Private Estate - Dorset

02.01.12 - 4 degrees, cloudy/sunny/heavy showers, wind, 11am to 1pm

Birds - Ring-necked Ducks (2 males and possible female), Little Grebes, Tufted Duck, Mistle Thrushes, Gold Crests, Buzzards, Coots, Moorhen, Mallard, Redwings, Crows, Woodpigeons, Dunnocks, Wren, Blackbirds, Goldfinches, Long-tailed Tits, Great Tits, Blue Tits.

Images below not great clarity but still worth posting :-)



Male Ring-necked Ducks - North American Vagrants



Male Ring-necked Duck



Male Ring-necked Duck



Male Ring-necked Ducks



Tufted Ducks


Duryard Exeter, Exeter Canal, Matford Marsh, Topsham - Devon

08.01.12 - 13 degrees, cloudy/sunny, 10am to 3pm. Low Tide 12am

Birds - Nuthatch, Greater Spotted-Woodpecker, Black Swan, Snipe (19), Avocets, Lapwings, Female Sparrowhawk, Tufted Duck, pair of feeding Blackcaps on ivy berries Crows, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Robins, Blackbirds, Chaffinches, Herring Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, Woodpigeons, Magpies, Long-tailed Tits, Little Egrets, Pied Wagtails, Canada Geese, Hybrid Geese and Ducks, Greater Black-backed Gulls, Cormorants, House Sparrows, Goldfinches, Wrens, Song Thrush, Teal, Shovelers, Mallard, Coots, Moorhens, Dunnock, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwits, Curlew, Jackdaws, Rooks, Brent Geese, Collard Doves.



Sparrowhawk



Lapwings



Avocets



Canada Geese



Little Egret



Snipe - Image quality not great but it's very hard to get close to these guys



Snipe

Wild Flowers - Whats's going on? Many flowers are appearing early/flowering later - Black Medick, Bush Vetch, Bedstraw, Fat-hen, Lesser Celandines, Fumitory, Large Bindweed, Herb-Robert, Hogweed, Red Campion, White Deadnettle, Yarrow, Tansy, Dandelions, Winter Heliotrope, Smooth Sow-thistle, Bramble and Gorse blossom, Ivy-leaved Toadflax, Ragwort, Valerian, Ground-ivy, Cat's-ear, Daisies, Ripe Ivy Berries.


Duryard Exeter, Exeter Canal, Exminster Marsh, Matford Marsh, Topsham - Exe Estuary, Devon

14.01.12 and 15.01.12 - 7 degrees, cloudy/sunny, 10am to 3pm daily. Low Tide 10am

Birds - Avocets (500+), Tufted Ducks, Gadwall, Pochard, Knot, Glossy Ibis, Bullfinches, Reed Bunting, Stonechats, Blackcap, Common Gull, Snipe, Raven, Dunnocks, Goldfinches, House Sparrows, Chaffinches, Rooks, Fieldfares, Redwings, Long-tailed tits, Lapwings, Collard Doves, Jackdaws, Blus Tits, Pied Wagtails, Blackbirds, Song Thrush, Herons, Moorhens, Coots, Greylag Geese, Starlings, Cormorants, Great Tits, Robins, Sparrowhawk, Crows, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Teal, Mallard, Black-headed Gulls, Brent Geese, Canada Geese, Redshank, Magpies, Shoveler, Shelduck, Wigeon, Little Egret, Nuthatch, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Woodpigeons, Buzzard, Kestrel.



Intentionally blurred Avocets image - 1/30th



Intentionally blurred Avocets image, 1/30th



Intentionally blurred Avocets image, 1/30th



Avocets and Godwits



Wigeon



Intentionally blurred Godwits image, 1/30th



Intentionally blurred Avocets, 1/30th



Pochard

Other - As well as the wild flowers from last week still showing I also spotted Elder leaves opening, some Blackthorn flowers, many Hazel Catkins and a Bumble Bee feeding on flowering garden Heather. While on a quick trip out near Sidmouth I found a number of shelterd Hawthorn coming into leaf as well as a Field Maple and a Spindle.

Private Estate - Dorset

22.01.12 - 10 degrees, cloudy/sunny, 10am to 3pm

Birds - Woodcock, Linnets, Bullfinch, Mistle Thrush, Nuthatches, Sparrowhawk, Greater Spotted-woodpecker, Large Groups of Fieldfares, Goldcrests, Tawny Owl, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Crows, Woodpigeons, Chaffinches (large flocks), Pheasants, Melanistic Pheasant, Great tits, Blue Tits, Goldfinches, Dunnock, Wrens, Robins, Rooks, Jackdaws, Redwings, Buzzard, Starlings, Jay.



Cock Pheasant



Chaffinch



Nuthatch



Greater Spotted Woodpecker

Other - 4 Roe Deer, 2 Badger Sets, Mating Grey Squirrels, flowering Daffodils on roadside, Red Campion, Tracks - Many Roe Deer, Badger, Fox and a larger Deer perhaps Sika. Bluebells leaves pushing through leaf litter.

Topsham Bowling Green Marsh and Matford Marsh - Exe Estuary, Devon - Dorset

28.01.12 - 5 degrees, sunny, 7:30am to 11am, high tide 9:30am, no wind/light wind
Birds - Gadwall, Snipe (14+ Matford), Avocets 400+, Tufted Ducks, Green Woodpecker, Odd Bar-tailed Godwit almost in breeding plumage, Fox, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtails, Dunlin, Shelduck, Mute Swans, Bar and Black-tailed Godwits, Redshank, Curlew, Brent Geese, Canada Geese, Greylag Geese, Lapwings, Shoveler, Teal, Wigeon, Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Mallard, Robins, Dunnock, Great Tits, Coots, Moorhens, Coots, Goldfinches, Wren, Magpies, Woodpigeons, Crows



Dawn Canada Geese



Early Morning Dunlin


Godwits and Dunlin



Tufted Drake



Avocets



Bar-tailed Godwits



Avocets

Private Estate - Dorset

30.01.12 - 2 degrees, sleet, 9:30am to 1pm, light wind

Birds and Other - Bullfinches - 5, Green Woodpecker, Pair of "Courting" Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, 5 Roe Deer, evidence of Otters - Tracks and slides, Marsh Tits, Nuthatch, Goldfinches, Redwings, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Chaffinches, Dunnocks, Wrens, Robins, Crows, Rooks, Jackdaws, Ravens, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Long-taied Tits, Melanistic Pheasants, Woodpigeons, Stock Dove, Buzzards.



Long-tailed Tit



Goldfinch



Blue Tit



Nuthatch