Iceland Gull - pm edit

 

A lovely first-winter Iceland Gull was picked up off Maer Rocks shortly after dawn this morning. It drifted around offshore for a bit, followed an incoming trawler for a couple minutes and then plonked down on Pole Sands. This is the first Iceland Gull I've seen in Exmouth since the individual, pictured on the banner at the top of my blog, back in December 2012. Mustn't forget of course there was the Kumlien's Gull back in Februaury 2014. Also - 69 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 1 Common Scoter, 10+ Great Crested Grebe, 9 Turnstone, 1 Purple Sandpiper and a Sparrowhawk. Derek and I had a good look on the point and came up with 1 Firecrest, 3 Goldcrest, 4 Chiffchaff, 2 Stonechat, 14+ Meadow Pipit and up to 4 Bullfinch.
Late this afternoon, from around 5'ish onwards, the adult Bonaparte's Gull was off the Imperial along with 2+ Goldeneye, a Ringed Plover, good numbers of Dunlin and a Bar-tailed Godwit. A bit of a surprise in the garden was a pair of Blackcaps and a Chiffchaff.

No hint of any darker pigmentation in the outer primaries so no reason to suspect this is anything other than 'glaucoides'. Scope views of it on the deck revealed a dark pink-based bill and dark eye.

Bullfinches are very active and vocal on Orcombe at the moment. I've heard at least one male in full song this past week and Derek and I seemed to bump into them all over the place today. Getting a photo of them proved ridiculously difficult as usual.

No nice sunrise this morning. This shot was taken very early yesterday morning.

Dartford Warbler

This Dartford Warbler was feeding in Gorse on Orcombe Point late this afternoon. It could feasibly be last November's bird that has overwintered in the area, or it might be a migrant. We've had Dartford Warbler on Orcombe in March before. The warm brown-toned mantle indicates that it's an immature bird but whether it's male or female I'm not sure. The only other birds of note on this afternoon's brief visit were 2 Meadow Pipit and a single Chiffchaff.
Yesterday Orcombe produced 8+ Meadow Pipit, 3 Pied Wagtail, 1 Stonechat, 1 Firecrest, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Siskin, 9 Linnet, 8 Greenfinch, 9 Goldfinch, 4 Jackdaw and 1 Curlew.

Good Stuff

Orcombe was surprisingly good today. I did a dawn visit and a quick mid-afternoon whiz around. Migrants were represented by 1 or 2 Firecrests, at least 3 Chiffchaffs, 4 Stonechats, 5+ Meadow Pipits, 6+ Pied Wagtails and 1 Goldcrest (possibly just a local bird). Additionally 5+ Goldfinch, 3+ Greenfinch, 2 Bullfinch, 1 Green Woodpecker, 3 Raven and 5 Dark-bellied Brent Geese were recorded. Best bird however was a very vocal but restless Siberian Chiffchaff - only my second on Orcombe and presumably the same as that reported on 'Birdguides' a few days ago.

Firecrest - this morning's bird was in scrub along the coast path. This one was in the Bristol Schools' Camp this afternoon but they could feasibly be the same individual.

 

 

Dunnocks are very active everywhere at the moment.

More Jackdaw photos

 

Not sure what to make of this Jackdaw. I'm always on the look-out or white-collared birds so I know this bird is not the 'norm' but I feel uneasy about claiming it as anything other than our own 'spermologus' race, because I know very little about them. From what I've read on the internet, the taxonomy of these birds isn't clear-cut and as far as I know there aren't any confirmed records of either 'Nordic' Jackdaw (ssp monedula) or 'Russian' Jackdaw (ssp soemmerringii) in Britain. I've posted these photos to show how the appearance of the collar varies with the positioning of the bird. You can see that it's more obvious at some angles than others but it's always quite apparent. I didn't note any other features that differ from spermologus but the underparts were perhaps too dark for monedula?

Note how visible the collar is from behind.

Finally a couple shots of a typical 'spermologus' taken a few days ago at Mudbank:

Jackdaw

Two Ringed Plovers upriver from Mudbank this afternoon were the first I've seen in Exmouth this year. Otherwise c50+ Wigeon was a notable increase in recent numbers and 2 Goldeneye remain on the river. This Jackdaw drew attention with its prominent whitish neck collar - a feature more often associated with populations from further east.

 

Song Thrush - Sandy Bay - late yesterday afternoon.

Woodlark

A single Woodlark on Orcombe Point late yesterday afternoon. I've only ever had a couple on Orcombe over the years. On this truly appalling shot you can just about make out the short stubby bill and, more importantly, the short tail that characterises this species in flight. Note also how the tail appears to be slightly depressed. A bit like I was when I failed to get a reasonable shot.

Caspian......I think possibly not (Edit)

Edit - too many anomalies for 'cachinnans'  - the more I look at these photos the more I think it's just a Lesser-black-backed Gull. The dark upper-wing and underwing certainly point strongly towards Lesser Black-back.

 

Inner primaries look slightly paler than outers but that underwing looks yuk. I didn't have the opportunity for a good flight view as the bird lifted rapidly and disappeared downriver into horrible light. Leeb?