This afternoon’s cruise yielded really impressive flocks of wildfowl off Dawlish Warren and especially between Exmouth and Lympstone. These were mostly Brent Geese and Wigeon, but off Lympstone included 11 Pale-bellied Brents, 2 Black Swans and some 230 Pintail. However, the best was perhaps the female Common Scoter off Powderham. The Slavonian Grebe again had a Little Grebe companion off Cockwood, and a female Goldeneye was nearby. Equally impressive were the waders feeding around Turf-Topsham (as on Saturday), with some 300 Avocets, several hundred Lapwings and well over 500 Golden Plover roosting near Turf; Black-tailed Godwits could well have been into four figures. A couple of dozen Knot, a dozen each of Sanderling and Turnstone added to the variety. We had good views of Red-breasted Mergansers at Topsham and a total of five sightings of seals, two seen well being Grey Seals (one on a pontoon off Dawlish Warren).
Dave Smallshire
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