Red Kite

A Red Kite was picked up circling to the north of Newton Abbot late this morning before gaining height and heading off to the west.

Bundle Head

Very quiet along the coast yesterday morning - just a handful of Linnets and Whitethroats, the resident raptors overhead and a Shelduck that flew into the estuary from the direction of Torbay. So quiet that I took to photographing the scenery and botany with this Early Purple Orchid (left) the highlight.

Warblers and WeBS

Plenty of birdsong at Hackney Marshes this morning including ten Reed Warblers, three Sedge Warblers, five Chiffchaffs, four Blackcaps and two Reed Buntings; futher Sedge Warblers were singing on the racecourse and at Passage House. On the estuary between here and Flow Point there was little to get excited about: 46 Oystercatchers, three Whimbrel, one Curlew, five Sandwich Terns, 11 Little Egrets, 17 Shelducks, 24 Mute Swans and a female Mallard with five young.

Sandwich Terns

At least ten Sandwich Terns were between Passage House and Flow Point this afternoon. Waders included two Whimbrel, two Common Sandpiper, a Greenshank and nine Oystercatcher.

Skuas

Seawatching from 07:00 - 11:00: The first hour saw the majority of passage, with four Great Northern Divers, two diver sp. (possibly Black-throated Divers) and a Great Skua flying south. A possible Sabine's Gull was picked up fairly distantly offshore at 7:20, before flying in a direct line out to sea. It was smaller than nearby Kittiwakes, having a bouyant tern-like flight style, but lacked the agility and wingbeat speed of Little Gull. An immature pale morph Pomarine Skua later flew south at 9:10, followed by a dark morph Arctic Skua at 10:40. Four Manx Shearwaters were also seen distantly on the horizon.

Other counts included; three Eider (one immature male and two females), 30+ Sandwich Tern, 29 Common Scoter, two Dark-bellied Brent Geese, two Great Crested Grebe, one male Red-breasted Merganser, 200+ auks, 5+ Fulmar, 40+ Kittiwake , three Common Gulls and 24 Black-headed Gull.

With lack of any seawatching photos, here are some Green-winged Orchids just off patch at Labrador Bay yesterday.

More migrants

Three female Wheatears were on the racecourse yesterday morning, visible from the path on the southern side. Nearby Hackney Marshes produced six Reed Warblers but still no Sedge Warblers. In the evening the first three Swifts of the year flew over my house in Kingsteignton along with five House Martins.

Grasshopper Warbler

An early morning walk around Bundle Head was initially quiet with just two Willow Warblers and 10 Blackcaps noted in the bushes, and three Sandwich Tern out at sea. That was until walking back along the golf course, when five Wheatears seemed to drop out of the sky, remaining very flighty until moving off north a few minutes later. After walking a few more metres across the golf course, a Grasshopper Warbler started to reel from the hedge bordering the road, remaining stubbornly hidden deep within cover. It stayed until at least 11am when Will and Kev both found it in the same hedge, with the first Yellow Wagtail of the year also flying over.

Wheatear

Cirl Bunting

WeBS

A quiet morning on the estuary with the best birds being four Whimbrel - two at Passage House and two at Flow Point, with the former joining the latter at high tide. Other counts included five Common Sandpipers, 74 Oystercatchers, three Redshanks, one Greenshank, 12 Little Egrets, 15 Mute Swans, 18 Shelducks and five Sandwich Terns. Despite the overnight cloud and rain few passerine migrants were evident with Laurie reporting just two Willow Warblers at Bundle Head.

The first Reed Warbler of the year appeared at Hackney Marshes on 12th April, when three House Martins were just outside the patch at Sandygate and 50+ Sand Martins were at Teigngrace the previous day (thanks Cilla Ingram). 

Cattle Egrets remain

Despite the warm temperatures and sunshine of recent days the Teigngrace Cattle Egrets don't seem to be in any hurry to move on; four were still present at noon today, the first time I've seen them without any Little Egrets for company. Also three Stock Doves and c.20 Sand Martins.

The past week has been pretty quiet with just a handful of Willow Warblers at Hackney Marshes on a couple of mornings and two late Fieldfares over Netherton Park cricket ground on Thursday evening. Another Osprey was reported off Coombe Cellars yesterday afternoon.

Evening @ Passage House

An evening visit to Passage House was fairly quiet as the tide was still out but a pair of Teal, three Common Sandpiper and a dozen Redshank were present on the mudflats with a couple of Reed Bunting and Water Rail on the islands. At around 7.15 a group of four Little Egret flew over the A380 bridge and headed east up the estuary to roost, these were followed five minutes later by a 10 more egrets but eight of these were Cattle Egret. These birds are presumably the same ones seen on patch earlier this month now joined up as a single flock.