White-billed Diver Painting

I've just completed a painting of the Brixham white-billed diver - acrylic on canvas (40 x 50cm). If anyone is interested in purchasing prints or buying the original please see my contact details on my 'for sale' page.

Devon Flashback 4 - Gyrfalcon

April 2nd 1986 - I'd not long gone to bed on the evening of April 1st 1986 when the phone rang downstairs. A few minutes later and Dad came up to tell me the fantastic news that he had just spoken to a friend who'd heard about a gyrfalcon turning up at Berry Head! Dad said he'd take me early in the morning but his work commitments meant we'd only have a narrow window of opportunity to get the bird. Minutes later he came back up and reminded me of the date - it was surely a hoax! I was utterly deflated and needless to say got very little sleep.

Up before dawn the next day and as we approached Berry Head we genuinely didn't know if we were completely wasting our time or about to encounter the bird of a lifetime. As we headed along the approach road we were greeted with the incredible spectacle of masses of twitchers silhouetted against the skyline - my first proper twitch and surely a sign that this was no hoax! Excitement however soon turned to crushing disappointment when we discovered we'd just missed it. I was to experience for the first time that horrible gut-wrenching feeling that accompanies a dip. Frustrating minutes ticked by and I tried to ignore the fact that we would soon have to leave but leave empty-handed we did.

To my intense relief however Dad promised to bring me back later in the day and so it was at 4pm that I finally clapped eyes on the magnificent gyr. We scoped it from the fortress wall as it sat in the sunshine on the quarry face. I was able to sketch it and soak up the atmosphere of the big twitch but I remember that by the time we had to leave, at around 5.40pm I was dead keen to see it fly. I'd heard the stories of it predating jackdaws and wanted to see it in action but it sat tight and my lasting image is captured in the above sketch.

The bird was found by Nick Ward on March 31st and stayed until April 9th representing the 8th record for Devon. What was presumed to be the same bird was then on Lundy from April 11th to 12th 1986. Nick then famously found another white gyr at Wembury on April 6th 1998 but I was abroad at the time so missed it.

I always think of the Berry Head gyr as my first Devon rarity and first proper twitch. I had seen the Exe lesser white-fronted goose earlier in the year but that has since not made the grade as a wild bird and it can't compete with the majesty of a white morph gyr. I've always fancied the rugged coastline around Bolt Head and Soar for Devon's next but the north Devon coastline is more likely I suppose given that five have now been seen on Lundy (The Birds of Devon - M Tyler).

Devon Flashback 3 - Greater Sand Plover

April 29th 1988 - an early morning visit to the Warren, thanks to Dad, for Britain's 7th and Devon's first greater sand plover. The bird had been discovered two days earlier on April 27th by Andy Bond, Dave Stone and Ernie Davis. I can't remember how I heard about it but I remember it being an exciting time in Devon with a little bittern at Starcross three days later, hot on the heels of another at Slapton on April 16th (I dipped the Starcross bird and didn't even try for the brief Slapton individual). I'd also seen the East Allington black stork on April 14th.

Shortly after our arrival in the hide the bird flew in with a whirlwind of small waders. I remember being distinctly underwhelmed by its pallid, fairly featureless appearance but I'm pleased how my field sketches captured some nice subtle features such as a pencil-thin necklace across the breast and some fine chin speckling. It was aged as a first summer but I seem to recall I was expecting a nice summer-plumaged adult, hence a slight tinge of disappointment. I don't have much other detail in my logbook, probably because I had to dash back in time for school, but I can see the bird now, crouching nervously from time to time and exhibiting an impressively hefty bill.

I've only seen greater sand plover once since - a group of seven on Paphos headland, Cyprus in 1998. I really feel I should make the effort to go and see the next one that arrives in the South West. If it's going to turn up anywhere the Warren has to be the best bet.

A couple days earlier I had found my first ever BBRC rarity - a little egret on the river Teign. It was twitched by a few people back then but a couple of years later of course it was turning up in numbers along the south coast. It wasn't long before the BBRC stopped assessing the species altogether and the rest is history!

Devon Flashback 2 - Roller

May 29th 1989 - A phone call from Mark Bailey around 1pm came completely out of the blue (pardon the pun). The shock news was that a roller had been discovered on East Budleigh Common and Mark was going for it. Would I like a lift? I didn't have to think too long before agreeing to meet him at Penn Inn roundabout! On arrival we could see no roller and in fact there were no other birders to point us in the right direction so we struck out, full of nervous anticipation, across the Common. Within a mercifully short time we had located the bird perched high, shrike-like, on a tall dead tree. We watched in stunned silence for about three minutes before it flew, a burst of brilliant turquoise blue, back towards where Mark had parked. We soon relocated it and watched it for a long time from the road. Other birders started to arrive and the bird flew directly over us before perching on gorse bushes and affording more scintillating views.

 After about an hour we headed up to Dartmoor for a male red-backed shrike that had the decency to start singing whilst we watched it - a really special and memorable afternoon with Mark great company as always.

Three days later, being a pushy, bird-obsessed youth I convinced Mum and Dad that they had to see the exotic Mediterranean vagrant so I got to see it again, this time sheltering from rain on the lower branches of a conifer. The colours took on different hues compared to when seen in the brilliant sunshine on the 29th.

The bird was present from the 28th May to 17th June 1989 (I'm pretty sure it waited for Bob to get back from France ) and was the twelfth record for Devon ( The Birds of Devon - M Tyler). Despite its long stay there must be many younger birders that haven't seen one in Devon. The record from Teignmouth on May 1st 2012 must have been very tantalising for a few but I reckon roller will occur again before too long - there has been a good recent run of birds nationally and Devon is blessed with loads of suitable habitiat for holding another - ever the optimist!

Around Exmouth

Yesterday on Warren View football pitch an adult mediterranean gull and c500+ black-headed gull (there was a 'new' 2w bird midweek). A forty five minute sea watch starting at 0825 from the raised beach huts produced c20+ kittiwake, 3 diver sp, 1 great northern diver, 2 fulmar, 16+ auk sp, 1 razorbill, 1 red-throated diver, 6 pintail and the 2 female eider. I then scooted round the top fields of Orcombe and got 16+ snipe, 1 song thrush, c50+ skylark, c20/30+ meadow pipit and c20+ linnet. A late afternoon look from the Rugby club and then Exmouth Quay failed to produce the glaucous gull but I was more than happy with a red-necked grebe, adult mediterranean gull and 5 goldeneye. Up until yesterday I'd only ever seen a little group of four female goldeneye so I was really chuffed to find a smart adult drake has joined them.

The moon was big this morning - photographed from Mudbank.

Sunrise looking towards Orcombe Point.

Two curlew heading inland.

Good numbers of black-heads at Hayes Barton.

Chiffie at Hayes Barton.

This morning off Mudbank there were 5+ goldeneye, 2 great crested grebe, 88 wigeon, 26 redshank and 1 long-tailed duck. On a flat calm sea there was little to see from the beach huts but 1 great northern diver was present along with the regular pair of female eider. About 30+ curlew headed inland. I thought Hayes Barton pig farm might be good this morning but the gulls were mainly black-headed gull with only c100+ herring gull. Also with them was 1 adult mediterranean gull and nearby 1 chiffchaff, 3+ red-legged partridge and 9+ meadow pipit.

Devon Flashback 1 - Great Spotted Cuckoo

March 23rd 1990 - the serendipitous absence of my physics teacher and a phone call to Birdline lead to me catching the 1536 train from Newton Abbot to Dawlish Warren for a great spotted cuckoo. I ran the length of the Warren (I ran for every bird back then) and soon caught up with two Liskeard birders heading out towards Warren Point. My initial views of the bird were brief as it flew low, obscured by marram and I was struck by the startling flashes of bright rufous-orange in the wings. Soon we were watching the bird settled at the base of a small bare tree where I was able to make some sketches (see above). After a while it drew the attention of a carrion crow and it flew further towards the tip of Warren Point. It was soon relocated but my logbook entry recalls that I felt it was being unnecessarily pushed by some birders so I left, bumping in to the warden who told me the bird was now in residence for its fourth day. It had been originally found by Dave Price and Keith Grant. It looks like I wasn't a part of an effective grapevine back then!

I went back to the Warren to see the bird again with my Dad the following day but a few days later the bird was sadly found dead. I've seen many great spotted cuckoos abroad since that magical first but it remains a very rare bird both nationally and in Devon. This was the second for Devon, the first having been seen just a month before on Lundy on the early date of February 23rd. Remarkably Devon's third and last record was also from the Warren on the even earlier date of Febraury 22nd 1998 (The Birds of Devon - M Tyler).

March 1990 saw an amazing arrival of spring overshoots in the South West that included a number of woodchat shrikes, night herons, a squacco heron and a sardinian warbler. I was lucky enough to catch up with a couple of woodchats. The bird immediately below was sketched at Hope's Nose on March 28th and the one below that at Jennycliff, Plymouth on March 19th.

Are there any long-term Devon listers that missed the cuckoo? I doubt it. Those that didn't see it alive may have seen in stuffed in the DW visitor's centre!

Glaucous Gull

The 'frustrating white-winger' again this evening only I'm now happy it's a glaucous gull. It was over on the mudflats in front of the Warren tonight and ticked all the boxes for me although I'm acutely aware of the pitfalls out there. A couple years ago there was a leucistic/albino great black-backed gull around but tonight's bird had the feel of a glauc - a swaggering rolling gait, seemingly an effort to lift its rear end off the ground. Large-headed and pondorous. Side-on it dwarfed herring gulls and despite its white appearance it clearly has the pale pink black-tipped bill of a first or second winter. You'd have to go with second winter on the whiteness but the first-winter Teign bird could appear very white at a distance so I wouldn't rule a juv out. Lee Collins got some record shots from the Warren so I'll probably update this post later if Lee doesn't mind. Also this evening the 2 female eider off the Lifeboat Station and 1 prob GND.

Edit - huge thanks to top birder and good friend Lee Collins for the record shot below - taken at range from the saltmarsh.

pale juv for me!