August 28, 2007
27th August . 2007
Up early this morning for a trip down to Dawlish Warren to catch the tide in the early morning sunshine & I saw two of the three birds that I was looking for a CURLEW SANDPIPER & a LITTLE STINT that were both in the bight area along with numerous RINGED PLOVER & DUNLIN & single KNOT & GREY PLOVER they were sleeping most of the time until a PEREGINE FALCON went over & up everything went .
I then walked back towards the Greenland Lake area & on the way found a BLACK TERN that was feeding very close to the shore with some SANDWICH TERN , in the Greenland Lake area there was no sign of the bird that I was looking for a Wryneck that was there the day before ! but there was quite a few WHITETHROAT on show today .
August 22, 2007
YELLOW-LEGGED GULL
This morning I went to the recreation ground in Topsham that looks out over the Exe Estuary to look for the YELLOW-LEGGED GULL that gets there & I managed to get good views of it before it flew off up river, there was also 3 MEDITERRANEAN GULL = 2 adult winter & a 2nd winter , + 2 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL .
Also seen was the long staying SLAVONIAN GREBE , 12 COMMON SANDPIPER , a KINGFISHER , a WATER RAIL , a REED WARBLER & my first Jersy Tiger Moth of the year .
MEDITERRANEAN GULL . THE EXE ESTUARY . TOPSHAM . DEVON . 22 / 8 / 2007
August 20, 2007
Stormy Birding
It was pouring cats & dogs in Topsham this morning so I went down to the hide at the Bowling Green Marsh for a look but there was nothing to be seen out of the ordinary , a LITTLE EGRET slowly flew across in front of the hide & a few LITTLE GREBE & SHOVELER were showing out on the water .
But the wader flock was hunched up in the heavy rain but there were numerous CURLEW , WHIMBREL , REDSHANK & BLACK TAILED GODWIT & after a bit of searching 4 SNIPE & 3 GREENSHANK came on to the daylist as did an Adult & 2 Juvenile LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL & the heavy rain attracted 20+ SAND MARTIN that were hawking over the marsh .
Riding out the storm . Bowling Green Marsh . Topsham . Devon . 20 / 8 / 2007
August 18, 2007
WOOD SANDPIPER
This afternoon I went over to the Exminster Marshes to look for a reported WOOD SANDPIPER that was being seen on the main lagoon & after looking for it for a little while I got good views of it but it was very distant hence the crap photo .
Also seen were numerous SWALLOW , HOUSE MARTIN & SAND MARTIN & a few COMMON SWIFT
August 14, 2007
AUDOUIN`S GULL
Today I was lying in bed feeling sorry for myself with a bout of the flu when the phone rang so I dragged myself out of bed to answer it & on the other end of it was my mate Brian telling me the amazing news that there was a sub adult AUDOUIN`S GULL on the Seaton Marshes being seen from the hide .
WELL you have never seen anyone move as fast as I did & was soon in my car heading for there as fast as I could , I arrived to find some people already watching the bird & that was a godsend as the bird was very distant & only showing now & then but I did manage to get some good views of the bird which was a British tick for me .
August 12, 2007
BLACK TERN
This morning I went down to Exmouth to look for some BLACK TERN that had been reported from there , & after a scan of the bay I saw 2 of them + a single ARCTIC TERN & numerous SANDWICH TERN .
Later on in the evening I went for a look at Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham but all I could see were 20+ WHIMBREL , 20+ DUNLIN & a SPOTTED REDSHANK .
