Otter Estuary Saturday 8th October

Otter Estuary Saturday 8th October

How lovely to see so many at the Otter Estuary on a Saturday morning. It was quite bright, with brisk winds. With record high tides, the salt marsh was almost completely inundated; just a couple of small grassy islands, with the odd gull and the long curved bill of a Curlew. With the estuary flooded, we headed up river. Pausing at the new hide, the Curlew was re-identified as a Whimbrel, after hearing its distinctive call.

After White Bridge, it was a lot more sheltered and mild. Swallows were still being seen, flying low over a field. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was sighted but not by me - too far away. We had fleeting views of a pair of Kingfishers and Grey Wagtails were seen. The croak of a Raven was heard.

We walked as far as the next footbridge and back on the other side. On the way back, one or two saw the Nuthatch. A ploughed field had attracted several Buzzards and quite a few Pied Wagtails. The tide made Reed Buntings hard to spot, but they were found. I had a fairly good view of a flock of Linnets. Andy and Jeremy heard a Water Rail, good on them. A Moorhen was also reported, though it eluded most of us. 47 species were counted altogether.

We ended the morning looking out over the sea, but boy, wasn't it blowing a gale!

Number of species seen: 47

Julian Manning

Birds seen, in BOU order or alphabetic order

BOU order

Mute Swan

Wigeon

Teal

Mallard

Pheasant

Little Grebe

Cormorant

Little Egret

Grey Heron

Buzzard

Kestrel

Water Rail

Moorhen

Whimbrel

Black-headed gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Feral Pigeon

Wood Pigeon

Collared Dove

Kingfisher

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Swallow

Meadow Pipit

Grey Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Wren

Dunnock

Robin

Stonechat

Blackbird

Chiffchaff

Coal Tit

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Nuthatch

Magpie

Jackdaw

Rook

Carrion Crow

Raven

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

Goldfinch

Linnet

Reed Bunting

Alphabetic order