Any Devon birders out there??? (1 Viewer)

[JRE]

Hi all,
I live in Devon, but know very few Devon birders even though I've lived here for nearly 10 years. I think I know most of the best birding sites in the south (where I live), but am not that familiar with most of them. I would greatly appreciate any help and advice on places such as Prawle Point, Exe Estuary etc, but would also love to know of any smaller and less well known sites such as Venford Reservoir, or a really good area of farmland.
My local patch isn't to bad. It's near Berry Pomeroy Castle, and has recently turned up Firecrest, Grasshopper Warbler, Barn Owl (breeding), a Willow Warbler on the 28th of March and, -believe this- a singing Brambling!!!!!
Once again, all replies welcomed (short or otherwise, hint hint!!)

 

[Ppedro]

Hello joythi, you certainly live in a good place for reaching the many good spots in south Devon though i imagine it would be a bit spooky looking for Barn Owls at Berry Pomeroy Castle !. In case you don't know of it there is a good website dealing with latest bird sightings etc in south Devon - www.wildlifeindevon.org.uk.
If you need any info on local sites drop Paul an e-mail on this site and he could probably help. Plenty of Storm Petrels off shore at present, Berry Head maybe closest to you, also good numbers offshore in Start Bay off Beesands football pitch. Good luck, Perry

 

[Andrew]

Hi there, another Devon birder here, there are quite a few of us on here.

 

[kmonty1950]

Hi there jyothi, welcome from another devonian.

As with any birding sites, those in Devon vary with the time of year. Summer will give you nightjars on Haldon and of course all the commoner summer visitors will be around. Redstarts, wood warblers and pied flycatchers at Yarner Woods near Bovey. Winter on the Exe is pretty spectacular with ducks, grebes and divers in large numbers. You could do a lot worse than Berry Head at migration time, it's turned up some good birds over the years and seawatching can be excellent here. Cirl Buntings are easy to see nearby at Broadsands too.

"Where to watch birds in Devon and Cornwall" is an excellent book by Dave Norman and Vic Tucker and will give you some of the lesser known sites as well.

If you are down this way, there have been 4 or 5 Storm Petrels close in from the point car park at Teignmouth for the last few days.

Lastly, if you have any specific questions Birdforum will usually get you an answer.

Best regards and good birding

Ken

 

[JRE]

Thanks a lot guys, that's great. I've heard about the Storm Petrel influx, but so far havn't been able to get to the coast.
Love to know if there's any more Devonians using the site, if so, please let me know, I'd love to hear from you.
Latest good bird was a Redstart at Challacombe farm, but on the same day I somehow managed to miss both the Iberian Chiffchaff and the Black Kite. Oh, well, found my friend his first Redpoll, and heard only my 3rd Cuckoo of the year.
Cheers,
Jyothi

 

[Steve Waite]

Alright mate, let me introduce myself and our patch.

I'm from the far south eastern corner of the county, Seaton. Me and a few of us bird this area with a fine tooth-comb (although the past few weeks we've relaxed back a bit, reserving our energy for the autumn). We've really been hammering this place for the past two calendar years, though I spent
April - Nov of '05 in Yorkshire, but since Jan '05 while I've been here I've found 2 Surf Scoter, White Stork, Hume's Warbler, Gull-billed Tern, Long-tailed Skua, Black Guillemot, Iceland Gull, White-fronted Goose (16), Barnacle Goose, Whooper Swan (4) Snow Bunting 2 Osprey, 2 Marsh Harrier...etc... all within our 6 mile patch, and there's also been 2+ Cattle Egret, Great White Egret, Night Heron, Dotterel, Richards Pipit, Ring-billed Gull, 3 Hoopoe and of course our famous three Alpine Swifts, oh and another White Stork. Other 'nice sights' include the flock of Black-throated and Great Northern Divers we had Feb/Mar '05, 20 of the former and up to 35 of the latter, and Red-necked Grebes - a tricky Devon species, have been offshore March/April for the past two years, up to three for several weeks in '05! Our wintering flock of Water Pipits peaked at 25 last year and Firecrest normally over winter somewhere or other. All this since Jan '05. Not bad eh?

Re: your Cuckoo comment, I've not seen/heard one at all around here this year - and boy have I tried! it's a big gap on my local yearlist!

So yes, I am bigging up my patch, but also bigging up Devon too... probably the county with the most potential in Britain. It's so big, and so unexplored in parts.

Sounds like you've got yourself a nice patch - keep working it, day in day out and see what it produces. As Perry has said, Paul Boulden's site is the number one site to tell you what's going on in Devon.

Best of luck and good birding!

 

[Roy C]

Hi, I am from the North of the county, based in Barnstaple - my local patch is the Tarka trail between Barnstaple and Instow, inc. Isley Marsh. I also frequent both Northam and Braunton burrows with the occassional visit to places like Baggy point, Morthoe and Exmoor. Rarely take a scope these days as my main interest now is bird photography. Cheers

 

[sooseee]

Hello from North Devon.As well as my own patch near South Molton, I try to spend time on the Devon/Somerset borders on different parts of Exmoor. Hooked on songbirds!

 

[JRE]

Thanks a lot guys. Thought I'd dig this thread out again, see what happens :king:
Jyothi

 

[MKinHK]

Thanks a lot guys. Thought I'd dig this thread out again, see what happens :king:
Jyothi

Your thread brings back great birding memories of my teenage birding years. During the mid/late 80s I lived in Plymouth and spent lots of time on the Plym Estuary, especially looking for gulls at the top end on the rising tide.

Best ever day there (27th March 1988) was seeing Ross's, Bonaparte's, Ring-billed and Med Gull, along with the only BB rarity I've found - a Spotted Sandpiper - that had hung around since Dec 87 and even turned spotty by the end of its stay. Other goodies there included a Gull-billed Tern and a couple of Glaucous Gulls

A white phase Gyrfalcon emerging out of the fog at dawn in the Berry Head quarry in April 86 remains my best ever British bird.

"Where to Watch Birds Devon and Cornwall" was the first of the county "Where to Watch ..." guides and in my opinion the best (if you can get the original hardback edition). It had the maps and text for each site laid out together, unlike the later guides, which seem to have been laid out more for the convenience of the printer than the birder using them.

I moved to Devon from Hong Kong and didn't know any other birders, so this book and the country bus routes to Slapton,the Kingsbridge Estuary, Datrmoor(Postbrige area) and Rame Head were a godsend (plus a few lifts from my parents - including persuading my Mum to get up at 4am to be at Berry at dawn for the Gyrfalcon!).

I also used to go to Dawlish Warren by train, but for some reason never did especially well there (with the exception of a Greater Sand Plover in 1988).

Mike

 

[Ppedro]

Best ever day there (27th March 1988) was seeing Ross's, Bonaparte's, Ring-billed and Med Gull, along with the only BB rarity I've found - a Spotted Sandpiper - that had hung around since Dec 87 and even turned spotty by the end of its stay. Other goodies there included a Gull-billed Tern and a couple of Glaucous Gulls


Hello Mike,
remember that day well. At one time together in my scope that day had 9 Black-headed Gulls and Ross's, Bonaparte's and Ring-billed. The Plym is not so good for gulls these days, I believe because the sewage outfall on the Hoe and Chelson Meadow tip are considerably cleaner.
Perry

 

[MKinHK]

The Plym is not so good for gulls these days, I believe because the sewage outfall on the Hoe and Chelson Meadow tip are considerably cleaner.
Perry

Hi Perry
Do you know who subsequently found the Spotted Sand? I didn't know any local birders, so submitted it straight to BBRC - I've always wondered who "et al" were in the 1987 BB Rare Bird Report - I know I'd have felt a little cheated if I'd submitted the bird as a find, only to discover that an unknown birder had got there first - and not reported it.

It was only the refind that gave me the confidence to submit my record at all, so it would be nice to pass on my thanks and apologies - even if it is almost 20 years later!

Mike

 

[Chris Monk]

Hi there, another Devon birder here, there are quite a few of us on here.

Is there a Devon newsgroup on Yahoo or similar for birders?

 

[Ppedro]

Hi Perry
Do you know who subsequently found the Spotted Sand? I didn't know any local birders, so submitted it straight to BBRC - I've always wondered who "et al" were in the 1987 BB Rare Bird Report - I know I'd have felt a little cheated if I'd submitted the bird as a find, only to discover that an unknown birder had got there first - and not reported it.

It was only the refind that gave me the confidence to submit my record at all, so it would be nice to pass on my thanks and apologies - even if it is almost 20 years later!

Mike

Hello Mike,
sorry but i do not have a clue who subsequently found the Spot Sand. All i can remember is that it was a nice bird and a great find so well done albeit 20 years on !

 

[JRE]

Hey, guys this is great! Worth digging it out again (this thread).

 

[Andrew]

Chris, sadly there is no Devon newsgroup but there is a website with sightings on it.

http://www.wildlifeindevon.org.uk/index.html

 

[Chris Monk]

Thanks

Chris, sadly there is no Devon newsgroup but there is a website with sightings on it.

http://www.wildlifeindevon.org.uk/index.html

Many thanks for the link one and all :scribe:

 

[Dartmoor Birders]

Hi Jyothi!
Dartmoor is a great place to bird too, but probably a little difficult for you at present unless you can encourage your mother to take up painting whilst you bird!
145 species were recorded by our group last year and being such a vast range of habitat no doubt more slipped by unseen!
Enjoy yourself - it's a great hobby.

 

[Gus Horsley]

Hi

I'm a Cornwall birder, originally from Yorkshire, who does frequent trips into Devon. Because of that I'll probably be shunned by others on this thread.

Gus

 

[Chris Monk]

Hi

I'm a Cornwall birder, originally from Yorkshire, who does frequent trips into Devon. Because of that I'll probably be shunned by others on this thread.

Gus

Who said that?