Exminster & Powderham Marsh

I've been away with husband Simon for 3 months visiting 18 countries......flew to Moscow, train to Hong Kong via Siberia & Mongolia, & back by sea. It was an amazing trip & I may post a blog if I ever get around to sorting through my thousands of photos.

However, it's great to be home & yesterday I had a very enjoyable day out in the sunshine with the Devon Birds group. We met up at the RSPB car park at Exminster Marsh & wandered around the circular route. We saw several Lesser & Common Whitethroat, Cetti's, Reed & Sedge Warblers, Hobbies, Whimbrel & Dunlin.

Devon Birds....

The Lesser Whitethroats were in the hedge by the railway

Trying to find the vocal but elusive Reed Warblers...a raised hide would be  useful!

A lovely day for to wander....

...or just stand about looking & listening

A spot of bog hopping required....

...and Dave gallantly brought up the rear to fend off the cows!

A brief stop at the Turf for the Whimbrel

..and back along the canal path where we actually saw a Sedge Warbler & a Cetti's singing

After lunch most people headed off, but 5 of us stayed on at Powderham Marsh. We had a lovely wander to the viewpoint, where we sat in the sunshine for over an hour. We had fantastic views of a Sedge Warbler & Lesser Whitethroat, and added Swift, Peregrine, Stonechat & Reed Bunting to the list. However the highlight was Cirl Bunting, with one male briefly appearing on the bird table below the viewpoint, and another 2 in a ploughed field on the way back to the car park. The Lapwing chicks were pretty cute as well!

A great way to while away the afternoon!

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

Powderham Marsh & Dawlish Warren

I had a busy day birding yesterday. I started off at the RSPB’s Powderham Marsh reserve in search of 3 European White-fronted  Geese that had been reported on Birdguides.  It was only my second visit, & the first time I only went half way in. There is no circular route, but a 1200m walk to a viewpoint through fields of grass, stubble & dead sunflowers! The hedges & trees were full of Reed Buntings, Chaffinches & Linnets, & Linnets also lined the telephone wires.

The viewpoint is at the top of a bank beside the road & gives a great view over scrapes & across the railway lines to Exminster Marsh. I scanned the scrapes & it didn’t take long to find the White-fronted Geese, although there were only 2 & a Barnacle Goose in amongst a flock of Canada geese beside the railway. There were also quite a few waders including 4 Ruff. With the 2 geese that made 3 new Year List species.

Powderham Marsh from the viewpoint

On my way back out, a Skylark was twittering away overhead, another first of the year. I was watching a flock of about 40 Redwing by the entrance when a Pied Wagtail joined them, although a closer look revealed it to be a White Wagtail, a sub-species from the continent. We haven’t decided how to treat Sub-species in the Year List Race yet i.e. whether  it is to be counted as just another species, ½ a species, or only come into play in case of a tie.

Off to Dawlish Warren to check the sea for Black & Red-necked Grebe, although I stopped off at Cockwood on my way, crossing the railway line to check the estuary. There were lots of Red-breasted Mergansers, but no Goldeneye, a duck I need for the List.

Up the Exe from Cockwood

Exmouth from Cockwood

At Dawlish Warren I had lunch before heading for the sea wall. The wind was getting up although it was still fairly mild. I found the Surf Scoter in it’s usual spot near Langstone Rock, along with quite a few Common Scoter & about 20 Great Crested Grebe. I had a brief view of what I think was a Red-throated Diver, but it disappeared behind the rock before I got a good look. I spoke to a chap that had seen a Slavonian Grebe in the bay beyond the rock, so I went for a look but only found lots more Great-crested ones. I decided to wait a while to see if anything would turn up as it was a bit windy to walk round to the hide. Last time I did that my bins & scope got covered in sand despite my efforts to shield them & they crunched for days every time I focused.

Langstone Rock on the seafront at Dawlish Warren

Only a couple of Razorbills turned up, so I headed for home. I couldn’t resist stopping at Cockwood for another crack at the Goldeneye. The tide was now out, but I managed to find 2 distant juvenile Goldeneye. That made it 5 new Year List species  & a sub-species for the day!

Up the Exe from Cockwood.....spot the difference!

and across to Exmouth

On my travels during the day I encountered this lovely chap.....

Spot the Long-eared Owl

Year List 127 & 1 sub-species.