Guided Bird Watching Cruises

16th November 2017 The first cruise of the winter season got off to a great start with a Kingfisher sitting on one of the boats off Dawlish Warren … unfortunately before anyone had boarded the Pride of Exmouth! The weather glorious for the first half of the cruise, a little cloudier later. Offshore there were large…

Tuesday 14th March, 2017 The final birdwatching cruise of the winter found a hint of spring in the air, with a Skylark singing its heart out over the dunes at Dawlish Warren. After a few days of summer visitors arriving, clearly some of the winter visitors had also begun departing, including many of the Avocets…

Saturday March 11th My final trip of the winter was notable for the number of Turnstone, at least 200. At Starcross the Pontoon was covered in this species with others in flight and on our return a buoy hosted twenty plus with one Dunlin. Probably a passage of these birds joining the regulars. Two Slavonians…

Friday 10th February 2017 Another chilly day with an easterly breeze. Again, many gulls were around Pole Sands, together with fair numbers of Oystercatchers and Curlews. The 2 Slavonian Grebes were off Cockwood, as usual, plus four Goldeneye (one drake) there as well. Two Greenshanks were seen off Powderham, and a few Great Crested Grebes.…

Thursday 9th February 2017 Sunshine took the edge off a keen easterly wind today, and made the Shags and Red-breasted Mergansers shine like green bottles! Large numbers of gulls were loafing around on Pole Sands and also on several of the sandbanks and mudflats. As usual, they were mainly Herring and Black-headed, but with a…

Birdwatching Trips:    Weds. 25th to Sat 28th January Four consecutive trips this last week for our own Winter Watch on the Exe. Every day there were thousands of birds to be seen and I’m sure due to the cold weather in Europe numbers were up. Between Powderham and Topsham there were spectacular numbers of waders…

29th December 2016 Thankfully, the fog lying in the estuary cleared and we had a pleasant cruise in the afternoon. Two Slavonian Grebes were again off Cockwood, though we had better views of them off Starcross on the return journey. A total of 13 Great Crested Grebes and about 20 Shags were also in the…

Wednesday 30th November – Dave Smallshire One of the features of today’s cruise was the abundance of gulls throughout the estuary … and not just the usual five species! Soon after heading into the estuary we saw the adult Bonaparte’s Gull that has wintered in the area for several years, showing off its pale underwing…

Wednesday 16th November   What a highlight on this trip, a Spoonbill, Wow! We were virtually stationary close to the shore at Powderham watching the Spoonbill feeding amongst a group of Mute Swans.  It wasn’t concerned about our presence and it carried on feeding with its wonderful bill until we moved off. The supporting cast…