Sunday 3rd May

In the estuary Dunlin numbers dropped by half overnight with 103 over the morning tide, then again during the day with 52 present in the evening. Other counts from the estuary included 51 Whimbrel, 28 Black-headed and a 2CY Mediterranean Gull, 23 Turnstone, 13 Ringed and six Grey Plover, 13 Bar-tailed Godwit and two Redshank. 

Bar-tailed Godwit & Oystercatcher - Lee Collins

A smart summer plumaged Black-throated Diver was a new arrival offshore with 12 Great Northern and three Red-throated Diver also on the sea. Also in the bay 45 Gannet, 30 Guillemot, 15 Manx Shearwater, 15 Sandwich Tern, three Fulmar, a Common Scoter and the female Eider.  

Elsewhere the first Sedge Warbler of the year was at the Dune Pond, a Wheatear was on the Golf Course and a 5CY Yellow-legged Gull and 55 Sanderling on the beach.

Yellow-legged Gull - Lee Collins

Year List addition:
143. Sedge Warbler

Other Wildlife: A Harbour Porpoise was offshore with a Painted Lady on the Golf Course. 

Saturday 2nd May

A further influx of waders after the rain with counts over the evening tide including 219 Dunlin, 73 Ringed and 13 Grey Plover, 55 Whimbrel, 37 Sanderling, 23 Bar-tailed Godwit, 15 Black-headed Gull, two Redshank and single Knot and Turnstone. 

Elsewhere 50 Manx Shearwater were offshore with 11 Sandwich Tern, six Great Northern and a Red-throated Diver, the female Eider and an Arctic Skua and two Wheatear and a Yellow Wagtail were on the Golf Course.

Other Wildlife: With the absence of visitors a Fox was active late afternoon around the Main Pond.

Friday 1st May

A welcome influx of waders over the evening high tide with the first Little Ringed Plover of the year alongside c280 Oystercatcher, 155 Dunlin, 45 Whimbrel, 21 Bar-tailed Godwit, 21 Sanderling, 14 Ringed and eight Grey Plover, two Greenshank, two Redshank and a breeding plumage Knot. 

Offshore 11 Common Scoter, five Black-headed Gull, five Great Northern and two Red-throated Diver, four Sandwich Tern, a Fulmar and the female Eider. 

Eider - Lee Collins

Year List addition:
142. Little Ringed Plover

Other Wildlife: At least 10 Painted Lady were on the wing and the first Southern Marsh Orchid were in flower in Greenland Lake.

Southern marsh-orchids (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) in flower (already!) at Dawlish Warren, Devon. That is early! 1/5/26 @ukorchids.bsky.social @orchidvinny.bsky.social @warrenbirding.bsky.social

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— Andy Rogers (@withylake.bsky.social) 1 May 2026 at 18:06

Thursday 30th April

A low tide visit saw 10 Whimbrel and two Grey Plover still feeding in The Bight with three Swift and a House Martin overhead, No obvious migrants in the bushes although half a dozen Whitethroat were well spread through the reserve.

Other Wildlife: Another windy day with a strong easterly during the morning, especially along the beach where several of the tiny rove beetle Aleochara grisea, normally found under seaweed, were blown into areas of sheltered sand. Also blown onto the beach a Thistle Tortoise Beetle Cassida rubiginosa, a Strawberry Root Weevil Otiorhychus ovatus and the saltmarsh fly Hydrophorus oceanus.

Thistle Tortoise Beetle Cassida rubiginosa - Alan Keatley

Strawberry Root Weevil Otiorhychus ovatus - Alan Keatley

Aleochara grisea - Alan Keatley

In more sheltered areas, a not unexpected new species for the Recording Area, Box Bug Gonocerus acuteangulatus on Hawthorn near the Entrance Bushes. A species that has expanded its westward from a restricted range in the south east to areas of Devon in recent years.  

Box Bug Gonocerus acuteangulatus - Alan Keatley

In Dead Dolphin Wood, the orange ichneumon wasp Ophion obscuratus, usually only recorded here at light and a couple of Marmalade Hoverfly, a species few in number so far this year. A Silver Y was further evidence of insect migration.

Ophion obscuratus - Alan Keatley

Marmalade Hoverfly - Alan Keatley

Silver Y - Alan Keatley

Wednesday 29th April

Highlights of an evening visit included the first two Hobby of the year, singles E over the estuary and then Exmouth at 6.40 and E over the reserve 7.50, a female Yellow Wagtail feeding around The Bight, a rare spring bird on the deck and the first fledged Stonechat on Warren Point.

Counts from the estuary over the high tide included 49 Bar-tailed Godwit, 45 Whimbrel, 20 Dunlin, 19 Sanderling, 16 Ringed and seven Grey Plover, two Turnstone with single Greenshank and Redshank. 

Offshore there were just six Manx Shearwater, five Common Scoter, three Sandwich Tern, two breeding plumaged Great Northern Diver and the female Eider.   

Year List addition:
141. Hobby

Drinker - Kevin Rylands

Tuesday 28th April

The first Little Tern of the year flew east past the seawall late morning with counts during the day including 130 Manx Shearwater, 40 Sandwich Tern, 11 Black-headed and a Common Gull, five Common Scoter, four Great Northern and three Red-throated Diver, two Great Crested Grebe and an Eider.

Counts from the estuary included 52 Whimbrel, 39 Bar-tailed Godwit, 20 Dunlin, 19 Sanderling, seven Grey and four Ringed Plover, two Turnstone and a Greenshank 

Elsewhere the first Swift of the year flew east and the Lesser Whitethroat was still holding territory.

Year List additions:
140. Swift
139. Little Tern

Other Wildlife: With the mainly overcast conditions and lower temperatures, it wasn't a day for insects on the wing with only one butterfly noted, a Speckled Wood. Other insects trying to warm up on vegetation including a Bibio fly new for the Recording Area, a Milky-winged Feverfly Dilophus femoratus, and a Clouded Border on the Buffer Zone. 

Milky-winged Feverfly Dilophus femoratus - Alan Keatley

Clouded Border - Alan Keatley

On the beach, the ant Myrmica ruginodis and a black dung fly Ceratinostoma ostiorum, on cultivated Elaeagnus near car park entrance, the psyllid Cacopsylla fulguralis and on sallows, the foodplant, in the Entrance Bushes the gall-causing weevil Archarius salicivorus.

Myrmica ruginodis - Alan Keatley

Ceratinostoma ostiorum - Alan Keatley

 Cacopsylla fulguralis - Alan Keatley

 Archarius salicivorus - Alan Keatley

Monday 27th April

Flat calm conditions offshore revealed at least 14 Great Northern Diver, including a distant raft of six birds on the sea with 100+ Manx Shearwater east, 26 Sandwich Tern, six Black-headed and a Common Gull, five Common Scoter, the female Eider and a lone Canada Goose sat over a mile out to sea.

In the estuary counts over the evening high tide included 56 Whimbrel, 39 Bar-tailed Godwit, 19 Dunlin, 11 Ringed and seven Grey Plover and two Greenshank. Elsewhere 15 Sanderling were on the beach, a Yellow Wagtail was overhead, a new Reed Warbler was holding territory and the Lesser Whitethroat was still present.

Other Wildlife: Two Red Admiral and a Painted Lady were on the wing late afternoon. 

Lupin Aphid Macrosiphum albifrons - Kevin Rylands This American species was reportedly introduced to help control the invasive Tree Lupin

Sunday 26th April

The Lesser Whitethroat was still singing at the end of the car park with a couple more Whitethroat back on territory and a Yellow Wagtail overhead the only new migrants around the scrub.

Offshore a raft of c40 Common Scoter, 25 Manx Shearwater, six Sandwich Tern, five Black-headed Gull, two Great Northern and a Red-throated Diver, a Fulmar and the female Eider.

Counts from the estuary over high tide included 215 Oystercatcher, 62 Whimbrel, 31 Turnstone, 24 Bar-tailed Godwit, 24 Sanderling, 19 Dunlin, eight Grey and three Ringed Plover, two Common Sandpiper, two Greenshank and a Redshank.

Other Wildlife: Two Painted Lady and a helice Clouded Yellow were seen late afternoon, with a Stoat near the Crocus Compound.

Painted Lady - Kevin Rylands

The 'redcurrant' gall of the wasp Neuroterus quercusbaccarum with a Green Longhorn - Kevin Rylands

Saturday 25th April

Migrants overhead included two Yellow Wagtail, 40+ Swallow and three Sand Martin with two Red Kite offsite NE over Cockwood, one crossing estuary at Starcross. In the bushes at least five pairs of Whitethroat now on territory, two Reed Warbler and one Lesser Whitethroat. 

Offshore 22 Sandwich Tern, 13 Black-headed Gull in off, five Common Scoter, two Great Northern and a Red-throated Diver, a Great Crested Grebe and the female Eider.

In the estuary counts from the low high tide included 41 Whimbrel, 32 Bar-tailed Godwit, 25 Sanderling, eight Grey Plover and two Greenshank.

Kestrel - Dave Jewell

Kestrel - Lee Collins Consuming a Sand Lizard

Other Wildlife: Nine species of butterfly were on the wing including the first five Green-veined White of the year, a site record four Holly Blue, a Brimstone east across the estuary and also on the move 15 Red Admiral and a Painted Lady. 

Good numbers of the rove beetle Bledius spectabilis, males with their distinctive "horn" and a few of the ground beetle Pogonus chalceus were active around the drying edge of The Bight. On the beach a Copper Greenclock Poecilus cupreus was amongst the usual Dune Scarab and Marram Weevil.

Bledius spectabilis - Alan Keatley

Pogonus chalceus - Alan Keatley

Copper Greenclock Poecilus cupreus - Alan Keatley

On the Dune Ridge the first robberfly of the year, a Spring Heath Robberfly Lasiopogon cinctus alongside its prey species Coastal Silver-stiletto Acrosathe annulata. In Greenland Lake, a Migrant Broadtail Eupeodes corollae hoverfly and the cranefly Tipula oleracea.

Migrant Broadtail Eupeodes corollae - Alan Keatley

Bees and wasps on the wing included Early Bumblebee, Black, Orange-tailed, Sandpit and Short-fringed Mining Bee, Fork-jawed and Gooden's Nomad Bee and the first Median Wasp Dolichovespula media of the year. 

Orange-tailed Mining Bee - Kevin Rylands

Also recorded the plant bug Cymus glandicolor, Bramble Sawfly Arge cyanocrocea, the scorpion fly Panorpa germanica, the click beetles Agriotes lineatus and Agrypnus murinus, a Dark-edged Beefly and several cases of Lotus Case-bearer Coleophora discordella at Langstone Rock. 

Bramble Sawfly Arge cyanocrocea - Alan Keatley

Lotus Case-bearer Coleophora discordella - Kevin Rylands

Friday 24th April

A Red Kite flew NE early morning with a steady trickle of hirundines, at least 40 Swallow and 15 House Martin. On site 15 Whimbrel were in Greenland Lake, a Coal Tit was by the Main Pond, where two Reed Warbler were holding territory. 

Elsewhere 15 Sanderling were on the beach, six Bar-tailed Godwit and two Greenshank were off Cockwood at low tide and 15 Manx Shearwater, three Sandwich Tern and a Red-throated Diver were offshore.

Other Wildlife: Two Red Admiral highlighted it wasn't just birds on the move.