Sunday 22nd November

Another productive day, despite long spells of dank mizzle. The first couple of hours were spent sea-watching when the light was excellent and the sea flat calm,  allowing some passing seabirds to be identified as they crossed behind 'Pacific Egret', a cargo ship anchored 6⅓ miles (5½ nm) away (!) SSW off the seawall. Birds that flew south included 205 mixed auks, 75 Kittiwake, 67 Gannet, 34 Common Scoter and a Fulmar. Bobbing about on the water was a large influx of 36 Great Crested Grebe, including seven on estuarine waters, the largest ever November count here but not a surprise since this species has continued to increase dramatically each decade here since the 1960s and it tends to arrive in large numbers to over-winter from about this time. Another record, 28 Great Northern Diver was the largest count in November here and equal sixth highest ever; all higher counts have been in December.

data capture, analysis and presentation - Ivan Lakin

An unexpected bonus was a Great White Egret that slowly flew by and headed up the estuary mouth at 09:23; the third record of the year. 

The 3.1 metre late-morning neap tide was just high enough to push in the waders with large numbers of Dunlin and Oystercatcher present, and on the dropping tide counts of waterbirds were 285 Wigeon, 225 Canada Goose that inexplicably dropped in, such high numbers are usually seen here attending overnight roosts; 182 Black-tailed Godwit, 174 Redshank, 140 Grey Plover, 137 Teal, 125 Knot, 107 Dark-bellied Brent Goose plus two Pale-bellied Brent Goose with them in The Bight; 81 Black-headed Gull, 74 Shelduck, 68 Turnstone, 24 Ringed Plover, 16 Common Gull, 14 Common Snipe, nine Red-breasted Merganser, another seven Great Crested Grebe, seven Greenshank, only about six Curlew, only three Great Black-backed Gull, a Mediterranean Gull and the Slavonian Grebe.

On Main Pond, four Water Rail, plus another probing around Entrance Pond, four Shoveler (♂♂, imm ♂,♀), four Moorhen, two Mallard, the drake duck thing, a single Mute Swan again, another Common Snipe, a trilling Little Grebe and a Kingfisher.

Ten migrant Lesser Black-backed Gull flew south; four Rook, two Jackdaw, a Golden Plover flew south and the odd single Skylark and Chaffinch also passed overhead.

Particularly favouring the Alders and Silver Birch, up to 15 Siskin, a Lesser Redpoll and various other common finches. Three Coal Tit included a bird that flew over to Langstone Rock briefly and two others were at the bird-feeders; otherwise in the woods and bushes, single-figures of mixed tits, 7+ Goldcrest, possibly the Firecrest but too elusive to confirm, 7+ regular colybita Chiffchaff and the highlights, one, possibly two Siberian Chiffchaff. The first sighting was indicative of a new arrival as it appeared with two Chiffchaff in the dune ridge tamarisk then soon moved into sallows and presumably the same bird, along with Chiffchaffs made their way to sallows around Main Pond where it was watched at close range with another bird of characteristics that more placed it into the 'fulvescens' trait camp, or to imply that its perhaps from the Urals hybrid zone, a 'riphaeus'-type, in that it showed a little bit of green around the bend of the wing, too much of a contrasting 'Bonelli's-like' folded wing panel and yellowy, less buffy hints on parts of the face. The monotoned loveliness of light greyey brown and tan hues of the Siberian Chiffchaff, together with its plantive '(b)eeep' call (heard when in the tamarisk) led to its being described as a 'classic'.

Both the yellow-ringed '632' (seawall), that first returned on 6th November and the green-ringed 'AVP' (in The Bight), first seen here 28th October were seen today, plus another Scandinavian Rock Pipit, accompanied by a regular petrosus Rock Pipit.  

Also notable today, six Cirl Bunting, five Stonechat, two Song Thrush, a ♂ Green Woodpecker fed along the deserted fairways; an imm ♂ Kestrel, a Reed Bunting and a Grey Wagtail. Less the sub-species and excluding Siberian Chiffchaff, the site day-list was an impressive 84 species.

Wildlife news: a Water Vole 'plop' was heard at Gold Course Pond. Three Harbour Porpoise breached a long way out.

Saturday 21st November

Comprehensive and sustained coverage in conditions conducive to observations enabled collation of a solid set of counts and an impressive day-list of 79 species. However, disturbance to the site's entire assemblage of estuarine waterbirds was caused by a kayaker and persons scaling over fencing with warning signs.  On these occasions, local birders and patrolling staff weren't able to intercept to educate them, as is normal practice. 

The first hour of light was spent sea-watching, which was productive with 215 Kittiwake, c.120 Gannet, c.80 auk spp that comprised of both Razorbill and Guillemot; 12 Great Northern Diver, 11 Red-throated Diver, 37 Common Scoter, seven Great Crested Grebe and three Fulmar.

After the disturbance events, birds settled down and the ebbing mid-morning tide received a lot of attention.  A full run-down of counts were c.825 Oystercatcher (so missing c.200 somewhere); 520 Black-tailed Godwit arrived from the direction of Starcross to feed along the receding waterline opposite Railway Saltmarsh; at least two were colour-ringed, one was ringed on the Axe Estuary and another was apparently ringed on the Humber Estuary; 1,486 Dunlin, 315 Wigeon, 313 Teal, 137 Redshank, 130 Dark-bellied Brent Goose, 124 Grey Plover, 107 Black-headed Gull, 82 Knot, 68 Bar-tailed Godwit, 66 Turnstone, including six below Langstone Rock; 38 Common Gull, 37 Ringed Plover, 21 Cormorant, 14 Curlew, ten Sanderling, ten Greenshank, eight Red-breasted Merganser, eight Shag, including a few offshore, six Canada Goose, five Mute Swan, five Little Egret, a few Common Snipe, just four Great Black-backed Gull, two Lesser Black-backed Gull, two Grey Heron, two Kingfisher, another Great Crested Grebe, the drake Eider and 'Herbert' the Slavonian Grebe. A Peregrine also briefly spooked the waders.

On Main Pond, three Shoveler, at least of couple each of Moorhen and Water Rail, another Mute Swan, a trilling Little Grebe, the resident female Mallard and the now regular drake farmyard duck-thing. 

Through the wooded area and with some that roamed up site nearly a far as the hide, a flock of 26 Long-tailed Tit 'carried' a number of other birds that included some of the ten Chiffchaff of which one presumed Scandinavian Chiffchaff P. c. abietinus, eight Goldcrest, seven Blue Tit, two Great Tit, a Coal Tit and the Firecrest was vocal and showy along Butterfly Ride. Also two Great Spotted Woodpecker, two Song Thrush, two Bullfinch and a Sparrowhawk. Scattered throughout, most as small feeding flocks and some on the bird-feeders, 36 Goldfinch, 31 Greenfinch, 16 Linnet, six Meadow Pipit, six Cirl Bunting, four Chaffinch and three Siskin. Two Raven flew over Warren Point; five Stonechat; and at least one of the Rock Pipit on site was a Scandinavian Rock Pipit but was not seen well enough to determine if it was ringed. 

Firecrest - Alan Keatley

A Jay that flew toward the site landed in trees along the landward side of the railway line was, sadly, just outside of this strictly observed site boundary; the last individual to make it on site was back in Oct 2018.

Wildlife news: a little above average for the time of year at 12°C, a few bumblebees and single hoverflies Eupeodes luniger and a Syrphus ribesii were active and still quite a few flowers in bloom.

Friday 20th November

A couple of birders were on site today to cover the morning tide. Both tides were about 20 cm lower than predicted, likely due to the max 1,037 mb high pressure overnight, despite some light rain. A few counts were conducted, 940 Dunlin, 406 Wigeon, 232 Black-tailed Godwit arrived on the dropping tide; 190 Canada Goose on the estuary before they departed from their roost; 165 Teal, 141 Dark-bellied Brent Goose, 116 Grey Plover, 96 Bar-tailed Godwit, 53 Shelduck, 25 Ringed Plover, 16 Cormorant, seven Great Black-backed Gull, six Common Snipe rose from the saltmarsh; two Mallard, the drake Eider and a Kingfisher. Also present were the usual Oystercatcher, Curlew, Knot, Sanderling, Turnstone, Redshank, Greenshank and common gull species, but had no counts or those obtained were not representative of numbers present today. Elsewhere, notables were c.60 Goldfinch, a Coal Tit and a Reed Bunting.

Thursday 19th November

The noticeable change in weather since yesterday lunchtime continued today and a fresh WNW wind cooled the new day to 9°C.  From 07:55 and for the next two hours, a spectacular passage of 25,505 Woodpigeon flew SW over the site.  Clouds of birds rose over Exmouth and passed low overhead and caught the attention of many passers by.  All counts at this site of ≥5,000 Woodpigeon have occurred 20 Oct - 22 Nov, but massive passage after 07 Nov is rare.  Today's count is the ninth largest ever. In Devon, smaller movements of Woodpigeons were reported today at Wembury and South Brent. Further afield, thousands were reported on the move today at single sites in Hampshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire and Co. Louth, in the northeast corner of Republic of Ireland.  Only a handful of Stock Dove and one 'Racing Pigeon' were noted in these flocks.

A yellow-ringed Scandinavian Rock Pipit, presumably the returning bird was along the seawall and on groyne 1.  Offshore only a single Great Northern Diver was of interest.  Wildfowl counts in the estuary on the dropping tide included 202 Dark-bellied Brent Goose with four Pale-bellied Brent Goose mixed in; 316 Wigeon, 141 Teal, 107 Canada Goose (with three offshore), 77 Shelduck, four Mute Swan and the drake Eider. The good run continued with 368 Black-tailed Godwit; other waders counted were 820 Dunlin, 129 Redshank, 83 Grey Plover, 41 Knot, 25 Ringed Plover, two Sanderling and a Greenshank.

In the woods, 14 Long-tailed Tit, mixed tits, five Chiffchaff and two Goldcrest, a Bullfinch and a Chaffinch. At least one Shoveler remained on Main Pond.

Wildlife news: a Buff-tailed Bumblebee and a late hoverfly Melanostoma scalare.

Wednesday 18th November

A fresh south-southwesterly with rain forecasted to arrive from 09:00, the first hour of light was spent sea-watching which produced a steady passage 187 Gannet, 95 Kittiwake, c.35 auk spp., 11 Common Scoter, three Red-throated Diver and a Red-breasted Merganser.  It was with uncanny timing that the cold front moved through and temperatures fell from lunchtime that a Glaucous Gull flew south past the seawall - the first record of the year.  But just before the mild wet conditions gave way to a blast from the north, a very late bedraggled male Wheatear was on the end of Warren Point.

Waterbirds in The Bight were watched as they followed out the receding morning spring tide and the few selected counts performed were c.1,100 Dunlin, 183 Black-tailed Godwit - noting that massive numbers were reported again today on Oak Meadow Golf Course, Starcross; also 93 Grey Plover, 37 Great Black-backed Gull, 25 Cormorant and 20 Ringed Plover; and the first big winter count of 76 Common Snipe flew up from the saltmarsh.  On the estuary corner waters floated 571 Wigeon, 179 Dark-bellied Brent Goose, 60 Shelduck, 17 Teal, 15 Canada Goose, seven Mute Swan, the drake Eider and the Slavonian Grebe. 

Tuesday 17th November

The huge 4.3 metre spring tide at dawn saw waders cram onto the extremities of saltmarsh and islands that remained exposed and four-figures of birds piled onto the top of the island in front of the hide, mostly Dunlin, of which three Swedish metal-ringed individuals were seen and two of these were ringed on Öland. Incidentally, this island in SW Sweden supports breeding Calidris alpina schinzii, the Western Dunlin, the same ssp. that breeds in Britain; its Baltic population has declined and its conservation status in that region is under serious threat. Enquiries will follow about when ringed if their race was determined to be a migrant alpina or a locally breeding schinzii.  

Also 93 Grey Plover, double-figures of Knot and Sanderling, four Ringed Plover and briefly a Kingfisher. The sandy tide-line of The Bight had dropped by approximately 15 cm overnight in places, due to tidal wash-out, which made it ever harder for the c.125 Bar-tailed Godwit and other mixed waders to find space to roost.  

For reasons unclear, larger waders that have established roosts at the upper end of the estuary chose to utilise flooded fields north side of Starcross and Oak Meadow Golf Course, south side of Starcross to roost and the massive count of 690 Black-tailed Godwit at Dawlish Warren likely involved most of the 850 seen at those aforementioned locations.  Despite being outside of designated sites (see MAGIC), an earlier post (23rd July) alluded to potential and limited legal protection to such places and the term recognised by authorities in the context of the SPA designation is 'functionally linked land'. Recognition is dependent on observations, so when recording (e.g. on BirdTrack or eBird) and submitting (e.g. to Devon Birds), an accurate location is really important to note in addition the core site, which here is 'Exe Estuary'. 

A walk through the woods noted 11 Long-tailed Tit, four Goldcrest, two Chiffchaff, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Bullfinch.  On Main Pond, four Shoveler (♂♂, imm ♂,♀), two Water Rail, a ♀ Mallard and at least one Little Grebe.  The sea was almost birdless when looked at briefly shortly after dawn.

Monday 16th November

Focus was on estuarine waterbirds during the early morning high tide.  The few counts made were of 433 Wigeon, 422 Dark-bellied Brent Goose, 84 Grey Plover, 77 Shelduck, 62 Bar-tailed Godwit, 47 Teal, 14 Curlew, 11 Canada Goose, eight Pale-bellied Brent Goose and two ♂ Pintail.  Random event of the day was a Long-tailed Duck, probably an adult drake, that flew low across the golf course from the estuary and out to sea.  This is the second record of the year after the unseasonal bird on 10th June and 4th July, possibly the same bird that spent 12th-19th Jun at Mudeford, Christchurch, then returned.

Picked up via Twitter, Greenland Lake area supported 35 Linnet, 27 Goldfinch, nine Meadow Pipit, seven Stonechat, six Greenfinch and two Cirl Bunting. 

Sunday 15th November

Eventful weather with heavy squally, occasionally thundery showers interspersed with periods of bright sunshine. With a fresh breeze from the south overnight, a sea-watch during the first half hour of light saw moderate passage that involved  172 Gannet, 43 Kittiwake, 18 auk spp., four Great Northern Diver and two Common Scoter. A single Razorbill dropped into The Bight and later floated up the estuary.

Timings were right to allow the ebbing spring morning tide and rising evening spring tide to receive coverage. A solid set of waterbird counts and eight species with field reads of rings was achieved, probably a site record, so today was just as much about science and research as it was to enjoy fulfilling birding. Sightings were approximately 1,500 Dunlin, including a new metal-ringed Swedish bird. Some of the 1,015 Oystercatcher foraged in Eastdon Fields and on the empty fairways of the golf course.  There were many colour-ringed birds of the current Exe Estuary scheme among them and a 20-year old 'wasp-ringed' bird from a previous scheme; and also in The Bight the return of orange-ringed 84, ringed as a pullus on Skokholm island, Wales in June 2018.

A count of 498 Black-tailed Godwit that roosted in Railway Saltmarsh is exceptional and the fifth highest count here ever, but isn't the best of the year, exceeded by 530 on 12th March. The winter population of Limosa limosa islandica on the Exe Estuary has increased in step with its biogeographical population and thus the estuary continues to support internationally important numbers (GB threshold = 390, international threshold = 1,100); so today's site count was of national-level significance. Two of these birds were colour-ringed, one as an adult at Snettisham, Norfolk on 1st Sep 2019, and what was likely to be the adult ringed at Olfus, Auosholt, Iceland on 10th Jun 2017 and seen at Bowling Green Marsh 29th Dec 2019.

Also present, 369 Dark-bellied Brent Goose with three Pale-bellied Brent Goose, including the bird ringed as a juvenile at Alftanes, Fotbaltavollur, Iceland on 11th May 2017. Also, 93 Redshank, 89 Shelduck, a big count, with two colour-ringed birds from the Seaton Marshes project; 85 Grey Plover, 70 Turnstone, 43 Bar-tailed Godwit, 38 Knot, 31 Teal, 30 Cormorant on Finger Point included two sinensis-race, 19 Curlew, ten Great Crested Grebe, which is a lot for this part of the estuary; nine Sanderling, eight Little Egret, seven Mute Swan, five Red-breasted Merganser, four Greenshank, a pair of Canada Goose and the resident two female Mallard waddled about on the soaked fairways. Also, a Grey Heron, the drake Eider was sat on Bull Hill and the Slavonian Grebe was again seen accompanied by a Little Grebe. Gulls, except Herring Gull, were all counted, these were 56 Black-headed Gull, 33 Great Black-backed Gull, 21 Common Gull and an adult Mediterranean Gull.

At least six Rock Pipit were scattered about the site and three of these were considered to be Scandinavian Rock Pipit and remarkably one of these was the yellow-coloured ringed '632' individual that wintered here 26th Oct 2019 to 2nd Jan 2020, ringed Makkevika, Giske, Norway. This is highly likely to be the bird seen on site on 6th Nov and again too briefly some days afterwards. Research has indicated high fidelity to breeding territories (Taylor, 2007), but fidelity to winter sites, particularly by this ssp. in England is perhaps unknown, so today's sighting could be precedent-setting; further enquiries are underway.

record shot only of '632' Scandinavian Rock Pipit - David Flack

super-cropped and enhanced image of the bird's leg

Main Pond continued to hold three Shoveler, a few Moorhen and Water Rail and the drake domestic Mallard thing; and at dusk a murmuration of c.105 Starling assembled.

Woodlands held a few mixed tits, four each of Chiffchaff and Goldcrest; two each of Great Spotted Woodpecker and Bullfinch and singles each of Chaffinch and a vocal Firecrest. Other notables were two Reed Bunting, a Grey Wagtail and a Raven. Regularly counted residents were seven Pied Wagtail, six Cirl Bunting and four Stonechat. Nomadic finch flocks were in similar numbers of those of late, c.35 Goldfinch, 18 Linnet and c.10 Greenfinch. A few singles of Skylark, two Jackdaw and a single Lesser Repoll were the only birds noted overhead.  Report of a Black Redstart at the shops was unsubstantiated.  These bring the day-list to 76 species. 

Other news: sea erosion of the dune-cliff has removed another couple of metres of width from critical areas and the beach level has dropped again by a quarter of a metre overnight.  The newly re-routed chestnut-paling lined path to access the hide area is again under threat of collapse and will need re-routing again.  The Environment Agency visited yesterday to stitch patches to the deliberately sabotaged Geotube and whilst some were saved were too late for the two or three sections that had already fully burst. 

EA repairing Geotube on Saturday with sections already emptied of sand - David Flack

sea erosion (left) of dune ridge with narrow access path to and back from the hide area - Ivan Lakin

Saturday 14th November

Wet and dank with a southerly that gusted to 25 to 30 knots, one observer braved the weather and during an hour seawatch only had 35 Gannet, three Kittiwake, a Razorbill and a Great Northern Diver. Five Shoveler were on Main Pond; little was found in the bushes, just four Goldcrest, one Chiffchaff, a Bullfinch and a Firecrest in Dead Dolphin Wood.

Late news: the pair of colour coded ringed Dark-bellied Brent Goose seen here on 6th November were ringed These were both ringed on 16th May 2019 at Friesland, Netherlands before presumably they departed to breed on the Taimyr Peninsula, northern Siberia. They then returned to winter around the Terschelling region of Netherlands and were recorded 27 Feb to 16 Apr 2020. The male is ringed lime-green '4' (left leg) and dark-green '=' (right leg); the female is ringed lime-green '0' (left leg) and dark-green 'P' (right leg). If see them, please report to Tracking Marked Geese and Swans website (here); may need to create a log-in to do so. Thanks to Bart Ebbinge for the results and tips.

Friday 13th November

Rain stopped before dawn and the day became pleasantly sunny, calm and mild. A half-hour seawatch from first light saw 102 auk spp., 69 Gannet, 11 Kittiwake and single Great Northern Diver, Red-throated Diver and a diver sp. depart south out of the bay. Two Great Crested Grebe floated offshore. Wooded areas were busy with 22 Long-tailed Tit, 14 Blue Tit, eight Goldcrest, seven Great Tit, seven Chiffchaff, four Chaffinch, three Coal Tit, two Bullfinch, two Great Spotted Woodpecker and a juv male Sparrowhawk found stunned in Dead Dolphin Wood; perhaps it crashed into something whilst in pursuit of prey.  Despite good numbers of foliage dwellers on site, the absence of Firecrest was possibly explained by one or two individuals seen in gardens of Dawlish Warren village today. 

On Main Pond, most of the seven Moorhen, four Shoveler, three Water Rail and two Mallard, including a domestic-type thing which has been seen before to commute towards Dawlish town down the coast. Mobile around the site, small feeding flocks that totaled c.40 Linnet, c.30 Goldfinch and 18 Greenfinch.  Also a Stock Dove circled Greenland Lake; other representative counts were eight Skylark, six Meadow Pipit, four Raven, four Cirl Bunting, four Stonechat, a Grey Wagtail and a Rook.  The tide was too low to enable meaningful counts of other waterbirds in the estuary.