On a recent non-birding holiday to Italy, I came across this Wood Sand.

A fine photo, just about my usual standard! The bird was reasonably approachable and over the next couple of days I managed to get a bit closer.

And with a little bit of fieldcraft and some help from the bird, closer still.

Not sure I’ll ever get an opportunity like that again to photograph a Wood Sand!

The first Wheatear and Chiffchaff of the year today are good signs that winter is finally over!

Not much to shout about over the last few months but one minor highlight

Water Pipit

And a nice smart male Cirl posing this morning

Christmas in Somerset and almost no birds to speak of at all! Single figures of Redwing and Fieldfare in 4 days and little else of note apart from 4 Goosander and a nice Water Rail. Never seen so much snow there in 16 years.

Back home to the patch and the snow had gone along with most of the birds! The Skylark count made it towards 2000 on the 23rd Dec and with them a whopping 20 Woodlarks (although there may have been up to 30).

A few thrushes left around

Best bird was a Water Pipit on the point (probably the same bird reported a few weeks ago. The Eider was there again today as well

The sun (!) setting on 2010

So the year list finished on 112 which I am pretty happy with. As far as I can tell, 130 species were seen altogether at Wembury Beach in 2010 so I saw 86%. What did I miss?

Cettis Warbler
Dartford Warbler
Quail
Hobby
Great Skua
GN Diver
Brambling
Ring Ouzel
Spotted Flycatcher
Goosander
Tree Pipit
Redstart
Jay
Nuthatch
Sedge Warbler
Reed Bunting
Long-eared Owl
(Feral Pigeon – I don’t count Feral Pigeon)

Plenty to be searching for next year then!

A while since my last year list update……. That doesn’t mean I have given up, just a quick pause for the birth of my son!!

Year list up to 111 thanks to some stupid omissions (Magpie!) and some excellent cold weather movement. The last three days have seen 5 year ticks, 4 of them patch ticks (Merlin (year only), Moorhen, Eider, Lapland Bunting, Woodlark). This is the reason;
Snow on the beach

Art…..

Generally there have been good numbers of birds, particularly Golden Plover

Lapwing, Skylark and Thrushes:
Mistle Thrush (8 in one day exceeding year total so far)

Redwing

4/5 Wembury Thrushes in this photo

The garden has been good too
Photo by my wife

and there have been some mammals around as well
and some cracking sunsets

Still a few days birding left this year and maybe the yearlist will expand a little still

All quiet on the birding front so here are a couple of invert pics. First, Leptoglossus occidentalis (Western Conifer Seed Bug). An alien from the US introduced into Europe and spreading to Britain. I have found 3 so far this autumn which represents about 30% of all Devon records!!

Secondly, Coletes hedera (Ivy Mining Bee). This Bee has recently hopped across the channel and is colonising the south coast.

On Ivy (makes the ID easy!)

Burrow

Mid May must be dragonfly time – even though I haven’t managed to get out much.

First proper trip out today with the BDS meeting and a tick for me, my 50th European species….

Cordulia aeanea – Downy Emerald

Crappy weather so little on the wing but plenty of exuviae and emergents

Chaser/Skimmer sp.

Coenagrion puella – Azure Damselfly

One Brachytron exuvia, a couple of Ischnura elegans, Phyrrosoma nymphula adults/emergents and one Libellula quadrimaculata.

Finally, a Glow Worm larva from last week.

Spring migration? Can someone give me a call when it starts please or when it is over so I don’t have to bother trudging round seeing nothing.

Here are some of the highlights so far……….. 2 reptiles, an isopod and 2 common breeding species……..

Escaping Adder

Underwear soiling 2 seconds at 6 in the morning after a heavy evening.

Ligia oceanica

Dozy slow worm

Wren

The only slight saving grace has been some seawatching adding a few things to the year list. As you will notice there are a few missing species like Tree Pipit, Cuckoo, Yellow Wag, Garden/Reed/Sedge Warbler, Sand Martin and Whinchat to name but a few. Yera list update below

53.    Grey Plover (17/1/10)
54.    Pheasant (17/1/10)
55.    Blue Tit (17/1/10)
56.    Goldcrest (17/1/10)
57.    Redshank (31/1/10)
58.    Water Pipit (21/2/10)
59.    Fulmar (21/2/10)
60.    Little Egret (21/2/10)
61.    Canada Goose (21/2/10)
62.    Shelduck (06/03/10)
63.    Grey Heron (06/03/10)
64.    Linnet (06/03/10)
65.    Stock Dove (06/03/10)
66.    Peregrine (27/3/10)
67.    House Sparrow (27/3/10)
68.    Chiffchaff (27/3/10)
69.    Common Scoter (28/3/10)
70.    Sandwich Tern (28/3/10)
71.    Willow Warbler (1/4/10)
72.    Wheatear (1/4/10)
73.    Manx Shearwater (2/4/10)
74.    Swallow (10/4/10)
75.    Guillemot (11/4/10)
76.    Slavonian Grebe (11/4/10)
77.    Pintail (17/4/10)
78.    House Martin (20/4/10)
79.    Whitethroat (24/4/10)
80.    Blackcap (24/4/10)
81.    Whimbrel (24/4/10)
82.    Arctic Skua (25/4/10)
83.    Bar-tailed Godwit (28/4/10)
84.    Swift (1/5/10)

Some nice views of Cirl Bunting this morning. Here are a couple of shots of a female as people only seem to show pics of males

And some Pale-bellied Brents from Torpoint. The Ring-billed Gull didn’t hang around long enough for a photo unfortunately.

Patch year list is still going and up to 62 with a solitary Water Pipit on the beach this morning

For the first time ever, I have decided to do a patch year list. Hopefully it will still be going by the end of the month and hopefully it will encourage me to get out and look for more stuff.

Wembury Beach 2010 List is below if anyone cares!

The weather (well it is pretty rare in South Devon)

The cold weather brought lots of stuff in with massive numbers of thrushes which had been pretty scarce up to now and a constant stream of Lapwing with smaller numbers of Golden Plover as well as a few waders and ducks. All of this led to 5 patch ticks the best of them being Woodcock.

Black Redstarts are still around (and my photos have got no better)

Rich mans Robin

Poor mans Grey Phal

Poor mans Purple Sand

Year List
 
1.    Robin
2.    Herring Gull
3.    Black-headed Gull
4.    Song Thrush
5.    Dunnock
6.    Carrion Crow
7.    Meadow Pipit
8.    Wren
9.    Pied Wagtail
10.    Redwing
11.    Lapwing
12.    Woodpigeon
13.    Black Redstart
14.    Fieldfare
15.    Rock Pipit
16.    Blackbird
17.    Shag
18.    Cormorant
19.    Snipe
20.    Oystercatcher
21.    Golden Plover
22.    Kestrel
23.    Teal
24.    Mallard
25.    Turnstone
26.    Dunlin
27.    Chaffinch
28.    Goldfinch
29.    Buzzard
30.    Stonechat
31.    Rook
32.    Jackdaw
33.    Mediterranean Gull
34.    Coal Tit
35.    Long-tailed Tit
36.    Skylark
37.    Mistle Thrush
38.    Raven
39.    Great Tit
40.    Cirl Bunting
41.    Curlew
42.    Rook
43.    Green Woodpecker
44.    Grey Wagtail
45.    Common Gull
46.    Knot
47.    Bullfinch
48.    Lesser Black-backed Gull
49.    Greater Black-backed Gull
50.    Gannet
51.    Woodcock
52.    Ringed Plover

A rare bit of semi-twitching today and just to confirm my lack of photographic ability……

Spotted Sand, Topsham

And some other stuff that is not very common around Plymouth