Around the Topsham Cemetery area this morning there was a Green Woodpecker & 20 + Redwing , Later on I walked down to Bowling Green Marsh on the way seeing half a dozen Fieldfare , there was not a lot to see from the hide just the normal wildfowl but I did pick out a female Pintail .
I then walked down to the viewing platform that looks out over the Clyst Estuary on the way there I saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker , from the platform I saw over 200 Avocet them my attention was drawn to the field by the platform where there was quite a lot of Pied Wagtails & while looking at these I came across a very nice Woodlark that was feeding & flitting about , a first for me on the marsh !!!

Today I went for a look around the Exminster Marshes & found a juvenile Water Pipit on the ponds by the first bend in the road but it was soon flushed along with all the other small birds by a Merlin , also seen among the numerous Canada Geese was the Barnacle Goose , I then walked down towards the Turf Hotel & seen on the reservoir were 7 Greylag Geese , 20+ Gadwall & a male & female Pintail & sat on fence posts were 8 Common Gull , also seen was a Red Admiral & a Hornet !

A trip out today up to Chew Valley Lake in Somerset with Andy Bond to look at the SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER & we got good views of the bird but it was always very distant , also seen was a SPOTTED SANDPIPER , 2 Long-Billed Dowitchers , a Green Sandpiper , a Grey Phalarope , 2 Bewick`s Swan ( Andy had 8 ) & around the bushes there was 4 Fieldfare , 2 Redwing & a Firecrest .
And on Blagdon Lake we saw 20+ Pochard , a male Red-Crested Pochard & 10 Great Crested Grebe .

Early this morning Brian Heasman & myself went over to Collyford Common to have a look for yesterdays Temminck`s Stint but when we got there are luck was out as there was no sign of the bird but it had been seen in flight before we got there & the only thing of note that we saw was a Spotted Redshank found by Brian .
We then heard news of a Wheatear down at Mansands in South Devon at first thought to be a Black-Eared Wheatear a Devon tick for Bri & myself so we shot off to there as fast as we could only stopping on rout to pick up Butch Davis but then news came out that the bird was a male Desert Wheatear alas not a Devon tick for any of us but still a very nice bird !! that showed very well for us when we got there & a very welcome year tick .