Guided Bird Watching Cruise 10th Feburary 2025

It was a cold grey morning; real February weather, but undeterred we set off in the capable hands
of Captain Will. The shingle banks of Pole Sands at the mouth of the estuary were covered with
Oystercatchers, Curlews & gulls as usual & as we passed Dawlish Warren & navigated the lower
stretches of the estuary we saw lots of Brent Geese, good numbers of both Cormorants & Shags,
our first Shelduck, some mighty Greater Black-backed Gulls & a rather distant Great Northern
Diver. There were a few Great-Crested Grebes too, some coming into their handsome breeding
plumage, and a surprise in the form of a Mediterranean Gull, an adult with neat white wing tips,
loafing on a mud bank.

As we passed Turf we started to see Avocets foraging by the water’s edge and in due course we
enjoyed some fabulous views of these wonderful birds, several hundred in all. There were Bar-
tailed & Black-tailed Godwits too, Redshank, Grey Plover & Dunlins, over 300 Golden Plover in a
tight roosting flock and good numbers of Pintail & Teal. A couple of Harbour Seals added further
interest, with one resting in the shallows, eyeing us closely as we passed. At Topsham there
seemed to be birds everywhere and whilst enjoying some good views of Red-breasted Mergansers
on the water we were distracted by a female Marsh Harrier coasting over the reed beds on the
Exminster side.
The journey back down to Exmouth was inevitably quieter as the estuary basin filled with the
incoming tide but a pair of Cattle Egrets roosting on an old wreck & a nice group of Sanderling on
Great Bull Hill provided satisfying conclusions to an enjoyable cruise.
Andy Smith