Proper Gander

I took an afternoon walk setting out from home and looping around the fields down to Lympstone and along the river towards Mudbank. Three Kestrel were still present in the fields around Exe View Road. There was little out of the usual this week in the fields and hedgerows. Two Chiffchaff were calling from Oaks. A Jay was moving around the wood at the top of Exe View Road. But it was very quiet. A Roe Deer was feeding in a field. The tide was coming in at Lymsptone Beach. I watched a group of 6  Turnstone  feeding on small crabs and wondered what other waders were on the estuary today... As I was heading out of Lympstone, I picked up a message from Matt Knott, who had found that a Long-Billed Dowitcher , seen previously at Dawlish Warren, was now in a wader flock on Mudbank. I sped up my walking and arrived to find Matt and a group of other local birders watching the bird. It spent the majority of the time I was there asleep with brief moments of putting it's head up or...

I walked out from home today on my usual route: from home towards Woodbury down Exe View Road, past St. Peter's School playing fields, down to Lympstone along the estuary before heading back towards home. It was lightly raining, and several Chiffchaff, five in total for the afternoon, were calling in the oak trees along Exe View Road. One very green/yellow Willow Warbler was also feeding in an Oak, but it proved difficult to photograph. There were 200+ House Martins and Swallows above the field just past Wotton Brook. This area always looks like a really good one, but I've yet to see anything unusual. Three  Kestrel , one adult and two young birds, were in the area. As it was raining, they were perched up obscured by leaves, and I only saw them in flights between trees as they were hassled  by Jackdaws . A Whitethroat was in the hedge by St . Peter's School playing fields, and I could hear a  Skylark  calling in the field behind it  (there are usually ...

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since May! I have been walking and cycling locally and seen the usual local summer birds, but I haven't posted because I haven't taken my camera or seen anything unusual. Anyway, here's a quick post about a trip to Santorini. By reading a couple of trip reports before going to the island, I knew it would be pretty poor for birds. This was a week's family holiday between 13th and 20th August based in Perissa in the south of the island. The island is geologically stunning, being a volcanic caldera, but it has little decent bird habitat. It is primarily vineyards or a dry landscape and bare rock. A couple of phone images here give the picture: Looking north towards Fira - the most significant town on the island I didn't take a camera to photograph birds as I wasn't planning on 'birding'. I did take a pair of binoculars but barely used them. The list of birds I saw while travelling around the island is below ...

8  am walk around Woodbury Common today. Birds of note: 9+ Willow Warbler , 5+ Dartford Warbler , 2 Yellowhammer , 2 Swallow , 5 House Martin and 1 Snipe . Many Meadow Pipit , Stonechat , Skylark and Linnet were also seen.

I have had a busy couple of weeks and have had little chance to get out and do some birding. As it was a great weather forecast for today, I dropped Siân at work and headed to Yarner Woods, arriving just after 8 am. There was nobody else parked in the car park, so I had the place to myself for at least an hour. As soon as I opened the car door, I heard a Pied Flycatcher singing. During the course of my 3-hour visit, I must have counted 16+, mostly in pairs. A selection of images are below. It was so quiet in the woods that this Roe Deer almost bumped into me! There were two Redstart singing in the woods at a viewable level and a number of others singing higher up in the canopy. At one point, a male  Pied Flycatcher landed on a branch a few feet lower than a singing Redstart . The Redstart flew down, and a brief, though spectacular, fight ensued. The Pied Flycatcher was chased off. I saw two Spotted Flycatcher that were chasing each other around just after I had spoken to anoth...

I spent the early afternoon at Bystock Woods, then I popped down to Orcombe and walked to Sandy Bay. Birds of note at Bystock and the adjacent common were Willow Warbler and Dartford Warbler; a reasonable number of Chiffchaff and Blackcap were also singing. I heard a Cuckoo calling somewhere towards Withycombe Raleigh Common. This is the second year running that I've heard a Cuckoo in this area. Here is a photo that I took in the spring of 2023. I wonder if it is the same bird? Will it find a mate? The walk from Orcombe to Sandy Bay was productive. Lots of Chiffchaff  (11+) singing along with at least 3 Willow Warbler . 3+ Whitethroat were singing from the bushes along the coast path. I saw and heard one Lesser Whitethroat in the cliff-top bushes before the WWII lookout. Sadly the bird did not show long enough for a photo. Also in this stretch of vegetation was a singing Garden Warbler , poorly photographed here: A pair of Long-tailed Tit  were also actively feeding in ...