Well I don’t know what the weather has been like with you, but for
our 6 days in Devon, it has been wind, sleet, rain and everything you don’t want
beside the seaside. Yes, Mary and I were once again at our favourite coastal
resort, Exmouth, which trip you will know is planned to include my annual bird
watching trip on the River Exe.
It got off to a good start, arriving in pleasant weather, ticking
Great Black Backed Gull and Brent Geese (dark bellied) en route, and greeted at
the Imperial with the news that we had been upgraded to a superior room with a
sea view. I guess that was either a reward for being a regular customer, or due to positive comments on my blog.
This is the view from our room, overlooking Dawlish Warren.
Tuesday was the scheduled 3-hour trip from Exmouth to Topsham, but
as we did not weigh anchor until 1.30, this gave me time for a pre-sailing snack Coincidentally,
on the same boat trip were Rob and Janet, a couple I know from the Carsington
Bird Walks. They had come down from Derby just for the trip, so it was equally
disappointing for them that the visibility was so poor restricted what we would see. They were fortified and consoled by the hot Cornish pasties that they had
ordered, and I found the parsnip soup, both hot and tasty!!
We had a new commentator, and whilst most of us were used to David
Smallshire, who I gather was leading a tour in warmer climates, sightings were called by Derek Carter. With the weather limitations he did a good job, but
it took Rob and I to pick up the resident Slavonian Grebe at Cockwood!!
Amongst
the goodies and year-tick birds were plenty of Mergansers, Shags, Grey Plovers
and of course the Avocets. 3 Eider in the river was out of the ordinary.
The beauty of a chartered boat is that the captain will go where
the birds are, so we loitered around the sand bank to get close to the Eiders,
and he took close to an area near Powderham castle where waders are often good**.
Both Godwits were spotted, and Curlew and
Dunlin helped the wader list.
Purple Sandpipers were not in evidence, but the next day Mary and
I spotted a good number on an outgoing tide near the Marina.
Thursday, we visited a favourite area, Seaton Marshes. A tram on the tram preservation track, passing the tower hide windows was a nice surprise and we also had good sightings of Knot on the falling tide of the river Axe. The full rainbow was very clear
Friday was wet!! Armed with a take-away snack we sat in the RSPB
car park at Labrador Bay, hoping to see Cirl Bunting. Clearly the Cirl Buntings
did not want to be seen, no doubt tucked up in the dry.
But Friday was my good day for birding planning. We drove through
some lightly flooded roads to Dawlish and Teignmouth to try and see the
Powderham castle grounds water outfall into the Exe **, but the tide was still
too high. After dining alfresco at
Labrador, we returned to Powderham, and having walked across the Plymouth main rail line, it was possible to see the exposed mud and two Greenshanks near the outfall. Worth the planning!!
Made up for it on Saturday when we went to a new site for me, Haldon
forest, best known for its raptor viewpoint. My target was the feeding station,
and in accordance with the web reports, I duly found a large range of bird feeders, absolutely
teeming with Siskin, Even and as I watched a couple of Bramblings dropped it.
So as Janet Webb said on the Morecambe and Wise show, “It’s ALL
been worthwhile!”
A good birding week..58 species,
of which 19 were new for 2019, and I move on to 98 YTD. How close to the 100 barrier......."If only……….", but we all say that.
I’ll leave you with a birding thought for the upcoming Valentine’s Day.
Folk lore has it that a girl looking for a life-mate, will marry a millionaire
if a Goldfinch flies over her on Valentine day, a sparrow will signify marriage to someone who works on the
land, and a Robin, a naval officer husband..
Happy Birding
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