Monday 30th October

A significant amount of damage overnight the whole length of seaward-facing dunes, with more exposed geotube below the Golf Course. One of the highest tides of the year on Wednesday night coincides with the forecast arrival of Storm Ciaran, further significant damage is anticipated.

The first hour of light saw a single Balearic Shearwater and Great Northern Diver head SW with 49 Kittiwake and 35 Gannet. There was more movement overhead with 4595 Woodpigeon WSW along with 92 Jackdaw and 15 Stock Dove. Limited passerine movement with largely clear skies but two Siskin and a Lesser Redpoll were noted with a Song Thrush dropping out of the sky into the scrub.

Other grounded migrants included a Wheatear on the seawall, eight Chiffchaff and a notable flock of 65 Greenfinch around Greenland Lake. Elsewhere the Dartford Warbler was on the Golf Course with a ♂ Shoveler and two Water Rail at the Main Pond and in the Entrance Bushes, a Bullfinch and a Coal Tit. 

An immature ♀ Scaup in the estuary was a new arrival, with three Spoonbill again dropping in Shutterton Creek on the ebbing tide. Counts included 1100+ Wigeon, 556 Dunlin, 247 Dark and 36 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 56 Teal, 24 Ringed Plover, seven Greenshank, two Mediterranean Gull and the Whimbrel.

Other Wildlife: A Common Darter at the Dune Pond was the only active dragonfly with three Red Admiral and a Painted Lady heading SW the only butterflies. Yesterday's Grey Squirrel was in the Entrance Bushes.

Sunday 29th October

A storm driven Cory's Shearwater heading slowly S at 07:26 was the highlight of a 2h 10 m seawatch first thing with a single Balearic Shearwater, 167 Gannet, 107 Kittiwake, 83 Razorbill, 18 Common Scoter, two Great Northern Diver, a ♀ Eider, and a Red-breasted Merganser also offshore.

On site 29 Long-tailed Tit were present with two Coal Tit, six Chiffchaff, six Goldcrest and a Firecrest also present with 26 Goldfinch, 14 Jackdaw and five Siskin overhead.

No sign of the presumed hybrid Green-winged Teal in the estuary, but three Spoonbill, 2 juveniles and the adult, fed in Shutterton Creek on the dropping tide, with a Water Pipit and a moulting Scandinavian Rock Pipit in the Saltmarsh and the Spotted Redshank on the evening tide.

Counts from the estuary included 1494 Wigeon, 568 Dunlin, 206 Dark and a Pale-bellied Brent Goose, just 182 Curlew, the rest presumably roosting on flooded fields around the estuary, 62 Turnstone, 39 Teal, 33 Ringed and a Grey Plover, 13 Greenshank, eight Sanderling, six adult Mediterranean Gull, six Great Crested Grebe, three Bar-tailed Godwit and single Whimbrel and Common Scoter.

Other Wildlife: A Grey Squirrel, the second individual of the year, was on the Golf Course.

Saturday 28th October

A couple of seawatches over 2h10m saw some strong SW passage with 13 Balearic Shearwater, 641 Kittiwake, 312 Gannet and just over 3000 auks, including 1,865 in 75 mins. early morning. The vast majority of those lose enough to identify with a estimate >99% Razorbill, <1% Guillemot. Also offshore 13 Common Scoter, two Eider, an immature ♂ & a ♀, two Great Northern Diver and two Sandwich Tern.

Overhead two flocks of Woodpigeon totalling 375, 54 Jackdaw, 12 Meadow Pipit, three Chaffinch and two Skylark. On site the Dartford Warbler, four Chiffchaff and two Goldcrest with 12 Cirl Bunting amongst the finches in Greenland Lake and the first two ♂ Shoveler on the Main Pond.

In the estuary a new adult Spoonbill, with two of the recent 1cy birds on Finger Point at high tide before later foraging in Shutterton Creek. Counts included 1637 Wigeon, 401 Dunlin, 241 Dark (including the first 10 juveniles) and 12 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 223 Curlew, 206 Redshank, 67 Teal and the Green-winged Teal or hybrid, 60 Turnstone, 39 Bar-tailed Godwit, 18 Ringed Plover, 11 Greenshank, five adult Mediterranean Gull, three Sanderling and single Common Scoter, Knot and Red-breasted Merganser.

Friday 27th October

Three Spoonbill were in the estuary on the dropping tide along with 1100 Wigeon, 310 Dunlin, 41 Mute Swan, just 26 Teal and six Greenshank.

Elsewhere a flock of 50 Linnet and 20 Goldfinch were feeding around Greenland Lake.

Thursday 26th October

Overhead vismig included four Redwing W at dawn, a rather tardy first for the autumn, along with  446 Woodpigeon, attracting a juvenile Peregrine, and 240 Jackdaw, biggest flock 55, all before 10:30. Finches, pipits and Skylark were mostly local grounded birds with six Chiffchaff and a Blackcap on site.

In the estuary at low tide 255 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, hundreds of Wigeon departed the saltmarsh towards the Exmouth refuge, the drake Common Scoter and a Sandwich Tern.

Other Wildlife: Fewer insects in the cool, but bright autumn conditions, with three species of dragonflies, Migrant and Southern Hawker and a few Common Darter but only one butterfly, a lone Red Admiral. 

Common Darter - Alan Keatley

A new fly for the Recording Area was however on the wing, the strange beetle-like grass fly Camarota curvipennis.

Camarota curvipennis - Alan Keatley

Four species of shieldbug were active with Dock Bug, Gorse, Hairy and, more unusually, a Knobbed Shieldbug, along with the jumping spider Euophrys frontalis aka the White-palped Jumper.

Euophrys frontalis - Alan Keatley

Tuesday 24th October

A late morning visit saw six Skylark, three Siskin and a Buzzard overhead with the Cetti's Warbler at the Main Pond and six Chiffchaff in with the Long-tailed Tit flock around the Entrance Bushes.

On the rising tide 310 Dunlin were in the Bight along with 168 Dark and six Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 44 Ringed Plover, 36 Turnstone and eight Sanderling.

Other Wildlife: In the autumnal weather the remaining flowering Ivy harboured mostly Common Wasp, with few other insects on the wing although two Red Admiral did move through.

Monday 23rd October

The increasing wind and a 1.5 hour seawatch saw 240 Kittiwake, 215 Gannet, 18 Common Scoter and two Great Northern Diver head SW along with a notable gull passage including 450 Black-headed, 23 Common and seven Mediterranean Gull. Also offshore two Red-throated Diver and a Sandwich Tern.

The same conditions blew seven Gannet into the estuary, along with 87 Great Black-backed Gull and a 3cy Caspian Gull roosting on Finger Point, the 16th site record and the second of the year. 

Also in the estuary a single Spoonbill and the Green-winged Teal (or hybrid), with counts including 1070 Wigeon, 414 Teal, 337 Dunlin, 78 Dark and 27 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 44 Ringed Plover, four Pintail and a Whimbrel.

Elsewhere just six Skylark overhead, a Wheatear on the Point and a Cetti's Warbler at the Main Pond, only the 17th site record but now recorded for the seventh autumn in succession.

Ringing News: Today's Caspian Gull had been ringed as a chick in the nest at IJsselmeer (De Kreupel), Noord-Holland, The Netherlands on 11 Jun 2021. For a history of this bird - http://gull-research.org/cachinnans/lelystad/redB5.html

Sunday 22nd October

A 50min seawatch first thing saw single Great Northern and Red-throated Diver head S with 67 Gannet and 49 Kittiwake. There was more movement SW overhead with counts of 2660 Woodpigeon, 170 Jackdaw, 68 Skylark, 33 Rook, 25 Meadow Pipit, 20 Linnet, 11 Siskin, 10 Stock Dove, six Chaffinch, three Magpie, two Song Thrush and a Bullfinch. A juvenile Merlin also flew through pausing to make a half-hearted attempt to chase the finch flock around Greenland Lake before moving on.

Carrion Crow - Martin Overy

On site 40 Linnet, 30 Goldfinch, 11 Cirl and three Reed Bunting in Greenland Lake, a Short-eared Owl and the Dartford Warbler, the latter was sub-singing, confirming, as suspected, it is an immature ♂.

The five Spoonbill again roosted around the Bight, with the Green-winged Teal or hybrid still present. Counts from the estuary included 823 Oystercatcher, 807 Wigeon, the majority flushed from Cockle Sands, 338 Redshank, 318 Dunlin, 288 Teal, 81 Turnstone, 50 Dark and 14 Pale-bellied Brent Geese (with 625 and 26 additional birds off site on Cockle Sands), 37 Bar-tailed Godwit, 27 Ringed and five Grey Plover, 15 Greenshank, two Red-breasted Merganser and single Curlew Sandpiper, Common Scoter, Shoveler and Whimbrel.

Common Scoter - Martin Overy

Saturday 21st October

A ♂ Goshawk that caused panic on the estuary as it appeared from the west before heading back to the mainland was a clear highlight, just the fourth Warren record and the first since Nov 2010. 

The five juvenile Spoonbill roosted in the saltmarsh with four feeding in the Bight on the dropping tide. Counts from the estuary including; 560 Wigeon, 340 Redshank, 189 Dunlin, 162 Teal, 39 Ringed and four Grey Plover, 21 Shelduck, 16 Greenshank, a Knot and a ♂ Common Scoter.

Spoonbill - Alan Keatley

Offshore six Common Scoter, a Red-throated Diver and a ♂ Eider were on the sea, with 121 Gannet, two Red-throated and a Great Northern Diver S in 1.5 hours on the seawall. 

Elsewhere the first Jack Snipe of the autumn was flushed near the Entrance Bushes, with single Siskin and Lesser Redpoll still present along with five Goldcrest, three Chiffchaff and two Blackcap. Overhead 155 Woodpigeon, 65 Jackdaw, four Chaffinch, four Swallow, two Rook and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Other Wildlife: A few insects continue to search out the remaining flowering Ivy with a couple of Ivy Bee and a selection of hoverflies including Marmalade Hoverfly, Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax, Slender Melanostoma M. scalare, Humming Syrphus S. ribesii and White-clubbed Glasswing Scaeva pyrastri. A few Red Admiral were still going through.

Ivy Bee - Alan Keatley

Marmalade Hoverfly - Alan Keatley

Common Dronefly - Alan Keatley

Humming Syrphus - Alan Keatley

Friday 20th October

Five juvenile Spoonbill roosting on Finger Point were the highlight, they then briefly dropped into Shutterton Creek after a couple of exploratory circuits, before flying up river, appearing to land in Powderham Park. 

Spoonbill - Alan Keatley

Also in the estuary the Green-winged Teal or hybrid with 164 Teal; 75 Dark and 29 Pale-bellied Brent Geese were counted in the Bight but Wigeon numbers were low after the peak midweek. Wader counts remain similar to recent days, identical in the case of Dunlin, with little sign of new arrivals, roost counts included 315 Curlew, 285 Redshank, 46 Turnstone, 28 Bar-tailed Godwit, 12 Greenshank, a Sandwich Tern and the same single Knot and Whimbrel.

Little movement overhead but 33 Skylark, 10 Chaffinch and single Mistle Thrush, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Swallow were noted with eight Goldcrest, four Chiffchaff and two late Wheatear on site, with the Dartford Warbler again making an appearance.

Elsewhere the first Greylag Goose of the year flew south down the estuary with 10 Canada Geese; and offshore 48 Gannet and 18 Kittiwake S in 40 minutes with four Eider, two ♂ two ♀, and four Common Scoter on the sea.

Other Wildlife: A slow SW passage of Red Admiral saw 30+ through during the day, with Speckled Wood the only other butterfly on the wing. Also still active at least four Migrant Hawker and a couple of Common Darter.