Spot Fly and Pom

A magical spell of post-work birding this evening. With the family all doing different things I snuck out and had a stroll around the top fields, before doing a sea-watch from the raised beach huts. Totals recorded included c30+ sandwich tern, 1 little tern, 1 common tern, 2 roseate tern, 3 wheatear, 1 male whinchat, my first spotted flycatcher of the spring, 7 swallow, 6 swift, 34 whimbrel and c70+ dunlin 'in-off'', 7+ manx shearwater, 1 little egret, 2 great crested grebe, 1 black-headed gull, 1 fs mediterranean gull and a really good passage of hirundines and auks out over the sea. A real sense that birds were on the move this evening!

Best of all though was a pale-phase pomarine skua that was spending long periods sat on the water between bouts of 'kittiwake attacks'. It had fairly decent 'spoons' but I've seen better. I don't think I've ever had such good and prolonged views of one attacking kitts though. It was still there when I left at 7pm so there's a chance it'll be there in the morning.

More Divers, Skuas and another Rosy

This Great Northern Diver did a couple high laps of Orcombe Point before apparently heading North. It seems as though there are really good numbers out in Lyme Bay at the moment.

A shorter spell of birding this morning. A quick sea-watch from 0530 - 0600, then a brisk walk around Orcombe Point before a very brief look off the Imperial.

The sea watch from the raised beach huts produced 18 whimbrel, 13 great northern diver, 10 sandwich tern and 3 arctic skua (2 dark, 1 light) sat on the water off Orcombe Point. Two were presumably the birds present yesterday. The point itself produced 8 swallow and 7 shelduck but I didn't get the sense that any new passerines had come in.

From the Imperial I got 75+ whimbrel, 26 turnstone, 1 dunlin and c30+ black-headed gull. A 20 minute look off the raised beach huts this afternoon (1540 - 1600) produced 20+ sandwich tern, a single roseate tern, 4 common scoter and another dark phase arctic skua south.

Goldfinch and Geoneedle.

Arctic Skuas

Field sketches of 2 arctic skuas off Orcombe Point.

 

There were 2 arctic skuas lingering off Orcombe Point this afternoon. I again watched from the raised beach huts. Otherwise 20+ sandwich tern and a single guillemot were the only other birds of note. The skuas were using the classic 'watch and wait' technique - sitting for periods on the sea and then taking off on a long, low, wave-hugging 'stealth' flight before whipping up vertically to harry the sandwich terns. I watched them for a good hour from 4pm and did a few sketches.

An hour long early morning vigil, from the same spot, produced 17+ sandwich tern, 3 fulmar, 3+ common gull, 2 manx shearwater, 3 swallow, 1 common scoter and a decent count of 18+ great northern diver, this time all heading purposefully south.

The estuary produced 50+ whimbrel and 2 bar-tailed godwit this evening, with 3 house martin west across the estuary.



Rosy T and 13+ GNDs

The 'raised' beach huts provide shelter from most winds and they're at a really good height for sea-watching. They also allow you to scope Maer Rocks and back towards the Warren.

Combined totals from two hour-long sea-watches, either side of work, from the raised beach huts today (0545 - 0645 and 1615 - 1715):

44 whimbrel, 1 dunlin, 2 swallow, 3 hirundine sp, c60+ manx shearwater, 17+ sandwich tern, 1+ roseate tern, 5 common scoter, 7+ fulmar, 2 black-headed gull, 1 guillemot, 3 swift and 13+ great northern diver.

All the divers were seen early this morning and were going in a variety of different directions, mostly quite high up. All but one of the manxies were seen this afternoon. The wind had swung round to a more W/SW direction this afternoon and it had a more northerly element this morning. It was disappointing not to get any skuas but there's plenty of time for those yet. The roseate tern, seen this afternoon,  was my first for the spring but was always quite distant off Orcombe Point, with the sandwich tern flock.

RTD

 

Red-throated Diver field sketch with colour added at home.

A summer-plumaged red-throated diver, that pitched down not too far offshore as I scanned from the beach huts early morning, was my bird of the day. I rarely get to see them in this plumage so it was a real treat. Otherwise it was quieter today, with the following species logged on the usual pre-breakfast circuit: 6 great crested grebe, 10 common scoter, 1 guillemot, 1 dunlin, 34 whimbrel in groups of 9, 22 and 3, 10 chiffchaff, 2 blackcap, 1 little egret, 14+ whitethroat, 11+ swallow, 5+ wheatear, 1 swift, 1 meadow pipit, 1 house martin and c20+ sandwich tern.
In the estuary, off Mudbank/Imperial, there were c80+ whimbrel, 1 bar-tailed godwit, 1 dunlin and 4 great crested grebe.

Little Egret - note the pale-looking bill as the sun catches it, and dark-looking feet - caution required!

Robin with splashes of purple from the green-winged orchids in the background. The orchids seem to be much later and far fewer this year.

Small Fall and the Godwit

Garden Warbler - Orcombe Point - one of at least 5 seen - the highest count ever!

 

I started the morning at the beach huts but it soon became apparent that the wind had switched around a bit more to the south-west and dropped in strength a little. Heavy drizzle was making visibility very poor. I was pleased to see a smart pale phase arctic skua, my first of the spring, but 2 common scoter, 2 fulmar and 9 'incoming' dunlin were the only other species to make the notebook in an hour.

I'm not too patient when it comes to sea-watching so I decided to try Orcombe Point for migrants. As I ambled from Foxholes towards the Geoneedle my first garden warbler of the spring started singing, the first of at least 5 birds seen this morning. Normally, one garden warbler is good on Orcombe (cf none most springs!) so 5 makes today a bit of a red-letter day! I suspect there were several more present, as I had a few brief 'probables' on top of the definite sightings. Also recorded this morning were 2 singing male lesser whitethroats (also a really good Orcombe bird), 3 sedge warblers, 4 shelduck, 1+ whimbrel, 3 swift, 1 willow warbler, 1 collared dove and 1 bullfinch, as well as good numbers of whitethroat, blackcap, chiffchaff and phyllosc sp. Let's be clear, this constitutes a fall on Orcombe, as anyone who has trudged around the normally birdless footpaths and fields will testify!

Mudbank produced 39 pale-bellied brent goose (although to be honest I didn't check the flanks of every single bird), 65+ whimbrel, 3 bar-tailed godwit, 22+ turnstone and 2 red-breasted merganser.



 

One of 3 Swift seen this morning, heading north - my first of the spring.

 

The Meare Heath hudsonian godwit has been niggling me a little bit. I would probably have gone last weekend had I never seen one before but I have, in Texas, back in 1998. I looked through my old logbook and was a little dismayed at the quality of my notes for that individual (see below). Though there's no doubting the identification, you can see that the details I recorded are scant and my memories of the bird are somewhat faded. The problem was that the single 'hudwit' we saw, on April 16th 1998, was one of 18 species of North American wader present on some rice fields, that were carpeted in tens of thousands of waders. It was all a bit over-whelming and the field notes inevitably fell short of the mark!

I decided to go for it late morning, but wanted to combine it with lunch out and a trip to Glastonbury with the family. This meant I couldn't spend as much time watching the bird but I didn't have to wrestle with the guilt of leaving the family behind without a car for the day. Plus, when I'm out birding, I always miss them so it was great to have them with me. I foolishly hoped that the sight of such a rare bird, on a fabulous RSPB reserve, might spark a glimmer of interest but it wasn't to be and my field sketches of the bird, that stayed steadfastly asleep for most of the time, aren't a whole lot better than the 1998 notes. I still enjoyed watching it though - a really smart bird.

Horrendous 1998 notes of my first 'hudwit'.

 

Horrendous 2015 notes of my second.

Black Guillemot, Cuckoo and Phyllosc sp.

Phyllosc sp.

 

Today has been a good day! In fact it has been the best day this year by some distance. It started with a sea-watch at 0545, and at 0600 a small black auk whizzed in to view. It was distant and the light was very poor but it was undeniably jet black and its wings were whizzing around at a million miles an hour. It was flying east, but as it passed Orcombe Point it looped around and started to take a line back towards the Warren. I kept my eye on it but couldn't really get any further detail (see field notes) but it was clearly a black guillemot in summer plumage. I lost it as it zoomed towards Langstone Rock. Hopefully it's still in the Bay somewhere.

Also off there, over a 2 hour period, were 5 great northern diver, 1 red-throated diver, c30+ sandwich tern, 2+ common scoter, 1 common gull, 4+ black-headed gull, 4+ whimbrel, 1 manx shearwater, 3 fulmar, 1 curlew and 4+ auk sp with several kittiwakes and gannets lingering offshore.

The only 'new' migrant I could find on a blown out Orcombe Point was a phyllosc sp that was incredibly dull, skulky and reminiscent of a dusky warbler! It is perhaps a northern willow warbler but to be honest, despite it appearing long-winged I'm not wholly convinced it isn't just an odd chiffie! Tertial: primary ratio looks less convincing now.

Mid-morning my son, Joel, played his first football match, on the Imperial Rugby ground, for his new team, against a Welsh touring side. He managed to score a hat-trick, which was almost overshadowed by the cuckoo that flew over at 1045! The local starling flock exploded in to the air in panic, and I looked around fully expecting to see a sparrowhawk. My initial reaction, when I clocked the cause of all the commotion, was kestrel but the more laboured and erratic flight action and longer tail gave the game away. To put this sighting in to context, I have only ever seen one cuckoo in Exmouth, and that was on Orcombe Point way back some time in the nineties I think! I'll have to look it up.

A quick squiz off the Imperial late afternoon produced c20+ whimbrel, 3 bar-tailed godwit and 9 common gull.

 

Whimbrel - two of c20+ off Mudbank late afternoon.

Field sketch of Black Guillemot off Orcombe Point.