Saturday 11th May

An early highlight was a flock of five Red Kite low WSW low just before 7am having presumably roosted nearby, also moving SW early morning a single Grey Heron, but other flyover were limited to two Rook and single Sand Martin and Swift.

An immature ♂ Ruff was briefly on Finger Point over the morning high tide, with wader counts including 42 Sanderling, 12 Whimbrel, 12 Bar-tailed Godwit, 10 Grey and seven Ringed Plover, seven Dunlin and four Turnstone. Also in the estuary an increase to 25 Black-headed Gull, five Eider and a Great Crested Grebe.

Jackdaw - Alan Keatley Formerly only a migrant this species has switched to foraging on the reserve as previous feeding areas have been developed. 

Elsewhere 10 Common Scoter, six Manx Shearwater, three Great Northern Diver and two Sandwich Tern were offshore and a Common Sandpiper was at Langstone Rock at dawn.

Other Wildlife: The first Common Blue was one of seven species of butterfly on the wing with another Wall Brown on the Golf Course a welcome sight. The first Azure Damselfly of the year had also taken flight with a Broad-bodied Chaser also seen.

Azure Damselfly - Alan Keatley

Several hoverflies also made their first appearance of 2024 including Pied Plume-horn Volucella pellucens, Humming Syrphus S. ribesii, Superb Ant-hill Hoverfly Xanthogramma pedissequum and Burdock Blacklet Cheilosa impressa.

Burdock Blacklet Cheilosa impressa - Alan Keatley

Occupying bare areas of sand good numbers of Sandpit Mining Bee, several Coastal Silver-stiletto Acrosathe annulata and along the beach, the beetles Bembidion quadrimaculatum and Phaleria cadaverina.

Coastal Silver-stiletto Acrosathe annulata - Alan Keatley 

Phaleria cadaverina - Alan Keatley

Friday 10th May

Reduced numbers in the estuary as birds take opportunity of the fine weather to continue migration and perhaps avoid the attention of a marauding Peregrine. Counts included 29 Sanderling, 17 Whimbrel, 14 Dunlin, 13 Ringed Plover, nine Bar-tailed Godwit, the five Eider and two Grey Plover.

Peregrine - Lee Collins

Elsewhere six Sandwich Tern and three Great Northern Diver were offshore and there was a light NE passage of 24 Swallow and 12 House Martin.

Other Wildlife: The first Broad-bodied Chaser of the year was in the Back Meadow, with a Wall Brown and a Sand Lizard along the Dune Ridge.

Sand Lizard - Lee Collins

Wall - Lee Collins

Thursday 9th May

A ♀  Surf Scoter was a brief unexpected highlight, the 14th site record but the first since Nov 2014. It was sat distantly offshore, usually asleep, and continued to drift out with tide. Despite flat calm sea and good viewing conditions it was not seen after 10.30am.

Also offshore at least 10 Great Northern and two Red-throated Diver, just two of the former close in but both in breeding plumage, 20 Common Scoter and a single Sandwich Tern. 

Other new arrivals included a Spotted Flycatcher in the Entrance Bushes and four sub-singing Reed Warbler including birds in Greenland Lake and on top of Langstone Rock!

Overhead single Sand Martin and Yellow Wagtail, a Wheatear flew across estuary, a pair of Tufted Duck W over The Bight before heading high north and a Red Kite SW mid-morning.

Elsewhere counts from the estuary included 40 Sanderling, 37 Whimbrel, 33 Dunlin, 13 Ringed and a Grey Plover, nine Turnstone, six Bar-tailed Godwit and five Eider.

Year list addition:

150. Surf Scoter

Other Wildlife: The warm sunny weather saw an increase in flying invertebrates with the first Wall Brown of the year one of eight butterfly species on the wing. These also included Holly Blue, Small Copper and Speckled Wood.

Day-flying moths included Common and Garden Carpet, but the best was a Small Yellow Underwing in the Skipper Meadow, only the second site record and the first since the late 1990s.

Small Yellow Underwing - Alan Keatley

Garden Carpet - Kevin Rylands

Also recorded today two Harbour Porpoise offshore, a single Blue-tailed Damselfly and a Bordered Shieldbug, new for the Recording Area. 

Bordered Shieldbug - Kevin Rylands

Agrypnus murinus - Alan Keatley

Common Stiltbug Berytinus minor - Alan Keatley

Wednesday 8th May

A quieter day in the mist, with the Garganey and some of the waders having moved on overnight. Counts from the estuary included c30 Whimbrel, 27 Dunlin, 17 Sanderling, 10 Ringed Plover, four Bar-tailed Godwit, four Turnstone and a Knot.

The usual five Eider were also in the estuary with five Sandwich Tern, a Red-throated and a Great Northern Diver offshore. Elsewhere three Wheatear were on site and a Swift was overhead.

Tuesday 7th May

A drake Garganey that dropped in behind the Golf Course late evening was the highlight, beating out a 2cy Little Gull that flew in off over The Bight, before continued N up estuary at 9am, and the eighth Red Kite of the year which flew WSW low over The Bight at 09:45.

Garganey - both Lee Collins

There was no sign of the Curlew Sandpiper with waders continuing to move through, counts included 59 Dunlin, 41 Whimbrel, 37 Sanderling, 18 Ringed and three Grey Plover, eight Bar and Black-tailed Godwit, three Turnstone and a Redshank, with the five Eider also in the estuary.

Elsewhere two Great Northern and a Red-throated Diver, six Common Scoter and two Sandwich Tern were offshore, three Wheatear were on site and three Rook and two Sand Martin were overhead.

Other Wildlife: No Dune Wolf noted today but ground-watching again revealed some interesting invertebrates including a couple of tiny blood bees, likely Geoffroy's Blood Bee Sphecodes geoffrellus, a cleptoparasite of Green Furrow Bee.

Geoffroy's Blood Bee Sphecodes geoffrellus - Alan Keatley

Also, in the same place was a nymph Grey Bush-cricket being stalked by a male Xysticus cristatus crab spider.

Grey Bush-cricket - Alan Keatley

Xysticus cristatus - Alan Keatley

To add to the variety were the first Blue-tailed Damselfly of the year, two Silver Y, several Common Carpet and a Sandy Longhorn Nematopogon schwarziellus.

Blue-tailed Damselfly - Alan Keatley

Sandy Longhorn - Alan Keatley

Monday 6th May

A summer-plumaged Curlew Sandpiper was the highlight, arriving with small waders in The Bight on evening tide. The flock included 69 Dunlin, 18 Ringed Plover and nine Sanderling, there had been 42 of the latter over the morning tide. 

Also in the estuary single Common and Little Tern, 45 Whimbrel, 10 Bar and two Black-tailed Godwit, five Eider, three Knot and a Grey Plover.

Elsewhere six Great Northern and three Red-throated Diver were offshore; five Swift, three Sand Martin, two Little Egret and a Rook flew NE and two migrant Reed Warbler, singing in the Entrance Bushes and Buffer Zone.

Year list addition: 

149. Curlew Sandpiper

Other Wildlife: A second Hairy Dragonfly of the year was on the Golf Course but other discoveries were largely at ground level. 

A brief search (twitch) revealed the third Dune Wolf of the week in the same area, although it is presumably more widespread on site. The same small area of barely vegetated ground was also being stalked by the ground spider Micaria pulicaria, the first record for 35 years, Hairy Shieldbug and the zebra-like caterpillar of Orange Crest Helcystogramma rufescens.

Orange Crest Helcystogramma rufescens - Kevin Rylands

Elsewhere Small Adder's-tongue were picked out from their larger relative in Greenland Lake and Common Star-of-Bethlehem was in flower behind the Visitor Centre. 

Small Adder's-tongue - Kevin Rylands

Common Star-of-Bethlehem - Kevin Rylands

Sunday 5th May

Early morning seven Great Northern Diver flew south with five diver sp. and four Red-throated Diver but little else was moving. Also offshore 36 Common Scoter, four Great Northern Diver, three summer-plumaged adult and an immature, a summer-plumaged Red-throated Diver, six Sandwich Tern and a 2cy Mediterranean Gull.

Signs of increased wader migration over both high tides with peak counts of 177 Dunlin, 46 Whimbrel, 37 Sanderling, 15 Bar-tailed Godwit, 15 Ringed Plover, seven Turnstone, two Grey Plover and a Knot. Also in the estuary five Eider and a Little Tern roosted on Finger Point.

Ringed Plover - Lee Collins

Bar-tailed Godwit - Lee Collins

Elsewhere migration was limited to a Yellow Wagtail overhead.

Ringing News: The day's highlight was the welcome sight of D63 amongst the Whimbrel. recorded here annually (except 2018) on spring migration since the first record on 18th April 2016. A day later than last year and its latest arrival.

Whimbrel D63 - Lee Collins

The Little Tern was also colour-ringed, from a colony in Co. Wicklow, Ireland but too far away to read the individual code.

Other Wildlife: A Grey Seal was off Langstone Rock. 

Saturday 4th May

The first Sedge Warbler of the year was singing at the Main Pond early morning with a Garden Warbler in Dead Dolphin Wood also a new arrival. Other passerine migrants where however limited to a single Wheatear in The Bight and overhead two Siskin, a Chaffinch and a Yellow Wagtail.

More arrivals in the estuary with counts including 68 Whimbrel, 17 Bar and a Black-tailed Godwit, 14 Sanderling, six Turnstone, six Dunlin, three Knot and three Ringed Plover with the five Eider on Finger Point.

Elsewhere 12 Common Scoter and two Sandwich Tern distantly offshore.

Year list addition:

148. Sedge Warbler

Other Wildlife: Although prints are seen daily, the first Fox sightings of the year were an adult by the Main Pond and a cub on Warren Point. The first Small Tortoiseshell was also seen one of five butterfly species again on the wing.

Otherwise spiders were the theme of the day with another Dune Wolf Xerolycosa miniata, amazingly the second record in a week having gone unnoticed for many years. The nationally scarce dune spider Alopecosa cuneata was also a good find, only the second Warren record.

Dune Wolf - Alan Keatley

Alopecosa cuneata - Alan Keatley

It has, so far, been a disappointing spring for mining bees. Just a few today with Orange-tailed and a Short-fringed on Hawthorn and a few Sandpit Mining Bee on the sandy paths. Searching out their nests was its cleptoparasite Sandpit Blood Bee Sphecodes pellucidus.

Hoverflies are faring better with many recently emerged Smudge-veined Clubtail Neoascia podagrica nectaring on remaining Alexanders flowers.

Smudge-veined Clubtail - Alan Keatley

Friday 3rd May

The first Spotted Flycatcher of the year was in the Entrance Bushes but other migrants were limited with single Sand Martin, Wheatear and Yellow Wagtail overhead. The site was however busy with breeding activity included the first fledged brood of Stonechat.

Offshore two Little Tern flew into the bay, with 52 Kittiwake, 11 Great Northern Diver, five Common Scoter and two Sandwich Tern during an hour seawatch, with seven Eider (two adult ♂ (new birds), two imm ♂, three ♀) and two summer plumaged Grey Plover on Pole Sands.

In the estuary a ♂ Shoveler on Bull Hill and a Black-tailed Godwit were new in and wader counts included 64 Whimbrel, 33 Sanderling, 22 Ringed Plover, 10 Dunlin and a Greenshank.

Year list addition:

147. Spotted Flycatcher

Other Wildlife: The year's first Hairy Dragonfly was on the Golf Course with five butterfly species including the next brood of Speckled Wood.

Wednesday 1st May

A quieter day with two Wheatear by the Visitor Centre the only grounded migrants with a few Swallow passing overhead, with local birds feeding over the Main Pond. Also now on territory five Whitethroat and at two of the ponds, three singing Reed Warbler.

Whitethroat - Dean Hall

The low high tide moved hardly anything in The Bight, bar the usual Oystercatcher and four of the lingering Eider. Other waders included at least 15 Whimbrel, mainly on the  beach, some moving to the estuary as the tide came in, and just a couple of Sanderling, also on the beach.

Whimbrel - Dean Hall

Sandwich Tern numbers were also low with only six offshore along with a single Great Crested Grebe.

Other Wildlife: A good selection of invertebrates encountered today including the excellently camouflaged Dune Wolf Xerolycosa miniata. A nationally scarce dune specialist, only a slight movement gave it location away, perhaps why this is the first record here, the only south Devon site, for over 25 years! 

Dune Wolf - Alan Keatley

Also out on Warren Point the first Cinnabar of the year, three Small Copper and a Burdock feeding picture-winged fly Tephritis bardanae. 

Cinnabar - Alan Keatley

Small Copper - Dean Hall

Tephritis bardanae - Alan Keatley