Axe Estuary Birds
(by David Walters)
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AXE ESTUARY BIRDS Continuing where we left off last time, the very next day, April 1st, two Alpine Swifts were spotted in Seaton, and they roosted behind some ducting on a block of flats. The next morning, well before 7.00 a.m. the birders gathered, and some braved the cold for a couple of hours, with one bird just showing if you knew where to look. Just before 9.00 a.m. they flew.... [click to view complete article] |
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AXE ESTUARY BIRDS A full month has passed since the last newsletter, and quite a lot has been happening. A Gull-billed Tern was spotted, briefly, on the Axe on 2nd May. This is believed to be only the third one ever recorded on the estuary. There is a report of a Short-eared Owl on April 22nd at Colyford Common. [click to view complete article] |
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AXE ESTUARY BIRDS What a wet month! Apparently the wettest May for more than 20 years, and I was proved wrong when I said only two weeks ago that the scrape at Colyford Common would remain dry until the spring tides in August. There is water, and Fraser reckons it is only the second time that he remembers it being filled by rainwater, instead of spring tides. However, still not much good for the birds.... [click to view complete article] |
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AXE ESTUARY BIRDS Just in case you didn’t
know, there was
four times as much rain in May as there was in April! But around the
28th, it cleared, and gave way to fine sunny weather, albeit still a
bit cold, down to 3degrees overnight at Musbury. Since then, June has
actually blazed a little, as it should. |
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AXE ESTUARY BIRDS Already we are seeing signs of the
Autumn birds
returning. There were three Greenshank and a Common Sandpiper
on
the Axe recently as well as 40 or more Curlew. A Black-tailed
Godwit was also seen, only 27 days after the last one left the area,
and at Seaton Marshes we saw some first year |
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AXE ESTUARY BIRDS The weather is glorious, warm, sunny and dry, but in spite of that there is a definite feeling of the changing of seasons amongst the birds on the estuary. There has been an impressive list of waders reported, increasing numbers of Redshank and Lapwing, over 40 Curlew, a Whimbrel and a Godwit, Greenshank, Green and Common Sandpiper and the occasional Snipe. [click to view complete article] |