And what absolutely stonkers they were! I've seen quite a few Cattle Egrets now, 15 ish on patch in the last 12 months alone without making any specific effort for them or going to see any found by anyone else. These most recent 2 were definitely the best looking though, both in full breeding plumage.
27th May
This post is primarily just a diary entry so I can easily find the info again later! There would have been many more Red Kites than this but my viewing area was poor for an hour or so after seeing the first ones, until I was able to move. A few passed over Colyton but most seemed to follow the usual route over Colyford/Seaton.
An evening visit to Seaton yielded my only Osprey of the year (so far), shortly followed by 3 Cattle Egrets which flew high for a while before landing on Sheep's Marsh.
An unexpectedly productive late afternoon / evening! I'd hoped to escape work a bit earlier than I did; it's the perfect time of year for some dragonfly pics. Lower Bruckland Ponds (mostly private land, but accessible with a ticket) has a large number of Scarce Chasers this year, surely triple figures. With a supporting cast of Emperors, Four-spotted Chasers, Black-tailed Skimmers, hawker sp, Common Darters etc, it's a fantastic site.
An unexpected sighting was a Cuckoo... Dad first spotted it whilst I was looking at a Little Grebe; it was distant and he was expecting it to be a Sparrowhawk but took a couple of snaps none-the-less. A quick look at the screen and an expletive later, he realised it was a Cuckoo! He's having a good run with Cuckoos, after finding one last summer in Colyton too. We had a good search, but anyone who knows the layout at the ponds will realise how difficult this is with something like a Cuckoo. Needle in a haystack springs to mind. I did eventually see it after some thorough searching, a lucky glimpse of it in flight gave away its (temporary) position, and it eventually flew further inland. I took a pic of it at long (long, long) range, and I'll include it at the bottom of this post for your amusement.
On to Seaton Marshes where there were reports of a seemingly easier Cuckoo, but it didn't show for the first 45 mins or so. We did get lucky with this one in the end, I saw it flying towards us so we played statues, and then it perched up pretty close. The image is a bit busy as I was positioned behind some vegetation and didn't want to move & frighten it, but nice to get good views of a non-juv Cuckoo! Pics taken with my smaller 'insect' lens rather than my birding lens (unfortunately).
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| Seaton Marshes bird |
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| Seaton Marshes bird |
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| Lower Bruckland bird... |
There's a fair bit of birding stuff to catch up with for this blog but my first post of the year (yikes) should probably feature the new daughter! She's had a few trips to some of my favourite local birding spots, and social-distantly met some of the other patch birders.
I'm trying to do more birding this year, but my usual work-to-sleep hours ratio of 3:1 makes this a tad difficult! On April 1st I had 2 Pintail flying over BHM and the estuary, with 19 Swallows, 7 Sand Martins, 1 House Martin and 4 Greylags also being noteworthy.
Onto today, a Cattle Egret was nice to see this evening. It flew in from north of BHM a little prior to 7pm, before settling for a bit then later flying off. 60+ Sand Martins my first 'decent flock' of the Spring.
Whilst I've been quiet on here lately, I've been extremely busy for the last few years, and part of what I've been doing can be seen on my photography page on Facebook. It's a little different, and rather challenging...
Tim White Photography - Facebook
A taster:
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| Andromeda Galaxy |
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| Cloud inversion at Colmer's Hill, Dorset |
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| Comet C/2020 F3 Neowise, Brentor Church, Dartmoor |
