Sunny Day and Annoyance

Got up early this morning and headed to Teignmouth for a bit of seawatching. I arrived at 7:30am and the first bird I saw through my scope was a high flying Red-throated Diver heading south, however this was the only Red-throat of the 1:30 hours watching. Also out at sea were five Common Scoter, four on the sea (one male close in) and one flew south. Three Fulmar also flew north, and there was a lone Sandwich Tern fishing.

I checked the Salty just before high tide mid afternoon from Polly Steps. There were 19 Turnstone and two Ringed Plover inbetween Polly Steps and Shaldon Bridge. On the Salty there were 141 Oystercatcher, four Sandwich Terns and one Little Egret.

Next I took another look out to sea and saw that there the Sandwich Tern count had increased to eight. A flock of six Great Crested Grebe flew north, and a nice surprise was a Harbour Porpoise fairly close in.

I missed my train home so had the kill another hour, so I had a look around Eastcliff/Mules Park hoping for a Willow Warbler. I didn't see one though. Only a few Chiffchaffs, a pair of Blackcaps, a pair of Nuthatches and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

As the sky was so clear and there wasn't that much wind, I thought that there was quite a chance of a large raptor going over. I was scanning the sky and just waiting for the gulls to go off. Sadly I didn't see any, but on checking Devon Birds when I got home, I found that 30 mins after I left a Red Kite went over Teignmouth! You can imagine I was very annoyed!!!