SUN 30 JUNE 2013

Typical late June day cloudy then cleared to produce a fine sunny pm, wind 3/4 WNW

40 GANNET, 115 MANX SHEARWATER ( east- one flock of 100 ) 4 FULMAR,

7 KITTIWAKE, 2 COMMON SCOTER, 3 DUNLIN .

Over the marshes 2 SAND MARTIN, 30 + HOUSE MARTIN, 25 SWALLOW, 35 SWIFT. COOT on South Milton Ley .

Late news for Friday evening- a LITTLE GREBE on T'stone Marsh

 

Late evening update - at 20.45 the first returning CURLEW flew over calling , also the first SWALLOW roost of 120 birds

FRI 28 JUNE 2013

On a quick visit to Birmingham yesterday stopped off at Shapwick Heath to try and see the Little Bitterns - I dipped but so did everyone else - no show when I left at 14.15.  Did see - 2 Great W Egret, 6 Hobby, 1 f Marsh Harrier and 3 Cuckoo.

 

This morning only 100+ GANNET feeding in the Bay. 2 SAND MARTIN over South Huish Marsh

On T'stone Marsh still the BLACK TAILED GODWIT and f TEAL

WED 26 JUNE 2013

First noticable sightings of juv warblers outside my garden this am- 2 juv  WHITETHROAT, 2 juv CHIFFCHAFF, single juv REED & SEDGE Warbler .

Little offshore this morning apart of 2 flocks of COMMON SCOTER - 40 + 35 flying east. 90% were adult males

MON 24 JUNE 2013

Seawatching from Warren Pt this morning  it felt more like  early March than late June.

Wind still WNW reduced to a F4.

Most interesting bird of the morning was on the sea with a small group of Manx before flying off west - a SOOTY SHEARWATER- ( 164 ) my earliest record for the patch . A totalof 100 Manx ( most flying west ), 32 GANNET, 5 KITTIWAKE, 9 AUK's , 1 FULMAR and finally at 12.10 a lp ARCTIC SKUA flew east

SUN 23 JUNE 2013

Another cloudy day with a F5/6 WNW wind, still very quiet and a WeBS count day.

Offshore - 42 MANX SHEARWATER, 70 GANNET, 2 FULMAR , 4 COMMON SCOTER,

Quite a few Hirundines over South Milton Ley - 30+ SWIFT, 35 HOUSE MARTIN,

25 SWALLOW.Pair of  SHELDUCK still have 9 young. 1 COOT

 On South Huish Marsh - Pair of SHELDUCK  still with 4 Young., 3 SAND MARTIN, 20 + SWALLOW, 15 HOUSE MARTIN.

 

News from AJL - On 2/6 A RED KITE over the ridge behind Horswell House, 4/6 a female GARGANEY on T'stone Marsh , 18/6 a TURNSTONE on the rocks

SAT 22 JUNE 2013

Expected blow arrived o/night ,by 07.30 the rain had moved through leaving a cloudy and overcast morning with  a F6/7 WSW wind, rough sea but only average viz. Unfortunately nothing out of the ordinary - In 2.5 hrs from 08.00 sat on Warren Pt totals were -

295 GANNET, 345 MANX SHEARWATER, 4 KITTIWAKE, 13 FULMAR , 12 COMMON SCOTER. 4 TEAL flew in from west  otherwise almost all birds flying west

FRI 21 JUNE 2013

Still cloudy and misty this am then turned into a very sunny afternoon .

As it has been quiet thought it was time to catch up on ID skills on Gannet etc , so spent 2.5 hrs on Warren Pt - turned out better than I expected.

70 GANNET,  11 KITTIWAKE, 5 MANX SHEARWATER, 2 FULMAR, 1ad MED GULL, 3 SHELDUCK, and at 11.35 a dp ATCTIC SKUA harrassing 5 Kittiwake .

Hopefully the blow tonight will provide some interesting birds in the morning.

Have just rec'd details of a ringing recovery which will get Bob B excited ( if he picks this up in Thailand ) a CHAFFINCH ringed at South Milton Ley on 2 .Dec.2011 controlled at Stavanger Norway on 25 April 2013, how many more of our commoner winter visitors travel this distance ?

THURS 20 JUNE 2013

A cloudy day which saw rian by 12.15 and then the sea mist rolled in .

Managed to speak to Tim W who reported the SHORT EARED OWL on 13 June . He watched the bird hunting over the fields at the back of the Golf Course. This is no 163 for the year .

This morning before the mist rolled in a few MANX SHEARWATER and GANNET offshore.

Over South Huish Marsh  a small passage of Hirundines produced - 30 SWALLOW,

25 HOUSE MARTIN, first 2 SAND MARTIN ( for June ) and 12 SWIFT. Family parties of STARLING now on the marsh - 50+ today .

No change on T'stone Marsh

WED 19 JUNE 2013

A nice warm summers day , very pleasant with little wind and very few birds - In the Bay this  morning - 6 SHELDUCK and a MUTE SWAN ( on sea ), 5 KITTIWAKE and 60 GANNET feeding offshore.

On South Huish Marsh- The BLACK TAILED GODWIT has statred moving between the Marshes ( back on T'stone Marsh this afternoon )2  SHELDUCK with 4 yng.

TUES 18 JUNE 2013

With an overcast morning , light drizzle , no wind and poor viz decided to walk round South Milton Ley - 15+ SEDGE, 10+ REED, 3 CETTIS WARBLERS, 2 CHIFFCHAFF, 3 BLACKCAP, 2 BULLFINCH, 1 STOCK DOVE

At Huxton Cross - 4 YELLOWHAMMER, 1 WHITETHROAT

No change on the T'stone Marsh records

MON 17 JUNE 2013

After a weekend visiting family back to normal this morning -

On T'stone Marsh - 1 BLACK TAILED GODWIT, 1f TEAL.

Seawatching first from Warren Pt then drove round to to the cafe - totals were -

55 GANNET, 10 KITTIWAKE, 1 SANDWICH TERN, 12 MANX SHEARWATER, 2 FULMAR, 5 AUKS, 20 COMMON SCOTER -east

Most interesting event of the morning was watching 2 Kayakers get blown out into the Bay  on the strong F6 ENE wind at 11 .45, someone rang the COASTGUARD with the Hope Cove inshore lifeboat completing the rescue. With no lifeguards on full time duty until school hols just confirms the importance of the volunteer crew and boat from Hope Cove , cold have turned nasty as the tide was turning making it much more difficult to get throgh the breaking waves. Well done the Hope Cove crew

FRI 14 JUNE 2013

At 19.20 yesterday 4 LITTLE EGRET flew over the marsh - normally our 'resdents' are no more than 2 .

This morning on South Huish Marsh a DUNLIN, 10 SWIFT and 2 LITTLE EGRET.

Offshore in around 1.5 hrs - 46 GANNET, 16 KITTIWAKE, 1 GUILLEMOT, 2 MANX SHEARWATER and at 10.25 a lp ARCTIC SKUA on the sea .

On the beach 5juv PIED WAGTAIL feeding

Returned home via West Buckland Valley- 2 MISTLE THRUSH, 1m BULLFINCH, GREEN WOODPECKER, 2 GREAT SP WOODPECKER, adult GOLDCREST feeding 4 fledged young.

With a forecast increasing S wind went down to Warren Pt for 1.5 hours from 16.30.

32 GANNET, 7 KITTIWAKE, 7 MANX SHEARWATER -all east, 5 RAZORBILL (on sea ).

2 1st S MED GULL flew into the Bay

This evening there are now 2 BLACK TAILED GODWIT on T'stone Marsh .

 

There is a posting on Devon Bird News by Tim W of a Short Eared Owl ' on the outskirts of Thurlestone yesterday- this would be a patch year tick- Tim ( or anyone who knows him @ can you ring me to verify - 01548- 560076 Thanks

THURS 13 JUNE 2013

A very cloudy early morning gave way to sun and a clear horizon from 11.00 . Wind 7 gusting 8 W, sea rough

Seawatching from  Warren Pt from 08.00- 12.00, all the activity in the first 3 hrs.

Totals were - 328 GANNET, 522 MANX SHEARWATER , 28 FULMAR, 22 KITTIWAKE ,

2 PUFFIN -E @08.05 ( 162 ), 5 ARCTIC SKUA ( 3-E , 2 On sea ) 3 BONXIE -W,

3 COMMON SCOTER -E1 SANDWICH TERN , 2 SWIFT, 1 1st s  COMMON GULL

Most of the passage was west , only 2 Manx flew east. With a rough sea and sun very difficult to pick  up smaller species after 11.00- I only logged 5 Manx S'water

On the beach 2 WHIMBREL , 18 OYSTERCATCHER.

This aft. on T'stone Marsh - the BLACK TAILED GODWIT

WED 12 JUNE 2013

A classic candidate for the most miserable day of the summer to date. Rain, mist and fog and an increasing SW wind - f7 this afternoon.

made 2 visits today and had to give up due to the conditions -

meagr totals achieved -  4 SANDERLING, 3 WHIMBREL, 35 GANNET , 4 FULMAR,

1m COMMON SCOTER, 4 MANX SHEARWATER.

 On T'stone Marsh the BLACK TAILED GODWIT

TUES 11 JUNE 2013

The rain and fog did not clear until 10.30, went down to the beach where there were

4 WHIMBREL and then spent a very enjoyable 2hors on Warren Pt seawatching.

Soon picked up a feeding group of 100 + GANNET. with a further 40 flying east

( mostly sub adults ). 20 KITTIWAKE flew east ( largest flock 12 ), 5 RAZORMOT also east.. A clear patch of weather between 11.15 and 12.20 produced the best SKUA passage this year- at 11.20 3 dp ARCTIC-east, 3 lp ARCTIC east at 12.00. An ad POMARINE ( with spoons ) flew into the Bay and then flew up the valley at 12.15, , finally at 12.20 a single ARCTIC flew up the valley with 2dp on the sea .A remarkable total of 10 Skuas in 1hr 20 mins.

During this time 3 MANX SHEARWATER and 2 FULMAR -east and a SANDWICH TERN in the Bay.

AT 13.30 on T'stone Marsh - female TEAL ( my comment about an early returning record yestrday was wrong - the first last year was on 11 June ! ), 2 BLACK HEADED GULL and a BLACK TAILED GODWIT ( in winter plumage )

MON 10 JUNE 2013

Back on the patch this morning expecting a quiet June - In the Bay a feeding frenzy of 300+ GANNET. On the rocks 2 WHIMBREL. 16 SWIFT over S H Marsh. 2 pairs of SHELDUCK , one with 8 yng the other 4 .

Big surprise was on T'stone Marsh at 13.00 - a female TEAL- normally first returning bird arrive in July

29 MAY - 9 JUNE 2013- visit to La Brenne

This year Anne & I were joined by Graham & Daphne Daw for our visit to this superb part of France. Will post a full trip repot later this week - We managed 129 species the highlights being - LITTLE BITTERN, BITTERN , BEE EATER , BLACK STORK , great range of Raptors and Herons , 5 species of Tern , 50 BLACK NECKED GREBE on one lake ( with many day old chicks )

This year Anne & I were joined by Graham & Daphne Daw for our visit to this superb part of France. Will post a full trip repot later this week - We managed 129 species the highlights being - LITTLE BITTERN, BITTERN , BEE EATER , BLACK STORK , great range of Raptors and Herons , 5 species of Tern , 50 BLACK NECKED GREBE on one lake ( with many day old chicks )

SAT 1 JUNE 2013- Mon 3 JUNE 2013

Repots from Bob B before he left for  a month in Thailand -

1/6 - S H Marsh - 2 BLACK TAILED GODWIT ,  S M Ley - 2 SHELDUCK with 10 young., 3 SPOTTED FLYCATCHER, . 2 Also in the Copse and another in a local garden.

If any addn'l info from AJL will post later.

Just rec'd a report of a hunting BARN OWL over the Golf Course at 19.00 on 3/6