Spot Red

My first Spotted Redshank in Exmouth this year - present over the high tide with 8 Greenshank and 26 Redshank.

Orcombe Point from 0645 to 0840 - 13+ Chiffchaffs, 1 Firecrest, 6 Blackcaps, 1 Snipe, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Sand Martin, c30 Swallows, c15 House Martins, c140 Meadow Pipits, 3+ Grey Wagtails, 13 alba wagtails, 1 Sparrowhawk, 13+ Greenfinches, 1 Kestrel, 12+ Skylarks, 4 Goldfinches, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1+ Coal Tit, 2 Chaffinches and c3/400+ Linnets.

Mudbank counts included 1 Spotted Redshank, 8 Greenshank, 26 Redshank, 58 Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits, 63 Shelduck, 400+ Mallard, 166 Wigeon, 5 Pintail, c220 Teal, 3 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 8 Great Crested Grebes, 7+ Sandwich Terns, 1 Common Tern and 1 Firecrest.

Spotted Redshank with Black-tailed Godwits.

Teal off Mudbank. c220 present over high tide today.

Sparrowhawk - Orcombe Point.

 Large Ranunculus. Also yesterday - 1 Dewick's Plusia, 1 Scarce Bordered Straw, 3 Olive-tree Pearl Palpitta vitrealis, 2 Small Mottled Willow, 2 Rusty Dot Pearl, 4 Rush Veneer and 3 L-album Wainscot. 

Orcombe Point yesterday between 7am and 0850 - 320+ Meadow Pipits, 13 Chiffchaffs, 4 Grey Wagtails, 1 Stonechat, 2+ alba wagtails, 40+ Swallows, up to 11 Chaffinches, 2 Blackcaps, 35+ House Martins, 9 Greenfinches, the long-staying Cetti's Warbler, 1+ Goldcrest and 2 Cirl Buntings. The Linnet flock is still in the top fields numbering c3/400+ birds.
Mudbank - not much counting done but 61 Black-tailed Godwits, 21 Redshank, the 3 Dark-bellied Brent Geese and 3 Greenshank noted.

Gadwall, Bonxies

My first Gadwall in Exmouh this year.

Two Great Skuas lingering off Orcombe Point this morning. A short look also produced 1+ Arctic Skua, 1 Balearic Shearwater and 1 Common Scoter plus a trickle of Gannets and Kittiwakes west.

Mudbank - 1 drake Gadwall, 30 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Bar-tailed Godwits, 38 Pintail, 23 Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 4 Ringed Plovers, 140+ Wigeon, c60 Little Egrets, c300+ Mallard, 2 Turnstones, 1 adult Mediterranean Gull, 9+ Sandwich Terns, 1 juvenile Common Tern and the 3 Dark-bellied Brent Geese.

18/9 - Orcombe Point - 265+ Meadow Pipits west, c40 Swallows, 1 Sand Martin, 1 Tree Pipit, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 7 alba wagtails, 9 Greenfinches, 2 Chaffinches, 3 Goldcrests, 10+ Chiffchaffs, 1 Blackcap, 1 Cetti's Warbler and 6 Grey Wagtails.

Mudbank - 264 Curlew, 157 Wigeon, 2 Pintail, 16 Great Crested Grebes, 3 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 4 Bar-tailed Godwits, 6 Black-tailed Godwits, 16 Redshank, 52 Shelduck, 51 Little Egrets, 1 Common Tern, 4+ Sandwich Terns and 1 Turnstone.

17/9 - Mudbank - 10 Redshank, 1 Turnstone, 10 Black-tailed Godwits, 29 Pintail, 6 Ringed Plovers, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits, 14 Sandwich Terns, 1 Little Tern, 3 Common Terns and 2 Dark-bellied Brent Geese.

Orcombe Point - 1 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Stonechat and 4 Stock Doves.

Turnstones - Mudbank.

Brents Back, Mipits

Two Dark-bellied Brent Geese on Cockle Sands.

The first properly autumnal-feeling morning this morning. Clear skies, a very light north-westerly and a bit of a chill saw c375 Meadow Pipits head west between 0700 and 0910. Also - 10 Grey Wagtails, 6 alba wagtails, 9 Yellow Wagtails, 3 Tree Pipits, 2 Reed Buntings, 2 Snipe, 4 Cormorants, 3 House Martins, 27+ Swallows, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 11 Chiffchaffs, 1 Turnstone, 1 Blackcap, 2 Stonechats, 1 Collared Dove, 1 Firecrest and a singing male Cirl Bunting.

Mudbank - 2 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, c30 Pintail, c60 Mallard, c115 Wigeon, 9 Redshank, 3 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 26 Shelduck and just 3 Sandwich Terns on the dropping tide.

Yesterday - Orcombe Point - 5+ Yellow Wagtails, c30+ Meadow Pipits, 60+ Swallows, 3 Grey Wagtails, c3/400+ Linnets, 1 Wheatear and 1 Green Sandpiper.

Mudbank - 57 Little Egrets in the roost, 68 Wigeon, 1 Osprey, 9 Redshank and 1 Black-tailed Godwit.

Still loads of Clouded Yellows around. I've been seeing the pale 'helice' variety more frequently than usual.

This morning's Firecrest on Orcombe.

Blackhill Osprey

Osprey - Blackhill Quarry this afternoon. On the quarry pool - 4 Tufted Ducks and 4 Coots.

Mudbank today - 1 Osprey (on Cockle Sands), 72 Wigeon, 13 Mute Swans, 5 Redshank and 10+ Sandwich Terns on a brief post high tide visit. This evening - 9 Redshank, 11 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Little Tern and 1 adult Peregrine.

Wheatear - Orcombe Point 12/9.

13/9 - Orcombe very quiet - 1 Wheatear, 8 Grey Wagtails, 7+ Meadow Pipits, 1 Stonechat, 8+ Chiffchaffs and 2 Stock Doves.

Mudbank - 14+ Great Crested Grebes, 57 Pintail, 38 Wigeon and 2 Ospreys further upriver.

12/9 - Orcombe - 1 Firecrest, 8 Chiffchaffs, 10+ Yellow Wagtails, 2 alba wagtails, 60+ Meadow Pipits, 6 Grey Wagtails, 1 Wheatear, 1 Blackcap, 3 Swallows, 1 House Martin and 1 Tree Pipit.

Mudbank - 1 Little Tern, 1 Teal, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit and 16 Black-tailed Godwits.

11/9 - Orcombe - 1 Cetti's Warbler, 3 Grey Wagtails, 3 Yellow Wagtails, 11 Chiffchaffs, 27+ Meadow Pipits, 4 Wheatear, 3+ Sand Martins, 4+ Swallows, 1 Blackcap and 1 Whitethroat.

Mudbank - 40 Pintail, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits, 4 Mute Swans, c60 Wigeon, 1 Teal, 4 Sanderling, c30 Sandwich Terns and 9 Black-tailed Godwits.

Arctic Tern

Juvenile Arctic Tern off Mudbank this evening.

Mudbank today - 1 juvenile Arctic Tern, 1 Little Tern, a minimum of 70 Sandwich Terns, 5+ Common Terns, 5 Bar-tailed Godwits, 1 Knot, 94 Curlew, 4 Mute Swans, 34 Little Egrets, 2 Ospreys, 14 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Redshank, 14 Great Crested Grebes, 1 Greenshank, 59 Wigeon and 1 Pintail.

Orcombe Point - c40 Meadow Pipits, 9 Chiffchaffs, 4 Swallows, 4 alba wagtails, 1 Blackcap, 2 Grey Wagtails, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Tree Pipit, 1 Whitethroat, the Cetti's Warbler and 1 Curlew.

Ortolan Bunting

Huge thanks to Chris for finding this gorgeous Ortolan Bunting. On Exmouth soil to boot! I missed it this morning but walked back, from Orcombe, this afternoon and it was sat in the Hawthorn where Chris had initially found it, just below West Down Beacon. We watched it feeding quietly down to about 20ft.

Arrived later than usual at Orcombe. It was definitely a bit livelier than of late with 1 Redstart, 1 Jay, 1 Willow Warbler, 3+ Chiffchaffs, 3 Yellow Wagtails, 7 Grey Wagtails, 2 alba wagtails, 30+ Meadow Pipits (the first proper movement this autumn), 16+ Swallows, 3 Tree Pipits, 7 Whitethroats, c20 House Martins, 4 Wheatear, 1 Stonechat and the lingering Cetti's Warbler, still belting it out from clifftop scrub.

West Down Beacon - 1 Ortolan Bunting, 2 Whitethroats, 1 Blackcap, 1 Yellow Wagtail and c50/100+ House Martins.

Mudbank - 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, 2 Greenshank, 3 Knot, 3 Redshank, 74 Wigeon, 4 Mute Swans, 1 Common Sandpiper and 3 Black-tailed Godwits.

Yesterday on a very soggy Orcombe Point - 1 Spotted Flycatcher and 2 Chiffchaffs.

Mudbank - 13 Common Terns, 2 Sandwich Terns, c130 Teal, 9 Redshank, 5 Greenshank, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit and 4 Black-tailed Godwits.

Redstart - Orcombe Point. Believe it or not this is only my second Redstart in Exmouth this year, and my first on Orcombe Point. The first was in Bystock Meadow back in August.

Pec, Sticticalis

The prospect of close views of this juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper was enough to tempt me over to the Axe for the second time in as many weeks! A fabulous bird. Unfortunately it was like a rugby scrum in the hide so I didn't stay very long. Just long enough to see 1 Wood Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Common Sandpipers, 2 juvenile Curlew Sandpipers and a Yellow Wagtail amongst the usual stuff.

Orcombe was quiet first thing with just 2 Yellow Wagtails, 1+ Grey Wagtail, 1 Sand Martin, 2 House Martins, 10+ Swallows, 8 Chiffchaffs and a Cirl Bunting making it into the notebook.

Mudbank - 16 Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 1 Ringed Plover, 13 Black-tailed Godwits, 21 Pintail, 64 Wigeon, 1 juvenile Knot, 1 Peregrine (on Cockle Sands), 2 Ravens, 1 Whimbrel and an Osprey.

I very nearly passed this Mugwort Pearl Loxostege sticticalis off as one of the numerous Vestals or Rush Veneers. It's a scarce migrant species that I've yet to trap in the garden.

The weedy corners of the top fields have been heaving with Vestals these last few weeks. I should have really attempted a proper count at some point but I never reached that level of motivation.

Garganey

Garganey distantly off Shelly beach this morning. Looking a bit lost and wary, it didn't hang around for long.

Little time in the field today but Orcombe Point from dawn - 10 Chiffchaffs (an increase), 1 Willow Warbler, 8+ Yellow Wagtails, 4 alba wagtails, 7+ Grey Wagtails, 4+ Swallows, 1+ Meadow Pipit, 3 Collared Doves, 1 Grey Heron and 1 Stonechat.

Off Shelly Beach - 1 Garganey, 1 Black Tern, 1 juvenile Arctic Tern, 1 juvenile Little Gull, 65+ Common Terns, 2 Yellow Wagtails, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Mediterranean Gull and 2 Bar-tailed Godwits.

Mudbank - 28 Black-tailed Godwits, 20 Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 11 Knot, 1 Turnstone, 13 Great Crested Grebes, 54 Wigeon and 21 Shelduck.

I assumed this morning's Black Tern was going to be a juvenile but I think it's probably a winter-plumaged adult bird. Distant and quite brief views only unfortunately.

Osprey, Y Wags

The juvenile Osprey was at times directly overhead at Mudbank this morning.

Shelly Beach - quick look - c400+ Common Terns and 2 Mediterranean Gulls this morning.

Mudbank - juvenile Osprey, 8 Black-tailed Godwits and c100 Teal but very little time spent looking and most stuff flushed by the Osprey anyway!

I combined an Aldi shop with a look at Bowling Green again this morning. Totals included fairly crude counts of 425+ Redshank, c300 Curlew and c470+ Black-tailed Godwits. These species were bunched in such a way that made accurate counting very difficult. Easier to count were 6 juvenile Ruff, 17 Knot, 2 Common Sandpipers, 20 Lapwing, 37+ Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plovers, 25 Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 7+ Bar-tailed Godwits, 1 Whimbrel, 3 Spoonbill, 14 Cattle Egrets, 35 Little Egrets, 22+ Wigeon (with a further flock of c20+ over and back onto the river), 2 Gadwall, c75 Teal, 13 Pintail and 27+ Shoveler.

Yesterday - Orcombe - 14+ Yellow Wagtails and 1 Wheatear.

Shelly Beach - c300 Common Terns, c20+ Sandwich Terns and 2 Little Terns.

Mudbank - 1 Osprey, 650+ Black-headed Gulls  and 38+ Wigeon the only stuff counted.

Wheatear - just the one on Orcombe yesterday.

A minimum of 14 Yellow Wagtails are still in with cattle on Orcombe.

Terns, B Green

Cattle Egret - Bowling Green.

Good to see tern numbers have picked up again. A look off Shelly Beach this evening produced c5/600+ Common Terns. Many were resting on Bull Hill and a load more were feeding in the river. The light wasn't great so picking out other species wasn't straightforward but I eventually found 1 juvenile Little Tern and 1 juvenile Arctic Tern - presumably yesterday's bird. Also off Shelly Beach - 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 64 Great Black-backed Gulls and c60+ Sandwich Terns. Not a lot else today but the 6cy Yellow-legged Gull was on the Imperial rugby ground and a Hobby was hunting over the top fields of Orcombe quite early on.

Had the urge to see some waders this morning so went to Bowling Green over the high tide - 3 Spotted Redshank, 1 Avocet, 3 Turnstones, 22 Greenshank, 8+ Ringed Plovers, c150+ Dunlin, 6+ Knot, 14 Lapwing, 1 Common Sandpiper, 10+ Bar-tailed Godwits, 1 Whimbrel, 21 Pintail, 12 Shoveler, 17 Shelduck, c50 Teal, 7 Wigeon, 2 Gadwall, 1 Water Rail, 1 juvenile Common Gull and 1 Peregrine. Also - good numbers of Redshank, Curlew and Black-tailed Godwits along with 3 Spoonbill, 5+ Cattle Egrets, 6 Grey Herons and 37 Little Egrets.

The semi-resident 6cy Yellow-legged Gull was loafing on the Imperial rugby ground today.

Arctic Tern

Juvenile Arctic Tern this evening. Such stunning but subtle birds - I nearly always have a compulsion to try and sketch them. A very difficult bird to get a photograph of in Exmouth - this one was feeding a fair way off Shelly beach amongst a flock of Black-headed Gulls and Common Terns.

Orcombe from 0625 - 3 Willow Warblers, 1 Whitethroat, 1+ Yellow Wagtail, 3 Grey Wagtails, 2 Meadow Pipits, 3 alba wagtails and 3+ Chiffchaffs. Remarkably, the Cetti's Warbler is still singing from dry cliff-top scrub.

Mudbank - 3 Greenshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 9 Redshank, 5 Black-tailed Godwits, 5 Bar-tailed Godwits, 11 Pintail, 48 Wigeon, 10 Teal, 4 Ringed Plovers, 10+ Whimbrel, 6 Dunlin, 2 Sand Martins and 1 Tree Pipit over.

Bystock Meadow - 3 Spotted Flycatchers.

Shelly beach this evening - 1 juvenile Arctic Tern, c50+ Common Terns, c55 Sandwich Terns, 10+ Mediterranean Gulls, 1 adult Peregrine and 5 Yellow Wagtails over.

Black-tailed Godwit - Mudbank.