Back home

We're back in Exmouth after spending a very enjoyable couple of months cruising the canals of the Midlands & Wales. Since arriving home on Sunday I've been out & about a couple of times with the scope & bins. On Monday I visited Exminster Marsh where I managed to find the 2 Red-crested Pochards. I was pleasantly surprised to find them on the large central lagoon, despite the fact that there was some noisy work being done right next to it.

Lovely views across to the Exe

On Tuesday I decided to try & find the Bonaparte's Gull at Dawlish Warren. I wasn't sure how easy it would be to recognise it, even if I managed to find it. I met another lady birder from Plymouth on the sea wall & as she'd seen several before I stuck with her to improve my chances. We'd walked half way to Langstone Rock & found a Med Gull in with the few Black-headed Gulls when we heard that the Bonaparte's had been seen near the groynes about 10 minutes earlier. We headed back that way and stopped at the lifeguard's hut. We'd been checking the few Black-headed Gulls for a while when I came upon the Bonaparte's sitting by itself on the water. It was actually very easy to differentiate from the Black-headed Gulls, being smaller & neater with a nice little black bill. There was a group of chaps looking for the gull a bit further along the front. We tried to attract their attention but as they didn't look our way I did my good deed for the day & dashed round to let them know we'd found it. We all managed to have a really good look before it flew off towards the estuary.

The Bonaparte's Gull is out there.....

I'm currently defrosting having spent 2 hours on the estuary this morning in search of the Scaup that's apparently been hanging about there for a while. I saw my first Pintails of the season & developed Wigeon-blindness...but no Scaup.

Year List now on 204.