September 28, 2005
DEAD SLOW
The birding today was dead slow with the best birds of the day on Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham with 6 Female & 1 Male PINTAIL , a SPOTTED REDSHANK , a CURLEW SANDPIPER & the bird of the day a skulking WATER RAIL .
September 26, 2005
DAWLISH WARREN . DEVON
The birding was very slow today at Dawlish Warren , a sea watch got me a year tick in the shape of a distant GREAT SKUA , also going through were 20+ NORTHERN GANNET , 3 COMMON SCOTER , 12 SANDWICH TERN
& a lone ARCTIC TERN & 5 SWALLOW were seen flying out to sea .
On the land it was worse with just a flock of 20+ LONG TAILED TIT ,
a Female SPARROWHAWK , a CHIFFCHAFF & a BLACKCAP seen .
And 2 LITTLE EGRET were feeding in the bay behind the Warren Point .
September 21, 2005
BOWLING GREEN MARSH
The following birds were seen on the high tide at Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham .
16 LITTLE EGRET , 2 LITTLE GREBE , 100+ CURLEW , a single WHIMBREL , 20+ DUNLIN , 12 GREENSHANK , a SPOTTED REDSHANK , 2 RUFF ,
a LITTLE STINT , a CURLEW SANDPIPER & a KNOT .
September 19, 2005
A GOOD DAY IN SOUTH DEVON
This morning I got up early & went down to South Devon ! the first place that I looked at was Slapton Ley but the only thing I had there was a CETTI`S WARBLER .
I then went on to East Prawle & looked in the ploughed field at the top of the village where I saw 6 WHITE WAGTAIL , 4 COMMON RAVEN , 3 WOODLARK & the BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER that has returned to the the field where it was before .
The next stop was in East Prawle itself where there was a ROSE-COLOURED STARLING ( My 3rd in Devon this year ) in with 30+ COMMON STARLING .
I then went down to Prawle Point for a look at the RED-BACKED SHRIKE that was found there yesterday, the bird was a Juvenile & it performed very well & three times it was seen to catch a Red Admiral Butterfly & eat it , there was also 2 Male CIRL BUNTING seen .
There was also hundreds of Red Admiral Butterfly seen on site & in the lanes down to the point .
September 14, 2005
Not A Lot About Today !!
This morning I went for another look down at Dawlish Warren & it was dead ! the only birds I saw were 6 COMMON SCOTER & 4 SANDWICH TERN at sea .
On the land there was a Male & Female NORTHER WHEATEAR , a SPARROWHAWK & KESTREL & single WILLOW WARBLER & CHIFFCHAFF .
Later in the afternoon I went to Bowling Green Marsh where there were 16 LITTLE EGRET , 12 CURLEW SANDPIPER , a LITTLE STINT , a RUFF
a SPOTTED REDSHANK , a GREEN SANDPIPER & a COMMON SANDPIPER .
CURLEW SANDPIPER . BOWLING GREEN MARSH . TOPSHAM . DEVON . 14 / 9 / 2005
September 12, 2005
DAWLISH WARREN
This morning I went down to Dawlish Warren for a look ! the first birds that I came across were 3 NORTHERN WHEATEAR & in the end I saw 20+ of them .
I then saw 3 WHITETHROAT , 2 SPOTTED FLYCATCHER , a GARDEN WARBLER ,
6 WILLOW WARBLER & 3 COMMON STONCHAT all before entering the main reserve .
I then went out to Warren Point where I saw numerous RINGED PLOVER & DUNLIN , 7 SANDERLING , 2 CURLEW SANDPIPER , and single KNOT ,
LITTLE EGRET & a YELLOW WAGTAIL flew over calling .
September 11, 2005
DEVON DELIGHTS
This afternoon Andy Bond & Myself stopped off at Slapton Ley for a quick look on the way to East Prawle , we saw 2 BLACK TERN & 2 ARCTIC TERN flying over the ley & in some small bushes by the road this WRYNECK showed very well .
We then went on to East Prawle & in a ploughed field at the top of the village there was a quite a sellection of waders with a BUFF BREASTED SANDPIPER , a DOTTEREL , 2 GOLDEN PLOVER , 20+ RINGED PLOVER & 2 DUNLIN .
Also seen in the fields were nunerous WHEATEAR , 3 WOODLARK a YELLOW WAGTAIL & a WHITE WAGTAIL .
A very good selection of birds for a Sunday afternoon in Devon .
September 7, 2005
PECTORAL SANDPIPER ?
This morning I woke up to see a flock of 20+ ROOKS in trees at the end of my garden ! where I live I am lucky if one is seen flying over so this was a very strange sight .
Later on I got news of a Pectoral Sandpiper over on Exminster Marsh so I went over to look for it , I looked for quite a while but never saw it .
But I did see 12 SWALLOW , a KINGFISHER & a SPARROWHAWK & down at the end of the marsh at the Turf Lock there was this BLACK-NECKED GREBE that was in very close to shore in one of the inlets .
BLACK-NECKED GREBE . TURF LOCK . EXE ESTUARY . DEVON . 7 / 9 / 2005
September 6, 2005
DAWLISH WARREN
Late this afternoon I went down to Dawlish Warren for a look to see if I could see the ROSE COLOURED STARLING that was seen earlier in the day .
I was walking out across the Greenland Lake area when it flew over my head in with about 30+ COMMON STARLING , the bird is a Juvenile so it stands out very well in flight .
I then went out to the bay by the hide & saw 20+ RINGED PLOVER , 6 DUNLIN , & a LITTLE STINT & this WHITE WAGTAIL that was in with about 20 PIED WAGTAIL.
And on the way back to the car I saw 3 WHIMBREL & a Female SPARROWHAWK .
September 5, 2005
3rd SPOTTED CRAKE IN DEVON THIS YEAR !
This morning I went down to Bowling Green Marsh In Topsham for a look & was in luck as a SPOTTED CRAKE had just been found ! the 3rd in Devon this year , it was over the far side of the marsh in front of the reeds & I managed to get only this shot of it .
Yes I know its not very good but the light in the morning & distance from from the bird is very bad on the marsh .
Also seen were 5 LITTLE EGRET , 3 COMMON SNIPE , 11 GREENSHANK ,
2 WHIMBREL , & single PEREGRINE FALCON , SPOTTED REDSHANK ,
RINGED PLOVER & EGYPTION GOOSE .
