WeBS count

Not much to shout about on the estuary yesterday morning although there were a few noteworthy counts including 15 Greenshanks, eight Common Sandpipers, a Bar-tailed Godwit, 30+ Sandwich Terns, seven Little Grebes, 10 Teal, 93 Curlew and 371 Oystercatchers. On Sunday Alan Ford recorded 18 Turnstones on a pontoon off Teignmouth back beach.

LRP still

Last week's or another juvenile Little Ringed Plover was still at Passage House this morning at high tide joined by three Common Sandpipers and four juvenile Dunlin. Among the Black-headed Gulls were two 2nd winter Mediterranean Gulls, while on the racecourse, two Wheatears were perched up on the fences.

Little Ringed Plover

Juv LRP

A juvenile Little Ringed Plover was on the spit at Passage House this morning on the rising tide until it took off and flew high over the estuary for a few minutes before loosing it from view. Amongst 100 Curlew were three Dunlin and the ringed Curlew from Germany returning for it's third year in a row, showing just how site-loyal Curlews are. A Wheatear was on the roost islands and a Water Rail and Kingfisher both called from the reeds. The ringed Black-headed Gull, white 27J1 was also present, returning for it's second summer/autumn having spent the breeding season at it's natal colony at Lee Farm Gravel Pits, Berkshire.

A Dipper was on the River Lemon running through Newton Abbot.

Little Stint

This morning began with a short seawatch from Teignmouth from 06:45-08:00 which yielded a Balearic Shearwater, five Knot and a Wigeon all heading north. Next I tried my luck at Newton Abbot Racecourse where a vocal Green Sandpiper was seen in flight briefly before dropping into a ditch. Moving on to Flow Point, a fresh juvenile Little Stint was roosting with the Dunlin flock; other waders included 12 Ringed Plovers, 5 Black-tailed Godwits and 3 Common Sandpipers. Finally I spent an hour at Bundle Head where my second Garden Warbler of the autumn there showed well and even sang a few phrases.

Little Stint

Jellyfish washed up at Flow Point

Yellow Wags

Not had time for any proper patch birding this weekend but three calling Yellow Wagtails flew south over Netherton Park as I finished playing cricket there this afternoon.

Black Tern and Pom

I arrived at Teignmouth at 6:30 full of anticipation after the overnight wind and rain. The first scan over the sea showed a strong passage of Sandwich Terns (150+ for the whole 2 hours 30 mins), with these were four Common Terns. An adult Arctic Tern lingered fairly close in to shore landing on the sea for a while, and a Black Tern flew south fairly distantly at 7:30. Later on, 15 'commic' tern and 25 distant tern species flew south.

Skuas seen included four Great Skua, one Pomarine Skua, one Arctic Skua and two other small skua sp., one of which was mobbing one of the distant Great Skuas.

I had to wait almost an hour until I saw my first shearwaters - totals included 10 Balearics and 11 Manx with a further 20+ which were too far away to identify. One flock of six Balearics passed fairly close at 8:45, swiftly followed by another single.

Other birds included 140+ Gannet, 41 Fulmar, 62+ Kittiwake, 13 Common Scoter and another probable juvenile Yellow-legged Gull. A Harbour Porpoise surfaced once but there was still no sign of the Bonaparte's Gull.

Arctic Tern

Knot a BB rarity

Despite several efforts I failed to find a BB rarity on patch today, must try harder. A moulting adult Knot on The Salty was the first record of the year for this less than annual visitor, also there on the rising tide a couple of Turnstone, a Whimbrel and an unseasonal Lapwing.

Elsewhere on patch there were five Common Sandpiper and a Greenshank at Passage House but back in Teignmouth there was no sign of the Bonaparte's Gull and very little passing offshore

Yet another BB rarity for the Teign

After what turned into a failed seawatching attempt by myself and Will at Teignmouth this morning, things took a turn for the better as I looked down to find that the Bonaparte's Gull had returned for another winter, perching on the same pipe as I first found it in 2013. It remained in the area for the couple of hours we were there, ranging between the Yacht Club and the groynes north of the pier giving stunningly close views.

Out to sea, the best bits were three Common Terns which flew south, five Common Scoter, a flock of c.20 Whimbrel, and about a dozen each of Gannet and Sandwich Tern.

The next bit of excitement came when Will called an Osprey making it's way north over the pier, circling it's way slowly over our heads and off towards the Exe where it was later picked up at the Warren 15 minutes later.

Earlier at Flow Point there were c.10 Dunlin and two each of Common Sandpiper, Ringed Plover and Whimbrel.

Adult Bonaparte's Gull and juvenile Osprey

Evening Seawatch

An hour watch from the yacht club where a small feeding group of Gannet and Sandwich Tern just offshore revealed the presence of a couple of Bottle-nosed Dolphin. Over the next hour a couple of Balearic Shearwater and at least 15 Common Tern flew south, with some of the Common was a single juvenile Arctic Tern, a good patch bird, joining the 20+ lingering Sandwich Tern.

Seawatching

Seawatching from Teignmouth Yacht Club from 10:45 - 15:15 produced two new birds for the year. Five Balearic Shearwaters passed south; a close flock of three briefly landing near a fishing boat at the beginning of my watch, the other two passing just before 3pm.

Other birds included 124 Manx Shearwater (majority passing as the drizzle cleared around midday), 17 Common Tern, 125 Gannet, 145 Kittiwake, 130 Sandwich Tern, 13 Fulmar, four Common Scoter, five Whimbrel, a Curlew and five small wader sp.

Four juvenile Mediterranean Gulls lingered offshore, and a probable juvenile Yellow-legged Gull followed a fishing boat in from the sea but remained too distant for me to be absolutely sure.