Tuesday 8 February 2022

Velvet and Purps


A lot of work is being done at the lifeboat station, to extend the launch ramp. Erosion has created a drop at the end of the ramp, so much of the extended ramp is to be buried, in preparation for future erosion. The rocks in the foreground is where Maer Rocks starts.

Another evening spell of birding after work, checking a couple sites. The Velvet Scoter was again off the seafront, scoped the other side of Pole Sands, from the Pavilions carpark. Seventy-nine Dark-bellied Brent Geese were feeding on the sandbanks, and a further 50 were on (or just off) the beach, at Dawlish Warren, along with a female Red-breasted Merganser
Nearby on Maer Rocks - at least 10 Turnstones and 7 Purple Sandpipers, along with a single Rock Pipit and lonesome Little Egret.
Just 7 Pintail and a Greenshank off Mudbank, on the low tide, and all 10 Glossy Ibis over the house, to roost, at 1655 this evening as drizzle moved in. Too drizzly to count the Cattle Egrets tonight. I couldn't even see Starcross.

My crappy field sketches of the female-type Velvet Scoter. Too far away for a photo, even by my standards, but a distinctive enough structure, quite unlike Common Scoter. It's a chunky, thick-necked bird with a distinctive, concave forehead/bill structure. At distance the paler facial spots and white secondaries are invisible, but when it flaps its (oddly short-looking) wings the latter feature becomes obvious.


Purple Sandpiper - Maer Rocks.





Again it was the whoosh of wings that drew my attention to the Ibis flock, as they powered over the house towards Exminster Marshes. Twenty-two minutes earlier than last night.

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