BROADSANDS AND CLENNON VALLEY, 29th January by John Allan
Yes it was cold…. very cold with a strong westerly wind whipping across the sea but we gathered in the car park at Broadsands just the same. Well wrapped up. Even I wore a hat and I hate wearing hats!
The first ‘goody’ was a Siskin in the reeds by the overflow car park. Good start…what next? Well, as often happens after a good start, there was some considerable wait before we spotted much else. There was a sizeable swell at sea making a sea watch difficult and no sign of Cirl Bunting in the nearby fields. The dog walkers on the beach didn’t help either with just a solitary Oystercatcher on the beach, a few Rock Pipits and a couple of Ringed Plover were on the rocks. From the cliff tops we saw several Great Crested Grebe and a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers on the far side of the cove but it was away from the sea, on the track between the trees that one of the days highlights occurred. 8 Cirl Bunting were counted with excellent views at close quarters. They were watched for a good 20 minutes and rounded of the morning nicely.
The afternoon saw us at Clennon Valley, a place were I had never been. It is situated behind Torbay Leisure Centre and, despite disturbance from nearby football pitches, proved a sheltered and productive spot. Close views of a Redpoll feeding alongside a Chiffchaff in the rushes, 5 Snipe and a fleeting glimpse (for some) of a Water Rail together with a passing Sparrowhawk with prey, 5 species of duck and several Little Grebes made an excellent afternoons walk. Certainly an area I’ll check out again.
Despite cold, windy conditions we had seen 48 species and, for me, it was a toss up between the Cirls and the Redpoll for ‘star’ bird.
Birds seen, in BOU order or alphabetic order
BOU order Mute Swan
Wigeon
Teal
Mallard
Pochard
Tufted Duck
Red-beasted Merganser
Little Grebe Great Crested Grebe Cormorant Grey Heron Sparrowhawk Buzzard Kestrel Water Rail Moorhen Coot Oystercatcher Ringed Plover Snipe Black-headed Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Feral Pigeon Wood Pigeon Rock Pipit Pied Wagtail Dunnock Robin Blackbird Song ThrushChiffchaff
Goldcrest
Coal Tit Blue Tit Great Tit Jay Magpie Rook Carrion CrowChiffchaff
Cirl Bunting Coal Tit Coot Cormorant Dunnock Feral PigeonGoldcrest
Goldfinch Great Black-backed Gull Great Crested Grebe Great Tit Greenfinch Grey Heron Herring Gull Jay Kestrel Little Grebe MagpieMallard
Moorhen Mute Swan Oystercatcher Pied WagtailPochard
Red-beasted Merganser
Redpoll Ringed Plover Robin Rock Pipit Rook Siskin Snipe Song Thrush SparrowhawkTeal
Tufted Duck
Water RailWigeon
Wood Pigeon