Sunday 26 October 2014

Autumn Phalarope - 26/10/2014

With it being a reading week at college, Jess and I took off the Monday so we had a long weekend on our hands. We visited Westonbirt Arboretum to see the autumnal colours in full display, and we were pleasantly surprised to see how popular it was - crowds of people, and queues to get in! If only RSPB reserves saw this much attention, and arguably (lovely though the sylvan spectacle) there would be more to see in general wildlife.

Jess took some stunning photos -

Japanese Maple




By lunchtime we were ravenous, and a quick roast pork bun gave us enough for one last burst of energy to see some more of the park, but the fresh air soon got to us and we were zonked.




With it being the weekend the clocks went back an hour, we were treated to an hour extra in bed that night, and I resisted the temptation of heading off down to Bowling Green Marsh at early doors. I'm glad that I did because after breakfast, Jess and I took a trip  down to Topsham Recreation Park for a walk along the estuary instead.

After an unexpected game of table tennis with the free new facilities in the park, we took a walk along the path, scanning the various waders and gulls gathered there. I kept my eye out for the reported water pipit, and saw a glimpse of what I think was the culprit, but couldn't pin him down. However, we got chatting to a fellow birder who was happily showing some passers by a group of six sandpipers amongst the gulls, and a peregrine which had perched up under the underpass of the bridge. We then saw a kingfisher across the way from us, perched up on the reeds, and after chatting with the gent about the location of the water pipit it sounded increasingly likely that I had indeed spied it where I thought I had. On the return route I got another glimpse, but again couldn't be sure. As a consolation there was a godwit close to the park benches and we spent a couple of minutes sat contentedly, watching it feed in the muddy vegetation.

On the way home for a lunch consisting of last nights excellent curry, we popped in for a quick drink at the Bridge Inn. Taking advantage of the mild weather, we sat outside with an excellent pint of Otter, and a glass of white. We were lucky enough to see another kingfisher from our perch by the river, but I was secretly nursing an itch to go and see the grey phalarope which was reported on the Otter estuary (the Otter beer proved far too temptingly auspicious to refuse a 'go') at Budleigh Salterton.

So after lunch we took off, and was pleasantly surprised that Budleigh is only fifteen minutes from Jess's parents house. When we arrived, I quickly realised that it was quite a large area, and that we could potentially walk straight past such a tiny wader. I checked with a birding couple and they pointed out kindly where the little guy was to be found. A short walk later, I couldn't believe our luck. It was just as the gent at Topsham had described from his visit yesterday, and the phalarope was feeding happily down to only a few metres away from a few visiting birders, and a steady trickle of interested passers-by.


'What type of bird is it', and 'where is it from', were a couple of the questions that were popping up, and I was glad to pay a small part in helping to answer the questions. It was great to see people interested, and good to see a young lad with his bridge camera getting some great shots. A cracking little bird, and a great way to round off a nice day. A Lifer, British and Year list tick all in one.



Needless to say I burned through a lot of photos taking advantage of his timidity, or perhaps blatant indifference to our presence. The godwit that was also feeding nearby had escaped my attention until we were leaving, and some great shots of her was the icing on the cake.