Bundle Head was largely devoid of passage migrants on Saturday morning, but four species of raptor were noted including Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and this male Kestrel; also c.15 Linnets, a Willow Warbler, a Green Woodpecker and a Stock Dove. Not much at Passage House either with high tide approaching but six Common Sandpipers were on the spit. Later in the afternoon a Red Kite flew low over my house in Kingsteignton, the first of the year and making it a rare five-raptor day on patch.
Totals from around the estuary this morning included 105 Oystercatchers, 45 Turnstones, 11 Redshanks, two Greenshanks, two Common Sandpipers, one Black-tailed Godwit, just one Curlew, 22 Shelducks, 10 Mute Swans, seven Red-breasted Mergansers, one Great Crested Grebe, eight Little Egrets, 10 Great Black-backed Gulls and three Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The blustery conditions encouraged Sandwich Terns into the estuary, with at least eight noted including two as far up as Passage House. A couple of Swallows and Sand Martins were also seen battling the headwind up river.
Elsewhere a 45-minute seawatch from Teignmouth produced seven Fulmars (probable local breeders), two Great Northern Divers (one in full summer plumage), one Red-throated Diver, five Common Scoters, five Guillemots, three Sandwich Terns, one Great Crested Grebe and a couple of dozen Gannets and Kittiwakes. There had clearly been a bit of a fall of Willow Warblers at Rackerhayes with seven singing birds present, and at last a Wheatear (a male) was on the racecourse.
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| Turnstones (Alan Ford) |
