Extreme Digiscoping

Dale and I did the WeBS count today over the high tide. Pretty much all the waders were roosting at Flow Point so I had a pretty boring time at Passage House. Just two Common Sandpipers, two Kingfishers, seven Little Grebe, 21 Lapwing, three Greenshank and a Shag to keep me entertained. At Flow, Dale had nine Ringed Plover, 93 Redshank, 25 Shelduck, 15 Red-breasted Merganser, 334 Oystercatchers, 74 Curlew, and a further four Greenshank. There was a total of ten Little Egrets on the estuary.

Next, we went to Shaldon to have a look at the sea. From Ness Cove looking south, there was a flock of about 15 Great-crested Grebe and a few auks flying south. A look out north from The Ness Hotel revealed some better birds. A Great Northern Diver was feeding close in off the mouth of the estuary, a Red-throated Diver flew south, and another one was sat on the sea off towards Dawlish.

Dale dropped me back off at Passage House on the way back, so I had a quick look for Snipe along the edges of the reeds. There were none, but I did pick up a pipit sp. feeding along the edge of the saltmarsh. I saw a similar looking pipit in the same place about a month ago, but wasn't sure then either. Looking at the scale on google maps, it looks like the pipit was at least 300m away, so a long way! Now this is where the extreme digiscoping bit comes in. I've found that I can get quite a lot more detail on birds if I digiscope with my superzoom camera. My scope was on 50x and the camera on about 30x, so the combined magnification is going to be pretty high! Here are the results...

Not bad for a small bird at 300m I think!

You can see that the underparts appear quite light, there is a bit of a supercilium, the beak looks a bit yellowish, and the legs appear a bit pinky orange.

Possibly a Water Pipit, or a littoralis Rock Pipit? Although it looks a bit mipity in the photos, it definitely wasn't one. Are there any pipit experts out there?

Not a Cattle Egret

On Monday I went to Teigngrace, and after a bit of field scanning, found this small white blob...

I know it's not a cow, but it didn't stop me from thinking I was going to see a Cattle Egret when I looked through my scope! Sadly it had a black beak :( Definitely worth checking this area - it's had some before I believe.

Tuesday was my birthday (not a teenager anymore!), and I didn't feel like braving the rain on Wednesday, so today I made the most of the nicer weather and had a look around Decoy.

The Scaup was still there, the Tufted Duck count had increased to 40, and a Kingfisher was fishing from a branch.

After checking the lake, I had a walk around the woodland where there were c.200 Redwings, a couple of Sparrowhawks, a few Treecreepers, lots of Nuthatches calling, but best of all, three Marsh Tits - a year tick for me.

Blustery Day

I had a look at the upper estuary today on the rising tide. As I arrived, a flock of 23 Lapwing took to the air and flew around for a few minutes. I hope we get a really cold spell soon. Last year when we had one, there was an influx of about 300 Lapwings on the estuary. Same goes for Red-breasted Merganser. Last year they were up to 40 by mid November. I only saw c.19 today - nine off Coombe Cellars and about ten over towards Teignmouth.

The only birds of interest in the gulls were a Common Gull and a couple of LBBs. Other birds included seven Little Grebe, a Common Sandpiper, and a flock of 12 Greenshank. Oops, mustn't forget our winter 'flock' of Dunlin, made up of a single bird!

A quick look at the racecourse on my way back revealed 13 Lapwing, two Little Egret, a flock of about 60 Canada Geese, and 14 Mistle Thrushes feeding in the grass. There were probably more, but the blustery conditions made viewing very difficult. 

Now time to go and watch our patch's very own X-factor finalist on the TV!

Back for Christmas

I arrived back home around midday, so after a bit of lunch, I set off to check Decoy. Again, not that much change - the Scaup remains present, along with the Gadwall, the Little Grebe (which caught a fish) and 31 Tufted Duck.

Can you spot the Scaup?

I little bit of a surprise was seeing a Water Rail feeding along the edge of the water on the far side of the lake. This, along with the bad light and the heavy rain meant that my attempts at photographing it weren't great! You can just about make it out though.

Can you see it?

Scaup remains; little else of note

I spent over half the day out on patch, hoping for something new but it appears there have been no significant changes over the past two weeks. Starting off at Decoy the drake Scaup and drake Gadwall remain with 34 Tufted Duck, though no sign of any Pochard. Also noted were a Little Grebe, a Great Crested Grebe, a Green Woodpecker and a Lesser Black-backed Gull. Onto Luxton's Steps area (fields & wetland south of Bishopsteignton) where a lone Teal was on the pond, a Water Rail squealed from the reeds and a Chiffchaff called in a patch of willows. Five Song Thrushes flew out from the hedgerows and at least 15 Meadow Pipits were keeping a low profile in one of the arable fields.

With the tide reaching its peak I had a look off Polly Steps where 11 Turnstone had chosen to roost on one of the boats by the bridge and 9 Red-breasted Merganser were chasing each other over towards Shaldon. Unfortunately there was no sign of the male Black Redstart from last month. I then drove the length of the estuary to view the Passage House area from below the sewage works as the tide began to drop. 98 Redshank was a good count, but other wader numbers were generally disappointing and included 13 Greenshank, 5 Dunlin, 32 Curlew, 10+ Snipe and 20 Lapwing. Among the gulls just 2 Common Gulls and 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls worthy of mention; finally 5 Little Grebe and 3 Grey Wagtail also found their way into my notebook.

All quiet on the eastern front

Fairly quiet of late at the east end of the estuary, the winter return of Shelduck, Red-breasted Merganser and a small flock of Ringed Plover to the Salty have been my most notable sightings, aside from a Great-spotted Woodpecker in Bitton Park (garden tick!).

This afternoon a look offshore from the Yacht Club showed a very flat sea and not a lot else, but perseverance was eventually rewarded with two Great Northern and a Red-throated Diver amongst the Cormorant and Shag.

Pochard arrival

The onset of colder weather over the past week has probably played a role in the sudden arrival of Pochard at Decoy Lake; there were at least 10 today, compared to none at all last weekend. Most waterfowl was keeping to the marginal vegetation due to sailing taking place, so although I couldn't see the drake Scaup it may still be present. I also had a brief look at the upper estuary from Passage House, where 15 Snipe, 12 Greenshank and a Dunlin were the pick of the waders.

Black Redstart

In overcast and calm conditions this morning I thought it might be a good opportunity to look for divers and grebes off Teignmouth, so I got down to the yacht club for 07:45 where the sea wasn't quite as millpond-like as hoped but there was still some interest. Flocks of Common Scoter were active, with one group of 12 which flew in from the north and settled on the sea followed by a group of 23 which circled and headed back towards Dawlish. Further out, 4 flew north and 5 flew south, totalling 44 for the morning; unfortunately no Velvet Scoters chose to accompany them. Also noted were c.20 Kittiwake, two Red-throated Diver, a Great Northern Diver and a Great Crested Grebe.

After about ninety minutes I left to have a look around the docks and Polly Steps. A fine male Black Redstart was on one of the rooftops on Alexandra Terrace opposite the port; one was seen regularly at the nearby rugby club last winter so like the Scaup this could be a returning bird. Also 11 Turnstone were on the slipway.

I love Wood Pigeons*

*Ok so perhaps this statement is a slight exaggeration, since they usually rank alongside large gulls and Carrion Crows on my list of not-so-favourite birds, but the movement of c.2,250 Wood Pigeons over the patch between 07:55 and 08:35 this morning was impressive enough to endear them to me a little more than usual. From my vantage point on Shaldon golf course I observed a dozen or so parties arriving from the direction of Haldon, moving south or SSW with the largest flock numbering around 500.

Just a small snapshot of the activity

Numbers of other common migrants were disappointing but 21 Chaffinch, 15 Goldfinch, 5 Meadow Pipit, 5 Jay, 3 Bullfinch, 3 Skylark and a Great Spotted Woodpecker were logged with 7 Goldcrest and 4 Song Thrush in the bushes between The Ness and Bundle Head.

The drake Scaup was still on Decoy Lake mid-morning along with 33 Tufted Duck and singles of Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe and Kingfisher.

Back for a Birding Weekend

I was back from university this weekend, so I tried to fit in as much birding as possible. On Saturday, I decided to take a look offshore from Teignmouth for an hour in the morning in the hope of seeing some Great Northern Divers, which have managed to completely evade me for the year so far! I soon found two together fairly far offshore and then another a little further north. There wasn't much else on the move, only one Red-throated Diver south, two Common Scoter on the sea, and the Bonaparte's Gull which had apparently just taken a trip to Dawlish Warren.

Today brought nice clear calm conditions perfect for Wood Pigeon migration. I had a quick look out from my house in Newton Abbot at about 9am, and in just 10 minutes, saw roughly 1500 Wood Pigeons fly south over Teignmouth in a continuous stream of large flocks.

At 10:30 I met up with Will and we headed out to the estuary. We first checked Luxton pond which held six Teal and a Little Grebe. Then we counted the birds at Flow Point. There was a Flounder fishing festival on today and the estuary was lined with lots and lots of fishermen, so the birds all had to roost on the railway wall. Counts were, 16 Redshank, 319 Oystercatchers, 56 Curlew, 4 Turnstone, 8 Ringed Plover, 6 Red-breasted Merganser and 2 Common Sandpipers.

Next we moved to Passage House where the tide was beginning to fall. Here there were 12 Greenshank, 9 Lapwing, 1 Kingfisher, 15 Mute Swan, 6 Shelduck, and a further 58 Redshank, 15 Oystercatcher, 56 Curlew, 3 Common Sandpipers and 6 Little Grebe. As the tide dropped, a total of 25 Snipe were enticed out to feed along the water's edge - always a lovely sight!

Our final visit of the day was to Decoy lake where Will's Scaup and Gadwall were chilling out with the Tufties in the fading light. A nice end to a busy weekends birding.