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. 

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!

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....

....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!

A quiet first day to September...

Well, despite the early start to the day, I arrived at the Nature Reserve around 9am today. I took a steady stroll through Greenland Lake, hoping to see the flock of Starlings, and to capture a glimpse of the Rose Colored Starling, which has been spotted on the site previous days....but no such luck!

It was disappointing at the hide today, very quiet indeed, just the usual Oystercatchers, Dunlin and Ringed Plovers, with Black Headed Gulls. 

However, looking over to Warren point, there were a flock of Terns hiding behind the Oystercatchers and Cormorants, so I wallked over to Warren Point to join up with regular site birder Lee Colins.

Walking over to Warren Point, spotted 2 Wheatears and a Whitethroat, also 2 Stonechats.

Always a pleasure to see and watch Terns, mainly Sandwich and Common Terns today, with a Bar-Tailed Godwit, near the shoreline. We had the company of a Common Seal sitting up the beach.

It was amazing to watch the Terns diving for whitebait in the Estuary and sharing their food between themselves....in flight...amazing feeding behavior.

Difference between juv Common and Arctic. Source: Collins Bird Guide.

After an hour on Warren Point, it was a trek back up onto the sand dune ridge, or what we regular birders know as 'John's Watch' named after John Fortey.....legend birder of Dawlish Warren. We spotted Arctic Tern offshore....learning to ID these at a distance, takes practice. Arctic has translucent primaries, whereas a Common is much darker, also, the Arctic is a much smaller bird...

Sanderlings and Turnstones were present on the beach at Goyne 9.

Adult Summer Turnstone - By Dean Hall

Walking back towards the VC, I caught with birders Lee Colins and Dave Stone, who spotted the Rose Colored Starling...briefly, but by the time I arrived, it had disappeared. Hopefully a better birding day tomorrow. Watch this space!