Wednesday 28th November 2012

The lovely sunlight allowed us to appreciate colours on the birds today, especially the glossy bottle green of Shags and the heads of drake Mallards and Red-breasted Mergansers.  On the other hand, looking towards the sun turns birds into silhouettes – so in some ways a cloudy day can be better!



Early on, a couple of Brent Geese on Pole Sand had the very pale flanks suggestive of Pale-bellied Brents. There are often a few on the estuary; they come from Greenland rather than Siberia, where our Dark-bellied birds originate. We had excellent views of a Slavonian Grebe close to the boat, one of two seen in recent days. There were also a few Great Crested Grebes and again large flocks of Brents and Wigeon, but only a few Pintails were visible today.



After floods have scoured the fine silt off the surface of the mud at the head of the estuary, the Avocets always move downriver to feed. Predictably, today they were mostly feeding between Powderham and Lympstone, while those at Topsham were resting. The latter gave us a good flying display though, together with hundreds of Redshanks, Bar-tailed Godwits, Dunlins and a few Knot. A small group of Golden Plovers asleep on the mud were nearly missed, as was the Spotted Redshank with Redshanks and 2 Greenshank at Powderham.



We glimpsed a Harbour Seal off Lympstone and had better sightings as we returned towards Exmouth, where one a (second?) was loitering off Bull Hill sandbank. Nearby, some Turnstones were scavenging on the shellfish processing vessel and there were even some feeding in the car park as we disembarked!



Dave Smallshire

Sunday 25th November

Considering the awful weather of recent days we were lucky to have some sunshine and blue skies for our trip but with the volume of water the majority of feeding areas were covered.

Because of this waders and ducks were scarce but still, as always, there were some memorable moments.

A flock of approximately 2000 plus Dunlin flying very close to the boat in a long line.

At least 400 Avocet spread out across the mud near Turf Lock with

excellent views of these birds and their unique way of feeding. We even saw the blue legs.

The Brent Geese were spread out along the river.  The depth of water had made the usual beds of eel grass impossible to graze.

The plumage of the Shags was impressive and they certainly outnumbered the Cormorants.

There were a few Sanderlings, Bar-tailed Godwits, Redshanks and Curlews although as usual Oystercatchers were plentiful.

Turnstones obliged by feeding on the rocks at the Harbour entrance and Red- breasted Merganser made regular appearances.

When I returned home and saw TV news showing the levels of the Exe further upstream I was amazed that the cruise took place and we saw what we did.

Ian Waite

Tuesday 13th November 2012

The first bird cruise of the winter season saw very good numbers of wildfowl and waders. 

The estuary’s two most important species – in conservation terms –Brent Goose and Black-tailed Godwit, were feeding in large flocks. 

The godwits were concentrated on the organic mud at Topsham, but most of the 250 Avocets were feeding off Lympstone, where a Harbour Seal surfaced briefly. 

At least 12 Great Crested Grebes were counted, but other grebes proved frustrating, with the ‘resident’ Slavonian Grebe off Cockwood and 1 or 2 distant Slavonian or Black-necked in mid-estuary. 

A few of the 30 or so Shags were showing signs of their breeding crest already. 

Although there seemed to be a lot of Brent Geese, very few of them are young birds. 5 Pale-bellied Brents were nice to see and 80-100 Pintail were much closer to the boat than usual. 

Some 2000 Wigeon were making good use of the eelgrass and algae all around the estuary. 

Pride of place went to the Long-tailed Duck which came close to the boat at Topsham – let’s hope it stays. 

Several Greenshanks and a Spotted Redshank were along their favoured shoreline at Powderham. 

 

A gleaming adult Mediterranean Gull was a nice surprise, while also among the gulls were about 100 Common, 100 Great Black-backed and 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. 

A few people were lucky enough to glimpse Kingfisher, including the skipper, who saw one fly across the bows while we were docking.

Best wishes

Dave