Stonechat

Two or three Spotted Flycatchers around the carpark at Woodbury Castle today. Otherwise pretty quiet up there with a single Tree Pipit and a few Stonechats seen whilst walking the dog. This male Stonechat was unusually brave and inquisitive, presumably because it had newly fledged young nearby.

 

 

This Week

That speck in the sky is a non-breeding plumaged Great Northern Diver heading inland early yesterday morning.

A Short-eared Owl with a sense of humour flew low over the Imperial at 1615 this afternoon before circling high, pretty much directly over our house, for five minutes and then drifting off east. The trouble is I was at the Imperial when it went over, not in the house, thus failing to add it to my precious house list. Also off the Imperial this afternoon - 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, c20+ Sanderling and 2+ Dunlin. Off  Maer Rocks there were 8 Great Crested Grebes, c20+ Sandwich Terns and a Great Northern Diver flew south.

Yesterday an early morning Orcombe Point visit resulted in 1 Great Northern Diver and 4 Great Crested Grebes. Off the Imperial there were c50+ Sanderling, c10+ Dunlin, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits and c10+ Sandwich Terns.

On Wednesday, off the Imperial, I recorded 15+ Sandwich Terns, 17 Bar-tailed Godwits, c50+ Dunlin, c20+ Sanderling, 6 Whimbrel, 3 Black-headed Gulls and a Brent Goose (presumably the pale-bellied bird that has been lingering off the Warren).

On Tuesday 48+ Sandwich Terns off the Imperial was a notable increase but it's fair to say it hasn't been the best of Mays so far!

Crap Twitcher

Field sketches from April 2005 - Lammergeiers, Wallcreeper and Black Wheatear.

I've always been rubbish at twitching. No wonder my Devon list hasn't increased much in the last few years. A quick glance at 'Birdguides' whilst at work put me in a bit of a quandary. Lammergeier in Devon! Preposterous! Twitch or no twitch? I almost felt I had a duty to go!  I briefly contemplated it but rapidly came to the conclusion that it would require a whole lot of effort and I'd probably spend the evening chasing after it in vain. Couple that with the likelihood that it's from a re-introduction scheme and I just couldn't face it. I hate chasing birds and despite what you may think I hate missing our sit-down family meal in the evening. On top of that, twitching other peoples' birds is far less appealing than finding my own. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see a Lammergeier cruising along a Devon ridge but I'm fortunate enough to have seen proper wild ones in the Pyrenees and the memory of that trip is still fresh in my mind.

Back in 2005 my brother and I took the car and a tiny tent down to Spain. We did the whole trip on a shoe-string budget (it wouldn't take too many twitches to match the cost) and saw some fantastic birds in breathtakingly beautiful surroundings.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't keep lists but there are times where the irrationality of chasing a species that you've already seen, just because its in a place where you haven't seen one before, seems nuts.

Having said all that, if this bird is pinned down somewhere closer, where I stand a good chance of seeing it, it may be too hard to resist!

The beautiful Hecho Valley - worth a visit even if there were no birds there, but we watched 4 Lammergeiers here, including a bird that dropped below us to pick up a stick-like object that was quite possibly a bone.

Lammergeier (left) with Griffon Vulture. This photo was taken at the monastery at San Juan De Pena in the Spanish Pyrenees. My brother an I sat out in front of the monastery on a beautiful sunny morning, just sky-watching. We had to wait a while to finally clap eyes on the Lammergeier but boy was it worth it! I was using my Dad's old Olympus camera. I was far more interested in sketching the birds back then. Something I should be doing more of now.

 

Now for some local birds seen today......... 

 

 

Bits and Bobs from Today

Dunlin - three of six on Maer Rocks first thing this morning.

 

 

Sanderling - Maer Rocks

Beech Trees - Woodbury Fort

Skylark - Woodbury Common

Male Stonechat - Woodbury Common

Roe Deer - Woodbury Common

Holly Blue - several around the garden today.

Dartford Warbler

First Tree Pipit

Tree Pipit - Orcombe Point - dreadful shot of a great little bird.

It has taken me until today to finally get a Tree Pipit on Orcombe this spring. A brief bird early this morning. Also 15+ Dunlin, 5 Great Crested Grebes, 6 Common Terns, 23+ Sandwich Terns and 4 Sanderling. A smart Grey Plover was on a sand bar further along the seafront, along with 3 Black-headed Gulls.

I also managed to get Hobby on the Exmouth year list today with 2 birds over the house - the first high west at 1330 and another north-east'ish  just 10 minutes later.

I spent the last 2 hours of daylight walking the dog on the East Devon Commons, and was rewarded with at least 1 Short-eared Owl, 1 Lesser Redpoll, c5+ Siskins, 2 Hobbies, 2 Kestrels, 1 Dartford Warbler, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Tawny Owls and 1 Nightjar. The latter started its 'churring' at 9.15pm.

Magpie and Green-winged Orchids.

Depressing Stuff

It's not every day you get to see the favourite part of your patch completely destroyed. This afternoon this was the sight that greeted me - the dung field being utterly ripped to shreds. The area of scrub that has been dug up did have breeding Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Robins, Wrens, Dunnocks and Blackbirds. Not anymore. Little chunks of habitat like this provide little oases in a grass field desert. The timing of this destruction seems utterly crazy and it's thoroughly depressing.

 

As far as this week's birding goes there is very little to report, as the rest of the country is apparently groaning under the weight of rarities and scarce migrants. This evening's dog walk on the Commons produced Hobby and Spotted Flycatcher and off Mudbank there were 16 Bar-tailed Godwits this evening, with 2 Ringed Plovers and c15+ Dunlin.

Yesterday on Orcombe Point I recorded 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Swift, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Mediterranean Gull and 14 Sandwich Terns. Off Mudbank there were 35+ Dunlin, 10 Ringed Plovers and 1 Turnstone.

The 10th produced 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Collared Dove, 1 Sanderling, 1 Dunlin and 1 Grey Heron. Two Bar-tailed Godwits and a Knot were scoped on the river from the back garden.

The 9th was a better day. Orcombe Point - 1 Mediterranean Gull, 3 Great Crested Grebes, c20+ Sandwich Terns, 1 Common Scoter, 1 Green Woodpecker and 4 Sanderling. Mudbank - 30+ Whimbrel, c30+ Sanderling, c35+ Dunlin, c30+ Turnstone, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 18 Black-headed Gulls and 1 Great Crested Grebe.

An evening visit to the Exmouth Nightjar site resulted in fantastic views of 2/3+ birds and a late-evening singing Dartford Warbler. On Bystock Pools there was a pair of Tufted Ducks.

 

 

First-summer Mediterranean Gull

Cup Final!

Another dawn on Orcombe Point with much the same in the way of birds - in order of appearance - 2 Dunlin, 5 Great Crested Grebes, 1 Great Northern Diver, 1 Black-headed Gull, 1 Roseate Tern, 4 Manx Shearwaters, 12 Common Scoter and 20+ Sandwich Terns. I had a quick look from opposite Warren Point in time to watch 4, then a further 6, Pale-bellied Brent Geese arriving. There were just 3 Whimbrel and about a dozen Sanderling on the point itself.
I watched the river from the back garden for a short while this morning and logged 13 Bar-tailed Godwits heading upriver, and 6 Pale-bellied Brent Geese - presumably the birds seen earlier off the seafront.
Following an afternoon at St James' Park, watching Joel play a cup final, I whizzed around the top fields and was somewhat surprised to find the Short-eared Owl. I haven't seen it for three days so had assumed it had gone. It has clearly changed its habits.

Arriving Pale-bellied Brent Geese over the Warren Point dunes.

These mating Rosemary Beetles were found by our neighbour Neil. A year ago we searched the Rosemary in his garden for them without success so he was understandably chuffed to find these today - a simply stunning species! Many thanks Neil.

It has been a good day for butterflies with temperatures well above average for the time of year. This Wall on Orcombe Point was the first I've seen this spring. Also on the wing were good numbers of Orange-tip, Peacock, Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral.

It's still here - roosting on the edge of the field above the Bristol Schools Camp.

No bird, no matter how rare, will ever stop me watching Joel (number 8) play football, and Brixington Blues under 11s became East Devon and Exeter District Cup Champions today. Well done Blues!