Guided Bird Watching Cruises

A lovely sunny day for my last trip of the year. The sunshine was appreciated by all but it does make it difficult when looking at the waders at Powderham where at least two Spotted Redshanks and four Greenshank were seen with the first Avocets. Towards Topsham wader flocks in the sunshine were impressive even…

Three excellent trips this weekend with high numbers of wading birds seen every day including spectacular views in the air and on the mud.   Knot even showed well amongst the Bar-tailed Godwits and Grey Plovers and Ringed Plovers in double figures were at Turf, a species not usually seen this far up river.    …

I hardly know where to start to describe what a wonderful day it was, so I’ll go with this: Avocet Cruise is a misnomer. Not because there weren’t avocets – there were hundreds and hundreds of that most glamorous bird: vast flocks doing all the F’s – flying, feeding, fighting. It’s a bit early yet…

Guided Bird Watching Review – Tuesday 9th February 2016   Another much improved day, with lovely afternoon light for the cruise. The highlights were a Great Northern Diver at Exmouth, 2 Slavonian Grebes off Cockwood and an adult Mediterranean Gull with hundreds of other gulls gathering to bathe and preen on the river between Topsham…

Guided Bird Watching Review – Sunday 7th February 2016 What a difference a day makes! We travelled up to Topsham in bright conditions with occasional sunshine, though a strengthening wind on the return brought some showers. We saw our old friends like the Harbour (Common) Seal on Bull Hill sandbank and the Slavonian Grebe off…

A combination of high water, strong wind and rain meant there were very few birds seen on this trip. Small waders were nowhere to be seen with the most common species being Avocet and Bar-tailed Godwits, there were good close views of these birds. Just a few Brent Geese on the water, the rest were…

Guided Bird Watching Review – Friday 22nd January 2016 The old adage “rain at 7, fine by 11” held true today and we left Exmouth in sunshine, which made for very pleasant conditions!   There were 2 Great Northern Divers in the channel off Exmouth, with 2 others more distant. Shags were plentiful, maybe over…

Three consecutive trips with variable weather conditions but excellent birding every day. Saturday, despite wind and rain proved the day of surprises. A Sandwich Tern, which would normally have migrated south months ago was seen fishing at Cockwood and also a Guillemot drifting  down river near Turf. Recent flooding has caused a change in feeding…

Today’s cruise was simply brilliant!  The weather forecast seemed to put some people off coming, but apart from a bit of light drizzle, everything was fine. So often the weather is much better in the estuary than in surrounding areas: please don’t be put off by a bad forecast! That said, wind surfers were taking…