My first Manx Shearwater of the year was lingering off Orcombe Point first light this morning. Feeding in amongst some auks, it soon headed off east. Also seen during a very short watch - 1 Mediterranean Gull, 3 Red-throated Divers, 48 Dark-bellied Brent Geese and 1 Fulmar along with numbers of auks, Kittiwakes and a couple Gannets. Orcombe Point was pretty much bird-less with just 1 Chiffchaff, 6 Snipe and c15 Meadow Pipits logged. A quick look off Mudbank mid-afternoon produced 40 Common Gulls. A male Blackcap was in scrub beside the railway line.
Yesterday - Orcombe Point - 1 Pale-bellied Brent Goose with c50 Dark-bellied Brent Geese. Also - 2 Canada Geese over and 3 Chiffchaffs. Off the seafront - 4 Eider, 3 Red-throated Divers, 1 Great Northern Diver, 8+ Great Crested Grebes and a small group of Common Dolphins.
Mudbank counts - c370 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 1 Pale-bellied Brent Goose, c75 Turnstones, 9 Ringed Plovers, 4 Wigeon, 32 Redshank, c105 Curlew, 2 Greenshank, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, c55 Grey Plovers and c25 Knot. Nearby off Shelly Beach - 1 Great Northern Diver and 11 Lesser Black-backed Gulls.
Hi Matt. Hope you are well. Your 40 Common Gulls is interesting. I had a flock of 72 fly east over the Marsh this morning. Have never seen that before & guess they were a migrant flock pushed west by the easterly wind. Also Spoonbill and a few Sand Martin here today.
ReplyDeleteHi James - really good to hear from you! There are always small numbers off Mudbank at the moment but today's small flock was new-in. Seventy-two sounds like a really good record for the marshes. The highest numbers off here are in the evenings pre-roost. No hirundines for me yet and Spoonbill hasn't appeared in Exmouth yet which bucks the trend of recent winters. All the best. Matt.
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