Slav

Grey Plover - Mudbank. Also 35 Wigeon and 10 Red-breasted Mergansers. Maer Rocks - at least 2 Purple Sandpipers and an adult Mediterranen Gull.

The Slavonian Grebe was off Shelly beach this afternoon - presumably changing location to escape the worst of the freezing south-easterly. It's normally just a 'dot' off Starcross. Also late this afternoon - 10 Red-breasted Mergansers and 6 Avocets in flight, well upriver.

Uncomfortably Cold

Just the one Lapwing on Orcombe Point early this morning - a small but definite sign of some cold- weather movement and always a welcome sight in plover-starved Exmouth. Also logged - 5 Golden Plovers, c30/40+ Pied Wagtails, 23 Snipe and a Curlew.

Three of five Golden Plovers that rocketed around the top fields of Orcombe before flying off high west.

This drake Gadwall accompanied a female off Mudbank this morning. Also off there - 28 Wigeon, 25 Mallard, 32 Knot, 17 Grey Plovers, 6 Red-breasted Mergansers, 11 Great Crested Grebes, high numbers of Dunlin and a Pale-bellied Brent Goose amongst a small gathering of Dark-bellied Brent Geese.

Mediterranean Gull

 Mediterranean Gull (3rd winter? Note black on edges of primaries) off Mudbank late this afternoon. Also of note - 70+ Knot, hundreds of Dunlin, good numbers of Grey Plovers, 2 Peregrines, 4 Wigeon and a drake Teal.

My Take On It

With this blog title being what it is I kind of feel compelled to blog something, but it's probably not a good idea...

It's funny, but not entirely unexpected, that I've had many more blog views over the last couple of days than I would ever normally have had, even had I been posting.
With very peculiar timing, a 'third for Britain' turns up, within a few hundred yards of my front door, within 24 hours of my dad passing away (my wife swears it's a sign). To say my head wasn't entirely in the right place to be thinking about Mockingbirds is an understatement. In the event my family pretty much press-ganged me into seeing it - knowing that it would only bug me later down the line if I didn't. I'm glad they did, and thinking about it, the term 'press-ganged'  is probably a little strong!

I was there and back in a couple minutes, and in that short period (of viewing from a distance) I felt suitably uncomfortable, staring between two houses, into a stranger's back garden.

I'm not going to make any further comments about it (because I'm really not in the mood to be getting into a debate) other than to say that at 6pm last night the majority of Exmouth birders hadn't seen it (and most didn't even know where it was), but birders from as far afield as Yorkshire, Hampshire, Somerset and Dorset had been and gone.

I may well do a more considered blog post at a later date, because the bird definitely deserves it, but I may just leave it. Life's too short.

Candidate YLG

A pressured twenty minute window between online lessons meant I couldn't sort this first-winter gull out. The coverts and tertials look promising for Yellow-legged Gull but little sign of any moult in the coverts, and the highly-prized tail and open wing shots never materialised, so quite possibly just a Herring!

Adult Mediterranean Gull - Mudbank.

Latest

Colour-ringed Oystercatcher - Mudbank.

Little to report of late but off Mudbank today - c190 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 35 Shelduck, 5 Red-breasted Mergansers, 2 Wigeon, c3/400+ Dunlin, 1 male Goldeneye, 1 adult Mediterranean Gull, c50 Common Gulls and 30+ Cattle Egrets (in tight flock south, over Starcross, before heading inland).
A Fulmar was off Orcombe Point and the Siberian Chiffchaff remains in a hedgerow along Gore Lane. Also on Orcombe - 2 Canada Geese, 1 Snipe and c20+ Skylarks. Nearby, in Maer Valley, an adult Mediterranean Gull in with high numbers of Black-headed Gulls.
Yesterday evening the Slavonian Grebe was scoped from Shelly beach and on 31/1 a Firecrest was along Wright's Lane.
On 30/1 - 1 Red-throated Diver off the Lifeboat Station and off Mudbank - male and female Goldeneye, 9 Wigeon, 11 Great Crested Grebes and 2 Red-breasted Mergansers. Later, off Shelly Beach, 2 drake Goldneyes and a female.

Shag and apparent 'Continental' Cormorant - Maer Rocks.

Can't be bothered to get the protactor out but the gular angle looks more sinensis than carbo.

The Siberian Chiffchaff is still lurking alongside the muddy turnip field on Orcombe Point.

Peregrine