Male Whinchat - Orcombe Point.
With rain and a north-easterly breeze it was a no-brainer to bird Orcombe first thing. Bit cold though! Not quite the numbers I was hoping for but some nice variety. Two visits (dawn and early pm) produced 1 Whinchat, at least 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Hobby, 4 Willow Warblers, 3+ Wheatears, c10 Swallows, 1 House Martin, 2+ Sand Martins (my first this year in Exmouth), 7 Blackcaps, 6 Whitethroats and c40 Linnets. Also - 1 Fulmar, 4 Shelduck and 2 Sandwich Terns. In Sandy Bay - a singing Reed Warbler, 4 Swallows and 2 Willow Warblers.
Off Mudbank - 1 first-summer Mediterranean Gull and 6 Great Crested Grebes. Nearby the male Reed Bunting still singing from West Lodge reedbed.
Bystock - 3 Tufted Ducks, 2 Firecrests, singing, 1 Jay and a Grasshopper Warbler (meadow). This afternoon - a Cuckoo - audible from Withycombe Raleigh Common but singing on East Budleigh Common. Many thanks to both Chris and Paul for the texts.
Off Mudbank - 1 first-summer Mediterranean Gull and 6 Great Crested Grebes. Nearby the male Reed Bunting still singing from West Lodge reedbed.
Bystock - 3 Tufted Ducks, 2 Firecrests, singing, 1 Jay and a Grasshopper Warbler (meadow). This afternoon - a Cuckoo - audible from Withycombe Raleigh Common but singing on East Budleigh Common. Many thanks to both Chris and Paul for the texts.
First-summer Mediterranean Gull. My first for a few weeks.
Green-veined White. Lots of Orange-tips on the wing today too.
Finally the Whitethroat numbers are building! Six singing on Orcombe this morning. More to come...
That whinchat is a stunner!
ReplyDeleteThanks Tom - they're great birds aren't they! Matt.
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