Thought I would do a short blog post on my few day's holiday in South Devon. Over the last few day's I visited some local birding spots that I have visited since a very young age. Here are a few images of some of the wildlife and places I visited.
Took a day trip few miles down the road from our friend's house, where we stayed the week to Wembury Beach (National Trust). Wembury is a fantastic site for spring migrant birds on passage, Basking Sharks in summer, rock pooling ( A favourite childhood past time) and coastal walking.
The coastal footpath going towards Jennycliff and Plymouth is a very reliable site to see Cirl Bunting on warm spring days. During the day I came across several Cirl Buntings, 6 Wheatear, Chiffchaff's and a first for me.... 2 basking Adder's!!! This is the first time I have ever seen Adder's despite the many times I searched for them on heaths ad under gorse bushes on summer day's. After photographing the Adder's I returned along the coast path in glorious sunshine and spotted several displaying Buzzards overhead, more Wheatears, nest-building Stonechats and a hovering Kestrel.
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Male Adder basking in the sun |
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Wembury coastal path |
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The Mew Stone Rock |
During the week we visited several other fantastic birding spots including Stover Country Park near Bovey Tracey...Another one of my favourite nature reserves that I've visited since a young age. On this visit, it was a bit early in the year for spring migrant birds such as Nightjar, Tree Pipit, Hobby which are regular around the lakes, but I had a fantastic encounter with several Marsh Tit coming down to some seed left on a picnic bench, allowing me get some great photos. Along with the pesky Grey Squirrels coming bit too close to the camera lens, it was a very pleasant walk around the reserve. Also saw Goosander, 2 Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, Bullfinch, Buzzard and Mandarin Duck.
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Marsh Tit |
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"Did someone say peanuts!!??" |
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Yum yum yum...all for me |
Took a trip to Buchfastleigh to photograph some Steam Trains with my dad.... It was a very wet day so birding was out of the question so spending a few hours with the steam trains was an excellent idea.
A few images from day out on Dartmoor near Princetown..A stunning place, full of wildlife with amazing landscapes.....
A 2nd trip down to Saltram House along the plym estuary was very rewarding yesterday with finding a 2nd Cal/Year Glaucous Gull, 2 Little Ringed Plover, Osprey, Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper... Spring waders here and Osprey's now in...Spring is here!!
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Carrion Crow on the Saltmarsh |
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Egret landing |
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Glaucous Gull 2nd Year |
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Female Wheatear |
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Record shot of Cirl Bunting |
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Male Cirl Bunting giving great views |
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Spring Chiffchaff's arriving in big numbers now |
Hopefully return to Devon later in the year in search of more migrants and explore more of the moors.
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