Topsham - River Exe,

Topsham - River Exe,

Saturday, 9th January 2010

On Saturday 9th January, we had planned to go up to Chew Valley Lake. But, I’m sure you’ll remember the snow that we had earlier that week. I thought that it might be difficult to drive up there and along the lanes around the lake that day. I rang round some of the people who I thought were most likely to go - two had been snowed in, so couldn’t come at all, and Lyndon suggested that we walk up the River Exe at Topsham, since he had seen good numbers of birds on the river a day or two earlier. So, a few of us met as planned at Clyst St Mary, but instead of driving up to Somerset, we just drove just a couple of miles to Topsham. Apologies if there was anyone who did drive all the way to Chew Valley Lake.

It was a cold, crisp, sunny morning - so it looked a lot nicer than it felt in the stiff breeze. Even around the Topsham recreation ground, we started to see quite a few birds: Greenfinch and Goldfinch and Long-tailed Tit in the trees, Fieldfare and a Reed Bunting flying over. Along the river, there were good numbers of Black-headed Gull, with some Herring Gull, and a few Common Gull. As we walked up the side of the river, we had really good views of a couple of Redwing in the reeds(!), Lapwing, Redshank, Dunlin and a Curlew. Approaching the motorway bridge we had really good views of a pair of Great Spotted Woodpecker in a tree in someone’s garden. Looking upriver, there was a cluster of birds feeding together in the mud, many Teal, a good number of Black-tailed Godwit, Mallard, Common Sandpiper and Snipe right out in the open. There seem to be Snipe all over the place this winter; I guess it’s the cold weather. Further upriver, there was a smart male Goldeneye and two pairs of Little Grebe.

Then we followed the path as it left the river and cut behind a reedbed. After a bend in the river, we were back on the river bank looking across to the sewage works. Down on the mud, we had a couple of Grey Wagtails and some pipits, as well as a good selection of gulls on the river. On the walk back, we kept our eyes peeled for the Spotted Sandpiper that has been seen on that stretch of river. We thought we had it at one point, but it turned out to be just a Common Sandpiper.

To finish off the morning, we drove the short distance to Bowling Green Marsh, to see what was there. It was practically deserted - solid ice, with a few Lapwing scattered around the grass. Not much on the snow-covered fields along the lane either. There was a little more to be seen from the viewing platform, including Shelduck on the river and some waders - including a distant flock of Avocet. On one of the fields across the river Clyst there was a flock of (mainly) Brent Geese; we searched through it for the recently reported Red-breasted Goose, but drew a blank. On the way back to the cars, we had a lucky female Bullfinch.

All in all a very successful morning, with about 50 species seen.

Richard Swinbank

Birds seen, in BOU order or alphabetic order

BOU order

Mute Swan

Canada Goose

Brent Goose

Shelduck

Teal

Mallard

Tufted Duck

Goldeneye

Little Grebe

Cormorant

Little Egret

Buzzard

Moorhen

Coot

Avocet

Grey Plover

Lapwing

Dunlin

Snipe

Black-tailed Godwit

Curlew

Redshank

Common Sandpiper

Black-headed Gull

Common Gull

Herring Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Wood Pigeon

Kingfisher

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Rock Pipit

Grey Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Wren

Dunnock

Robin

Stonechat

Blackbird

Fieldfare

Song Thrush

Redwing

Long-tailed Tit

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Starling

House Sparrow

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

Goldfinch

Bullfinch

Reed Bunting

Alphabetic order