AMERICAN WIGEON at Bowling Green Marsh

With the Yank Wigeon having spent a couple of days very close to the hide at Bowling Green Marsh, I couldn't resist finally going to see it. When I arrived, the hide was emptying and one of the birders told me that the Wigeon flock had just flushed from the area around the hide. TYPICAL. I gave it a couple of hours and eventually a young lady in the hide spotted the bird; it was always distant and the light was coming from 90deg angle which is about as bad as can be. I took some ropey pics which are posted below. I don't like posting naff pics but will make an exception here as this bird was a lifer & in good old Devon. I will try and go there again to get some pics when the bird is in a more obliging mood (it was on the field but nearly all the way out to the main body of water at the back as viewed from the hide).

BLACK REDSTART - adult male up close...

I took a quick break from work today to see if the stunning adult male Black Redstart was still hanging around in Seaton. It didn't take long to find him, although he performed sporadically and only for short periods of time. Still, persistence paid off:

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.