One of two Whimbrels present just before high tide at Passage House this morning. The other flew up from dense vegetation and both birds then flew down the estuary, calling loudly. Also four Dunlin and two Common Sandpipers on the spit.
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| Whitethroat back on territory at Bundle Head yesterday |
Very quiet at Bundle Head this morning with three Willow Warblers the only migrants noted; along the clifftops a pair Shelducks and a male Kestrel showed well. Yesterday the first couple of Reed Warblers were back at Hackney Marshes and single Common Sandpiper and Ringed Plover were on the spit at Passage House.
Totals from around the estuary this morning included 45 Oystercatchers, 25 Redshanks, six Greenshanks, 20 Turnstones, eight Curlew, two Dunlin, two Ringed Plovers, four Common Sandpipers, 29 Mute Swans, 24 Shelducks, eight Mallards, two Red-breasted Mergansers (down from nine on 4th April), 22 Little Egrets, six Shags, five Cormorants and five Sandwich Terns.
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| Shags (Alan Ford) |
On Wednesday there were five Willow Warblers and two Mandarins at Rackerhayes along with first broods of Mallard and Coot, and on Thursday an Osprey flew over Kingsteignton.
The first two Sandwich Tern of the year were fishing just inland of Shaldon bridge on Monday afternoon, with at least 13 off the seafront later on.
Very little of note around Hackney Marshes and the racecourse this morning, although this was hardly surprising at the latter since preparations were underway for the first race meeting of the year. A Water Rail showed well from the Hackney Marshes viewing screen and there were numerous territorial Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps. Onto Rackerhayes for the first time since pre-lockdown three months ago, where a large flock of Sand Martins (c.100) were feeding low over the water, joined by two Swallows and a House Martin. Around the lakes three Willow Warblers were singing away from their namesake trees and two Roe Deer foraged in an adjacent meadow.
