Dartmouth holiday!

I've seen loads of birds on this holiday - here are the notes I made at the time:

Dartmouth holiday October 2012

BIRDS

28.10

On the journey, I noticed a number of presumed Herring Gulls, (possibly black headed) as well as a medflock of Lesser Black Backs and a larflock of Lapwings in a green field. (At first I thought they were crows...but then I saw the white!) Then there was a rook at Costa Coffee.

Reaching Lower Pinn Farm, I noticed a larflock of Starlings zoom overhead.

A walk near Otterton produced a ticking robin and various Woodpigeons.

29.10

Driving to RSPB Budleigh Salterton, handsome Buzzard soars low over car - excellent view! At reserve, many H and BH gulls, crow, jackdaws (one observed with something in bill, flying up and dropping on pebbles to smash it) soaring over cliffs etc. Noticed egret catch fish, 2 mute swans, limosa-type sandpiper in lake, flew off with fast, shallow wingbeats, large white patches on wings and flanks. Passerines: lots of robins, wren chasing wren, wren singing close view, strange, not melodious, bubbly song, with snatches of mimicry, single starling by lake, interesting pipitish bird with P Wag call. Mallard, wigeon and teal duck-wise. 6 large waders standing one-legged with bills tucked in a line on bank, seemed to have 'collar' round breast. Also curlew or whimbrel on mud (very dark body). Found intact gull wing  in mud, IDed by discoloured mirrors at tip.

On walk from Exmouth to Strait Point: buzzard, kestrel, robin, woodpigeon, sparrow calls, feral pigeons on cliffs, herring gulls, oystercatchers on Sandy Bay, GBBGs and Cormorants on cliffs, latter also flying oversea. (We went hoping to see kittiwakes as there is a colony at Strait Point, but it was hard to tell between H and K - any gulls close enough for ID were Herring! Did see 2 promising birds very far out to sea. Strange snipe or godwit song, repeated 'wee...wee...whdlh, whdlh, whdlh'

30.10

Morning: sparrow and herring calls

Coastal walk Scabbacombe Bay to Brixham: many LBJs everywhere, flitting around fields, later IDed as Willow Warbler, blackbirds, robins, stonechats, poss. whitethroat in scrub. Jacks and Crows on grass slopes and flying around cliffs, many gulls and 2 diving cormorants. Also kestrel close views (hovering), buzzard, dark falcon flew over then swooped down and soared up into cliff scrub, calling 'kek kek kek kek kek' - Perry, Merlin, or hobby?!!!

Dunorlan Park trip

It was raining fairly heavily, but that didn't stop me noticing the lake birds at Dunorlan.

There are lots of tame ducks there, including several varieties of Mallard (Cayuga, Aylesbury, 'white-throat') and an odd whitish grey Egyptian Goose-type bird, with a bright red wattle around the eye. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos.

There were also an unusual number of Greylags, two large flocks (one on the lake and one in a nearby field) with I assume are on a southward migration - I doubt they will stay long. I noticed this 'phenomenon' last year as well.

The male Mallards in the pond by the bridge were behaving oddly too - dipping heads in the water, breaking out into a chorus of whistling and flapping, etc etc...I assume they were displaying to the few females. A bit early...?

Bird list:

Mallard
Greylag Goose
Pied Wagtail
Grey Heron
Black-headed Gull

REDWINGS!

I was recording birds at the bottom of my garden in the morning (I'd got robin, wren and crow) but everywhere around me were ringing these annoyingly high-pitched 'seep's that were to high for the camera to catch! So I decided to give up the recording and focus on these seepers. Within seconds I became aware of numerous thrush-sized, thrush-shaped birds flitting in the trees, flying overhead, flying past, fluttering between bushes... So I guess that's what they were!

(I did actually get a recording in the end.)

A Redwing in flight (not my photo - I saw them in the dark)

Here is a link to some Redwing recordings:

http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Turdus-iliacus

MARSH TIT

I spotted this elusive bird flit onto a bird table at Merriments Garden - and didn't realise I had for half a minute afterwards! Then suddenly I cried out, sprang up, and promptly sat down in absolute silence...hushing all my mum's attempts at conversation.

Eventually, an age afterwards, it returned, for a fleeting few seconds, to that same bird tray, and continued to appear about once a minute from then onwards. I've never seen these birds before, so naturally I was excited! Who wouldn't be?

A Marsh Tit (not my photo I'm afraid)