A few days in the West Country

Me & Em headed down to Devon for a few days for a bit of a getaway (8th - 13th March) and naturally I had to squeeze in a bit of birding!

First up on Friday (08/03), we popped into Ham Wall RSPB reserve which among the great set of birds already present, held a rather mega bird, an adult Pied Billed Grebe, a lifer for me. The bird had been there several weeks and I'd been praying it would hang on just a little longer!

One or two male Marsh Harriers were seen hunting the vast reedbeds, a Kingfisher called and 2-3 Bitterns were booming intermittently. Eventually I was well chuffed to find the

Pied Billed Grebe on the far side of the lake from the 2nd viewing platform. It showed pretty well but distantly for a while, even showing off a bit of displaying, involving a rather bizarre sequence of throwing its head back and yelping! Soon after, a couple of Great White Egrets flew in from the direction of Shapwick Heath, the site of the first confirmed breeding in the UK of the species last year.

The next day, (09/03) we were in Topsham, by the Exe Estuary, an area I know so well from the days when my Grandmother lived there. We took an early circular walk along the Goat Walk and along to the Clyst viewpoint and Bowling Green Marsh. The tide was very low on the estaury with lots of mud exposed. All the usual waders were present including well over 100 Avocet, Bar and Black Tailed Godwits, Grey Plovers, Curlews, Turnstones etc. Bowling Green Marsh held very little other than a couple of female Pintail.

After that we headed onto Labrador Bay RSPB reserve just south of Teignmouth to look for Cirl Buntings. Despite knowing the area so well, I shamefully had never gone looking for Cirl Bunting and it was long overdue I saw some. It wasn't looking too hopeful on arrival with heavy fog covering the whole surrounding area. All the same we headed into the reserve and thankfully we were in luck with great views had of around 10 Cirl Bunting, mostly males showing so well in the hedgerow by the path. After a while I dragged myself away and we headed off.

  

Sunday (10/03) didn't see much in the way of birding however I did find a gem of bird in the shape of a male Firecrest popping out of a clipped hedge at the Orangery, Mount Edgcumbe just into Cornwall. Also seen nearby was an adult Shag on the water between there and Plymouth along with several Cormorants.

After a couple of days away from birding it was time to head home back to Brackley. So Wednesday (13/03) would be spent driving home with, of course some more birding thrown in.

After leaving Barnstaple in North Devon around 09:15am, Exminster near Exeter would be my first stop to look for the pretty much resident Rose-Coloured Starling, a potential third lifer of the trip for me following the Pied Billed Grebe and Cirl Buntings.

I parked up and headed into Milbury Lane where it had been generally seen over the last few months. Dave James had been there around 10 days before and told me it had a favourite bush it liked to sit in so I simply staked it out until it showed. A male Brambling showed briefly in nearby tree tops and after several Common Starling false alarms, the Rose-Coloured Starling eventually appeared in nearby treetops after a good 45 minute wait. Fantastic! It then moved to the said favourite bush and was so unbelievably showy, allowing me to get some awesome full-frame photos of him too. Really made my day!

After that high, I drove back to Topsham to have another look at Bowling Green Marsh and the Exe Estuary. Again, as before it was low tide with a similar suite of birds as I saw on Saturday with the addition of several Red Breasted Merganser out on the estuary channels.

To finish the birding for the trip, I made the decision to head back to Ham Wall in Somerset in the hope of closer views of the Pied Billed Grebe and maybe see the Ring Necked Duck that had been around there. I arrived around 2pm and it wasn't long before I saw a Bittern flying over the reeds to the right of the path. After that I soon found the Pied Billed Grebe swimming straight towards me! It then continued to show nicely right in front of the viewing point and I managed to get some much better views and photos.

I had a look further along the path in the area where both the drake Ringed Necked & Ferruginous Ducks had been present recently. I was in luck, viewing through a bush I managed to get pretty restricted views of the drake Ringed Necked Duck (appalling photo below!).

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On the way back to the car I had one more look at the Pied Billed as well as finding a smart drake Pintail amongst the large numbers of Shoveler. I also had another Bittern in flight over the reeds.

Before driving home, I made the short walk further on from the car park to Shapwick Heath reserve to see the resident Great White Egrets. A short walk later and I had a total of 8 Great White Egrets in front of me, together with a Little Egret, Grey Heron and two booming Bitterns. The place was littered with Herons! I then took the long drive home. A great days birding!