Saturday 24 January 2015

A good day's birding at the Warren

Another bright and early start for birdwatching at Dawlish Warren. I arrived for high tide at 0930, with a fairly high-tide today at 4.6m.

Again, the Bullfinches remained near the Visitor Centre. A stunning bird!

Male Bullfinch - By Dean Hall

Bullfinch - By Dean Hall

Other birds seen today: 

Greenfinch
Great Tits
Blue Tits
Dunnock
Wren
Robin
Long Tailed Duck - seen flying in offshore from John's Watch. 
Grey Plovers
Knot
Dunlin
Turnstone
Redshank
Curlew
Skylark
Bonaparte's Gull
Red-Breasted Mergansers
Bar-Tailed Godwits
Long-Tailed Tits

Shellducks, with yellow-rings SL and NJ.
Shellduck - Ring SL 

Shellduck - Ring NJ

Another 'big tick' today, which included my first Water Rail on the main pond. 

A cold and frosty morning's bird watch on the Warren brrrrr!!!

I was up bright and early on this cold and very frosty morning, for a good morning's bird watch at Dawlish Warren Nature Reserve. 

Dawlish Warren covered in Hoar Frost
It was nice to finally see the flood defence completed around the Visitor Centre, it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would to be honest....it take some getting use to on the eye!

New wooden wall - flood defence around the VC at Dawlish Warren

Flood Defence
The highlight of the morning, was seeing the BullFinches in the trees near the VC on arriving on the site. This was another 'big tick' for my list. 

I headed down to the bird hide for high-tide, which was quite high today (4.2m). 

Here is a list of the birds seen today:

Bullfinch
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Song Thrush
Wren
Robin
Great Tits
Blue Tits
Dunnock
Blackbird
Great Crested Grebe
Cormorants
Wigeon
Shellducks
Dunlin
Grey Plovers
Knot
Knot - by Dean Hall
Brent Geese
Ring Plovers
Curlews
Bar-Tailed Godwits
Turnstone
Oystercatchers
Redshank
Little Egrets
Stonechat
Slav Grebe

Seen on the main pond near VC...

Gadwall
Little Grebe
Mute Swan
Moorhen

Moorhen and Gadwall on the main pond - by Dean Hall






Snow Bunting at Turf Locks


This is a 'lifer' bird for my list. After a lovely lunch at the Anchor Inn in Cockwood with my girlfriend and her parents, we took a steady walk towards the Turf Locks. We were approached at the car park by a birder (a very enthusiastic lady) who told us where to go and see this stunning snow bunting. It didn't take us long to find this bird, as it was sat very still on the wall, resting and feeding on seeds, provided by local people. Not surprising that it's stayed where it is for a few days!

Photo Taken by Dean Hall
Photo Taken by Suzanne Smith

  • Snow bunting are large buntings, with striking 'snowy' plumages. Males in summer haave all white heads and under parts contrasting with black mantle and wing tips.
  • Females are a more mottled above. In autumn and winter birds develop a sandy/buff wash to their plumage and males have more mottled upperparts. 
  • Globally, they breed around the arctic from Scandinavia to Alaska, Canada and Greenland, and migrate south in winter. 
  • They are a scarce breeding species in the UK. 

Saturday 10 January 2015

RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch 2015 - January 24/25th

Hello my fellow briders,

Please, take the time and get involved with the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch, which takes place on the weekend of Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th January 2015.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/

More information on the link above....

Thanks

Dean


Lunchtime outing at Dart's Farm, Topsham.

During my lunch break at work, I and John Griffiths headed down to Dart's Farm hoping to see the Penduline Tit, but no such luck!!!

However, we did add more birds to our competitive bird list for 2015 :)

Bird's at Dart's Farm - all spotted in the 30-40 minutes we had on site....

Teal
Wigeon
Black Tailed Godwit
Grey Heron
Greenfinch
Moorhen
Linnet
Mallard
Stonechat
Canada Geese
Little Egret...

I'm heading off to the Midlands now, hopefully continue to add to my expanding list for 2015...

Keep viewing the blog for future posts!

Thursday 1 January 2015

Happy New Year....and its the start of my new bird list for 2015 at Dawlish Warren

The start of 2015 brings a grey, damp and windy day to Dawlish Warren. I headed down to the Nature Reserve with my girlfriend, Lori, where we met up with our good friends John and Rebecca, to begin our new bird list for 2015.

A good start to the year....we arrived at 1300 on site and headed to the bird hide awaiting for high tide, which peaked at 1545.

New Year's Day list....

Wren
Linnets
Oystercatchers
Brent Geese
Wigeon
Shelduck
Great Black Backed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black Backed Gull
Turnstone
Curlew
Ringed Plover
Dunlin
Knot
Sanderling
Grey Plovers
Cormorants
Red Breasted Mergansers
Bar Tailed Godwits
Water pipit
Little Grebe
Skylarks
Gannets
Great Crested Grebe
Carrion Crow

Happy New Year and Happy Birding in 2015....

Thursday 4 September 2014

....Birding day with Mr Griffiths

Tuesday, 2nd September 2014

Another day birding on Dawlish Warren Nature Reserve, joined by my good friend John Griffiths. We headed down to the Reserve around 10:30am, with high tide due at midday, hoping to get some good birds showing on the tide in front of the hide on the estuary. 

We joined up with local and regular birder Lee Collins, and took a steady stroll through Greenland Lake towards the dune ridge, known as John's Watch. Still no sign of the Rose Colored Starling, but a flock of Starlings still around Greenlake Lake and later in the day, spotted around the sea front near the Pavillion Arcade and the Boathouse Tavern Pub! Wheatear, Whitethroat, and Stonechat seen through Greenland Lake. 

An hour or two spent on John's Watch looking offshore, with plenty of Terns around, especially Sandwich Terns and an Arctic Tern, also a flock of Common Scoter, Gannets....and a Fulmar.

On the beach, Sanderlings and a Turnstone were present. We walked across to Warren Point to observe any Terns that maybe resting there, but it was very quiet, compared to previous visits, only the usual Cormorants, Black Headed Gulls, and a Bar-Tailed Godwit were on the Point. 

Lee Collins left us later in the day, but I received a message saying he spotted 2 Curlew Sandpipers in the Bight...so John and I packed up our gear and headed over. Mixed in with the Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Sanderlings were 2 Juv Curlew Sandpipers :) 

Dunlin (Left) Sanderling (Middle) Curlew Sandpiper (Right)

Juv Curlew Sandpiper - Not a great image!