November 30, 2006
Tuesday 28th November . 2006
The 1st winter FALCATED DUCK that was on the Exe Estuary at Exmouth had today moved up on to Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham with about 1500-2000 WIGEON & is looking a lot better now than last week with the green showing a lot better on the head now .
Also seen on the marsh today were 20+ BRENT GOOSE , a few COMMON TEAL & SHOVELER & a JAY flew across the marsh .
FALCATED DUCK . BOWLING GREEN MARSH . TOPSHAM . DEVON . 28 / 11 / 2006
Monday 27th November . 2006
Today I went down to Beer in East Devon to look for a reported YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER & was lucky enough to get good but short views of it , also seen was a BRAMBLING , Male & Female BULLFINCH , a RAVEN & a GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER .
Also seen was this mouse that I was told was Long Tailed Fieldmouse .
November 23, 2006
FALCATED DUCK . THE EXE ESTUARY . EXMOUTH . DEVON . 23 / 11 / 2006
This morning I went down to Mudbank Lane in Exmouth to look for a reported 1st winter FALCATED DUCK & after a bit of a search I ended up getting pretty good views of it , I fired of a few shots of it but these ended up the best that I could get as the light was very bad but still as this bird is a potential tick for me I was glad to get anything , but I will try to get better shots if I can .
Also seen were numerous WIGEON & PINTAIL , around 20+ BRENT GOOSE
52 LITTLE EGRET & 6 TURNSTONE .
November 22, 2006
LONG-BILLED MURRELET
Hi all
I just want to put a few things strait on the Murrelet ! the bird was found on the 7th of November by Mr D Hopkins , photographed by myself D Stone & was also seen by Mr J Forte & Mr K Montandon .
Surely all other claims on this bird from the 11th-14th November can only be counted as refound but not as found ?
Dave
November 20, 2006
VELVET SCOTER
Today I went down to Otterton to see if the VELVET SCOTER that was found over the weekend would still be there & my luck was in & the bird showed quite well but distant from the top of the cliffs by the sewage works , giving me the opportunity to get a photo of this species for the first time ( I know the last photo is very distant but it shows the white in the wings very well )
Also seen were 2 SHAG , 3 COMMON STONECHAT & 2 RAVEN were heard calling .
VELVET SCOTER . OFF OF OTTERTON SEWAGE WORKS . DEVON . 20 / 11 / 2006
Sunday 19th November . 2006
This weekend I went away for a 60s music revival at the Breen Sands Holiday Park but on the Sunday morning Andy Bond & myself took the opportunity to go to the Apex lake in Burnham On Sea in Somerset to look for a reported YELLOW BROWED WARBLER & after searching for the bird for a short while we ended of getting fantastic views of the bird ,
Also on site were 2 GREAT CRESTED GREBE , a WATER RAIL , a GREEN WOODPECKER & a CETTI`S WARBLER .
November 13, 2006
LONG-BILLED MURRELET
Today I spent the day down at Dawlish with the LONG BILLED MURRELET ! the bird showed very well today & I just wish it was showing this well on the 7th , the bird was again very hard to digiscope as it was constantly diving & some sick sod sarcastically named it Ronaldo .
There was quite a large crowd again on show today & it was good to see some faces from the past , one of them was Pete Dennis & the sweep stake today was what was the rarest seen today him or the Murrelet ( Ha Ha ).
Also seen in the area today was a GUILLEMOT , a Male & 2 Female EIDER & 3 RAVEN .
November 12, 2006
LAPLAND BUNTING
On Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham this morning there were 20+ BRENT GOOSE , 400+ AVOCET & around 15 BAR TAILED GODWIT .
I then went down to Exmouth with Dave Hopkins to an area of stubble fields behind Orcombe Point to look for a reported LAPLAND BUNTING & after a while we found the bird in with around 150+ SKYLARK , 50+ LINNET & a few STOCK DOVE .
SATURDAY 11th NOVEMBER . 2006
Today I saw 3 American birds in Devon ! the first one was another view of the LONG BILLED MURRELET only this time it was off the town of Dawlish & a lot closer to shore .
I then had to go back to work & on the way there I saw a Brown Hare near the village of Kenton , later in the day I went up to the Upper Tamar Lake to look for the reported LONG BILLED DOWITCHER & after a bit of a walk to the far end of the lake I got great views of the bird along with the SPOTTED SANDPIPER .
A good point for me was that the Dowitcher was my 334 bird in Devon .
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER . UPPER TAMAR LAKE . DEVON . 11 / 11 / 2006
November 11, 2006
November 10, 2006
November 9, 2006
Wednesday 8th November . 2006
Today I went down to Slapton Ley with Andy Bond & Ken Montandon we arrived in the dark in hope of seeing a Bittern come out at first light , but we never saw one .
But we did see 15 POCHARD , 4 TUFTED DUCK , a Female MARSH HARRIER , a MERLIN & we heard numerous Cetti`s Warbler & Water Rail & 2 Tawny Owl .
We then went to Beesands Ley where there were 2 WHEATEAR , we then headed off back home stopping off at the Kilbury Bridge/Water Plant by the River Dart & saw 2 Female GOOSANDER & 2 GREY WAGTAIL .
Later in the afternoon I saw 20+ RED LEGGED PARTRIDGE near the village of Kenton .
GREY WAGTAIL . KILBURY WATER PLANT . Nr BUCKFASTLEIGH . DEVON . 8 / 11 / 2006
TUESDAY . 7th NOVEMBER . 2006
This morning I had my first FIELDFARE of the Autumn with 6 seen near the village of Woodbury in East Devon .
Later in the afternoon I got news of a LITTLE AUK down at Dawlish Warren , so I shot of in hope that it would still be there & as luck would have it it was but it now seems that the bird I photographed was a LONG BILLED MURRELET a first for Britain .
Also seen was a RED THROATED DIVER , 8 GREAT CRESTED GEBE , 6 COMMON SCOTER & 2 ROCK PIPIT .
November 5, 2006
WOODCHAT SHRIKE
Today I went down to Soar in South Devon with Brian Heasman to look for a Juvenile WOODCHAT SHRIKE that had been seen there & we arived to find a group of birders already there looking at it , & soon we were getting good views of the bird feeding in the hedgerows , there were also afew SKYLARK & MEADOW PIPIT & 4 COMMON STONECHAT .
In the afternoon I went for a walk in the Clyst Marshes at Topsham but only saw a BUZZARD , a SPARROWHAWK & 2 RAVEN .
November 4, 2006
RED BREASTED GOOSE
Early this morning at 2.15 am I had a BARN OWL fly across the road at Patterson`s Cross near the village of Feniton .
Later on in the afternoon Andy Bond , Ken Montandon & myself went up to Dorset to look for the reported RED BREASTED GOOSE & we found the bird in Butterstreet Cove , it was in with around 2000 Dark Bellied BRENT GOOSE & we also saw 2 birds of the Light Bellied race .
Also seen were numerous WIGEON & a few PINTAIL .
RED BREASTED GOOSE . BUTTERSTREET COVE . THE FLEET . DORSET . 4 / 11 / 2006
Friday 3rd November . 2006
I went down to Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham again this afternoon to look for the reported Serin that was seen there yesterday but again I had no luck in seeing it .
On the marsh there were the usual suspecs , numerous WIGEON , TEAL & a few SHOVELER , 20+ BRENT GOOSE , 2 LITTLE EGRET & this Fox was out soaking up the afternoon sun .
& out on the Clyst estuary there was a count off 14 GREY PLOVER feeding on the mud .
November 2, 2006
BEWICK`S SWAN
News of a Serin on Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham got me off of my bum & dashing down there in hope of seeing it , but there was no sign of it ! but I did see numerous WIGEON , SHOVELER & TEAL , 20+ BRENT GOOSE & 200+ AVOCET .
And out on the Clyst Estuary there were 2 BEWICK`S SWAN a bit of a rare bird down in this neck of the woods .
November 1, 2006
Monday 30th October . 2006
Today there was news of a CATTLE EGRET found at Colaton Raleigh in East Devon , so Andy Bond & myself went to see if it was still there & we found it showing well in a field with a LITTLE EGRET but after a short while it flew towards the village of Otterton so we then went over to there to see if we could find it again but we were out of luck this time ! but we did see a DIPPER on the River Otter .
We then decided to go down to West Charleton Marsh to look for the Male LONG TAILED DUCK that has been showing in the bay & it was still there but we only got very distant views .
Our last stop was at Slapton Ley where we saw 11 RUDDY DUCK , 6 TUFTED DUCK & 2 POCHARD at the Torcross end of the ley & a look out into Start Bay got me a GREAT NORTHERN DIVER , we then went to the other end of the ley where we saw 3 GREAT CRESTED GREBE , 3 LITTLE GREBE , a very close MERLIN , 6 CETTI`S WARBLER & 4 WATER RAIL were heard but not seen , we waited until dark in hope of seeing a Bittern but none showed & all we saw were 6 Common Pipistrelle Bat .
