Birding Devon

Yesterday (18th) Jackie and I joined Justin (Lyme Regis, Town Mill Cheese Monger) to Yarner Wood, to see Pied Flycatchers and to Labrador Bay for Cirl Bunting.  As you are all aware the morning started with heavy rain but the forecast said it was going to clear in the west by mid-day.  So we decided to go for it, so up early and joined Justin and Katy for a leisurely breakfast and headed on to Bovey Tracy.  As we travelled you could see it was getting lighter in the west and as we arrived at Yarner Wood we had one last heavy shower and the sun came out, perfect.

Drake Mandarin - Yarner Wood © Nick Hull

Marsh Tit - Yarner Wood © Nick Hull 

We spent the first half hour sheltering from that last shower in the hide by the car park and we were surprised that the first birds we saw were Mandarin Ducks.  Apparently they turned up last year and decided to stay, its strange these attractive looking ducks never quite look right in an english setting but nonetheless a smart looking duck.  Whilst we waited and watched several tit species which included Marsh Tit were popping in and out to the feeders obviously feeding young nearby. A beautiful Grey Wagtail was also searching for food around the pond. A Grey Squirrel was testing its balancing skills as it searched out for the young acorn buds on the overhanging oak. 

Grey Squirrel after the acorn buds © Nick Hull

The rain soon stopped and the sun came out and as the humidity climbed so did we, we walked the slopping trail to the top of the wood.  As soon as the rain stopped several species were starting to sing and we checked off the commoner ones fairly quickly.  Then we could here a vibrant trilling which ended with the chararctoristic 'peu peu peu' sound of a Wood Warbler in fact we came across four on our walk.  It wasn't long before we heard the song of our main target species here, then it was just down to getting a good view of a Pied Flycatcher.  It took a while but Justin picked out our first which appeared to be, a young male.  A little later we found a full blooded male then a female and we could hear as we walked along several singing males.  It took some time before I was able to catch a nice male perched up wanting to be photographed but eventually I was successful.

Male Pied Flycatcher - Yarner Wood © Nick Hull

Our next destination was Labrador Bay this coastal habitat is an RSPB reserve managed for Cirl Bunting.  As it was a rather windy day our hopes weren't high as Cirl's don't like the wind much and  tend to sit down low in the hedgerows and not out on top, can't blame them for that really.  As we ate our picnic lunch we managed our first sighting of two birds flying over the car park and we watched Gannets passing by out to sea.  Lunch over we decided to walk east and search the hedgerows of the small coastal fields.  We had walked some way when I heard a singing bird off to my left we were just about to change directions to search out this singing bird when a gorgeous male flew in. He landed some two metres away on the corner of the hedge right in front of us.  It obviously realised his mistake and pomptly flew off up the hedge line.   We continued on as we could here at least two other males singing and hoped to get better views.  A hundred or so metres on I saw movement in the hedge ahead and with the binoculars could just see a male, possibly the one we had already seen moving about feeding on some buds from a Hawthorn. I quickly directed the others on to the bird and raised my camera and took the shot, a good job I did as seconds later it had moved out of sight deep inside the hedge.

Male Cirl Bunting - Labrador Bay © Nick Hull

An excellent way to finish our days birding in Devon, a trip that is well worth doing, both are excellent reserves.