I went to Beesands Ley yesterday to do the monthly Wetland Bird Survey ( WeBS count ) for the British Trust for Ornithology ( BTO ). The ley has been a shadow of its former self for waterfowl in recent years, one month I scored a flat zero, nothing on site, no more than a diesel rainbow coloured pool in an abandoned urban lorry park would have got. Things are not so bad these days and Mute Swans are currently mad for it. The 70 on site yesterday is probably a site record. Unfortunatly they are too lazy to see of the 48 Canada Geese they shared it with. Also present were 7 Teals, 2 Mallards, Gadwall, 2 Tufted Ducks and a Coot. The major highlight was a female Goosander ( perhaps the one from Slapton Ley last month ). I saw it catch a small fish so maybe there is life in the old ley yet.
This morning I had a good walk around the estuary doing the Charleton Marsh - Geese Quarries circuit. 11 Chiffchaffs and a Grey Wagtail were a good start in the sewage works but there did not appear to be any 'tristis' candidates. As the tide was high I had to kill an hour in the bird hide, no bad thing as a Bittern has been seen from here recently. Not today though. The scrape held 54 Wigeons, 51 Teals and a pair of Pintails. A Water Rail was calling and one showed beneath the bird feeders.
Water Rail, squealer of the Marsh.
Heading out onto the foreshore and towards Wareham Point there was a raw NNW wind. The mud, water and sky was monochrome. A small flock of roosting Curlews took off towards their feeding area and a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits emerged from within. A loud 'ffissstt ' call announced the arrival of a Rock Pipit. Anonymous and unobtrusive, one or two turn up at this spot each winter, about as far inland as they usually prefer to go. Some Rock Pipits here could be Scandinavian in origin but unless they stayed into spring and started acquiring summer plumage we would not know. Anonymous and mysterious.
Rock Pipit, Charleton Bay. Like me it always wants to live near the sea.
Going around Wareham Point and into Frogmore Creek was welcome as it gave shelter from the wind. Out on the water were 7 Great Crested and 11 Little Grebes. 8 Red-breasted Mergansers did a fly-by and the Devon Air Ambulance did a fly-by overhead and landed at Salcombe. I hope whoever needed it is soon healthy and telling everyone who will listen about their helicopter ride. In an arable field across the creek near Halwell Farm was a flock of 92 Brent Geese. Adding these to the ones I had seen already meant there are at least 128 present this winter. A kingfisher whistled and landed on top of a distant channel marker. A blaze of colour on a grey, cold day.
Old pre World War Two cart tracks still visible in the soft Devon slate in Charleton Bay. Horse and carts would have come down to collect seaweed for fertiliser on the fields. Who knows, maybe Colonel George Montagu hitched a ride on one once but that's a story for another day !
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