Pec, Sticticalis

The prospect of close views of this juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper was enough to tempt me over to the Axe for the second time in as many weeks! A fabulous bird. Unfortunately it was like a rugby scrum in the hide so I didn't stay very long. Just long enough to see 1 Wood Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Common Sandpipers, 2 juvenile Curlew Sandpipers and a Yellow Wagtail amongst the usual stuff.

Orcombe was quiet first thing with just 2 Yellow Wagtails, 1+ Grey Wagtail, 1 Sand Martin, 2 House Martins, 10+ Swallows, 8 Chiffchaffs and a Cirl Bunting making it into the notebook.

Mudbank - 16 Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 1 Ringed Plover, 13 Black-tailed Godwits, 21 Pintail, 64 Wigeon, 1 juvenile Knot, 1 Peregrine (on Cockle Sands), 2 Ravens, 1 Whimbrel and an Osprey.

I very nearly passed this Mugwort Pearl Loxostege sticticalis off as one of the numerous Vestals or Rush Veneers. It's a scarce migrant species that I've yet to trap in the garden.

The weedy corners of the top fields have been heaving with Vestals these last few weeks. I should have really attempted a proper count at some point but I never reached that level of motivation.

Garganey

Garganey distantly off Shelly beach this morning. Looking a bit lost and wary, it didn't hang around for long.

Little time in the field today but Orcombe Point from dawn - 10 Chiffchaffs (an increase), 1 Willow Warbler, 8+ Yellow Wagtails, 4 alba wagtails, 7+ Grey Wagtails, 4+ Swallows, 1+ Meadow Pipit, 3 Collared Doves, 1 Grey Heron and 1 Stonechat.

Off Shelly Beach - 1 Garganey, 1 Black Tern, 1 juvenile Arctic Tern, 1 juvenile Little Gull, 65+ Common Terns, 2 Yellow Wagtails, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Mediterranean Gull and 2 Bar-tailed Godwits.

Mudbank - 28 Black-tailed Godwits, 20 Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 11 Knot, 1 Turnstone, 13 Great Crested Grebes, 54 Wigeon and 21 Shelduck.

I assumed this morning's Black Tern was going to be a juvenile but I think it's probably a winter-plumaged adult bird. Distant and quite brief views only unfortunately.

Osprey, Y Wags

The juvenile Osprey was at times directly overhead at Mudbank this morning.

Shelly Beach - quick look - c400+ Common Terns and 2 Mediterranean Gulls this morning.

Mudbank - juvenile Osprey, 8 Black-tailed Godwits and c100 Teal but very little time spent looking and most stuff flushed by the Osprey anyway!

I combined an Aldi shop with a look at Bowling Green again this morning. Totals included fairly crude counts of 425+ Redshank, c300 Curlew and c470+ Black-tailed Godwits. These species were bunched in such a way that made accurate counting very difficult. Easier to count were 6 juvenile Ruff, 17 Knot, 2 Common Sandpipers, 20 Lapwing, 37+ Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plovers, 25 Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 7+ Bar-tailed Godwits, 1 Whimbrel, 3 Spoonbill, 14 Cattle Egrets, 35 Little Egrets, 22+ Wigeon (with a further flock of c20+ over and back onto the river), 2 Gadwall, c75 Teal, 13 Pintail and 27+ Shoveler.

Yesterday - Orcombe - 14+ Yellow Wagtails and 1 Wheatear.

Shelly Beach - c300 Common Terns, c20+ Sandwich Terns and 2 Little Terns.

Mudbank - 1 Osprey, 650+ Black-headed Gulls  and 38+ Wigeon the only stuff counted.

Wheatear - just the one on Orcombe yesterday.

A minimum of 14 Yellow Wagtails are still in with cattle on Orcombe.

Terns, B Green

Cattle Egret - Bowling Green.

Good to see tern numbers have picked up again. A look off Shelly Beach this evening produced c5/600+ Common Terns. Many were resting on Bull Hill and a load more were feeding in the river. The light wasn't great so picking out other species wasn't straightforward but I eventually found 1 juvenile Little Tern and 1 juvenile Arctic Tern - presumably yesterday's bird. Also off Shelly Beach - 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 64 Great Black-backed Gulls and c60+ Sandwich Terns. Not a lot else today but the 6cy Yellow-legged Gull was on the Imperial rugby ground and a Hobby was hunting over the top fields of Orcombe quite early on.

Had the urge to see some waders this morning so went to Bowling Green over the high tide - 3 Spotted Redshank, 1 Avocet, 3 Turnstones, 22 Greenshank, 8+ Ringed Plovers, c150+ Dunlin, 6+ Knot, 14 Lapwing, 1 Common Sandpiper, 10+ Bar-tailed Godwits, 1 Whimbrel, 21 Pintail, 12 Shoveler, 17 Shelduck, c50 Teal, 7 Wigeon, 2 Gadwall, 1 Water Rail, 1 juvenile Common Gull and 1 Peregrine. Also - good numbers of Redshank, Curlew and Black-tailed Godwits along with 3 Spoonbill, 5+ Cattle Egrets, 6 Grey Herons and 37 Little Egrets.

The semi-resident 6cy Yellow-legged Gull was loafing on the Imperial rugby ground today.

Arctic Tern

Juvenile Arctic Tern this evening. Such stunning but subtle birds - I nearly always have a compulsion to try and sketch them. A very difficult bird to get a photograph of in Exmouth - this one was feeding a fair way off Shelly beach amongst a flock of Black-headed Gulls and Common Terns.

Orcombe from 0625 - 3 Willow Warblers, 1 Whitethroat, 1+ Yellow Wagtail, 3 Grey Wagtails, 2 Meadow Pipits, 3 alba wagtails and 3+ Chiffchaffs. Remarkably, the Cetti's Warbler is still singing from dry cliff-top scrub.

Mudbank - 3 Greenshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 9 Redshank, 5 Black-tailed Godwits, 5 Bar-tailed Godwits, 11 Pintail, 48 Wigeon, 10 Teal, 4 Ringed Plovers, 10+ Whimbrel, 6 Dunlin, 2 Sand Martins and 1 Tree Pipit over.

Bystock Meadow - 3 Spotted Flycatchers.

Shelly beach this evening - 1 juvenile Arctic Tern, c50+ Common Terns, c55 Sandwich Terns, 10+ Mediterranean Gulls, 1 adult Peregrine and 5 Yellow Wagtails over.

Black-tailed Godwit - Mudbank.

Newquay

Lu and I were politely asked to make ourselves scarce so that Joel could have a load of friends round to celebrate his 21st. We booked a guesthouse in Newquay and I managed to squeeze in a bit of birding on the way there (a quick look at Porth reservoir) along with a 90 minute sea-watch first thing this morning, from Towan Head.

Porth Reservoir yesterday - 1 Temminck's Stint, 1 Green Sandpiper, 4 Common Sandpipers, 8+ Ringed Plovers, c10+ Dunlin, 3+ Great Crested Grebes and 2 Marsh Tits.

Newquay golf course - 2 Whimbrel and 4 Choughs.

Towan Head from 0630 'til 8am this morning (before breakfast) - 1380+ Manx Shearwaters, just 2 Kittiwakes and 1 skua sp (probably just Arctic). On the golf course - 1 Whimbrel and 15 Choughs.

Mudbank early pm - a juvenile Osprey on Cockle Sands along with just 8 Sandwich Terns.

Decent scope views but a devil to pick out at times. Here with 2 Dunlin in front of it.

Green Sandpiper - Porth reservoir.

I counted mostly those Manx Shearwaters that were passing close west off Towan Head. There were masses more further out but the vast expanse of sea was just too much for me to cover on my own. My count of 1380 therefore in no way reflects the true numbers of birds that must have gone past this morning. I figured that if I studied the closer birds I'd at least have a chance of identifying any rarer shearwaters or petrels if they passed. It was a little galling to find out that there had been a Wilson's Petrel in Fistral Bay which was just behind my watching position on Towan Head.

I wasn't really expecting to see Choughs in Newquay. I didn't even have my bins or camera with me yesterday when the first one flew over. Fifteen were counted on my way back to the guesthouse from my sea-watch this morning - all on the golf course.

Three Casps?!

This gorgeous adult Caspian Gull was on Exmouth cricket pitch until 8am this morning. The driving rain and low light level meant photographing it was a problem. This is the first adult bird I've ever seen in Exmouth and comes hot on the heels of yesterday's ringed juvenile bird.

Exmouth cricket pitch first thing - adult Caspian Gull. Also 3 Ring-necked Parakeets there.

Nearby on the beach - 1 juvenile Caspian Gull and 4 Mediterranean Gulls.

Mudbank - a good count of 75 Little Egrets on the dropping tide. Otherwise hundreds of Common Terns on Cockle Sands but the distance coupled with the driving rain meant I couldn't properly count them. Not much else but 38 Wigeon, 15 Teal, 30 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Greenshank, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Common Sandpiper, 9 Redshank, 17 Whimbrel and 1 first-winter Mediterranean Gull noted.

Orcombe - 1 Wheatear and a flock of c230 Linnets during a drier, warmer spell this afternoon. A number of Painted Ladies and Clouded Yellows in the top fields with good numbers of Rush Veneer kicked up along with c20/30+ Vestals. Never seen so many!

This evening - off the Imperial - 1 un-ringed juvenile Caspian Gull (pretty sure a different bird to this morning but not certain), c20+ Mediterranean Gulls (mostly first-winters), 1 Osprey and c50 Common Terns.

I was thrilled to get good views of this beautiful juvenile Caspian Gull this morning, after the frustratingly distant bird yesterday. Clearly a different, un-ringed bird and further evidence that there are numbers on the move. It was on the beach next to the lifeboat station.

One of four Mediterranean Gulls on the beach this morning.

Another first-winter Mediterranean Gull, this one yellow-ringed AUAN. Apparent metal ring on right tarsus.