I suspect there won't be many more Cogden walks before the year is out. This morning's short visit was a bit rubbish, with a fairly brisk SW churning up the sea and salting my specs. I found myself checking out the beach and the many weed mats bobbing around offshore more than the bushes or the sky. No Snow Buntings, Grey Phalaropes or Desert Wheatears though; rather a Red-throated Diver E, 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls W and a single Chiff on the land.
I've been a bit slack with the blog, so this post is an attempt to fill in the many October gaps...
October 5th
9 Chiffs, 2 Firecrests, 2 Spotted Flycatchers and a Jay.
Spotted Flycatcher in a sunny, sheltered corner. |
Stonechat |
Random Chiffchaff shot that I like, taken late September. |
October 6th
28 Chiffs, 1 Blackcap, 3 Firecrests, 2 Goldcrests.
October 7th
13 Chiffs, 1 Firecrest, 1 Jay, 1 Wheatear, 1 Painted Lady.
Fox, context shot. |
Easily the biggest fish I've seen a Cogden angler catch - 7lb 14oz
Bass. |
Interestingly, a few days later I got chatting with another local angler in the Cogden car park, and showed him this photo. Turned out he was a Bass fanatic who has caught a number of double-figure fish. He showed me a photo of an absolutely monstrous Bass he caught at West Bay a couple of years ago. It weighed 16lb 14oz! If I was an awful lot younger I might be tempted to give it a go.
October 10th
10 Chiffs, 5 Blackcaps, an amazing 5 Firecrests, 2 Jays, 1 Coal Tit, 2 Sparrowhawks, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Redwing, 1 Garden Warbler, 4 Clouded Yellows.
Female Sparrowhawk. |
Chiffchaff |
Coal Tit |
Blackcap |
October 11th
32 Chiffs, 2 Blackcaps, 2 Coal Tits, 2 Firecrests, 4 Golden Plovers, 1 Wheatear, 1 Whinchat.
Nice to see my first Golden Plovers of the autumn moving through; a single bird almost over the beach produced a really nice recording.
The Wheatear was an odd one. It looked recently fledged, which seems highly unlikely in mid-October. It stuck around for a few days, so there will be a photo under a later date - today's weren't that great.
Anyway, here's the Golden Plover, plus a nice bit of surf-on-shingle,
Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and so on...
Whinchat, with beach behind. |
October 12th
Short afternoon visit: 7 Chiffs, 1 Jay, 1 Whinchat.
October 13th
4 Chiffs, 1 Wheatear (same very young-looking bird), 1 Dartford Warbler.
There is an isolated patch of gorse in the middle of a weedy field that I have always fancied for Dartford Warbler. Today I checked it out with exactly that in mind. I almost wasn't surprised when a Dartford Warbler popped up!
The weirdly young-looking Wheatear. |
The only time I have seen a Wheatear locally that looked as young
as this one was in July, or perhaps very early August I think. |
Dartford Warbler |
October 14th
An extravagant two-visit day.
Morning: 16 Chiffs, 1 Blackcap, 1 Dartford Warbler (presumably same bird; certainly same spot), 2 Firecrests, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Wheatear (same bird).
Afternoon: 2 Chiffs, 1 Coal Tit, 2 Firecrests, 1 Whinchat.
That Wheatear still... |
Common migrant moth, Rush Veneer Nomophila noctuella. Though I haven't seen many this year. In 2022 there were loads in the
coastal grassland. |
Juvenile Whinchat. The pale blurry specks are little flies.
Plenty to eat. |
October 17th
2 Chiffs, 1 Wheatear (same bird), 1 Kingfisher.
A short morning visit, which was pretty dire really...and then a
Kingfisher zipped past me, heading inland along a hedge line! And no, I
have never seen a Kingfisher at Cogden before.
October 18th
2 Chiffs, 1 Firecrest.
In the absence of any other photos from this very quiet morning visit, have another Firecrest pic...
Firecrest |
The October Firecrest tally is currently 19 bird-days, which is tons better than I've ever managed in a whole year I reckon.
October 20th - West Bay
A departure from the Cogden routine as storm Ashley gave us a bit of seawatching weather. We didn't get the brunt of it, and it was probably a bit too short-lived to displace birds in a big way. Still, there were a few bits to look at...
205 Gannets, 126 Med Gulls, 8 Kittiwakes, 3 Common Scoter, 1 Brent Goose, 1 Great Northern Diver, 1 Common/Arctic Tern, 1 unidentified skua.
I hope I never get bored of Med Gulls flying by. They are such a smart gull. The skua was probably a juv Arctic, but looked rather pale and slender, giving me Long-tailed vibes. But it wasn't in the slightest bit hesitant or dithery, so I was no doubt getting excited over nothing. Which actually is what you're supposed to do when seawatching.
Adult Med Gull flies past the West Bay shelter in the
early-morning murk. |
The River Brit overflowing into the field behind Rise Restaurant, West
Bay. Several gulls dotted about, sadly nothing special. |
Med Gulls and BHGs in the flooded field inland of Rise
Restaurant, West Bay. |
October 27th
1 Chiff, 1 Black Redstart, 3 Common Scoters, 2 Dartford Warblers, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Merlin, 1 Redwing.
A lively morning with lots happening. The 2 Dartfords were in the same
gorse patch occupied by a single bird two weeks ago. Who knows whether or not
they are both new birds? The Black Redstart had clearly just arrived,
landing briefly on top of a hedge before heading away inland. The
Merlin went straight through W. The sky was busy with
Woodpigeons and Jackdaws, as well as Skylarks,
Meadow Pipits, Chaffinches and so on.
Vis-mig Jackdaws. In the distance are the chalk cliffs of Beer Head, East Devon. |
Another sizeable flock of Jackdaws through, with a few Woodpigeons. |
Merlin |
Three drake Common Scoters. |
Meadow Pipit on the Dartford Warbler gorse. |
One of the Dartford Warblers shows briefly in the sunshine. |
Dartford Warbler. Photographically speaking, not cooperative. |
So that's it. All the October gaps filled and the blog up to date. Tomorrow we have our granddaughters for the day. Cogden is out, but Seaton Wetlands is child friendly...