Dawlish Warren,

Dawlish Warren,

Sunday 7th February

Dawlish Warren, and an icy blast straight off the sea and into the faces of about 30 birdwatchers peering out over the waves. Somewhere out there, appearing and disappearing were a few black specks subject to a debate between the more expert as to whether they were in fact Surf Scoters or merely common or garden Scoters. I must admit that I could barely make out the birds let alone join the debate about the shape of the heads and the colour of the bill. Fortunately not all the birds were quite as distant and I could make out Great Crested Grebe, cormorants and so on. Further along the beach was a bird that was definitely co-operative – a Slavonian Grebe fishing around only a few yards off the beach; close enough to really make out the plumage details.

Frozen by this time we gratefully entered the shelter of the hide to be greeted by a goodly selection of waders, well within range of binoculars or scopes. There were lots of Dunlin, bigger and bulkier Knot, 30-40 Ringed Plovers, Sanderling, plenty of Oystercatchers, Godwits and so on, together with some Brent Geese. It was a pleasure to be in a sheltered spot with plenty of birds close enough to make out the details. There were not many ducks out in the channel but there was a Great Northern Diver among the moored boats; apparently its’ preferred spot.

We never did get to see the Black Redstart, which was being seen by everyone in recent days but it was a good visit in spite of the rather inclement weather. Many thanks to Richard for leading the meet.

Number of species seen: 50

Ray Lovett

Birds seen, in BOU order or alphabetic order

BOU order

Mute Swan

Canada Goose

Brent Goose

Mallard

Common Scoter

Surf Scoter

Red-breasted Merganser

Great Northern Diver

Little Grebe

Great Crested Grebe

Slavonian Grebe

Cormorant

Shag

Grey Heron

Kestrel

Coot

Oystercatcher

Ringed Plover

Grey Plover

Knot

Sanderling

Dunlin

Bar-tailed Godwit

Curlew

Redshank

Turnstone

Black-headed Gull

Herring Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Guillemot

Wood Pigeon

Green Woodpecker (Heard only)

Sky Lark

Meadow Pipit

Rock Pipit

Pied Wagtail

Dunnock

Robin

Stonechat

Blackbird

Redwing

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Starling

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

Linnet

Bullfinch

Alphabetic order