Guided Bird Watching Cruises

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…

Birdwatching Trip Sunday 13th November A cracking first trip of the season. I have never seen so many Wigeon and Brent Geese on the river. There were thousands of these two species, in flight, on the water and in the mud. I should imagine that the early season abundance of Eel Grass was a factor. …

The last of the season’s birdwatching cruises proved to be a good one with reasonable weather and good range of species, especially waders. With high pressure keeping the tide low, we progressed rather slowly up the estuary, as we waited for sufficient water to keep us from grounding.   Shags and Cormorants sporting their respective…

Good light for today’s birdwatching cruise, though a cool northerly breeze stopped it feeling very spring-like.   I glimpsed the wintering adult Bonaparte’s Gull briefly off Exmouth as we left the marina, but failed to find it again later. Amongst the Brent Geese near Exmouth there were at least four birds of the Pale-bellied race.…