Firecrests at The Ness

After hearing the Bonaparte's Gull had made a reappearance yesterday, I made Teignmouth my first port of call this morning. It seemed that the town was at the dividing line between an area of clear weather to the north...

 

...and a band of rain to the south...

 

 

I soon found the Bonaparte's Gull on one of the groynes to the north of the pier, where it was making feeding forays into the surf. After a while it seemingly got bored and flew off towards the railway.

Very little was happening offshore, although a Curlew appeared to fly in-off and a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls were on the sandbar. Also a Grey Seal was juggling a fish in the mouth of the estuary which was a nice surprise.

I then moved onto The Ness, where I was unsuccessful in my quest to find a Yellow-browed Warbler but consolation came in the form of two Firecrests feeding together in the holm oaks. Between there and Bundle Head I also recorded 7 Goldcrest, 9 Chiffchaff, 3 Blackcap, 5 Song Thrush, 30 Swallow, c10 Meadow Pipit, 8 Skylark and 2 Siskin. I then moved onto Luxton's Steps pond where 4 Teal represented a welcome increase in waterfowl there and 15 Little Egrets were roosting in the trees. The surrounding bushes and fields held 30+ Meadow Pipit, 9 Skylark, 2 Blackcap, a Reed Bunting and a Grey Wagtail. My last stop of the day after lunch was Passage House which yielded 4 Greenshank, 6 Swallow, a Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Kingfisher.