A 1 hr 15min seawatch saw four Common Scoter and three Red-throated Diver head SW, with two Sandwich Tern, seven Great Crested Grebe, two Great Northern and Red-throated Diver offshore.
Records from the estuary included the nine Eider and a 2cy Mediterranean Gull on Bull Hill with counts including 55 Turnstone, 36 Oystercatcher, 21 Teal, 21 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 13 Redshank, eight Greenshank and a pair of Red-breasted Merganser.
Elsewhere a Sand Martin flew north, six immature Mute Swan flew SW out of estuary and a Chiffchaff on Warren Point was one of five on site.
Other Wildlife: The second day of spring sunshine saw the first emergence of the Warren (Sand) Crocus, with at least 15 plants in flower.
Sand Crocus just starting to flower at Dawlish Warren NNR @WarrenBirding in @Teignbridge Devon. Slowly revealed themselves as the sun came out! One of our rarest wild flowers found at only two known sites on the UK mainland #wildflowerhour @wildflower_hour Map from @BSBIbotany pic.twitter.com/orMk4D9F3y
— Luke Sutton (@_LJSutton) March 18, 2024
The same weather encouraged a couple of basking Common Lizard and the first Speckled Wood of the year along the Back Path, with two Peacock again on the wing.
Speckled Wood - Alan Keatley
Various other insects also made their first appearance of the year, including Small Sallow Mining Bee Andrena praecox, Common Green Furrow Bee Lasioglossum morio and a couple of male Hairy-footed Flower Bee Anthophora plumipes busy nectaring and an early Plain-faced Dronefly Eristalis arbustorum basking in the warm sunshine.
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Common Green Furrow Bee - Alan Keatley
Other firsts for the year the weevil Euophryum confine and the nationally scarce Dune Jumper Marpissa nivoyi and Sand-bear Spider Arctosa perita.
Euophryum confine - Alan Keatley
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Dune Jumper Marpissa nivoyi - Alan Keatley
Sand-bear Spider Arctosa perita - Alan Keatley
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