Osprey

White Wagtail - Orcombe Point

 

An early morning and a very brief late evening trip to Orcombe produced few birds. Two late Swift were perhaps most noteworthy. Otherwise I recorded just 2 Blackcap, 1 Whitethroat, 6+ Wheatear, 3+ 'Alba' Wagtail, 3+ Willow Warbler, c10+ Chiffchaff, 1 Tree Pipit, 6+ Yellow Wagtail and 1 White Wagtail.

Maer Rocks, in the rain, produced 1 Grey Heron, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Redshank and 1 Mediterranean Gull. Offshore - c40+ Sandwich Tern, c10+ Common Tern and 1+ Arctic Tern.

I spent some time counting stuff off Mudbank and came up with 5 Mediterranean Gull, 14 Common Gull, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 12+ Turnstone, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Greenshank, 1 Peregrine, 26 Sandwich Tern, 2 Common Tern, 5 Knot and 2 Kingfisher. Amongst 350+ Mallard was the first returning Pintail (rubbing shoulders with the escaped White-cheeked Pintail) and 3 Wigeon.

Bird of the day was my first Osprey this autumn, picked up from the back garden as it headed south downriver.
 

 

 

One of 5 Mediterranean Gulls off Mudbank today - 4 adults and a second winter, along with 14 Common Gulls and good numbers of Black-headed Gulls.

 

 

White-cheeked Pintail