Warren House Inn, Saturday 13th May

Warren House Inn, Saturday 13^th May

We had a great day around Warren House Inn. It was a larger group than usual, eighteen in all. The weather was grey with a cold wind, light was poor, but it did stay dry. It warmed up for the afternoon, so the Swallows appeared.

I guess the excitement of the day was the Iberian Chiffchaff, singing away in the Willow trees at Challacombe Farm. At the time of writing there are only two in Britain, the other being in Lothian; they must have been blown off course, as they should be breeding in sunny Spain. It was difficult to see, preferring to stay hidden behind the leaves, but I was lucky to see it, with my binoculars, for once, when it can out onto the end of a branch; it is typical warbler in shape, but is less green and more beige, a generally warmer colour. I think most of us saw him, and it was also a first for most as well, which was exciting. I gather about four visit our shores each year, and they usually stay in the south.

For me the star of the day was a humble Reed Bunting. It was singing its heart out on a bare branch and the light was good, so that the white collar really showed up, and his other more delicate markings as well. It was a lovely sight, making one happy to be alive, and on Dartmoor - even if it was rather cold. We so often see it hidden amongst the reeds, as a shape, and are not able to admire his finer markings. We also saw some very impressive green Siskins looking for seeds in cones. They are quite bright in their breeding plumage.

I glimpsed two Whinchats, they did not hang around to be admired by me, it was you can only look at my back, and work out what I am! I am not going to show you my eye-stripe, nor are you going to see the white sides to my tail in flight; you will just have to peer until you have worked out what I am! The Wheatear was much more co-operative, and showed us his smart grey back, buff breast, black wings and mask, in fact it was a case of us being asked to admire his finer features.

We briefly saw a Whitethroat in the gorse. It is often found creeping among the nettles, which is why it sometimes called a Nettlebird. We had a good view if a Tree Pipit through the scope, but no parachuting today. There were lots and lots of Chaffinches, whenever I asked what is that, the answer usually came back, Chaffinch! It got rather disheartening! It was nice to see a Cuckoo; so far this year I have seen/heard them in three places, whereas last year the score was nil.

All in all an excellent day out, a marvelous surprise to see the Iberian Chiffchaff, and a lot of other birds as well. Maybe next year we will see the elusive Ringed Ouzel!

Number of species seen: 38

Ann Crawford

Birds seen, in BOU order or alphabetic order

BOU order

Mallard

Buzzard

Kestrel

Wood Pigeon

Cuckoo

Swift

Green Woodpecker

Sky Lark

Swallow

House Martin

Meadow Pipit

Tree Pipit

Pied Wagtail

Wren

Dunnock

Robin

Whinchat

Stonechat

Wheatear

Blackbird

Song Thrush

Mistle Thrush

Whitethroat

IBERIAN CHIFFCHAFF

Willow Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Magpie

Carrion Crow

House Sparrow

Chaffinch

Goldfinch

Siskin

Linnet

Redpoll

Bullfinch

Reed Bunting

Alphabetic order