Guided Bird Watching Cruise 13th March 2025

March sees the departure of many birds from the Exe to their breeding grounds, but today there were more than enough birds of the estuary to provide both numbers and variety to the eager birdwatchers on board the Pride of Exmouth. Signs of spring were on show, such as Cormorants in their white-necked breeding plumage drying their wings on Bull Hill and Pole Sands, and there was a smattering of colourful Great Crested Grebes with their smart head plumes and brightly plumaged Red-breasted Mergansers feeding in the shallow channels from Starcross to Topsham.

Several small flocks of Brent Geese were located on Bull Hill, and again near the Turf Hotel, where an overhead fly-by showed that many geese were feeding out of sight on Exminster Marshes. Shelduck seemed particularly numerous on the mudbanks, moving their heads from side to side as they sieved the wet mud for miniature snail and crustaceans; in a few weeks they will start to occupy their breeding burrows in the fields overlooking the estuary.

Pride of place went to the single Spoonbill feeding in a shallow channel off Exton, and as with recent trips, the bulk of the waders was concentrated close to the Topsham Goatwalk, where several nervous flocks of Black- and Bart-tailed Godwits, with Dunlin, a few Knot and the last nine of the wintering Avocets mingled in several tight flocks on the mud, close to the boat and easy to see.

After turning around at Topsham, and heading back towards Exmouth, the higher tide enabled us to see over the railway line into Powderham Park where there was the curious sight of about forty Little Egrets feeding among the Fallow Deer; quite why so many birds were clustered in the parkland as opposed to using the more obvious feeding grounds of the estuary remained a mystery.

Returning to the estuary mouth, our final sight on Dawlish Warren was the start of the high tide wader roost, where forty Oystercatchers were congregating at the edge of the steadily rising water as their feeding areas were flooded.