A different-feeling dawn to yesterday - overcast with a cool north-easterly breeze. Numbers of finches, wagtails and pipits headed mostly south-west, out across the bay. I will have under-counted pretty much everything but my totals, between 0715 and 1105, included 3 Redwings, 2 Red Kites, 260+ Meadow Pipits, 380+ Pied Wagtails, 315+ Siskins, 210+ Goldfinches, c150+ Linnets, 57+ Chaffinches, 9+ Redpolls, 4 Swallows, 2+ Reed Buntings, c50+ Skylarks and 12+ Stock Doves. Also - 20+ Chiffchaffs, 3+ Goldcrests, 17 Starlings, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 4 Stonechats, 2 Blackcaps, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Coal Tit, 1 Kestrel, 1 Peregrine, 1 adult Mediterranean Gull and 3 Common Scoters.
Mudbank on incoming tide - 9 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 32 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Bar-tailed Godwits, c300 Brent Geese (a good number of Pale-bellied birds still, but a significant increase in Dark-bellied birds today), c120 Mallard, still only c500 Wigeon, c100 Shelduck, 3 Pintail, 1 Shoveler, 8 Great Crested Grebes and 2 Kingfishers.
Red Kites are a rare sight for me here in Exmouth, in autumn, so these 2 birds were a very nice surprise. They headed roughly towards the town at 1025am, with a couple of crows in attendance.
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