Catcott Lows NR - Sun 6 Jan

My afternoon out did not go to plan as I failed to locate any Whooper Swans or the Cattle Egret that were present at the start of the week to the north of Westhay. So I headed down to Catcott Lows NR and took Tristan for a walk. There were loads of duck around, predominately Shoveler, Pintail, Wigeon and Teal. A Great White Egret was a welcome sight. Eleven Lapwings flew over and as the light started to go hundreds of Starlings and winter thrushes flew through. A dozen Pied Wagtails were feeding in front of the hide and a pair of Bullfinches were seen along the track to the car park. Finally, a Cetti's Warbler was blasting out it's song next to the car, but failed to show itself.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 6 Jan

My visit to the reservoir this year, and I skipped past the northern end as there was nothing about and instead took a walk along the water's edge at the south. A total of twenty-eight Snipe were present and there were a few duck present, with at least sixty Teal and three Wigeon in with a few Mallard. Overhead three Raven flew through and a Marsh Tit was heard calling.

Norton Sub Hamdon - Sat 5 Jan

I stayed local this morning and whilst Ellie went shopping I took Tristan out and we popped down the road to Norton Sub Hamdon. After parking the car and getting Tristan ready we set off and within a minute or two I found what I was after with an rather smart Hawfinch perched in the top of a tree near the church. Over the next hour or so I saw at least one more until eventually having walked round to the church, I counted ten Hawfinch in the tall trees that ran alongside the churchyard, including some really nice looking male birds. Unfortunately I was not able to get that close to any of the birds, but still got a couple of record shots with my phone!

 

As I wandered around the village I also saw my first Coal Tit and Goldcrest of the new year, and a flock of sixty or so Fieldfare flew over. So all in all a pretty good morning!

Axe Estuary - Tue 1 Jan

Our final stop of what had been a long but enjoyable day was the Axe Estuary. Opposite Axmouth Football Club we soon located a pair of Bewick's Swans and it was then down to the estuary to scan the gulls. An adult and 1st-winter Mediterranean Gull were present and a Grey Wagtail was also seen. After a bit of inside information from a local birder we decided to head down to the sea front at Seaton and see if we could locate a Black Redstart that was seen earlier in the day. Unfortunately, we missed this bird, but it had been a wonderful start to the year and we had seen some cracking birds.
UK list for 2013 now at 87 species.

Dawlish Warren & Starcross - Tue 1 Jan

Leaving Exminster we drove on to Dawlish Warren. A rather smart winter-plumaged Black-necked Grebe was on the pond next to the visitor centre, whilst out to sea we added Slavonian Grebe to the year list. There was not much else of note to be seen (and we missed a very brief Serin that had been reported earlier in the day...a very unusual winter record). The alder trees held Lesser Redpoll and Siskin and a small flock of Common Scoter flew west far out to sea.
Our penultimate stop of the day was at Starcross. Scanning the Exe Estuary we added Goldeneye and feeding on the exposed mud a rather smart Spotted Redshank and several Greenshank. A small number of Ringed Plover were also present.
I then parted company with everyone (except Dave as I was giving him a lift home) and headed back towards home.

Exminster - Tue 1 Jan

On to Exminster and parking up on Milbury Lane I walked up to the churchyard in the hope of locating the first-winter Rose-coloured Starling. After ten minutes there was no sign, and as I was the first of our group on site I called to see where the others were...and it so happened that as we were chatting they located the bird, so a quick sprint got me to them and we were afforded cracking views of the Rose-coloured Starling.

Off up the road to a favoured site of ours and a good walk round a set-aside field soon produced a pair of Cirl Buntings and several Yellowhammers. A large flock of finches yielded at least twenty Bramblings.

Another successful stop.

Exeter Services (M5) & Topsham - Tue 1 Jan

An fairly early start and a trip down to south Devon for some serious birding in an attempt to get the 2013 Year List off to a good start. My first port of call was the motorway service station at Exeter where a small party of Waxwings had been present, but when I arrived at 8.00am there was no sign. Before long the other guys I was meeting up with arrived, and after a brief chat we decided to set off for Topsham instead and return to the services later in the morning.
At Topsham we scanned the area in front of the hide and after much searching I located the long-staying Long-tailed Duck, though it was terribly mobile and elusive despite it being a small lake! Several waders were present, including good numbers of Avocet and both godwit species. The commoner duck species were also present and a Water Rail put on a good show.
We then headed back to the services where we soon located four Waxwings feeding on a berry-laden bush...result!

So with the target birds ticked off we headed off to the next site.