Purple Sands

Little to report for the latter part of this week. Purple Sandpiper numbers seem to have dropped off with just 6 on Maer Rocks tonight and last night. There were at least 22 Great Crested Grebes offshore late on and yesterday there was a single Great Northern Diver in the estuary, and 1 Little Grebe in the marina.

 

Redwings

A flock of 21 Redwings was a surprise whilst walking the dog along Mudbank this afternoon. They've been largely absent locally over the winter period.

Moving

Two or three Stonechats on Orcombe early this morning, with another on the Maer, points at some early spring movement. There were loads of Robins around too, as well as 8 Meadow Pipits.

Snippets

Black Redstart - Carter Avenue.

 

A Black Redstart flipped in front of the car this morning. I stopped and watched it feeding in front gardens along Carter Avenue. The red-ringed first-winter Mediterranean Gull was resting off Mudbank but otherwise there was just one Goldeneye off there. There are good numbers of Common Gull in the estuary at the moment and the Bonaparte's Gull was flying around off Shelly Beach this afternoon, resting for a while on Bull Hill. There was also a Greenshank off there and off the seafront - 2+ Purple Sandpiper, 6+ Turnstone (Maer Rocks), a second-winter Mediterranean Gull, 1 presumed 'intermedius' Lesser Black-backed Gull and 12+ Common Scoter.

I think this bird was 'PPJ' (white lettering on red) but it wasn't clear, even through the scope.

The Bonaparte's Gull never came close today but was on view for quite a while this afternoon.

Bonaparte's Gull

The Bonaparte's Gull was again present off Shelly Beach this morning, around 8'ish. Nearby the Little Grebe appeared briefly in the marina and there was a Kingfisher in there too. A quick look off Maer Rocks shortly after first light produced 8 Red-throated Divers, 21 Dark-bellied Brent Geese and 6 Purple Sandpipers. Off Mudbank were 2+ Great Crested Grebes, 4 Goldeneye and a Greenshank.

Shelly Beach



The Bonaparte's Gull was again off Shelly Beach shortly before 8am, along with 4 Pale-bellied Brent Geese. By the time I'd made my way down to the water's edge it had moved on but there were plenty of other birds around including some displaying Red-breasted Mergansers.

Pale-bellied Brents

Avocets off Lympstone.

On Sunday I dared to venture just outside the Exmouth boundary. A look through several hundred Black-headed and Common Gulls off Lympstone failed to reveal anything unusual but I was delighted to see 48 Avocet, 80+ Bar-tailed Godwit, c1000+ Dunlin and 2 Goldeneye.

I did a sea-watch  from the raised beach huts for about an hour from 0730 this morning. The southerly wind and rain seems to have got a bit of stuff moving after a very 'sluggish' few weeks. There were a few seabirds moving south including at least 7 Red-throated Divers, 3 diver sp, 3 Fulmar, c70+ auk sp and 9 Common Scoter. Also off there - 6+ Purple Sandpipers and 25 Dark-bellied Brent Geese on Maer Rocks. Off Mudbank this evening, and adding to the sense that a bit more was happening, there were 4 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 1 Greenshank, 10 Knot, 26+ Grey Plover, 16 Wigeon, 1 Mediterranean Gull and 1 Goldeneye.

On Monday there was a Blackcap in gardens across the road from the Shell garage.