Merlins and first Redwings

 

The wind was still blowing but was more south-westerly and not as strong as yesterday. This encouraged a bit of movement this morning. Nick and I covered the main spots from dawn. Totals included 2 curlew, 1 song thrush, 3 blackbird, c20+ skylark, c10+ robin, 6+ reed bunting, 1+ yellowhammer, 2 chiffchaff, 1+ goldcrest, 24 starling, 6+ raven, c30+ jackdaw, 9+ stonechat, c120+ goldfinch, 1 swallow, c30+ pied wagtail, small numbers of linnet, chaffinch and meadow pipit, a flock of 16 redwing and, best of all, a merlin hunting the top fields. Butterflies were represented by small numbers of red admiral and a single clouded yellow.

This afternoon another merlin belted across the estuary, viewed from Mudbank. Also 2 bar-tailed godwit, 1+ black-tailed godwit, 1 teal and 2 greenshank among the usual stuff. Four clouded yellow were on Warren View football pitch behind our house.

Meadow Pipit - small numbers around this morning.

Four of six Raven knocking around.

Goldfinches were moving through in small parties from first light.

Fifteen of a flock of at least 21 roaming around the Bristol Schools Camp.

Clouded Yellow

The Dung Field Stonechat gathering now numbers at least 9 birds. 

Only 3 Blackbirds noted this morning. Still pretty dire for thrushes on Orcombe but it was good to see Redwings at last.

Immature Shelduck - Mudbank.

A few Mallard are still mingling with much larger numbers of Wigeon and Pintail off Mudbank.

Adult and Juvenile Brent Geese - Mudbank.

Stonechats and Little Else

I've managed a couple of quick late afternoon visits to Orcombe the last couple of days but there is very little to report. There were 8 stonechat in and around the dung field this evening, which represents a good count for Orcombe. Also a couple wheatear, 1 reed bunting, 3 goldcrest and 5+ chiffchaff. One clouded yellow was also seen. Yesterday there was another yellowhammer up there.

Cypress Carpet - found beneath a light in the Bristol Schools Camp.

Autumn Firsts and Lasts?

Meadow Pipit - Dung Field

Two visits to Orcombe today - a very chilly three hour stint from dawn, with Derek, Nick and Paul, and a quick visit later on by myself. The first merlin of the autumn was a highlight, picked up by Paul as it took a line straight out over the sea towards Berry Head. The first redpoll of the autumn went over too. Late migrants included a yellow wagtail, wheatear and whinchat. Also c100+ linnet, 2 siskin, c30/40+ goldfinch, c10/20+ chaffinch, c10+ greenfinch, 1+ bullfinch, 11+ reed bunting, 1 yellowhammer, c120+ 'alba' wagtail, c1/200+ meadow pipit, 26 dark-bellied brent goose, 2 song thrush, 10+ chiffchaff, c70+ jackdaw, c50+ rook, 4 stonechat, 1+ great spotted woodpecker, c50/60+ skylark, 4 swallow, 2 rock pipit, 5+ goldcrest, 2 blackcap, 1 kestrel and 4 turnstone (Maer Rocks).

Stonechat - Dung Field.

Juvenile Whinchat - by the slurry pit. Not the latest I've seen. That honour goes to a bird I found at Slapton Ley on October 31st 2003 - I remember it because I found a drake Ferruginous Duck on the Ley the same day.

Juvenile Shag and juvenile Cormorant - never noticed the difference in foot colour before!

Kestrel - the moment I was mistaken for a vole!

Turnip Moth - this seemed to just drop out of the sky as we walked along the track that links Gore Lane with the coast path. Common Marbled Carpet and Lunar Underwing were also found by an outside light in the Bristol Schools Camp. 

Orcombe Stuff

Some magnificent cloud formations this morning.

Derek, Nick and I birded the usual spots this morning and another sortie was made late this afternoon. There were plenty of birds around but nothing too out of the ordinary. Totals included 6+ chiffchaff, 5+ grey wagtail, c30+ chaffinch, 3+ song thrush, several 'alba' wagtail and meadow pipit, c40/50+ skylark, 6+ stock dove, 4+ siskin, 1 yellowhammer, 4+ swallow, c20+ hirundine (flock inc a few house martin), 2+ jay, 1 kestrel, 26+ starling, several linnet, goldfinch and greenfinch, 4+ stonechat and 2 brent goose.

Mudbank at high tide produced 2 grey wagtail, 1 wheatear, 5+ meadow pipit, 2 sandwich tern and 2 female tufted duck among good numbers of wigeon, pintail and dark-bellied brent goose. Also 5 black-tailed godwit and a clouded yellow.
Also of note, just after I'd walked out the front, door on my way to work yesterday morning, a flock of 40 raven flew over heading south. I'm guessing last week's 34 plus six more??

A Reed Bunting's eye view of Exmouth beach and Warren Point.

Reed Bunting

Above and below - Stonechats - Dung Field.

Many of the drake Pintail are starting to look really smart now.

Good numbers of wildfowl off Mudbank when the disturbance is low. Sadly the disturbance is rarely low!

Presumed Wigeon x American Wigeon Hybrid 2007

Having seen a photo of an eclipse drake american wigeon on the Rare Bird Alert gallery page, I thought I'd dig out my notes on an interesting bird that I found off Mudbank on 20th October 2007. The bird on 'Rare Bird Alert', photographed on Loch Ryan, appears to show quite a bit of grey mixed in with the orangey flank feathers. On my bird the grey flank and mantle feathers were my biggest concern and the primary reason for me submitting it as a hybrid. On an american wigeon you'd expect to see these feathers showing a nice pinky-brown colour. In most other respects, when I first found my bird, the features were a good fit for an eclipse drake american wigeon, including apparently gleaming white axillaries! The bird hung around into December and became less and less convincing as its moult progressed. Would love to hear any comments.

As you can imagine, on my first view of the bird I was fairly sure I'd got an american wigeon. The above photo was taken on 24/10/07. Note the perfect yank wigeon head shape and colouration.

Not so convincing a week or so later!

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Hummingbird Hawkmoth caterpillar - purple-brown so about to pupate. Discovered on the bank below the raised beach huts. One great northern diver and a distant skua sp the only birds of note.

Mipit

Meadow Pipit

No birding for a couple days. Lots of work on plus busy evenings. Just twenty minutes this evening, between getting the car MOT'd and dinner, trying to photograph a small group of meadow pipits in the dung field. The setting sun was a big distraction though so I spent more time attempting to photograph that!