Powderham to Turf

About a dozen off us met up for a walk along the Exe Estuary on a rather damp and chilly Saturday morning in November.  Perhaps some were tempted to come by the previous day’s rather upbeat weather forecast! Where we parked, the fields were full of Pheasants, and we could hear Song Thrushes singing in the trees.  As we walked down towards the estuary, we paused by the church to check out the trees and got good views of a couple of Goldcrests and several finches.  Just before we crossed the railway line, a pair of Stonechats put on a good display for us. 

Once we had reached the sea wall, we scanned the estuary.  There were many Dunlin along the edge of the mud, with more distant views of Brent Geese and Shelducks, and a passing flock of Avocet.  As we walked along, we saw good numbers of Curlews in the fields behind the sea wall, as well as a mixed flock of Rooks and Jackdaws, and quite a few Lapwings.  Suddenly a small wader flew up from one of the ditches; I didn’t get onto it well enough, but Dave and Ray identifed it as a Jack Snipe - it flew rather like a Snipe, but the bill was not nearly so long.  By the pier on the other side of Turf locks, we saw a single Red-breasted Merganser diving for fish in the estuary, and there were a group of Black-tailed Godwits in the fields.  I’m sure that there will be a lot more of both species to be seen later in the winter. One we’d reached the locks, we weren’t tempted to linger for too long, and quickly made our way back to the cars. The forty or so species seen that morning was a pretty good total, considering the weather.

Richard Swinbank