Some Good Birds In Exeter

Northbrook, Ludwell Valley, Exeter 
A walk along the brook from Ludwell Lane to Topsham Road after work was well worth it. On site were 1 Water Rail, 1 White-throated Dipper and a minimum of 6 Grey Wagtail. I’ve said this before but it amazes my that such good birds survive here. I couldn’t find any Green Sandpiper though.

Woodbury Common, Devon 
A quick look until dusk in the hope of the Hen Harrier was unsuccessful but I unintentionally flushed a single Jack Snipe and had 3 Eurasian Woodcock in flight at dusk.

Some Somerset Stuff

Oathe, Somerset
I had a work meeting in Somerset today and after it finished I popped to this area for half an hour as it was around the corner. The reason for the visit was that I had heard there were Whooper Swans here. I couldn’t find any but I was impressed by the amount of Northern Lapwing in the area. I didn’t do an accurate count but it was was in the several hundreds. I walked along the road and flushed a Common Kingfisher and best of all a Jack Snipe. There were also a decent amount of Redwing and Fieldfare.

Fieldfare 

Swell Wood, Somerset
I also popped into this RSPB reserve for 10 minutes. I didn’t leave the car park as someone had dropped Seed all over the place and there was a real feeding frenzy of woodland birds. Lots of Coal Tit, Eurasian Blue Tit and Great Tit with a couple of Marsh Tit mixed in. Also a Eurasian Nuthatch and a pair of Great Spotted Woodpecker. This seemed like a really nice reserve and has a Heronry lookout hide.