Manx Shearwater added to year list.

Wednesday 9th August 2023.

Another dawn start for a good 'seawatch' over Lyme Bay.

It was back to Dawlish Warren again this morning for another dawn ‘sea-watch’ and this time, I met up with fellow ‘Lazee’ John Manley, who was staying in nearby Chudleigh. Though the weather forecast was for a light west south-west wind with overcast conditions, the sea was flat calm and in all honesty, not the ideal conditions for a reasonable ‘seawatch’. How wrong we were.

I met up with fellow 'Lazee', 'Northern John' aka John Manley.

A lovely sunrise gave way to overcast conditions as expected and it didn't take long for us to take note of plenty of Gannets out over Lyme Bay. Both adults and the brown & white juveniles graced the skies over the sea, occasionally diving down to catch their breakfast within the calm water. Common Scoter flocks were all too visible over the sea and with several flocks close in too (I’m starting to really miss my camera now!) of which I estimated we must have seen at least 30+ birds all told this morning.

The Oak Bush Cricket in our Lodge last night.

John picked up two interesting distant seabirds heading west low over the sea and through the scope, I was very pleased to announce that they were my first Manx Shearwaters of the year, though the only ones we saw this morning. John had seen this species earlier in the year at Portland Bill. Those birds puts me on 195 species for the year, slowly creeping up to the magic 200. After yesterday's sightings of the Storm Petrels, I kept my eyes vigilant for this species and eventually I spotted one, though it was very distant and not easy to get John onto the bird. Thankfully, we came across two more much closer in and through the scope, we watched one individual fly back and forth over the sea and then hover and patter the sea close to a resting Gull on the water. Arguably, that's the longest I have viewed this species in many a year. Great stuff.

Other birds noted included around a handful of Kittiwakes flying west (John's first of the year) , a single Fulmar flying low east and plenty of Sandwich Terns again flying much closer in over the sea. Both a Shelduck and a Mute Swan were seen flying east over the sea and waders included at least two Sanderling flying west and a Dunlin east. The (probable) Risso’s Dolphins were seen in various pods and locations throughout the two hours we were there, but all were very distant and at least a mile or mile and a half out to sea. Still, a great couple of hours in good company and with another species added to my year list, happy days.

Farlington Marshes, yesterday, not only hosted 2 Little Stint, a Curlew Sandpiper and a Golden Plover, but also this juvenile Black Redstart. Photo by Andy Tew.

Yesterday, a juvenile Green Woodpecker was ‘anting’ on one of the greens by a nearby Lodge where we were staying and showed very well as we slowly drove by. I noticed a large number of Swifts late in the afternoon / early evening flying over the Holiday camp and a Willow Warbler, lacking tail feathers, called and flew over our Lodge into nearby trees. The guys here told me that a ‘green bug’ was in the Lodge and on closer inspection, it was an Oak Bush Cricket, which I eventually potted and released back outside.  

Stop press: while writing this update to my blog, a Whimbrel has just flown high over our Lodge (I heard it calling)!

This afternoon, we took a boat ride into Lyme Bay from the jetty near the train station in Dawlish. Though I didn't expect to see that much, as we got a guided tour of the Coves, there were still a lot of Gannets offshore and on the nearby rocks, that held good numbers of both Cormorants and Shags as we got reasonably close to them. 

The Common Dolphins were filmed by the side of the boat. 

The sea state was calm and as we got around the main bay heading west, the ‘Captain’ of the boat took us a little further into the next bay and there we encountered a pair of Common Dolphins swimming some 30 yards away from us. All of us got some great views of the Dolphins and they powered their way slowly westbound, of which I managed to get some film footage of these magnificent animals. I believe that was money well spent as we made our way back into Dawlish for a spot of afternoon tea and cake (a milkshake and a toasty in my case)!

The Jersey Tiger Moth on our neighbours Lodge.

While relaxing in the hot tub by our Lodge late this afternoon, I saw my second Jersey Tiger moth of the holiday fly in and perch up on our neighbours window. I did manage to grab a photo of it later on for the record. Other sightings this afternoon included the juvenile Green Woodpecker again, searching for ants on the lawns below the Lodges.