Sunday 16 February 2014

Weekend bits and bobs

Birding at Decoy Lake is beginning to feel like Groundhog Day. With the exception of last month's one-day Black-necked Grebes, there has been little discernible change since last year - the male Scaup, male Gadwall and the Great Crested Grebe were still in residence on Saturday, with 20+ Tufted Duck scattered around the edges. Why can't one of Stover's Goosanders decide to pop over for a couple of days/weeks?! On the walk out a Lesser Black-backed Gull was gorging itself on discarded McDonalds in the car park and a Nuthatch showed nicely foraging around the base of an oak.

Also on Saturday I had a look at the flooded fields at Teigngrace, where Canada Goose and Mallard were present in reasonable numbers - 123 and 44 respectively - but nothing more unusual had chosen to join them (yet). The Black Redstart was again along Tarrs Lane, Kingsteignton briefly mid-afternoon, where a Blackcap was singing - my first of the year - and three Siskin flew over.

Today I only had time for a brief afternoon scan of the sea off Teignmouth, where the volume of people suggested it was the height of summer. Two Great Northern Divers showed quite close in off the yacht club, with two summer-plumaged Guillemots and an adult and a first-winter Common Gull a little further out.

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