Guided Bird Watching – Sunday 2nd January

This afternoon’s cruise saw plenty of rainbows! After seeing a few Red-breasted Mergansers and Great Crested Grebes, lots of Brent Geese and about 25 Shags, we found the 2 Black-necked Grebes near Starcross. Greenshanks started to feature off Powderham and the first of over 500 Avocets appeared. Most of the latter were between Turf and Topsham, where there were also large flocks of Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin, Lapwings and Golden Plover with fewer Grey Plover and Knot. Around 200 Pintail and 15 Great Crested Grebes were between Powderham Church and the River Clyst. The Avocets gave some spectacular flight displays at Topsham, where the only Spotted Redshank in the estuary was the last wader we saw before turning around; it gave us good views. A white goose in with Canadas in the fields near Turf might have a been a Snow Goose and zoomed-in photos showed that one of the distant white blobs off Mudbank Lane (Exmouth) was a Spoonbill feeding in the shallows, but it was much too far away to appreciate!

Dave Smallshire