Yellow Wags, fw YLG

At least 35 Yellow Wagtails in with cattle on Orcombe Point this morning. The best showing so far...

Orcombe Point from 0705 - 1 Mediterranean Gull, 8 Grey Wagtails (including 6 together, heading east), 25+ Swallows, 1 Little Egret, 8+ Chiffchaffs, 1 Meadow Pipit, 35+ Yellow Wagtails, 13+ Wheatears and my first Reed Bunting of the autumn.

Mudbank - 8 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 2 Yellow Wagtails, 19 Wigeon, c30 Teal, 41 Shelduck, 1 Shoveler, 1 Redshank, 80+ Ringed Plovers, 18+ Dunlin, 2+ Sanderling, 2 Whimbrel, c10 Knot, c40 Sandwich Terns, 2 Turnstones, 1 Greenshank, 7 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Common Gulls and 1 fw Yellow-legged Gull.

Wheatear - at least 13 on Orcombe this morning.

First-winter Yellow-legged Gull - Mudbank.

Garden Warbler, Knot

The Yellow Wagtails showed really well this morning but I still struggled to photograph them. At least 10 birds knocking around the area.

Orcombe Point - 10+ Yellow Wagtails, 1 Garden Warbler, 4+ Chiffchaffs, 2+ Grey Wagtails, 13+ Swallows, 1 Sand Martin, 1 Tree Pipit, 2 Grey Herons, 1 Collared Dove, 1 Jay, 3+ Blackcaps and 2 Cirl Buntings (female and juv). Offshore - 3 Common Terns, 1 Fulmar and 13 Canada Geese (west). Really good to bird the site with Martin VT this morning.

Mudbank this evening - 29+ Knot, 7 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Redshank, 40 Curlew, 28 Shelduck, 40+ Sandwich Terns, 19+ Teal, 3 Wigeon, 2 Grey Wagtails, 1 Rock Pipit and a Kingfisher.

Wheatear - Orcombe Point.

At least 29 Knot off Mudbank this evening. Twenty-two pictured above.

Pintail, Hobby etc.

A nice early returning Pintail and a reminder, if needed,  that we're staring straight down the barrel of autumn!

Orcombe Point - 11 Yellow Wagtails, 1 Firecrest, 3 Whitethroats, 4 Blackcaps, 6+ Chiffchaffs, 3 Grey Wagtails, 3 Tree Pipits, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 2 Meadow Pipits, 2 Wheatears, 35+ Swallows, 1 Willow Warbler, 9 Whimbrel, 45+ Linnets and 1 Cirl Bunting.

A quick scoot round Bystock produced 1 Hobby, 1 male Redstart, 1 Firecrest, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Kestrel and 2 Kingfishers.

Mudbank - a returning Pintail, 4 Wigeon, 2 Whimbrel, 2 Redshank, 5 juvenile Knot, 13 Teal, 21 Ringed Plovers, 1 Kingfisher and 1 Osprey.

Nine Whimbrel heading east over Orcombe Point.

A brief Hobby over Bystock - my first in Exmouth this year.

Osprey - Mudbank.

Waders

Juvenile Greenshank - Mudbank.

A nice selection of waders off Mudbank today - my first (and, statistically, probably last) juvenile Curlew Sandpiper of the autumn was with 90 Ringed Plovers, feeding on Cockle Sands, with at least 3 Dunlin, 3 Turnstones and my first Snipe of the autumn. A little closer were another 3 Turnstones, 2 Dunlin, 2 Greenshank, 1 Redshank, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, c200+ Oystercatchers plus a small number of Curlew. Also off there - 15 Great Crested Grebes (an increase from the regular six), 3 Wigeon, 3 Common Terns, 6+ Sandwich Terns, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Rock Pipit and 3 Mediterranean Gulls.

Orcombe Point was a little more lively first thing with at least 13 (probably in excess of 20) Yellow Wagtails, 28+ Swallows, 3 Meadow Pipits, 6+ Tree Pipits, 1 Grey Wagtail and 1 Wheatear. Offshore, two Harbour Porpoises were easy to pick out in glass-like sea conditions. The concerning lack of Willow Warblers persists with none seen again today. 

 Black-tailed Godwit - Mudbank.

Kittiwakes

A rudimentary count revealed c475 Kittiwakes on the Straight Point ledges this morning, tying in nicely with Rupert's count of c500 the other day. These ledges are either a hive of activity at this time of year or they're completely deserted as birds have disappeared on lengthy feeding forays out to sea.

Orcombe Point was again very quiet today. Counts included 14+ Sandwich Terns, 1 juvenile Mediterranean Gull, 7 Common Scoters, 2 Little Egrets, 17 Swallows, 3 Ravens, 3 Sand Martins, 1 House Martin and 1 Meadow Pipit. Pretty dire, even by Orcombe standards!
Mudbank - c450 Mallard, 3 Wigeon, 1 Teal, 2 Redshank, 1 Dunlin, 4 juvenile Knot, 3 Turnstone, 1 Greenshank, 1 Black-tailed Godwit and at least 1 Osprey. Two Yellow Wagtails flew south and, more unusually, a Kestrel crossed the river. 
The Yellow-legged Gull was in the recycling centre and a Tree Pipit flew over there.

This wandering Hummingbird Hawkmoth caterpillar is turning a purplish-brown, indicating its  intention to find somewhere safe to pupate.

The Yellow-legged Gull posed nicely in its favourite location - the Coastal Waste recycling centre.

LW Still

The Lesser Whitethroat was again in scrub along the coast path this morning.

Orcombe Point first thing - 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Yellow Wagtails, 2 Grey Wagtails, 1 Curlew and 1 Willow Warbler. No suggestion of anything new in but it was great to see a juvenile Cirl Bunting being attended to by the female. Irrefutable evidence that breeding was indeed successful! I suspect there were other juveniles nearby but I only saw the one. 

Mudbank counts included 2 Dunlin, 1 Knot, 3 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 7 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, the adult Osprey, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 3 Wigeon and 1 Rock Pipit. 

The fourth-winter Yellow-legged Gull was again in the recycling centre.

The seven Pale-bellied Brent Geese are still settled off Mudbank.

 Adult Mediterranean Gull.

Lesser Whitethroat, Y Wags

The seven Pale-bellied Brent Geese showed well off Mudbank today having been seen off there yesterday and off the Warren the day before. All adults and all early movers.

A little more migrant action on Orcombe today with 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 5+ Yellow Wagtails, 1 Meadow Pipit, 2 Willow Warblers, c30+ House Martins, 1 Sand Martin and c20+ Swallows logged. Also - 3 Skylarks, c20/30+ Linnets, 7 Chiffchaffs, juvenile Peregrine, 1 Blackcap and the female Cirl Bunting again collecting food.

Mudbank was decent too with the 7 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, the adult Osprey again spending ages on its favourite perch (a big lump of netting/crab pot on Cockle Sands), 1 Little Tern, 1 Greenshank, 3 Redshank, 1 juvenile Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Dunlin, 2 Wigeon, 3 Turnstones, 1 Dunlin, 6 Canada Geese, 28+ Little Egrets, 2 Grey Herons, 6 Great Crested Grebes, 1 Teal, 1 Whimbrel and 2+ Sandwich Terns.

Yesterday off Mudbank - 7 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 4+ Common Terns, c60 Teal, 3 Wigeon and c10+ Sandwich Terns.

23/8 - a quick look from Maer Rocks first thing - 12 Mediterranean Gulls, 1 Little Egret, 1 or 2 Arctic Skuas, 12+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls (south), 2 Manx Shearwaters, 1 Balearic Shearwater and 2 Sandwich Terns. Off Mudbank - 1 Osprey, 2 Redshank, 21 Little Egrets, 2 Teal, 1 Sandwich Tern, 5 Great Crested Grebes and 2 Turnstones.

One of at least five Yellow Wagtails drawn in by cattle this morning. If previous summers are anything to go by the numbers should quickly build (we've had up to a hundred in the past) and there are likely to be birds present now for the next few weeks, moving between the cow herds. Fingers crossed...

As far as I can tell, the local Peregrines managed to fledge just this one bird but it's very active and usually makes several appearances on my morning rounds.

The regular Osprey.

Black Tern

 This second-summer/third-winter Yellow-legged Gull was roosting on the cricket pitch this morning. The regular third-summer/fourth winter was roosting on the Imperial rugby ground.

A sea-watch from the raised beach huts this morning, from 0615 - 0815. Really busy for the first hour or so and then really disappointingly quiet. A continuous procession of Gannets (and plenty of Kittiwakes) was augmented with 6 Balearic Shearwaters, 4 Manx Shearwaters, 5 shearwater sp (Balearic/Manx), 7 Arctic Skuas, 3 skua sp (Arctic or Long-tailed), 7 Sandwich Terns, 5 Fulmars and 7 Common Scoters. Best bird was a juvenile Black Tern that went through with a sizeable flock of Kittiwakes. Yellow-legged Gulls were on the cricket pitch (2s/3w) and the Imperial rugby ground (the regular 3s/4w).

Mudbank counts included 24 Mute Swans, c30/40+ Teal, 5 Wigeon, 1 Shoveler, 7 Shelduck, 5+ Sandwich Terns, 1 Common Tern, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit and 1 or 2 Mediterranean Gulls. Off Shelly Beach - 14+ Sandwich Terns and 6 Ringed Plovers.

Colour-ringed Herring Gull - cricket pitch.

A Shoveler, presumably yesterday's bird, was again off Mudbank this morning. Seven Shelduck off there too.

Lesser Black-backed Gull - cricket pitch.

Y Wag, Shoveler

Orcombe Point - 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 3 Meadow Pipits, 4 Blackcaps, 9 Chiffchaffs, 3 Whitethroats, 20+ Swallows, 1 Ringed Plover, 2 Skylarks, 1 female Cirl Bunting (with food), 2 Stock Doves, 1 Kestrel, 1 juvenile Peregrine and 2 Willow Warblers.
On the cricket pitch - 1 Wheatear and off Mudbank - 1 Osprey, 1 Shoveler, 5 Wigeon, 1 Turnstone, 5 Ringed Plovers, 1 Turnstone, 2 Dunlin and the third-summer Yellow-legged Gull.

This Osprey has a propensity for sitting in the water. It doesn't seem too bothered about a perch and so far I've not seen it catch a fish...

Shoveler

Great Skuas, Osprey

I wasn't expecting anything in benign, pretty much windless conditions this morning so 3 Great Skuas was a surprise, albeit a distant surprise. Also - 2 Little Egrets into the bay but little else of note. Orcombe Point was very quiet with just 1+ Tree Pipit, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Curlew and 2 Cirl Buntings recorded.

I was busy gardening later in the morning when Lee texted. An Osprey was hunting the lower estuary. I nipped down to Mudbank and before long, picked it up with a number of gulls in tow. It landed on Cockle Sands and was still there when I left about half an hour later. Also off there - 4 Wigeon and 3 Grey Plovers.

 The Osprey spent quite some time, fishless, resting on Cockle Sands this morning having earlier been hunting the lower estuary. Many thanks to Lee for the text.

Portuguese YLGs

I could have spent hours watching and photographing this lot - part of a flock of c500+ birds (Yellow-legged and Lesser Black-backed Gulls) on a beach in Porto. My marriage however is way more important to me than birds so I just couldn't put Lu through it. Had the beach been less hot and more picturesque however I might have chanced a longer look. We took a train from the beautiful heart of the city to the much less attractive coastal district, curious to see what it was like. Needless to say, we were soon back on the train in the opposite direction!