River Exe area, Devon. Avocets, Brent Geese, Godwits etc

A beautiful sunny morning for our first stop Bowling Green Marsh, Topsham Devon.  It's the first visit since the new garden has been made by the hide. A fantastic area set up with feeders attracting Greenfinch, Great and Blue Tits, Dunnocks, etc.  From the hide we had some good views of Wigeon, Teal, Black Tailed Godwits, Snipe, Lapwing, Curlew, Canada & Greylag Geese.

On to Goat Walk where  we were able to watch fairly closely good numbers of Avocets, BlkWits, Dunlin and Redshank feeding on the mudflats as the tide receded. It's always a brilliant moment to see the Avocets. In The fields near the hide on closer inspection we saw Fieldfares, Redwings, Song Thrush and a pair of Stonechats. Unfortunately this time there wasn't much to be seen from the screens on the River Exe trail except for a few Redshank and a lone Grey Plover.

We left Topsham with quite a list and ventured on to the Powderham area.  The tide was now at its lowest so there were no birds close by on the mudflats. However in a field we found a large group of about 100 Brent Geese plus a few Oystercatchers which to our delight took flight all at once and flew overhead to the estuary. Wow! What an amazing sight and the noise, a true gaggle of geese. One more bird to add to the list was a single Red breasted Merganser on the sea. 

Another great trip to the River Exe with 55 bird species seen.  Can't wait to return! 

   Wigeon

               

   Wigeon flying off

              

                 Black tailed Godwits 

               

                   Plenty of BlkWits feeding on the Exe

   The famous River Exe Avocets from Goat Walk

               

                    Good numbers of Avocets feeding as the tide went out

               

                   Great to watch the 'swishing' action of that beak

  'Fanciful' Lapwing

         

            Snipe at Bowling Green

               

                  The Snipe that got the worm

  Grey Plover

               

                  Redshank

   Brent Geese

                

    Brent's feeding in the fields of Powderham

               

   From the field to the estuary here come the geese

               

                

               

                   Oystercatchers 

   Note the white headed Oystercatcher

                

                   Oystercatchers flying towards the sea