Courtesy of a plant show and the hospitality of friends, I had a sunny Sunday to make the most of a bit of Devon birding. Bowling Green Marsh had produced a bit of a wader feast the previous evening with a good number of species, notably: Curlew, Black / Bar tailed Godwits, Redshank, Greenshank, Dunlin plus a couple of Knot and a Grey Plover. A walk along the Exe at Topsham had not produced Water Pipit or the Slav Grebe and this was to be the same sorry result the following morning......
Exminster Marshes was pretty quiet apart from an explosive Cetti's Warbler which flew across the path in front of me (close to the canal car park). My first Willow Warbler of the year was singing over on the RSPB side.
It was possibly not the ideal time to go for them but I opted for a late morning drive over to Paignton and hopefully Cirl Buntings at Broadsands bay, where the beach huts were painting a pretty picture!
The fields and hedgerows around the overflow car park have a good number of Cirl's...
.....and if you like them perched on branches, I managed a couple of males
Hard work though and eventually I opted for the easy life, sat down by a beach hut and small flock which had come in for a lunchtime feed :-)
It was a pretty even mix of males and females, a few images of the ladies here.......
Flashing off their grey-brown streaky rumps!
But I was now going to be totally distracted by some really well marked males, edging towards me :-)
Just a few images, I had some 300 to sort through!!
Some relatively pale marked males...
Through to brilliantly coloured....
And as they came closer - a bit of feather detail!
That wonderful combination of great (confiding) birds and awesome light!
I'd long since taken my converter off :-)
I'll spare you too many - here's an arty angle for a change!
Just simply stunning birds......
It was then back to the Topsham to see if the tide was going to produce something?
Exmouth was next on my route and assuming I could find the quay - hopefully a confiding 2nd winter Glaucous gull?? Through a myraid of side streets, I made it and against a backdrop of 'private parking - we will clamp' stickers, chance my arm on the quay.....
There it was, 10m away from the car on some machinery but.... directly into the sun! After a long wait (and after paying to park!!!) it eventually flew around a couple of times before settling down again. This time on the quay, after some scraps of food......
OMG, heading towards me!
False alarm, after something more tasty than me!
When given the opportunity of flight shot, buildings are not exactly helpful!
But blue sky is!
And water is even better - these were close enough top become frame fillers.....
Underwing shot.
And approaching for some eye contact.....
I'll leave you with one frozen in mid step!
Plus a close up!
Even better was to come with the tide rising, my timing a t the fourth attempt was impeccable - firstly the Water Pipit (flushed by a dog sadly) and then the Slav Grebe within 5 minutes of arrival. It had been quite a day :-)
