WeBS

A fairly unremarkable count this morning with some wader numbers lower than average. Totals included 346 Oystercatchers, 70 Curlew, 41 Redshanks, 11 Turnstones, nine Dunlin, eight Ringed Plovers, five Greenshanks, three Common Sandpipers, the female Goldeneye, 20 Red-breasted Mergansers, 44 Shelducks and four Little Grebes. A look off Teignmouth seafront revealed the five Eiders, a couple of Razorbills and a pod of 6-7 Common Dolphins.

Firecrest, Goldeneye, Eiders and divers

A few bits and pieces from various sites today included a Firecrest and 16 Tufted Ducks at Decoy Country Park, the wintering female Goldeneye at Passage House, a Peregrine over Coombe Cellars and close views of a Water Rail at Hackney Marshes. A look at the sea off Teignmouth yacht club around noon was quite productive with the five Eiders, 13 Common Scoters, 14+ Guillemots, three Great Northern Divers and a good total of 13 Red-throated Divers, eight of which arrived in a single flock.

Decoy Country Park

Velvet Scoter

A Velvet Scoter was with 10 Common Scoter off Sprey Point this morning with singles of Great Northern Diver and Guillemot, with a distant feeding flock of Gannets and Kittiwakes far offshore.

On the estuary, 270+ Oystercatcher were roosting at Flow Point with eight Dunlin and a lone Red-breasted Merganser out on the water. At least 37 Curlew were at Passage House.

On Decoy Lake, the Tufted Duck count has increased to 15 with the Great Northern Diver having seemingly departed.

The Green Sandpiper was still present at Teigngrace in the exact same spot.

Green Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper

A Green Sandpiper was present on the flooded field at Teigngrace late this afternoon with 11 Teal and a Stonechat.

Teal with Green Sandpiper (right)

Welcome to 2019

Happy New Year to all. There are few observers around the patch as we start off 2019 but still a few good birds to be found. Lingering scarcities from 2018 include five Eider off Teignmouth, the Great Northern Diver on Decoy Lake and the Goldeneye on the upper estuary.

A morning around the patch on the 2nd saw four Mistle Thrush on the racecourse, 10 Golden Plover over Hackney Marshes where two Water Rail and a Cetti's Warbler showed well, 10 Tufted Duck with the diver at Decoy and on the estuary from Lower Netherton four Avocet with 84 Curlew, 56 Redshank, 11 Lapwing and six Greenshank.

A colour-ringed Black-headed Gull (yellow TJ3A) seen by Dave Smallshire at Decoy Lake coming to bread on 1 January was ringed as a chick at a lake in SW Poland, Zalew Mietkowski (SW of Wroclaw) on 11 June 2017, and was seen by Nick Potter at Bowling Green Marsh on 19 June 2018.

Marsh Tit

On a fine winter's morning the woods at Decoy Country Park held plenty of birds including at least one Marsh Tit, a Treecreeper, two Great Spotted Woodpeckers and three Nuthatches. On the lake the Great Northern Diver was still present alongside just four Tufted Ducks; one wonders what has caused the latter to decline from a regular wintering flock of 30+ just a few years ago.

A late afternoon look from the yacht club at Teignmouth saw two Great Northern Diver, four Eider, 13 Common Scoter and an adult Mediterranean Gull with two Great Skua sat further offshore.  

Little Gulls

Three first-winter Little Gulls appeared along Teignmouth seafront on Monday, and one of them had the courtesy to stay until the weekend to allow myself and Kev to catch up with it yesterday. Although it went missing for short periods, it spent the majority of the time foraging along the shoreline either side of the pier, giving exceptional views in flight. Two Eiders were still present on the rocks at the foot of the Ness, and four Great Northern Divers, two Red-throated Divers and nine Common Scoters were offshore towards Holcombe.

Elsewhere, 15 Lapwings at Passage House was the highest count this month of this declining winter visitor. On Friday the female Goldeneye was still in the channel there at high tide alongside the female Wigeon, a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers and Little Grebes, four Greenshanks and three Common Sandpipers.

A Great Northern Diver was still on Decoy Lake with a lone Tufted Duck having first been reported a week ago.

Ducks unlimited

The floods at Teigngrace produced an unexpected variety of dabbling ducks this morning with three Shovelers, 11 Gadwalls, 12+ Teal and 40+ Mallards alongside 11 Mute Swans, nine Little Egrets and a female Stonechat. At the other end of the patch three Eiders - a male and two females - were in the mouth of the estuary off Teignmouth along with a Great Northern Diver. A further three GNDs were to the north of the pier, including two giving great views together off the yacht club; one was also seen on Decoy Lake this morning.

Goldeneye & WeBS

A female Goldeneye in the channel off Passage House was the standout bird of this morning's count, which was postponed by a day after a wet and very windy weekend. This is the first Goldeneye on patch since January 2013, up until which time it was a regular wintering bird on the estuary. Other totals included 302 Oystercatchers, 86 Curlew, 72 Redshanks, 32 Dunlin, four Greenshanks, three Common Sandpipers, three Ringed Plovers, 25 Red-breasted Mergansers, 15 Shelducks, eight Mute Swans, seven Little Egrets, five Little Grebes and a female Wigeon.

Mazy Sunday Afternoon

Spent the afternoon checking various sites around the Teign with varying rewards. Starting at the east of the patch in Teignmouth there was still no sign of any wintering Black Redstart and a no show from the Firecrest along the railway. Viewing from the Yacht Club three Eider were offshore, an immature male of Sprey Point and a female and a second immature male almost under the pier. Also on the sea 67 Common Scoter and a Red-throated Diver.

Next stop was Teigngrace at the far western end of the patch, here the flooded fields held six Little Egret, 90+ Mallard and two Teal but nothing could be unearthed in the tit flock along the Templar Way. A quick stop at Hackney Marshes revealed another couple of warblerless roving tit flocks.

A final low tide stop at Passage House saw a Water Pipit and half a dozen Snipe flushed from the Saltmarsh by a couple of dogs, two Common Sandpiper in the channel and 13 Little Egret heading downriver to roost.