Morning visit to Seaton Wetlands

We met up at the Seaton Wetlands car park on a misty Saturday morning that felt like the tentative beginning of Autumn following the long, hot summer. There were 23 of us, including several new members and visitors. It was decided to split into two groups because of the large number. Richard led one group that did a circuit of the site including Colyford Common starting at the Island Hide, while Stuart led the other group starting at the Tower hide.

Some waders had begun to gather at the site, which had very low water levels due to the lack of rain.  We saw a few common sandpipers and oystercatchers and small flocks of black-tailed godwit, redshank, dunlin and a greenshank on the main lake at Black Hole Marsh. There were relatively few ducks, mostly mallard, teal and a lone shelduck. A small flock of curlew and some lapwing, dunlin and ringed plover were found later at Colyford.  As the morning grew warmer and brighter, and the tide rose, more birds gathered on the lake.

Richard’s group consisted of mainly new people including some beginners, so the responsibility of identifying most of the birds fell on him, particularly as he was the only one with a (small) telescope in that group. Stuart’s group consisted of mainly more experienced members with scopes who were able to spot a few more species both in flight and on the river. They also identified two curlew sandpipers during the walk. However, subsequent examination of field guides and photos indicated that the birds were, in fact, knots; the juvenile plumages of knot and curlew sandpiper are rather similar.

The combined total number of species seen during the morning was 46. The visit left us looking forward to future trips to view more of our avian winter visitors.

Claire Savaryn

46 species records (H = heard-only): Pheasant, Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Shelduck, Wigeon, Mallard, Teal, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Water Rail (H), Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Ringed Plover, Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, Knot, Dunlin, Snipe, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Redshank, Greenshank, Black-headed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Buzzard, Kingfisher, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Swallow, Chiffchaff (H), Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Greenfinch, Goldfinch.