Saturday 23 April 2016

More Migrants


Black Redstart - still looking quite settled in the Dung Field. This is a very vocal individual - easily located by its repetitive high-pitched 'seeep' call.
 
Migrants on Orcombe today included my first Lesser Whitethroat of the spring (mobile and singing in the Geoneedle area), Redstart (female-type around the entrance to the Bristol Schools Camp), Black Redstart, 4 Whitethroat, 4 Blackcap and 1 Willow Warbler. Offshore there were at least 6 Common Tern and 1 Little Tern. A quick scan off the seafront, looking across towards Warren Point, produced 22 Whimbrel, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit and 1 Great Crested Grebe.
I managed to get out at dawn in the rain yesterday morning to record my first Grasshopper Warbler of the spring - a reeling bird just up from the Geoneedle. Also recorded yesterday were the Black Redstart (still occupying the Dung Field), a female Redstart in the top fields, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Willow Warbler, 4 Common Tern, 1 Blackcap and 2 Wheatear.
In the evening, with rain still in the air, Derek and I enjoyed the spectacle of c30/40+ Swallow, c5/10+ House Martin and 1 or 2 Sand Martin hawking low over the cliff top around the Geoneedle. They were feeding on flies coming off the top of flowering Blackthorn and were at times just a few feet from us. A magical experience and one we sadly don't experience too often in Exmouth.


Redstart - typically nervous and flighty. It just wouldn't allow a close approach, hence the distant record shot. This is the fourth to be recorded on Orcombe this spring -1 male and 3 females cf 3 males throughout the whole of last spring.

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