Spring Dunlin passage

Small numbers of Dunlin continue to pass through the patch; yesterday there were a pair at Passage House and three at Flow Point, all displaying individual variation. Also noted around the upper estuary 38 Oystercatchers, 25 Little Egrets and singles of Greenshank and Curlew.

White Stork

During a scan of the sky from my house today at 16:45, I picked up a White Stork above Buckland. I watched it complete a couple of circles before deciding to run downstairs to grab my camera, but on my return I couldn't re-find it. I guess it was probably the same bird that had been seen previously during the day, first over Abbotskerswell at 13:20 and then at Haldon at 14:00, although the possibility of it being a second bird can't be ruled out.

WeBS

Not a great deal of note around the estuary this morning. Waders included five Whimbrel, two Curlew, 90 Oystercatchers, four Common Sandpipers, three Dunlin and a Greenshank; 15 Little Egrets, 22 Mute Swans and two Sandwich Terns were also noted. Another Whimbrel was foraging on Newton Abbot Racecourse, and seven Reed and two Sedge Warblers were singing in the reedbeds at nearby Hackney Marshes.

Antipodean (or maybe even Dutch) vagrants...

Just after 8pm on Wednesday 4th May a flock of five Black Swan flew south past Teignmouth, a slightly odd record, but Black Swan is an occasional sight around the patch. These have been presumed to originate either from the captive Dawlish birds or the feral breeding pair that were on the Exe for a couple of years.

What makes these birds slightly different is that they have been tracked along the south coast from Hampshire at least. The flock was at Keyhaven in 2nd May, stopping off at Christchurch Harbour and then Dawlish on the 4th May before flying past Teignmouth that evening and then pitching up at Slapton Ley on the 5th. Where next?