A morning trip to Broadsands

The nine members who had decided to brave the weather met in the car park at Broadsands. We first went to the back of the car park, where we found that many of the birds were relatively flighty, though the finches were quite easy to spot. The chiffchaffs that are usually seen in this area weren’t evident and were probably well hunkered down in the undergrowth. We then made our way to the second part of the car park, where Jacqui went to put some seeds, of the type that are regularly fed to the cirl buntings in Winter, down in the gravel. This attracted a good flock of cirl buntings that showed well plus a couple of dunnocks, a robin and some house sparrows. We then made our way to the seafront where we saw the usual gulls, a fulmar, and a couple of gannets.

At this point a few people decided to call it a day, as the rain was becoming heavier. The remaining group went on to Elberry Cove where we came across a few great northern divers and an intriguing black-throated diver which had slightly unusual markings and only very faint white “hubcaps” on its flanks. As everyone was very wet by this stage, we decided to make our way back to the car park and not go on to Brixham, having satisfied ourselves that we were unlikely to see much else in the deteriorating conditions. 25 species were seen, which, in the adverse weather, was quite a good total for the morning.

Claire Savaryn

25 species recorded (H = heard only): Pheasant; Wood Pigeon; Black-headed Gull; Great Black-backed Gull; Herring Gull; Great Northern Diver; Black-throated Diver; Fulmar; Gannet; Cormorant; Shag; Carrion Crow; Blue Tit; Great Tit; Wren; Blackbird; Song Thrush (H); Robin; House Sparrow; Dunnock; Pied Wagtail; Chaffinch; Greenfinch; Goldfinch; Cirl Bunting