Garden Warbler, Red Kites

Eighteen Red Kites today - the majority from the back garden and all but one west. I also recorded my first Swifts of 2025 with at least 6 birds whizzing around. 

My first Garden Warbler of the year was singing (but only showing briefly) from clifftop scrub on Orcombe Point. Otherwise just 9 Sandwich Terns offshore and at least 23 Linnets.

Off the Imperial rec - 220+ Black-headed Gulls, 1+ Common Gull and a first-summer Mediterranean Gull. Mudbank - 1 Common Sandpiper, 55 Whimbrel, 11 Bar-tailed Godwits 6 Great Crested Grebes, 3 Mallard and 4 Sandwich Terns. A Cuckoo was singing on Bicton Common this morning.

27/4 - Orcombe Point - 2 Great Northern Divers and 2 Grey Wagtails. Bystock - the pair of Tufted Ducks still and a migrant Sedge Warbler in song. Mudbank - 17 Whimbrel and 18 Bar-tailed Godwits.

Common Sandpiper - Mudbank.

Great Northern Diver - over Orcombe on 27/4.

Sunrise through fog - 27/4.

Spot Fly

Orcombe pretty quiet but 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 4 or 5 Greenland Wheatears, 20+ Swallows, 5+ House Martins and at least 3 Whimbrel logged. Didn't do Mudbank properly but 11  Brent Geese (initially thought 11 P-b but probably 9 Pale, 2 Dark-bellied)  and 6 Great Crested Grebes noted.

R-b Mergansers

Two drake Red-breasted Mergansers still hanging around off Mudbank. Also 7 Eider (2 adult males with 5 females) and the drake Common Scoter still. The gulls this evening included c900/1000+ Herring Gulls, 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 75+ Black-headed Gulls and at least 2 Common Gulls. Additionally today - 50+ Whimbrel, 5 Bar-tailed Godwits, 36 Pale-bellied Brent Geese and 6 Great Crested Grebes. Off the Imperial rec earlier - 1 Common Sandpiper, 8 Sandwich Terns, 5 Ringed Plovers, 1 Sanderling and 2 Dunlin.

Mbank

Male Whitethroat - Orcombe Point.

Counts from Mudbank today - 1 drake Common Scoter, 1 Common Sandpiper, c150 Black-headed Gulls (a big jump in numbers), c30+ Black-tailed Godwits, 9 Bar-tailed Godwits, 68 Whimbrel, 4 Redshank, 17 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 1 drake Red-breasted Merganser, 17 Dunlin, 4 Great Crested Grebes and 6 Swallows.

Late yesterday afternoon on Orcombe - 5 'Greenland' Wheatears.

 Bar-tailed Godwits.

Whimbrel.

Lsr Whitethroats

Two singing Lesser Whitethroats on Orcombe Point this morning - the first in clifftop scrub towards Sandy Bay and the second near the Geoneedle. Both pretty vocal but only affording occasional views. Also - 6 Wheatears, 1 Stonechat, 1 Whimbrel, 1+ Meadow Pipit, 2 Mallard, 7 Chiffchaffs, 6 Blackcaps, 7 Whitethroats and c40/50+ Swallows.

Mudbank - c25 Black-tailed Godwits, 8 Dunlin, 3 Ringed Plovers, c20 Whimbrel, 7 Common Gulls, 19+ Black-headed Gulls, 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 17 Shelduck, 2 male Red-breasted Mergansers, 8 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 8 Dark-belled Brent Geese, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, 2 Redshank and 3 drake Mallard.

Y Wag

I could only find two new migrants on Orcombe Point this morning - a single Willow Warbler and this female Yellow Wagtail. A faint blueish cast to the crown (and nice white super) could indicate that it's a 'Blue-headed' flava rather than flavissima.. Either way it's my first in Exmouth this year. Normally I'd expect more (as well as White Wags) but I think it's just been way too dry.

Mudbank was much quieter today although 49 Whimbrel was a reasonable count. Otherwise - 5 Great Crested Grebes, 16 Black-headed Gulls,  2 Redshank and the drake Red-breasted Merganser were noted. A flock of sixteen distant Brent Geese consisted of at least 7 Dark-bellied birds and at least 8 Pale-bellied birds.

Whimbrel - Mudbank.

Little Terns

Sandwich Terns - 23 of at least 62 off Mudbank this afternoon.

Nice to find 5 Little Terns off Mudbank once the rain had cleared this afternoon. Also off there - at least 62 Sandwich Terns, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 13 Sanderling, 12 Dunlin, 85+ Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 6+ Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 16 Shelduck, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits, 24 Whimbrel, 5 Great Crested Grebes, 3+ Swallows,  1+ Sand Martin and  2 Redshank.

Off the seafront - 1 Great Northern Diver and c30 Whimbrel east plus 13 Black-headed Gulls and 7 Eider. A single Wheatear was all I could muster on Orcombe Point.

Yesterday - 35 Whimbrel and 10 Sandwich Terns off Mudbank. At least 9 Common Scoters off the seafront.

17/4 - 11 Pale-bellied Brent Geese and 4 Dark-bellied Brent Geese off Mudbank along with 10 Black-headed Gulls and a single Grey Plover. Bystock - a pair of Tufted Ducks and 10 male Mallard. Two Willow Warblers on territory there. West Lodge - a singing Sedge Warbler. Mudbank - 36+ Whimbrel, 1 fs Mediterranean Gull, 18 Sandwich Terns, 3 Great Crested Grebes, 1 male Red-breasted Merganser and c40 Brent Geese (mostly Pale-bellieds).

16/4 - Imperial rec - 24 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 8+ Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 1 Black-tailed Godwit and 3 Great Crested Grebes. Mudbank - 1 Arctic Tern and 1 Bar-tailed Godwit.

It's unusual for Sandwich Terns to gather close off Mudbank. They usually much prefer to rest on Cockle Sands. Good views today but sadly the five Little Terns always remained distant.

First-summer Mediterranean Gull - Mudbank.

Wheatear - Orcombe Point.

Whiskered Tern

Greenland-type Wheatear - Orcombe Point.

Orcombe Point from 0630 - c40 Swallows through, 4 Wheatear, 6+ Whitethroats, 2 Meadow Pipits, 9+ Chiffchaffs,  4 Blackcaps and 5+ Willow Warblers.
Mudbank - 10 Black-headed Gulls, 12 Sandwich Terns, 1 Arctic Tern (upriver at 1150), 12 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 20 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 3 Redshank and 1 male Red-breasted Merganser.
Yesterday off there - 20 Whimbrel and 27 Sandwich Terns. My first Whitethroat of the year on a very quick visit to Orcombe.
This afternoon I broke my no twitching rule and popped up to Durleigh Reservoir in Somerset for the Whiskered Tern - a favourite species of mine that I've not seen  in the UK for 20 years (I saw James Diamond's Exe bird on 9/5/05 and before that - one on the Camel estuary, Cornwall on 10/5/95 and one on the Hayle estuary on 19/6/89. 

Sat on a buoy when I arrived and nobody else was around. After a few minutes it started dip-feeding amongst c80+ Sand Martins. I'd almost forgotten just how stunning a species it is. I watched it for about half an hour as it continued feeding, even in torrential rain. I left as the rain intensified and the bird had started flying around really high up, by which time a few other birders had arrived.

Fuerteventura

African Houbara.

Lu and I have just got back from a week on Fuerteventura. Somewhere I've wanted to go for as long as I can remember. We were based in Corralejo at the northern tip of the island. We hired a car for three days to explore the northern half of the island but did a lot of walking thereafter. I think it's fair to say that we both fell for it's unique charm and beauty. Lots of very arid, rocky volcanic terrain but the changing light and open landscape produced a multitude of desert colours that contrasted wonderfully with the blues of the Atlantic. The wildlife was great too.

Displaying male African Houbara - south of El Cotillo.

The uninhabited Lobos Island from the beach south of Corralejo. Beyond Lobos lies Lanzarote.

Barbary Ground Squirrel.

Mediterranean Short-toed Lark.

Great Grey Shrike - east Canary Islands ssp koenigi.

Hottentot Fig.

Male Spanish Sparrow. Very common pretty much everywhere we went.

Female - Betancuria.

Male Spanish Sparrow - El Cotillo.

Atlantic Canary (male) - Betancuria.

Red-veined Darter.

African Collared Dove ? - Corralejo. I havent't yet quite got to grips with the status and/or purity of this species on Fuerteventura but finding this bird required checking the (grey) undertail coverts of an awful lot of Eurasion Collared Doves!

Male Black-bellied Sandgrouse - Tindaya. Expertly picked out by Lu!

After a lot of searching along rough tracks, from the car, I picked out two or three Cream-coloured Coursers. Unfortunately pretty distant. The temptation to leave the car and get closer views was pretty strong but I resisted.

Slender-leaved Iceplant - Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum.

Crystalline Iceplant - Mesembryanthemum crystallinum.

Berthelot's Pipit - south of El Cotillo.

Mount Tindaya with Tindaya Village to the right after early morning rain.

A variety of migrant waders were seen along the rocky shoreline of Corralejo such as this Whimbrel (above) and Bar-tailed Godwit.

Other migrants were very thin on the ground but this Black Kite came in off the sea from the direction of Lanzarote.

Banded Sable Spoladea recurvalis. Masses of these found - mostly in weedy patches on the edges of carparks!

Geranium Bronze.

African Grass Blue.

Eublemma cochylioides.

Crimson Speckled.

Plain Swift - Corralejo. Really difficult to photograph. I spent some time at the top of a bell tower to get these record shots. Two birds were racing around palm trees, only occasionally breaking the skyline in fast and erratic flight. Note the dark coloration compared to Pallid Swift and lack of a pale throat patch.

Pallid Swifts were far more common, less hurried, more vocal and broader-winged.

East Canary Gecko.

Sally Lightfoot Crab.

Desert Sand Grasshopper.

Fuerteventura Atlantic Lizard.

Cattle Egret with East Canary Gecko.

Yellow Broomrape Cistanche phelypaea.

Canarian Aizoon Aizoon canariense.

Spectacled Warbler - El Cotillo.

Trumpeter Finch - La Oliva.

African Blue Tit ssp degener - Betancuria. Photographed while eating lunch in a restaurant, this bird was feeding alongside a male Sardinian Warbler.

Betancuria Village from just below the Morro Velosa viewpoint.

Egyptian Vulture - east Canary Islands ssp majorensis. One of three seen.

Female Kentish Plover - Corralejo.

Hoopoe - Corralejo.

Stone-curlew - Corralejo.

Canary Samphire Astydamia latifolia.

For a while I thought I wasn't going to see the endemic Canary Islands Stonechat but eventually I discovered this beautiful male in a barranco that I stumbled across - Barranco del Cavadero.