October 29, 2006
WOODLARK
This afternoon I went for a look at the Riverside Country Park at Countess Wear in Exeter & I saw 3 LITTLE EGRET , 8 COMMON TEAL , a single Male WIGEON , 12 COMMON SNIPE , 4 GREEN SANDPIPER & a flock of 20+ LONG TAILED TIT .
I then went up to the top fields in the village of Exminster & found 7 WOODLARK .
October 26, 2006
THE EXE ESTUARY . DEVON
This afternoon I went for a look at the Exe Estuary with my mate Andy Bond & we were lucky enough to see the OSPREY that has been on the estuary for a few days .
Also seen were 3 LITTLE EGRET , around 50+ BRENT GOOSE , 2 SPOONBILL & a GREEN WOODPECKER was heard on call .
October 22, 2006
Berry Head . Devon
Brian Heasman & myself went down to Berry Head in South Devon for a sea watch but when we got to the site the gales that we were hoping for never materialized & all we saw were numerous GANNET & KITTIWAKE , around 20+ GUILLEMOT , a few SANDWICH TERN , 5 ARCTIC SKUA & a POMARINE SKUA .
We then went for a look in the bushes but the rain then set in & all we could see on the land was a COMMON RAVEN , a juvenile BLACKCAP & a brief view of a FIRECREST that was in with a flock of LONG TAILED TIT .
October 16, 2006
START POINT
Today I went out birding with Andy Bond & Ken Montandon to Start Point in South Devon , & the first thing that we did was to walk down to the lighthouse where we checked the bushes around the lighthouse but as it was very windy nothing was showing , we then did a bit of a sea watch & we saw numerous GANNET & KITTIWAKE , then a POMARINE SKUA went through ( my first for the year ) , then an ARCTIC SKUA & a GREAT SKUA .
We then walked around the top fields with another local birder Perry Sanders & we saw 2 RING OUZEL , 2 MERLIN , a SPARROWHAWK , about a dozen SKYLARK , 6 CHIFFCHAFF & 4 CIRL BUNTING .
Also seen were the following butterfly , 50+ Red Admiral , 6 Clouded Yellow & 2 Painted Lady .
October 12, 2006
Common Rosefinch
News came out this morning of a Common Rosefinch found in the Ludwell Lane area of Exeter , so later on in the day I went & looked for it but was out of luck as there was no sign of it , but I did see around 20+ HOUSE SPARROW so perhaps it may turn up again with these .
Also seen was a flock of LONG TAILED TIT that were passing through , a CHIFFCHAFF & this WRYNECK that was found by local birder Andy Bond .
October 9, 2006
SPOTTED SANDPIPER
Today Brian Heasman& myself went out for a days birding with the first stop up at the Northam Burrows in North Devon , but it was pouring with rain when we got there & we only saw 50+ GOLDEN PLOVER , 2 KNOT , 2 LITTLE STINT & a BRENT GOOSE .
We then decided to go to the Upper Tamar Lake & look for the SPOTTED SANDPIPER that was seen there yesterday & today the bird was still there showing well , also seen were 2 more LITTLE STINT , a CURLEW SANDPIPER , 2 GREY WAGTAIL , a KINGFISHER & a RAVEN .
On the way back home we heard that some SPOONBILL had been found on the Exe Estuary so we went to look for them & saw 1 Adult & 14 Juvenile birds , a very good count for this area .
October 2, 2006
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE
Early this morning Brian Heasman & myself went down to Berry Head in South Devon for a sea watch , but once again the shipping forcast got it wrong & the gale that they predicted didn`t happen ! so all we saw were numerous GANNET & KITTIWAKE , 2 BALEARIC SHEARWATER , 2 ARCTIC SKUA , 1 GREAT SKUA ,
5 COMMON TERN & a few SANDWICH TERN .
And on the land we saw about 15 CHIFFCHAFF , 8 CIRL BUNTING & a COMMON RAVEN .
We then went up to Meare Heath in Somerset for a reported RED-NECKED PHALAROPE & got good views of this smart looking wader , & we also saw 5 BLACK TERN so it turned out not a bad day in the end .
