White-fronted Goose at Colyford Common

Andy Bond and Dave Stone found a White-fronted Goose on the 19th whilst looking for the Turtle Dove (which seems to have moved on now). It was pretty distant - I don't normally post record shots quite this bad but it's the first I've seen here so is worth making an exception for:

Turtle Dove on Patch!

A text from Steve shortly after 5pm had me rushing down to Bridge Marsh; he'd re-found the Turtle Dove which other Tim found a while ago. This is the 1st one I've seen in the UK so I'm glad it was on patch. With the massive decline of this species in the UK it begs the question of whether or not we'll get another one here.

Ian Mc had a Yellow-browed Warbler at Seaton Hole in the week and as soon as I got the message I went for a look. After searching for an hour or so I gave up but then thought I heard it call as I was driving back out. YBW are normally really obvious on call but it's not as easy from inside the car with other noises going on! Determined to see it I turned around and went back. Needless to say the following hour of additional searching yielded no sign of it at all. A shame but hopefully there'll be more to come. I don't 'list' so therefore don't 'need' any bird, but I just really like to see & appreciate them!

Baird's Sandpiper

It's been pretty quiet on the birding front for me so far this month, primarily due to work having returned to 100+ hrs/week territory! In my absence there's been a couple of patch goodies this week; other Tim found a Turtle Dove midweek then a Great White Egret on the evening of 7th. I did manage to get out on patch briefly this afternoon; Ian Mc found 3 - 4 Ring Ouzels at Beer Head so I headed up for a look. It took 30 mins or so for one to appear but eventually Dave H and I had some excellent flight views of 2 together.

As I was 'in the area' on Thursday afternoon I thought it'd be worth a look around Davidstow Airfield for the lingering Baird's Sandpiper. I only saw it briefly before it started to get dark but the views were pretty good...

Fine dining

Checking out some of the poop on offer...

Very close approach to the car for this shot - I just sat and waited for the bird to come to me

Taken at Sunset in the last few seconds of direct Sunlight

Patch update

A brief update from the airport whilst waiting for the plane to get in -
It's been a quiet week or so on patch with the exception of a reported Yellow-browed Warbler on private land in Colyford; there will no doubt be more of these to come over the next few weeks. At least one Grey Plover is still lingering and Wigeon numbers are building now with 30+ on the Estuary. The windy conditions on 3rd October seemed to bring a few birds down as Brendan Sheils found some goodies in the afternoon including a Ring Ouzel at Beer Head and 3 Turnstone on Seaton Beach.

Hopefully the next post will be a little less bland than this one!