Wednesday 24 December 2008

Tuesday 23rd December 2008

Another dull day.

OK, its lovely having all this dry weather at this time of year, but the skies are so boringly dull. Another day of motionless thick dark grey cloud and very mild again. This afternoon I popped down to Mudbank Lane and took another look over the Exe estuary. I was a little luckier today however, as not only was the Greenshank still present close in to the railway line, but the Spotted Redshank was with it again! The assembled masses of birds as usual were present in the following order of numbers:
Wigeon, Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Pintail, Shelduck, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Common Redshank, Common Gull and Great Black-backed Gull.
To this can be added a few Mallard, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Cormorant and Grey Plover.
I then moved round to the Shelly Beach area again, where I located the female Black Redstart, today snapping up insects from the rooftop of Windward Court. The usual Red-breasted Merganser were supplemented by 4 Goldeneyes (seemingly 2 pairs). A few Knot, Grey Plover and Dunlin flew over the estuary heading for the high tide roost at the back of Dawlish Warren.
I finished off up at Orcombe Point, having parked as usual at Foxholes Hill estate. However, I found nothing much here apart from a few Greenfinches and Chaffinches.

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