little Egret.

I'm too short, or too tall....

Little Egret

On to the second pool which was quite difficult to view as there was no vantage point, although I did manage to see another Green Sandpiper. I carried on to the Double Lock where I turned around & headed back. Apart from a couple of Goosanders on the river, I didn't find anything of note.

Double Lock 

The Green Sandpiper has put my Year List on 140 plus 1 Sub-species

Patience

Yesterday we visited Dartmoor. It's a while since we've been up on the top of the moor & we'd forgotten how lovely it is.

We lunched in the car park at Bellever Forest watching Tree Creepers scaling the enormous pines & a Heron fly by. I was hoping for a Crossbill & was quite optimistic when I thought I heard one nearby not long after we arrived. We took Vera for a wander along the bank of the East Dart to have a look at the Clapper Bridge & she had a little paddle.

Vera checking out the water quality

We had a nice close view of a couple of Coal Tits & distant views of 2 Stonechats. 2 Grey Wagtails were patrolling the river, but no Dippers. V went back in the van for a rest & we gave our necks a serious workout looking up into the trees. Most of the bird activity was focused on just one tree, with a large flock of Chaffinches & a couple of Siskins flitting about. We wandered up the track a little way, but it was much quieter than in the car park. A car drew up beside us & the driver, wearing his bins, asked if we'd found any Crossbills. It took a few seconds to recognise  Henry, a birder that I'd met in January on the beach at Budleigh looking for the Snow Bunting.

A long way up....

The East Dart

Caught in the act!

Our car park ticket ran out just after 4, so we were getting ready to leave when a pine cone fell out of a tree about 20  yards away. I looked up into the top of the tree & there was a lovely male Crossbill! Awfully sporting of him to attract my attention like that! Simon managed to get a good look as well before he flew off with a couple of others that had been hiding. Great! It had taken almost 2 hours, but we got one in the end!

Even basil was smiling.....

Headed for home along the B3212 which runs across the moor giving fantastic views.

It will be a fantastic run on Simon's Triumph in the Summer

Fab views .....

.....& moody skies 

The road went right past the Dunsford reserve so  it would have been rude not to stop! Vera was impressed with the nice flat soft track & ambled off up front.We saw a couple of Nuthatches & heard a Marsh Tit, but unsurprisingly no Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. When we first walked into the woods a Sparrowhawk had hurtled across the track in front of us chasing a Blackbird. On the way back, it obligingly came back & sat next to the river right in front of me. I watched it for a while and was impressed by it's sneaky hunting technique. It dropped down into the brambly bush below & ferreted it's way so far in that I could only occasionally glimpse a feather or a bit of leg. It then just sat there waiting patiently for about 10 minutes. I didn't even see the Blackbird arrive, but the Sparrowhawk did & suddenly just exploded out of the hedge & set off in hot pursuit of the very shocked Blackbird. 

It dropped down into the bush & waited.....

Year List now on 139 & 1 Sub-species

A worrying development

I made my regular Monday afternoon visit to Budleigh. I walked Vera along the Eastern side of the estuary first, but didn't find anything interesting. I then left her digesting her tea in the van whilst I walked up the Western side. There were quite a few gulls on the meadows & I thought 'oh good, gulls!' And I actually meant it! I couldn't believe that I'd actually had that thought. Very worrying. It was nearly all Herring Gulls, with one darker one snoozing in the middle. I think it was probably a Lesser Black-backed Gull. There were a couple of them on the estuary that I was happy with, but this one's legs didnt look yellow.

Gulls with my little Panasonic Lumix

Zoomed in...

& enlarged.....a Lesser Black-backed?

I really struggle with shades of grey. I wonder if you can get the 'gull-grey' equivalent of a paint colour chart? Hopefully the more I look at them, the better Ill get.

I'm beginning to wonder if I need therapy!

Powderham

On Friday afternoon a Spoonbill turned up at Exminster Marsh. I debated shooting over there, but we'd promised Vera that we'd take her to The Maer, her favourite place. There's no way we could disappoint her, so I decided to go yesterday (Saturday) morning.

When I arrived the Barnacle Geese & American Wigeon were on Birdguides, but not the Spoonbill, so I checked out Powderham Marsh instead. It wasn't there either, just the usual including Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Heron, a couple of Little Egret & loads of Chafffinch & Linnet.

Powderham Marsh

A Chaffinch hedge

I then walked up Station Road to see if I could get a better view of the American Wigeon than I had in January on the estuary, but despite peering at lots of wigeon, I couldn't find it. I did however see the Water Pipit again.

Now & again since 20th February, a Spotted Redshank has been shown on Birdguides & Devon Bird News as being either on the estuary near to the mouth of the River Kenn, or on the Kenn itself. I thought I'd give it a try even though it was last posted on Birdguides on 29th Feb. I'd never been to that part of the estuary before, it doesn't look very promising with the railway running beside the estuary on one side of the road & the fenced in Powderham Estate on the other. The estate is the ancestral home of the Earl of Devon & has a castle built in 1391. One of the estate's claims to fame is that it had a female tortoise called Timothy that died in 2004 aged 165!

Powderham Castle & its Fallow Deer herd

I found the River Kenn, but couldn't actually see much of it through the fence of the estate. I walked a short way down a footpath that goes across the estate, but could see even less from there. There were 6 sleeping Greenshank on the bank, but that was about it.

A very limited view of the River Kenn

I went over the railway lines at the crossing for a quick look, although it was almost high tide. There was a little bit of bank visible, but not a lot & I couldn't see anything on it with the bins. I couldn't use the scope as a fisherman was hogging the top step.

I had lunch whilst waiting for the tide to go down a bit, & had a look at the 'Where to Watch Birds' guide. It mentioned that there are in fact 2 branches of the river Kenn, the Northern one widening into a shallow mere. Aha! Maybe I was looking in the wrong place! I walked along the road & found the second branch, but there were no birds there at all. There were however loads of herons & Little Egrets & a few other ducks on the ponds in the estate.

The Northern branch of the River Kenn

The fisherman was still hogging the railway steps, so I headed back for a walk along the sea wall from Powderham Church towards Turf Lock. There was a disappointing lack of birds both on the meadows behind the sea wall & on the estuary. The only birds of interest were 4 Pale-bellied Brent Geese that swam along the edge of the water before flying off across the estuary. I stopped short of Turf Lock as the heavens opened.

Rainbow on the Exe

I was feeling a bit weary so drove back to the River Kenn. The tide had gone out far enough for the fisherman to have given up & gone, so I had the top step to myself. The tide hadn't gone out far  so there wasn't too much of the bank visible, but it was fairly active with a lot of Redshank, a few Greenshank & Turnstone. A few of the Redshank were quite close, but they were lining the bank intermittently all the way to the Yacht Club in the distance. Fingers crossed. I started with the closest ones & luckily there was a paler one with a longer bill & a nice white eye stripe! It was the Spotted Redshank! Phew!

The Spotted Redshank was on the rocks mid photo. Yacht Club in the distance.

I headed for home, well making a quick detour into Exminster to go Woodlark hunting. Still no luck, but I did find 2 Cirl Buntings, the first time I've found my own!

I then checked Birdguides to see that a Stone Curlew had turned up in Seaton! I thought about making a dash for it, but decided that there probably wasn't enough daylight left. Hoping that it would stay longer than the Spoonbill, I really did head home.

Year List on 138 plus 1 Sub-species

You just never know......

Yesterday I afternoon I went on a Woodlark hunt. After an hour I decided to try again another day & went to Exminster Marsh instead.

I had the big scope with me & as it's quite heavy I debated whether to walk around the reserve, or just stop at the few places you can in the van & take a short walk along the canal. I decided to go for the energetic option, after all you just never know what you may come across.....

I walked down the road from the car park by the railway line, scanning the fields & pools. It was difficult to see much as it was a bit hazy & the sun was bright across the marsh. I did however find the 5 Barnacle Geese that arrived a few days ago, although they were quite distant & the usual Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler & Pintail were swimming about on the pools. There was a Water Pipit in the last pool just before the canal car park that was being very obliging & posing by the waters edge, & several Cetti's Warblers in the reeds.

Walking along the canal bank gives a great view across the marsh, but again the light wasn't good for looking at the birds, although it was nice to have a bit of sunshine!

The view across  the marsh from the canal bank...

...and over the canal to the estuary

Boats moored above Turf Lock

I walked over the lock & out to the viewpoint to look over the estuary. As the tide was out, it was mostly mud, with quite a few waders pottering about including Grey Plover, Curlew& Dunlin. There were a few Red-breasted Mergansers on the water, but I couldn't find the Slavonian Grebe that had been there earlier.

View over the Exe from the Turf viewing point

The footpath cuts across the fields to the back of the marsh, where it then follows the railway lines. I had  a much closer view of the Barnacle Geese, and was thinking that I'd seen a few good birds even though I had nothing new for The Year List. I can't get a new bird every time. A Little Egret flew over and crossed the railway lines & as I looked back to the right I saw a large bird of prey heading my way, flying quite low with a slow flap & glide. It had nice stripey under-wings & a streaky body. It was way too big & slow for a Sparrowhawk, which is a bird I've seen quite a few times in the area. It was then that it changed angle & I saw the nice wide white band across it's rump. No doubt, it was a female hen Harrier! I've only ever seen a few before, so it was a great new bird for The List.

I drove home a happy bunny!

My route around the Marsh (it took as long to do this as it did to walk around it!)