Dawlish Warren, 28th December

It was a grey start to the day, but 28 people turned up and the sun did come out later that morning. There was a flurry of excitement before we started, when a few people saw a Firecrest in the car park.

First, we walked out to the sea wall to have a look out to sea. It was a little choppy, but we spotted Razorbills, a Great Crested Grebe and a Red-throated Diver. A few saw a Slavonian Grebe, but it took a lot of discussion to agree. Then we walked over to the pond, to see Mallard, Little Grebe and Goldfinches.

As we approached the hide, we could see a lot of waders down on the beach. From the hide itself the view was very good: Oystercatcher by the thousand, Bar-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Turnstone, Redshank, Shags, Wigeon, Shelduck and Brent Geese. Three Knot were reported, but not seen by me. The highlight was a lone Sandwich Tern.

On the way back, we did see a lot of Ringed Plover on the beach. Past the information centre, we took the path through the copse. Along the way we saw Chiffchaff, Goldcrest and a male and female Stonechat. Then it was back to the car park. I think that everyone had a good day, and we did manage to walk off some of our Christmas Dinner. Thank-you Richard.

No. species: 46 seen

Sue Thompson

Birds seen, in BOU order or alphabetic order

BOU order

Brent Goose

Shelduck

Wigeon

Teal

Mallard

Eider

Red-breasted Merganser

Red-throated Diver

Little Grebe

Great Crested Grebe

Slavonian Grebe

Cormorant

Shag

Grey Heron

Moorhen

Coot

Ringed Plover

Grey Plover

Knot

Dunlin

Bar-tailed Godwit

Turnstone

Black-headed Gull

Herring Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Sandwich Tern

Razorbill

Wood Pigeon

Meadow Pipit

Rock Pipit

Pied Wagtail

Dunnock

Robin

Stonechat

Blackbird

Chiffchaff

Goldcrest

Firecrest

Long-tailed Tit

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Starling

Greenfinch

Goldfinch

Alphabetic order