Fremington

Last week we managed to nip down to Devon for a couple of days and stay with my in-laws in their new (moved last year) property in Fremington, which is west of Barnstaple along the Taw Estuary. We couldn't have picked a better couple of days weather-wise with glorious sunshine and decent warmth. I should have packed a moth trap but thought better of it, there will be chances in the future I'm sure. But when I do I think it could be interesting to see what turns up, as within spitting distance of the garden is a large marshy field that is part of the Fremington Local Nature Reserve called Lovell's Field (cyan dot), a small tidal tributary (yellow dot) which becomes Fremington Quay where it meets the Taw Estuary (green dot).

Around Lovell's Field are a good mix of broadleaved trees, though a lot of the oaks in the area are Lucombe Oaks - a naturally occurring (not in UK) hybrid between Turkey Oak and Cork Oak. There are loads of them in Devon; I have no idea though if those around here are self-seeded (unlikely) or planted a couple of hundred years ago (very likely!) but they do have some sort of preservation order on them I believe.

Although I did not take a trap, I did take a pheromone lure. Within minutes of arriving we were lounging in the garden in sunshine with a cuppa, chatting away whilst I had one eye on a red rubber bung. Around half an hour later I was dashing off to get my net and shortly afterwards showing everyone this ....

Cracking Emperor Moth

I also hung out a couple of lures in pheromone traps hoping the local oaks would hold interesting Pammene spp. but no joy on that front.

We had walk around the area, and though there was not too much of birding interest along the tributary I did find a cracking Greenshank.

Fremington Quay

Whilst walking back along the edge of Lovell's Field, I found masses of Three-cornered Garlic and some dipteran mines on Hart's-tongue Fern that are immediately identifiable ....

Chromatomyia scolopendri

We also had a walk around nearby Instow. Nice to get on some sand and enjoy a proper (Hocking's) ice cream. It's not quite a beach though, the sea is a very long way off: this is where the main estuary splits into the Taw heading east to Barnstaple and the Torridge heading south to Bideford. In the far distance in the shot below, there is Northam Burrows on the left (with Appledore mid-distance) and Braunton Burrows / Saunton Sands on the right. In between is a massive expanse of tidal sands.

There is a new album from Orbital out later this year, celebrating 30 odd years with new versions and remixes of classics. Some tracks are already available, and I like them.

Taw Estuary - Isley Marsh

I awoke this morning to the hooting of a Tawny, the croaking of a Raven and the bubbling of a Curlew. This would normally have me jumping out of bed to enjoy three good garden ticks, but instead it reminded me instantly that I was away from home and in another county. We drove down to North Devon yesterday to catch up with family. As we headed south, the skies got greyer and the in-car thermometer crept up. By the time we'd arrived and unloaded, heavy rain set in ensuring that any lingering snow and ice was much pretty gone this morning.

I decided to head out to the estuary for an hour or so. I walked along my usual route along the cycle path to Isley Marsh and then back past Yelland Quay toward Instow. I usually manage to competely mis-time my visits to when the tide is far out, but today it was high and still rising.

Immediately evident in the usual spot were Spoonbills - 7 of them today. Two were sporting coloured rings but the distance and poor light made deciphering them a bit hit and miss. One appeared to have a yellow band with 'FJ9' or 'EJ9'. The other appeared to have blue over yellow flag over blue on the left leg and blue over pink over white on the right. I've since learned from the Devon News blog that these are actually white FJ9 on the former (ringed in Spain in April 2007), and green-yellow flag-green + blue-metal-lime on the latter (ringed in Holland in June 2007).

White blobs are Spoonbills

Can you see the colour bands?

Apart from the expected beaky/leggy birds, the tide line was adourned by various groups of roosting and feeding waders.

60 Oystercatchers
50 Dunlin
30 Turnstone
30 Redshank
20 Grey Plover
20 Curlew

Also 27 Bar-tailed Godwits in one group, and 25 Brents over. Good numbers of Linnets, Goldfinches and chaffinches feeding in the scrubby areas, and a single Rock Pipit which my conscience refused to string into a Water Pipit.

Main area where waders bunched up

Some waders ....

Later in the day I took the boys for a walk along the big boulders and beach alongside Northam Burrows. Here there was a large group of small birds feeding like waders in a large shallow pool in the parking area. I could see them distantly and wondered what waders they were, but a check with bins revealed just a single Sanderling amongst 29 Pied Wagtails!

Next we headed to Westward Ho! for a quick look on the rocky shore. We passed a small grassy enclosure on the way with 28 Curlews happily feeding by the roadside amongst Redwings and I cursed having left my camera back at the house. The rocks eventually gave up a single Purple Sand amongst Oystercatchers and Turnstones. Then Josh slipped into a rocky pool up to his knees and it was time to call it a day ....

Taw Estuary

Nipped out for a very pleasant walk around the Isley Marsh reserve on the Taw Estuary this morning. This reserve is immediately opposite Lower Yelland Farm where there were five Cattle Egrets yesterday. Today, there were precisely zero Cattle Egrets around the area (or at least I didn't see any). The massive sandy/muddy expanse that is the Taw Estuary (click for a bigger expanse). The tide was out, so all of the waders and wildfowl were out of decent photographic range. I can't remember the last time I visited this site and didn't see Spoonbills, and today was no exception. There were initially three feeding out in the middle of the estuary, later the group had grown to four roosting on the edge of the saltmarsh. Four distant sleeping Spoonbills - honestly. Waders included 100s of Curlews, 1000s of Lapwings, loads of Oystercatchers and Turnstones, a few Redshank and a couple of Grey Plovers. There were also plenty of Shelduck, Teal and Wigeon, and a couple of Black-necked Grebes. At least five Little Egrets were knocking about, and a smart Kingfisher, flyover Raven, foraging Rock Pipits and a couple of Stonechats were nice to see. This Sonechat was out of frame a millisecond later.