well today was a family day but i was allowed out for an hour so i went to stover cp. i had heard that there was a ring neck duck with the polchard but i didn't see it. i was hoping for a med gull but too eluded me, so what did i find? not much out of the normal but it's all practice. I'm trying to learn calls, i did manage to find a goldcrest! no the lake tufted ducks dove for their food as did GCG.

well up with the lark this morning. first stop the warren. I saw some gulls flying over the road by cockwood so I stopped at the railway crossing to inspect them. unfortunately there was no med gulls but i did manage bar tailed godwits, black tailed godwits, lapwing, buzzard, loads of redshank, dunlin and brent geese, all dark bellies.

i moved on to warren proper. langstone produced great northern diver looking huge by itself and the razors and gillies very small as they fed. as i was on top of the rock i scanned the water along the spit and got velvet scoter and a massive barge with cranes(not birds) moving into position to remove containers off the napoli.

i then walked along the seawall to find great crested grebes, 9 in total. i walked around the 1st pond, nothing, the main pond revealed little grebe and i continued towards the beach. when i got there i found a 2nd GND and a couple of red throated divers looking fresh and bright. eider were feeding off shore but that was it for the sea. As i walked back down greenland lake i heard a call from a bird but couldn't place it, i later found out it was a cetti's warbler, cool.

a sparrow hawk caught a wood pigeon as i walked to get to my car, i love nature. watching real life as it happens, real life not the rubbish on TV.

i now had to meet the family for lunch and i had time to go to Little Haldon (by teignmouth golf club). One for my favourite bird showed as i got there a dartford warbler, very close and very showie.

Lunch out, nice.

I managed to get 15mins at the passage house on the way home and found loads of black heads, commons and curlew. as you can see, 1 was oiled, i suspect from the farce that is sat off Branscombe.

i will apologise now because i have had a few glasses of wine tonight. mmmmmm.

goodnight.

well no photo today but i didn't have time to take any.

i managed to get down to Dawlish Warren this morning for a look around first up were a flock of scoters of the sea joined by 2 great crested grebes. it was a still morning and the sun had just risen over the sea. beautiful. i walked around the sea wall towards the beach searching for anything of interest but it was a quite morning. i got to the first pond a heard a water rail and then 1 squealed and popped into the open, yeah a year tick! i continued to watch for the 2nd bird but it never showed, it just called now and then. a quick look at the main pond only revelled a couple of coot and moorhen and then the phone rang.

My lovely wife's car had broken down so i had to go and sort it. B@$#@&D

I did manage to get 1/2 an hour in my lunch to go to a secret spot i now with in walking distance but nothing ever turns up there, the best I've had is a buzzard but not today. a few blue tits and chaffs.

i always say 'I watch birds because i enjoy it and if something special turns up then that's great' i can watch blue tits and blackbirds for as long as i could watch an osprey or phalarope.

I just made it to the passage house before dark and the light was fading fast. The sunset tonight was amazing, like fire in the sky. I saw 2 egrets fishing and 3 redshanks wading in the shallows. As I scanned the area I noticed a lonely lapwing on the shore line, I don't see them out in the open here that often so I couldn't resist shooting it, see above. I heard a common sandpiper calling as it flew along the river teign and at this point the light was bad. I thought I would just wait a minute or two to see if an owl might make an appearance but I was let down. maybe next time.

Managed to drag myself out of my nice warm bed to get down to the Passage House Inn early. There was lots of black headed gulls flying around waiting for the tide to drop so that they could preen. Amongst them were common gulls and herrings. at this point I couldn't feel my fingers even with gloves on but I don't give up that easily. I continued to search through the gulls trying to locate the Laughing Gull but no luck today. I did see 2 Goldeneye diving on the far side of the river also further down were 2 mergansers(f). As I scanned the area a little grebe made an appearance diving in the shallow fast moving water and making it way up river. All the while the strange kazoo like call of the Lapwing was ever present and I managed to count 16, the most I've had there was 29, 2 weeks ago. On the far banks I noticed a heron waiting to pounce on it's chosen prey.
At this point I was F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G so I walked along the path towards the A380 road bridge to try and get some feeling back into my hands. Ahead of me I noticed 4 mute swans feeding and cleaning their feathers, they looked a warm light orange in the early sunshine. then a flash caught my eye(cliche), it didn't look blue at first but i knew what it was, a kingfisher. Almost every time this year I have been to the site I have seen one, I didn't see a single bird last year here! Anyway I saw where I landed and set up my scope to watch it. I couldn't believe it, I saw about 15 meters from it and it sat there watching the water and not me. I managed to get a quick photo down the scope and when I looked back down it, it was gone. WOW.
Well time was against me and I had to get to work, as I walked back to the car I stopped, I heard a call, it was a Grey Wagtail, again I have seen loads over the last few years but none here. Cracking.
i only go to the Passage House because it's easy to get to before work but i was chuffed with today's birds.
Very sad news about the Napolii in East Devon. i know that some seabirds have already been washed ashore(AHHHHHHHHH) I know this will have an effect on my other patch at Dawlish Warren but I feel for everyone further around the coast. What impact will this have on the enviroment. considering it is a world heritage site it seems that there is little reaction from the government and abroad. I'm sure we would help other countries in the same situation!

Laughing gull

This gull eluded me for days but i finally caught up with it on a nightclub roof in Newton Abbot. This was the first bird of the day so what a great start. Others that day included Black Necked Grebe, Great Northern Diver, Kittiwake , Razorbill and Guillemot off Broadsands beach, Paignton. I had to leave because the rain was torrential rain and it's not much fun birding in the rain.
One thing i have noticed this year is oiled seabirds. I have seen four so far this year, the first i rescued with a warden on Dawlish Warren on New Years Day. This is four more than i have seen in 2 years! When will people learn that flushing their tanks at sea might be cheap but the cost to marine life far out ways monetary worth. Right I'll get off my soap box now.