Let the good times roll !

I suspect like me autumn is the favourite birding time of the year for most birders. Like many I have put a fair bit of time aside for looking for rares in the next four or five weeks. Right now as in many previous years I am full of optimism that this is the year I will find the mega and my little stake outs will rival St Agnes, Porthgwarra, Portland Bill , Flamborough, North Ronaldsay and Fair Isle. Every year I usually struggle to find anything much better than a Yellow-browed Warbler, Firecrest or Black Redstart and as the autumn closes I usually think why did I not just go somewhere else for a week. Time dulls the memory however and the optimism batteries are again charged to 100%
This morning I headed out to Start Point first light after a night of showers that were still going intermittently after dawn. It was not bad enough to write off some vis mig but little was going overhead, the best a couple of Siskins. The farm held about 4 Chiffchaffs and 10 Goldcrests with a lone Blackcap. The road down to the light was sheltered and on reaching the lighthouse compound the first bird I saw was a Firecrest. Although nothing else seemed to be present just by waiting 30 minutes 4 Blackcaps and a chiffchaff showed. Other birds seen at Start included Grey Heron, Sparrowhawk, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Grey Wagtails, 60 Swallows and 5 House Martins.                                                                                                     

Kestrel overlooking the lighthouse gully.

I left Start and headed around the short distance to Hallsands. This is sheltered in winds with a westerly element when Start can be blown out and is full of potential. Today it was quiet, just a lone Wheatear on the beach and a Cetti's Warbler singing loudly from the overgrown pond behind the beach. It is a very atmospheric place when looking at the old village taken by the sea a hundred years ago in January 1917.

 



 

 

 

Over 170 people lived in the old Hallsands village at its peak. Many a good session must have been had in The London Inn which once brewed its own ale. I bet the lighthouse keepers stumbled their way back to the light on a frequent basis.

 

As a last throw of the dice I went to Beesands where a Yellow-browed Warbler ( no doubt the first of many locally this autumn ) was reported yesterday. It was predictably quiet for migrants and duck numbers ( exclusively Gadwall, Tufted Duck ) were down on a couple weeks ago. A nice sight was a flock of around 100 House Sparrows on the Village Green, not such a common sight as it should be. There were also a flock of 30 Starlings. I always assumed flocks this time of year would be made up of fairly local birds, would explain why they are not easy to find now. Speaking to Keith Grant who I bumped into at Slapton last week he told me he inadvertently trapped a Starling at Torcross recently which was a juvenile and it had been previously ringed, amazingly in Lithuania ! What a recovery.

 

 

 

Part of a seemingly healthy Beesands House Sparrow population. These can be good at drawing in scarcer visitors so worth keeping an eye on in the next few weeks.