Smart adult male BLACK REDSTART

Between rain showers I was treated to some great views of two Black Redstarts in Seaton today, one of which was a cracking adult male. It was mostly a case of sit and wait for them to approach. On occasion they flew in and landed 6ft from me which was far too close for my lens to focus! Was nice to just sit and watch when this happened though.

Shame the focus just missed on this one!

Great start to 2016 for the patch!

Despite the hideous weather for the opening few days of 2016, there have already been two scarce species seen on patch to keep us wildlife enthusiasts entertained. The first was the lingering Glossy Ibis which arrived here in late 2015 and the next was the appearance of 2 Great White Egrets late afternoon on the 5th. Well done to Tim Wright for spotting the latter; unfortunately no one else saw them despite myself, Phil & Ian Mc (maybe others too) trying. The alarms are set and hopefully the birds will be present at first light (ever the optimist). A supporting cast of Redpoll, Firecrest & Black Redstart(s) has also been very welcome for a few decent patch year ticks for early 2016. I wonder who is listing...

2015 Review - THE PATCH

Well that's another year over and done with! A year which has seen a heck of a lot of change in my life - redundancy, owning a new business, being offered (& my subsequent acceptance of) a Directorship role for a very exciting company, my partner getting a dog (Millie the Cockapoo), me being involved in my first car crash... the list goes on!

Now for the important stuff. BIRDS.
2015 was another good year on patch with a few scarce birds being added to my patch list. Also it was another successful year of conservation locally with the fantastic maintenance of Black Hole Marsh and the surrounding areas bringing in heaps of birds. I did manage to get out for a couple of twitches this year but I will keep this post about the Patch as that's where my main interest firmly lies. I missed a few good birds this year due to business trips, but thankfully none of them were patch ticks (particularly Bittern, Spotted Crake & Wryneck). My patch ticks this year were:

Slavonian Grebe
Yellow-Browed Warbler
Baird's Sandpiper
Temminck's Stint
Penduline Tit
Barnacle Goose (yes really...)

Other notable (locally scarce) species were:
Short-Eared Owl
Glossy Ibis
Nightjar
Wood Sandpiper (34 at once!)
Curlew Sandpiper
Yellow-Legged Gull
Osprey

Here's a few pics of some of the aforementioned species:

Penduline Tit

Short-Eared Owl

Baird's Sandpiper (natural reflection)

Wood Sandpiper x 2 (natural reflections)

Yellow-Legged Gull

Curlew Sandpiper x 2 (natural reflections)

Glossy Ibis

Yellow-Browed Warbler

So that's a wrap!

2016 promises to be a very exciting year for me with my new jobs, roles and responsibilities; hopefully it'll be exciting on the bird front as well!

All the best for 2016 everyone - I hope you all have a healthy and prosperous year!

PURPLE SANDPIPER dodging the rough waves

A brief off-patch venture to Lyme Regis

BARNACLE GEESE at Bridge Marsh (River Axe)

Thanks to Tim Wright for the heads up about the 3 Barnacle Geese which were on Bridge Marsh this afternoon. I was actually heading down to that area to look for the Firecrest which Tim had reported earlier - I didn't find it. When I checked Bridge Marsh, there were 3 geese flying away from me and I couldn't help but think that they were the Barnacle Geese. Unfortunately these views were un-tickable. However... they then did the decent thing and flew back towards me and I was indeed correct that they were the Barnacle Geese (good job they came back too otherwise the ID would have been a 'maybe' at best).
Naff pics due to distance, light and the weather; the (overdue) patch tick was satisfying though.

SHORT-EARED OWL at Black Hole Marsh

I've seen 3 Short-Eared Owls on patch in my life, and they've all been this year! The first was the Axe Cliffs bird in March. Next was a bird frequenting BHM and the fields towards Seaton Marshes, and now this one; hopefully it'll stay for a while like the other two did. It was getting dark when I heard about the SEO but there was just about enough light to get a few pics (although slightly noisy due to high ISO used). Great birds! Thanks for the Tweet Robin Morrison.

A Painful Patch Dip

Despite making a rapid exit from home, I didn't connect with the Hen Harrier that Steve Waite found this afternoon. It would have been nice to add this to the patch list after having a few Marsh Harriers and a Montagu's Harrier in recent years (see here and here for the Montagu's). I did get a couple of snaps of a passing Sparrowhawk though; it was taking a swipe at the Starling flock: