Spotted Redshank and more juv Yellow-legged Gulls

Black Hole Marsh continues to attract waders with the best of them being a Spotted Redshank which was found by Clive and has been here since the 26th. Blackwit numbers are building with 20+ present recently and Dunlin are also in low double figures. Other waders of note have been 2 Greenshanks and at least 1 Green Sandpiper.

We've had quite a few Yellow-legged Gulls in the last week, perhaps just into double figures, although it's hard to be sure. There were 2 on the estuary from Tower Hide this evening; Steve had 4 earlier in the day so perhaps these birds were 2 of those. We've had quite a few Med Gulls recently too, including a juv on BHM with yellow ring number AYNK.

Annoyingly I reckon an Osprey probably went through mid-afternoon on Friday 27th. As I got out of my car at the BHM car park I saw the gulls go up from the estuary in a big flush. It wasn't just the gulls though; all the waders were up too, including almost everything from BHM. I didn't see what caused it but it was a very 'Osprey-like' flush and it took a while for the birds to return to the estuary and BHM. I've missed all of the patch Ospreys so far this year, and there have been a few...

I'm going to try and get more pics of LBB and Herring Gulls in various plumages over the next year or so for reference purposes. Either that or find a proper gull ID book! Some pics:

Wood Sandpiper, Yellow-legged Gulls and ISS

Late news and a brief post! Clive found a Wood Sandpiper at Black Hole Marsh on 21st. I wouldn't normally rush out to twitch one but I didn't see one on patch in 2017 so it was worth a quick look. A Hobby flew overhead and a Yellow-legged Gull was showing distantly but well from Coronation Corner on that same evening. There was a different Yellow-legged Gull on the estuary the following evening, although I think other Tim (Wright) had two.

Not birding related but some of you may be into such things; the International Space Station has been very bright and obvious when passing over during the last few evenings. If you look closely you should be able to see part of the Milky Way above the ISS 'streak' in the pic. When I posted this on Twitter James Chubb referred to the lens flare as an 'intergalactic haddock' which I quite liked!

Great Egret at Black Hole Marsh

A Sunday evening trip to Black Hole Marsh proved worthwhile when I spotted a Great Egret flying towards BHM at 20:22. It landed close-ish to Tower Hide (where I wasn't) so I took a quick pic, sent out a few texts & tweets and looked back up 30 seconds or so later to see that it was no longer there! A search of Seaton Marshes and Colyford Common didn't yield any further sign.

Other birds of note on BHM were 7+ Common Sands, 4 Dunlin and an adult Med Gull.

I hope to get more time for birding and blogging soon; recently I've been working most of the way around the clock every day of the week!