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Backwater Birding - Seaton, Devon (5 Viewers)
- Thread starter Gavin Haig
- Start date
Simon Wakely
Well-known member
KarenWoolley
Well-known member
That would ONLY be me!! I've only been birding for just over a year and wanted to see my first Pied Flycatcher on patch, would have been too easy to go to, say, Yarner Woods. Patch ticks come first!|=)|
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BelfieBird
Always learning ......
Hi Karen
In June I stayed in Langford (near Cullompton) in Devon not far from where you are! During my stay our hosts, on starting to clear a lean-to type area discovered a nesting bird. This turned out to be a Spotted Flycatcher who had made her nest at the top of an old oak post.
The first picture (taken in pouring rain and poor light!) was on the day we discoverd the nest. My hosts then sent me the 2nd picture not long after our return home.
This was a lifer for me:t: and, for that week, I considered it my local patch.
Never seen a Pied FC though.
In June I stayed in Langford (near Cullompton) in Devon not far from where you are! During my stay our hosts, on starting to clear a lean-to type area discovered a nesting bird. This turned out to be a Spotted Flycatcher who had made her nest at the top of an old oak post.
The first picture (taken in pouring rain and poor light!) was on the day we discoverd the nest. My hosts then sent me the 2nd picture not long after our return home.
This was a lifer for me:t: and, for that week, I considered it my local patch.
Never seen a Pied FC though.
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Steve Waite
What you looking at?
Ringing all morning just off patch, not massive numbers but still a few nice highlights, see photos - Willow Warblers, Blackcaps (ad male and juv) and Marsh Tit.
Had a couple of looks along the river today (06:00 and just a while ago), same selection as past few days, got up to 13 Ringed Plover and 24+ Dunlin.
Had a couple of looks along the river today (06:00 and just a while ago), same selection as past few days, got up to 13 Ringed Plover and 24+ Dunlin.
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Conorbirda2
Well-known member
Fair do's Karen it wasn't a personal dig at anyone! Just a queery.
Gavin Haig
Well-known member
If you were to have a look at the 'BirdGuides' map this evening you might think that the whole south coast of Devon had been abandoned by its birders. Not a single box - not even a tiny one. Almost none of the rest of the English coast is visible - it's all plastered with boxes! But if you thought there were no birds worth reporting, you would be wrong. There was an ex-'BB' rarity found on the patch today, and it avoided us all. In the Colyford Common logbook are brief details of a Cattle Egret which was firstly among the cattle on the reserve, then by the scrape, where it was hassled by a Little Egret before flying off high to the north. 'Bother' is one of the words that springs to mind....
Personally, I was unable to earn a BirdGuides box today. Had a nice time up Beer Head this morning though, with Bun, Phil and Ian M. We also counted five other birders (including three non-patchers) making a total of nine - a Beer Head all-time record I suspect. A bit busier than two years ago! A little quiet birdwise though, with 4 Wheatears, 29 Yellow Wags (mostly straight over W), 2 Whinchats, 1 Tree Pipit, 1 Lesser Whitethroat (first one I've actually SEEN this year), about 5 each of Willow Warbler and Chiiff, 2 Whitethroats and a Spotted Flycatcher. With stuff like Red-backed Shrike, Wrynecks, Ortolans and probable Melodious Warbler turning up at Prawle, Start and Portland over the last couple of days I have to keep reminding myself that Beer Head is none of those places - it's just a tiny headland in a massive bay. But it's not bad! I tried to brighten things up a bit in the Dell this morning, just before we finished, by getting brief, poor views of a phyllosc with very pale underparts. I even imagined I may have seen a wingbar. With a Greenish Warbler in every East Anglian bush just now the implications were obvious. We sat down. We waited. It was a Willow Warbler. One day......|=)|
A rapid tour of the marshes this afternoon produced (amongst other stuff) 48 Redshank, 37 Dunlin (8 at Seaton Marshes) and 15 Ringed Plover. But no Cattle Egret....
Talking of which, if you are reading this, and enjoyed a Cattle Egret at Colyford Common this morning, please do the right thing and send a description to James McCarthy, our wonderful Devon Recorder.....:t:
Personally, I was unable to earn a BirdGuides box today. Had a nice time up Beer Head this morning though, with Bun, Phil and Ian M. We also counted five other birders (including three non-patchers) making a total of nine - a Beer Head all-time record I suspect. A bit busier than two years ago! A little quiet birdwise though, with 4 Wheatears, 29 Yellow Wags (mostly straight over W), 2 Whinchats, 1 Tree Pipit, 1 Lesser Whitethroat (first one I've actually SEEN this year), about 5 each of Willow Warbler and Chiiff, 2 Whitethroats and a Spotted Flycatcher. With stuff like Red-backed Shrike, Wrynecks, Ortolans and probable Melodious Warbler turning up at Prawle, Start and Portland over the last couple of days I have to keep reminding myself that Beer Head is none of those places - it's just a tiny headland in a massive bay. But it's not bad! I tried to brighten things up a bit in the Dell this morning, just before we finished, by getting brief, poor views of a phyllosc with very pale underparts. I even imagined I may have seen a wingbar. With a Greenish Warbler in every East Anglian bush just now the implications were obvious. We sat down. We waited. It was a Willow Warbler. One day......|=)|
A rapid tour of the marshes this afternoon produced (amongst other stuff) 48 Redshank, 37 Dunlin (8 at Seaton Marshes) and 15 Ringed Plover. But no Cattle Egret....
Talking of which, if you are reading this, and enjoyed a Cattle Egret at Colyford Common this morning, please do the right thing and send a description to James McCarthy, our wonderful Devon Recorder.....:t:
KarenWoolley
Well-known member
I was at the Farm Gate yesterday morning while the Cattle Egret was on Colyford Marsh and I Didn't see it!!! It must have landed on the scrape just as I left to go round there and flew off again before I got there, because Ian M told me it had just flown off as he was arriving! So a bit of classic timing from me and...... double bother! :-C
Ha Ahh! Make that 10, you didn't see me!! Although I didn't stay long. I was cold and wimped out! Popped to the Beer Cemetery Fields (which were nice and sheltered) and saw a few Willows, Chiffs and Spotted Flycatchers. A couple of Willow Warblers and a Chiffchaff were singing, giving a very springlike feel. Lovely. |=)|
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KarenWoolley
Well-known member
On Beer Head this morning, with Ian M, we saw very little. No Warblers at all, and a few Yellow Wagtails and Wheatears, BUT as we were just ascending the track out of The Dell we noticed the 'Beer gulls' going bonkers....Bins up and Yes, Osprey! Circling over the bay and drifting out to sea, first one I've seen this autumn and best of all, I managed to get a couple of really naff photos of it!! (don't bother opening them they look better as thumbnails)|=)|
Talking to Ian M this morning it transpires that I was still at the Farm Gate when the Cattle Egret was on The Scrape and I didn't see it - How useless is that!??.|=(|
Talking to Ian M this morning it transpires that I was still at the Farm Gate when the Cattle Egret was on The Scrape and I didn't see it - How useless is that!??.|=(|
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Steve Waite
What you looking at?
I read that it was with cattle in front of the platform....not on the reserve (like the one a few years back). It wasn't there at 06:00!
Well done with Osprey Karen! Colyford Common this morning and along the river produced: 21 Ringed Plover, 37 Dunlin, 4 Blackwits, 2 Wood Sands, 1 Green Sand, 10 Common Sands and 2 Teal. Couple of fly-over Yellow Wags too, singles over Colyford and the seafront.
Gavin Haig
Well-known member
Thank you. The difference is no doubt fundamental. So I stand corrected - accuracy is everything, and sometimes even important........|=)|
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Cant believe i missed yet another Osprey!! ( none for me this year) had the Gulls in the bay going mad at about 8.30 i was on the beach and even borrowed the fish shops bins! ( which where useless) and said to the peole in the shop there must be a osprey about, and i still never saw it! - i must visit specsavers!....:-O
Ranger James
Well-known member
What's more, its a tiny headland at the apex of a massive bay - I'm surprised you guys get so much out of it! Keep up the good work.
Two weeks off for me at the end of this month, while i'm off to France. I'll let you know the pelagic report while crossing plymouth-roscoff, and any particular birds of interest, upon my return.
Au revioir.
James
Steve Waite
What you looking at?
Home for my lunch break - just had a nice stroke of luck (again!). Talking to the assitant manager in the warehouse and heard Gulls going mental (at 16:18) - quickily ended the chat and legged it outside. Gulls were streaming south and I soon picked out a distant dot to the north west which was heading straight towards me....Osprey!!! I nipped out the back gate and into the car park to the car for my bins - by which time it was right overhead - cracking views! It continued powering its way SE (no gliding of soaring) and must have gone out to sea..... Nice!!!
Two in one day - that doesn't happen too often here!
Two in one day - that doesn't happen too often here!
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Gavin Haig
Well-known member
Late afternoon and I'm having a quick scoot up the river, starting at the tram sheds. Just about to check the bunch of loafing big gulls when they all up and head for town together as if flushed - but nothing else moves, just the big gulls. I notice there is actually a whole load of big gulls heading purposefully and quietly for the town, from all directions. I momentarily wonder what they are up to when suddenly they start wheeling around, the racket begins and I realise they now look and sound very much like they are on 'raptor duty'. I scan the sky in vain - nothing. Up and down, side to side - still nowt. I am on the point of giving up when the phone goes off and Steve tells me he's checking out the undertail coverts of yet another Osprey. He gives me its heading but I still cannot find it. The gulls begin to settle and I think I've missed out again when I pick up a suspicious dot heading south and a tiny bit east, beyond the harbour. Scope on it, and there's an Osprey heading meaningfully France-wards, a steady plod with the occasional glide. I watch it until it disappears, well impressed with its pre-programmed determination. Proper migration. Amazing stuff.....
I wouldn't have persevered without the call, so thanks Steve. :t:
Funny how the Seaton Co-Op is beginning to rival Falsterbo....|=)|
Anyway, not much else up the river, though I didn't have time to check out the gulls properly, but a nice bunch of waders on the rapidly dwindling damp bit of the Colyford scrape: 37 Dunlin, 20 Ringed Plovers, 4 Blackwits and a Wood Sand were the highlights. Hopefully the scrape will fill again with the imminent spring tides, giving the rare wader yet another opportunity to accept our invitation.
I wouldn't have persevered without the call, so thanks Steve. :t:
Funny how the Seaton Co-Op is beginning to rival Falsterbo....|=)|
Anyway, not much else up the river, though I didn't have time to check out the gulls properly, but a nice bunch of waders on the rapidly dwindling damp bit of the Colyford scrape: 37 Dunlin, 20 Ringed Plovers, 4 Blackwits and a Wood Sand were the highlights. Hopefully the scrape will fill again with the imminent spring tides, giving the rare wader yet another opportunity to accept our invitation.
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Steve Waite
What you looking at?
Axe Cliff this morning - and after a bit of a scramble down the cliff realising I couldn't get any further (and after crashing down directly on to some rusty old barbed wire!) I found a nice vantage point over the undercliff - and there were warblers everywhere! Lots of Willows and Blackcaps, a few Chiffs, 1 Whitethroat and the highlight a Garden Warbler. Looks very promising..... On the clifftop were 2 Tree Pipits, a Yellow Wag and an invisible Dunlin flew through (or maybe a very quiet flock!?).
With the few migrants here I thought I'd give Beer Head a look over - waste of time - 2 Yellow Wags, 3 Wheatears and a few Willows, Chiffs and Blackcaps.
A few looks along the river as well: 33 Ringed Plover and c35 Dunlin the only notable counts.
Nice to see lots of Martins and Swallows around, see photos.
With the few migrants here I thought I'd give Beer Head a look over - waste of time - 2 Yellow Wags, 3 Wheatears and a few Willows, Chiffs and Blackcaps.
A few looks along the river as well: 33 Ringed Plover and c35 Dunlin the only notable counts.
Nice to see lots of Martins and Swallows around, see photos.
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Roger Boswell
Well-known member
I was on my home patch today so didn't expect to see much - especially since many holiday-makers still present.
On the Cobb were several young Pied Wagtails and about 9 Rock Pipits clinging to the outside wall of the Harbour. Walking back along the top of the Cobb and a Wheatear landed momentarily before heading out across Lyme Bay.
Looking towards Monmouth Beach there were 50 plus Black-headed gulls in the water. I then saw a flock of small waders land on the beach. Even with binoculars it was almost impossible to locate the birds among the stones so I went down onto the beach. What a surprise - three different species on the shore-line; and I didn't have my birding camera with me! However, I did have a newly acquired S3 so was at least able to take some images which I hope you will be able to identify for me.
Image 1 - includes all 3 species!
Image 2 - The 2 Ringed Plovers (easier to identify than the others)
Image 3 - A Dunlin - there were about 12 in the flock
Image 4 - A Turnstone?
I was able to get within about 12ft of the Dunlins, they did not seem to be worried about my presence. They only moved further up the beach when an off-lead dog arrived.
I will be returning tomorrow to see if they are still there!
On the Cobb were several young Pied Wagtails and about 9 Rock Pipits clinging to the outside wall of the Harbour. Walking back along the top of the Cobb and a Wheatear landed momentarily before heading out across Lyme Bay.
Looking towards Monmouth Beach there were 50 plus Black-headed gulls in the water. I then saw a flock of small waders land on the beach. Even with binoculars it was almost impossible to locate the birds among the stones so I went down onto the beach. What a surprise - three different species on the shore-line; and I didn't have my birding camera with me! However, I did have a newly acquired S3 so was at least able to take some images which I hope you will be able to identify for me.
Image 1 - includes all 3 species!
Image 2 - The 2 Ringed Plovers (easier to identify than the others)
Image 3 - A Dunlin - there were about 12 in the flock
Image 4 - A Turnstone?
I was able to get within about 12ft of the Dunlins, they did not seem to be worried about my presence. They only moved further up the beach when an off-lead dog arrived.
I will be returning tomorrow to see if they are still there!
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Gavin Haig
Well-known member
Correct on all your IDs, Roger - the Dunlin photo is nice, with a few winter feathers coming through.
Had a Swift and a flyover Yellow Wag whilst at work today. Otherwise, birding limited to a late evening jaunt to Colyford Common, where Clive had found 3 Curlew Sandpipers. Only two were still in view when I arrived - a juv and a lovely moulting adult. A nice selection of regular waders too, and apparently a Wood Sand still, though not for me. Big tide this evening, and the scrape was flooding rapidly....
Had a Swift and a flyover Yellow Wag whilst at work today. Otherwise, birding limited to a late evening jaunt to Colyford Common, where Clive had found 3 Curlew Sandpipers. Only two were still in view when I arrived - a juv and a lovely moulting adult. A nice selection of regular waders too, and apparently a Wood Sand still, though not for me. Big tide this evening, and the scrape was flooding rapidly....
Was planning on a bird free evening tonight, until a call from phil saying there,s 3 Curlew sands - on coly common ( New bird for me)..scrape was pretty busy when i arrived with plenty of Dunlin and Ringed plover, 4 Blackwits, 3 Greenshank and the elusive wood sand....nice to see the scrape filling up with water again though due to the high tide, because if the weather forecasters have it right this dry period is set to continue well in to next week....
