Common Goldeneye

Mudbank Lane, Exmouth, Devon 

I had to hang around in Exmouth for a few hours this afternoon. So I decided to watch here as the tide was dropping. Lots of species were on offer. There were quite a few Grey Plover, Common Ringed Plover, Red Knot and Sanderling, lots of Dunlin a small group of European Golden Plover flew up river. Several Red-breasted Merganser and Great Crested Grebe. I finally picked out a male Common Goldeneye over the far side of the estuary.

Maer Rocks, Exmouth, Devon 

I moved to Shelly Beach to look for the Black Redstart but couldn't locate so opted for Maer Rocks on as the tide would have dropped enough to look for Purple Sandpiper and was in luck with 7 on site.

Back out again

Black Hole Marsh, Seaton, Devon 

I haven't done much birding over the last month due to severve back and shoulder issues that I need an operation on. But today I felt mobile enough to get out so I opted for this site as its nice and flat and easy. There wasn't anything to talk about from the island hide apart from a fly through Eurasian Sparrowhawk. However, the tower hide was a bit more productive with numerous Common Ringed Plover, a single Green Sandpiper, 2 Little Grebe and a sleepy Common Greenshank.

Common Greenshank 

Finally A Northern Wheatear, Some Nice Waders And A YL Gull

Orcombe Point, Exmouth, Devon 

I was in Exmouth on an errand and had literally 10 minutes to spare. So I popped here for a quick look. Since moving and lockdown, I haven't been here in ages. It felt nice to be back on a familiar site. The target was Northern Wheatear and since a load had been seen at Beer Head. I thought there had to be some here. Anyway, I was able to see a single bird in my 10 minutes there. Amazingly, due to lockdown. This was my first of the year. 

Black Hole Marsh, Seaton, Devon 

A quick visit this evening produced the Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper and Ruff from the viewing area before the island hide. Lots of Dunlin and Common Ringed Plover about I also bumped into Steve Waite that let me know of an adult Yellow-legged Gull from the tower hide. I picked it out but the light wouldnt let me get a great photo with my equipment. Also a single Common Greenshank and lots more Dunlin from this hide. 

Little Stint

Yellow-legged Gull 

Brown Booby

Gwithian Sands, Cornwall 
I gave in to the lure of a potential UK second (the Kent bird a few days before seems to be a different bird). Me and my good pal Pete set off towards Hayle and around halfway there, a report came out that it was around Godrevy Point. So I thought “lets set up at Gwithian sands” as it’s a good position to see across the whole bay and across to St Ives. The plan worked perfectly as we had only been searching for 15 minutes when Pete spotted what he thought was the Brown Booby diving in the Cadris Bay direction. He quickly gave me directions and I got on to the bird exiting the water and it started heading towards Hayle. It gave really good views and we were both able to clinch the ID. A report came out a moment later saying a possible candidate had gone past Godrevy Point in a westerly direction. Which further supported our ID.

Hayle, Cornwall 
Having bagged the bird quicker than anticipated, we decided to check out Ryan’s field and the Estuary. There was no sign of the White Stork. Despite high numbers of bird the only species of note on the estuary were 4 Red Knot and a small group of Common Ringed Plover. Having bagged the target bird we decided to grab a cuppa and head back home.

Orcombe Point, Exmouth, Devon
I quickly popped here before going home in the hope of a Whinchat or something better but the only birds of note were 3 Northern Wheatear.

Arctic Tern

Exmouth Quay, Devon
A quick evening look before dusk on a dropping tide. On Great Bull Hill, in amongst good numbers of Sandwich Tern were around 10 Common Tern and a single Arctic Tern. On Warren Point were around 20 Common Ringed Plover, similar numbers of Dunlin and 4 Sanderling.

An OK Reward For Zero Effort

Otter Estuary, Budleigh Salterton, Devon 
I’m a very outdoorsy person and being house bound has been driving me insane! So after I had finished what I could do work wise at home I decided to pop to Lime Kiln Car Park in the hope of an easy Common Ringed Plover and I wasn’t disappointed as one was feeding in a channel near the car park. There were a few Eurasian Rock Pipit but nothing else of note.

Woodbury Common, Devon
I moved to the model airplane car park and just hung around in the hope that something good would come to me. It was actually a good decision as there was a Female Brambling in with the Common Chaffinch. I was super chuffed when 2 Female Red Crossbill landed briefly on a tree next to the car park. I finished off with circa 100 Fieldfare overhead 6 of which dropped in on the car park trees. So my sciatica isn’t stopping me from seeing some good stuff and I’m able to do it with virtually no  effort. I’m just pleased to be able to get out even if it is extremely gentle birding and for a very short period.

Egyptian Goose..... Oh And A Spotted Crake

Otter Estuary, Budleigh Salterton, Devon 
I took an after work walk from the Cricket pitch up to the viewing platform south of the white bridge. En route were 4 Common Ringed Plover and 4 Dunlin in the first channel by the picnic benches. At the hide an Egyptian Goose, drifted passed north with 2 Greylag Goose and what seemed like a few hundred Canada Goose. I walked up to the last viewing platform that’s just south of the white bridge in the hope of a better look at the Egyptian Goose. My hunch was right as it was sat on what remained of the mud on the opposite side of the Estuary. I watched for a few moments and decided to scan the area, just to the right of the Goose was the Spotted Crake. Giving off better views than the other day. Still a tad distant for a good photo though.

Egyptian Goose 

Egyptian Goose  

Egyptian Goose 

Spotted Crake 

Spotted Crake 

Spotted Crake 

Spotted Crake

Otter Estuary, Budleigh Salterton, Devon 
I got new of a Spotted Crake that was showing rather well on the Otter Estuary from the hide. I just managed to time the trip there to avoid high tide and obtained distant yet great scope views. This is only my second individual after seeing one at Bowling Green Marsh in 2014. Which were the briefest and worst views imaginable. So to finally get to enjoy this species was amazing! I managed a couple of really awful record shots.

Spotted Crake 

Spotted Crake 

Shelley Beach and the Quay, Exmouth, Devon 
I quickly moved on to see if I could catch any Terns on Great Bull Hill. There was only a bit of it showing but enough to hold some Terns. No Black Tern on show but a number of Sandwich Tern and a few Common Tern. A pair of Ruddy Turnstone were resting on one of the drum shaped Bouys and on the seaward side of the Warren spit were a dozen or so Common Ringed Plover.

Rosy Starling

Dawlish Warren Nature Reserve. Devon
I couldn’t resist an evening walk out to the hide to look for the adult Rosy Starling. On arrival there was no sign but a Common Whitethroat, a Sanderling, several Common Ringed Plover and a large flock of Dunlin kept me entertained whilst I waited. Then a few Common Starling flew into the trees on the golf course and I prayed it would follow. I’m not a religious guy but my prayers must of been heard as it duly dropped in. A lot of the time it was obscured but I did manage some great views. Weird thing is, this is my first UK adult. I’ve seen numerous juvenile birds over the years but this one was special.

Short video clip of Rosy Starling 

Rosy Starling

Rosy Starling

Rosy Starling

Common Whitethroat (Male)

Bladder Campion

Birds-foot Trefoil

Small-flower Lupin

Purple Foxglove

Southern Marsh Orchid

American Horned Lark

Staines Reservoir, Surrey
I Don’t usually do twitches that far away but I had the day off and decided to scratch an itch I’ve had for a while now and go for the American Horned Lark. I wasn’t sure if the weather was going to be on my side but I threw caution to the wind and made the trek up to Surrey. On the way up I was stuck at 15MPH behind a tractor (cursing as you do) on the A303 about 10 miles from Stonehenge but I soon changed my tune when I noticed a group of Partridge pottering about at the edge of a field/ road and was able to pick out a Grey Partridge. I managed to stop a bit further up the road and walk back. The Partridges had moved further in to the field but I managed to scope them and there were 3 Grey Partridge.

During the rest of the journey I was treated to 5 Red Kite at various locations on the A303 and M3. As I was on the M3 I noted quite a bit of snow around and wondered what Staines would be like. The  roads were clear of snow so I soldiered on.

I arrived at Staines in good time and was surprised how easy parking was and how easy it was to access the reservoir. I bumped into a local birder who told me the Lark had just been here (yes, I thought. No lengthy walk) but he continued to tell me it flew over to it’s favourite spot (the opposite side of the reservoir (which is a bit of a walk). Anyway, off I trod in the thin covering of snow. There were a few species to keep me occupied on route. Double figures of Common Pochard, several Great Crested Grebe and a few Meadow Pipit.

I finally made it to the location the nice local birder had pointed out and BAM! There it was! Now this may sound strange but this is my 400th species. Yes a lifer, as I’ve never seen a normal one! However, what a species to get for your 400th. It’s also special as as far as I have read it was once on the British list but got disproved and duly removed. There have been a few other not accepted claims. So if the BOU accepts this it would be a UK first. There’s then also the chance of an armchair tick if the IOC split it. It’s been muted that there could be around 6 full species of Horned Lark.

Viewing the bird was a little tricky at times due to the fence but I did manage a few snaps.

American Horned Lark

American Horned Lark

American Horned Lark

American Horned Lark

  

On the way back to the car, the nice local birder pointed out this bonus Water Pipit

Water Pipit

On the M3 on the way home I was treated to 2 more Red Kite.

Enford, Wiltshire 
I made a nature stop conveniently at a spot that I know can be good for Corn Bunting and I was in luck as there was a distant flock of around 20 birds.

Mudbank Lane, Exmouth, Devon
I got home with enough time to catch the rising tide. Good numbers of Dunlin were on view plus a few Grey Plover and Common Ringed Plover. There was also a Knott of the Matt variety (sorry I couldn’t resist). Matt’s company was welcomed in the cold conditions and I do enjoy our conversations. Matts beady eyes got me on to a 1st winter Mediterranean Gull and a few distant Sanderling. Also of note were reasonable numbers of Ruddy Turnstone and a Mew Gull.

Mediterranean Gull

A3052 near Crealy, Devon
After my interesting Buzzard on Sunday I decided to have one more look after work but no joy. I guess it will have to go down as a WTF was that bird.

Otter Estuary, Budleigh Salterton, Devon 
I decided to give the Otter a look over to see what Gulls we’re hanging about. On arrival there were 4 Common Ringed Plover resting on the edge of one of the channels. They were accompanied by 2 Dunlin and there were several Common Redshank around. I moved up the footpath, to the first viewing platform and noticed a few Gulls on the river but they were obscured for a lot of the time. In amongst the Black-headed Gulls was a smart adult winter Mediterranean Gull (my first of the year). Try as I might I couldn’t get a photo. The Tawny Owl was roosting in a hole in one of the larger trees to the right hand side of the scrapes. Also on the river was a Little Grebe, some Eurasian Wigeon and Eurasian Teal.

The Gulls looked like they would be viewable from the beach path so I relocated but once I got there they had mostly cleared off. There were however 18 Brant Geese close in and a very brave Eurasian Rock Pipit.

Common Ringed Plover

Eurasian Rock Pipit

Brant Goose

European Herring Gull

Tawny Owl

Otter estuary, Budleigh Salterton, Devon 
I managed an hour or so look around the Otter. I only covered the Cricket pitch and the path up to the hide. On arrival I bumped in Matt Knott who had seen and got me on to a Tawny Owl roosting in a distant tree. Thanks again Matt.

I think Matt and I had the same idea to look for Gulls but there wasn’t much on offer. Apart from the Tawny Owl the only other notable birds were 2 Common Ringed Plover. My first of the year (as was the Tawny Owl) and I always enjoy watching these little birds scurry about.

Tawny Owl (Honest)

Common Ringed Plover