Sunday March 23rd 2025
Leader: Steve Chorley
Weather overcast, with sunny intervals, cold wind
13 participants
Exminster and Powderham marshes used to be a regular trip for the South Somerset RSPB group, before 2020, but we had not visited for a number of years. We had an excellent 4 hours birding, during which we observed 52 species of bird (see attached list).
The reserve is just 5 miles from Exeter City Centre. It features marshland and wetland habitats with canals and rivers, and arable fields managed for farmland birds, notably cirl bunting. The marshes are a vital feeding and resting area for large numbers of birds which come here on migration and to spend winter in the UK. The day before our visit an osprey had been seen on the river, and we saw a couple of swallows feeding over the marsh after their long migration from Africa.
We did a circular walk around the reserve, starting at Station Rd , turning right and heading toward the canal, then on the canal tow path to The Turf Hotel, returning across the marsh to the car park. The road was very busy with cyclists and car traffic; probably it would be quieter on a weekday.
I thought that the landscape was very attractive, with the reeds swaying in the wind and the contrasting green of the fields and the darker patches of rush and colours of the willow.
There was plenty of bird song too. Good to hear green finches and sky larks in particular, along with the more common song birds. Chiff chaff assured us that spring has arrived.
There were large flocks of wigeon and teal, resplendent in the sunlight in their breeding plumage. We were lucky to see a few pintail and a gorgeous male black-tailed godwit with rufous head and neck. There was plenty of activity wherever we looked. A marsh harrier homed in on some prey in a reed bed, while a little grebe bobbed up with a fish in its bill a few feet away. A pair of shoveler performed a courting display..
From the tow path of the canal we spotted a flock of about 20 brent geese grazing in the field below. There were so many canada geese around that we almost didn’t register the difference.
The return footpath through the marsh took us via the Discovery area, where many habitats have been created to enhance conditions for wildlife and biodiversity. A bench, screened by a low hedge overlooks a muddy pool, where a group of 5 ringed plovers were busy feeding alongside a lone lapwing. Lapwing are a signature bird for the reserve and there is an extensive area protected by electric fences to stop foxes predating them during the breeding season.
As we continued towards the car park a couple of red kites passed over head, putting up the flocks of wild fowl below.
There was not much enthusiasm after lunch for visiting Powderham Marshes. I walked a short way along the trail to a notice that gave details of the latest management programme to encourage cirl bunting, and then returned to my car. A couple of other members carried on down the trail.
Amanda Acland
The Birds
52 Species
Blue Tit
Blackbird
Black-tailed Godwit
Brent Goose
Buzzard
Canada Goose
Carrion Crow
Cetti’s Warbler
Chaffinch
Chiffchaff
Coot
Cormorant
Curlew
Dunlin
Dunnock
Great Tit
Greenfinch
Grey Heron
Grey Plover
Herring Gull
House Sparrow
Jackdaw
Lapwing
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Little Grebe
Long-tailed Tit
Magpie
Mallard
Marsh Harrier
Meadow Pipit
Moorhen
Mute Swan
Oystercatcher
Pied Wagtail
Pintail
Pochard
Raven
Red Kite
Redshank
Reed Bunting
Ringed Plover
Robin
Shelduck
Shoveler
Skylark
Swallow
Stonechat
Teal
Tufted Duck
Wigeon
Woodpigeon
Wren