Cutting Corners

Bang on cue - this Great Northern Diver cut right across Orcombe Point heading south-west just after dawn this morning. It's such a regular spring sight nowadays but they travel so fast that they're always heading away by the time I get the camera out.

I was on Orcombe for 0530 this morning. A Great Northern Diver was the best bird if you don't count the Short-eared Owl that was still hunting the rough fields just up from the Geoneedle. Also seen - 1 Wheatear, 7 Great Crested Grebes and a Common Tern before heading back to get ready for work. Just 10 Pale-bellied Brent Geese and 7 Bar-tailed Godwit were off Mudbank.
Late this afternoon I took the dog for a long walk up on the Commons. At least 1 Hobby, a Wheatear and several Siskins were noted.

This morning's Wheatear with Dawlish Warren and Cockwood in the background.

This Hobby was initially picked up perched. It or another then put on a fantastic aerial display, at times rising so high that it was just a speck in the sky. Paul Gosling had one over Exeter Road this afternoon. That's two I've missed in Exmouth so far this year. Bill MacDonald had one on Orcombe Point a few days ago.

Localised

 

Whinchat

 

It was odd this afternoon. I popped up to Orcombe after work and went straight round the dung field and two large top fields without seeing a single migrant, apart from the many Whitethroats now on territory. I almost got back in the car to go home but decided to do a quick check of the cliff-top Blackthorn bushes.  As I reached the paddock I was greeted by 2 Wheatears. Glancing over the gate into the big flat field I was stunned to see it jumping with birds - c10+ Wheatears, 2 male Whinchats and a few Linnets. Why all these birds were concentrated in this small area is a bit of a mystery but it was really nice to see. In the Blackthorn there were 4 Willow Warblers including a really smart grey and white bird which thwarted all my attempts to get a photo. At least three Blackcaps were seen and a timely call from Derek put me on to the Short-eared Owl near the iron shelter. It was sat out in the open but I suspect it had been flushed by one of the many dog-walkers that let their pooches run riot through the fields.

 

Willow Warbler - not the grey one I was after.

Photographed from the footpath shortly after 5pm.

Today's Stuff

54 Pale-bellied Brent Geese estuary-bound. I took the dog for a walk mid-afternoon and found the same flock off Mudbank. At least 2 were wearing colour rings. I got a brief flash of red and yellow/orange before the birds waddled knee-deep into the water.

Orcombe Point - 4 Great Crested Grebe, c20+ Sandwich Tern, 1 Red-throated Diver, 4 Whimbrel, 2 Garden Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Short-eared Owl, 1 Turnstone, c50+ Common Scoter, 56 Pale-bellied Brent Goose (2 birds on an offshore sandbar early on and the above flock later), 10+ Wheatear, 5 Blackcap, 3 Dunlin, 1 House Martin, 2+ Manx Shearwater and several Swallow 'in-off'. It was good to catch up with Brian this morning. We watched the Short-eared Owl hunting the fields closer to the Geoneedle this morning - presumably keen to keep out of the wind.

Mudbank this afternoon produced the flock of 54 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, c40+ Whimbrel and a fly-past Yellow Wagtail.

 

 

The same flock off Mudbank. The ring-bearing birds are of course belly-deep in water.

All of today's Wheatears were big and fairly colourful and therefore probably of a more north-westerly origin - Iceland or Greenland? I've seen more richly coloured birds than this but these were pretty smart.

 

Swifts and Dolphins

I covered Orcombe with Nick and Derek from shortly after dawn this morning. It was magic to watch Swifts moving through and we still haven't tired of watching the lingering Short-eared Owl. Lee Collins very kindly alerted us to an approaching sizeable pod of Common Dolphin. We managed to see them distantly but just as we were anticipating them getting closer they turned around and promptly disappeared.
Birds recorded included 8 Whimbrel, c20+ Sandwich Tern, 1+ Little Tern, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 10 Manx Shearwater, 4+ Shelduck, 1 Short-eared Owl, 12+ Swift, 5 Wheatear, 2 House Martin, 4 Swallow, 7+ Blackcap, 1 Rock Pipit, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Little Egret and 1 Dunlin.
There was some evidence of wader passage off Mudbank today with c50+ Whimbrel, c150+ Dunlin, 1 Sanderling and c10+ Turnstone present on dropping tide.

Show-off-eared Owl

 

Short-eared Owl with the Lifeboat Station and Exmouth Seafront in the background.

 

A beautiful morning on Orcombe this morning. At 0530 I had a quick look off Maer Rocks where a single Roseate Tern was feeding with c20+ Sandwich Terns. It was a bit odd to be watching it in such cold conditions and I was glad I had my gloves on. There were 5 Whimbrel on the beach and 2 Great Crested Grebes and 2 Great Northern Divers offshore. Another look on the way home, just before 8am,  revealed the 2 Roseate Terns together.

Nick and I then covered Orcombe Point where the highlights were 1 Swift in off the sea, a flyover Siskin and the very obliging Short-eared Owl that seemed to be enjoying the early morning sunshine as much as we were! Also recorded were 5 Wheatears, 6 Blackcaps and several Whitethroats and Chiffchaffs on territory. No Willow Warblers today though.

Following a morning trip to Axminster for Joel's football match, I was able to pop back up to Orcombe again mid-afternoon. The Short-eared Owl and a female Redstart were the highlights.

 

We stood marvelling at this bird for some time. We could easily have walked past it but Nick spotted it  resting in the rough grass as we walked back along the coast path. At one point a dog ran straight past it but it sat tight.

 

Wheatear

Roseate Terns and SEO

Short-eared Owl - Orcombe Point

 

I was on Orcombe for 6am and back home for about 7am. It was really overcast this morning and it felt 'birdy'. I was on my way back, walking along the cliff-top footpath, when I bumped in to a Short-eared Owl hunting the un-grazed fields. A good record for Orcombe and a joy to watch as always. I could have watched it for ages but I had to get back for work. Otherwise the highlight was a high flock of 17 Whimbrel that circled high overhead before tumbling out of the sky and presumably landing on the beach below. A single Wheatear was by the Geoneedle and a solitary Willow Warbler was feeding in the Blackthorn scrub. 

Having been wet and windy overnight I couldn't resist a quick five minute look off Maer Rocks on the way home. The rocks themselves held just one Turnstone but offshore, diving around buoy number 1, were 2 Common Tern and my first 2 Roseate Tern of the spring. A Great Northern Diver flew past further out. It was really frustrating to have to leave as there had clearly been an arrival of birds.

I popped down to Maer Rocks late this afternoon, hoping for Terns, but the light was bad and I only managed c10+ Sandwich Terns. On Maer Rocks there were 5 Dunlin and 6 more Whimbrel flew 'in-off'.

My first Swift of the Spring went over the house this afternoon and last night I scoped the flock of 100+  Pale-bellied Brent Geese that Kev had from the Warren.

 

Garden Warbler

Garden Warbler - last year's '5 birds in one day' was exceptional. Typically we're lucky to get one in spring and I'm never too surprised to get none. This morning's bird was a real show-off. Probably too cold to care that I was standing feet away pointing a camera at it!

 

It was bitterly cold at 6am this morning following a night of clear skies. Fortunately the wind had dropped, but that did nothing to prevent the loss of feeling in my fingers. I walked from Foxholes to Sandy Bay without seeing a bird, but by the time I'd turned around and started walking back the sun was stirring things into life. The line of flowering Blackthorn along the cliff-top path yielded a singing male Lesser Whitethroat, my first Garden Warbler of the year, 1 Willow Warbler and 3 Blackcap. Just as things were picking up I had to get back to get ready for work.

Yesterday, in far from ideal windy conditions, I recorded 7 Whimbrel, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Common Tern, 2 Turnstone, 1 Redstart and 1 Blackcap. The Redstart was a female bird in exactly the same spot that Nick had one the day before - surely the same bird. It was incredibly difficult to get close to and nigh on impossible to photograph. A flash of fiery-red tail and gone.