Dawlish Warren, Exmouth and Topsham

Any morning that includes a singing male cirl bunting can't be all bad.

Cirl bunting, Dawlish Warren

A misty start to the morning, which made seawatching first thing a bit less rewarding than hoped. This wasn't a big deal as the plan for the day was to explore the length of the Warren anyway.

First port of call was the bit of woodland by the Wardens' office. A Siberian lesser whitethroat had been reported a couple of times over the weekend so I thought I'd try my luck. No joy for me, which might be as well as I'm not wholly convinced I'd recognise one if I saw one. A late juvenile willow warbler tagging along with a mixed tit flock was a nice consolation prize.

Greenland Pond, Dawlish Warren

No joy, either, with the Cetti's warbler that had been reported from the reeds by the Greenland Pond. A couple of coots and half a dozen mallard disappeared into the reeds.

The open heathland was heaving with meadow pipits, linnets and goldfinches with a couple of greenfinches bobbing about in the brambles. An unfamiliar bird was singing from one of the hawthorn bushes by the golf course. The song sounded a bit like the "A little bit of bread" phrase of a yellowhammer but with a more jangly note like a corn bunting. A couple walked up and disturbed the bird, which then to my immense relief flew back to the same branch once they'd gone. A lovely male cirl bunting.

One of the ponies grazing Dawlish Warren

Storms had knocked down the dunes between groynes 10 and 18 so the usual path from the heath round to the hide on the bight had been destroyed. This meant a detour along the beach and joining the path near the end of Warren Point. Not many waders on the beach: a few turnstones, a dunlin and a sanderling by one of the groynes.

Dunlin and Sanderling

Plenty of gulls — mostly herring and black-headed, with a couple of lesser black-backs — flying along the shoreline along with a dozen sandwich terns. Further out there were a few cormorants and shags and a couple of great black-backs. The mist had burnt off by now and it was possible to see a flock of kittiwakes out where the river meets the English Channel. Towards the point a few dozen herring gulls and black-headed gulls loafed on the beach with some oystercatchers and a couple of curlews.

Linnets

From here it was a matter of following one of the paths through the dunes that roughly follow the line of the bight. There were a couple of big flocks of linnets on this stretch, together with a pair of stonechats.

By the time I'd arrived at the hide it was well past high tide and most of the waterfowl and waders were well out. These included good numbers of dark-bellied brent geese, oystercatchers and wigeon; cormorants and great black-backs loafed on the sand. Amongst the dunlins skittering about the shorelines I could see a couple of ringed plovers and a single greenshank. Out in the water a pair of black swans were keeping aloof from the herd of mute swans drifting over towards Cockwood.

Old man's beard

Then a long walk back, taking a different couple of paths through the heath and past the Greenland Pond. The arrival of a low-flying kestrel was heralded by a sudden rush of finches and pipits into the brambles.

Hovering kestrel

I'd spent five hours traipsing round Dawlish Warren and was feeling the strain a bit so after a cup of tea I got the train to Starcross, got the last ferry over to Exmouth. The channel used by the ferry runs parallel with the curve of the bight and comes quite close to the north side of the point. This gives you the chance to check out the birds on the sand banks in the middle of the estuary and a second chance at the birds out in the open water. The crew pointed out a common seal perched on a nearby boat as we passed (it stuck its head behind the life jacket store when I tried to take its picture).

The usual Slavonian grebe isn't in its Winter colours yet so I had trouble finding it without the white cheeks acting as a flag. Eventually I spotted it when one of the distant lumps of mud protruding from the water suddenly dived, reappeared a few yards away then started swimming off to the right.

I'd aimed at immediately getting the train to Dawlish Warren once I'd arrived at Exmouth but by the time the machine printed my ticket the guard had closed the doors. Sherlock Holmes would have been screwed if the old railway companies closed the doors half a minute before leaving.

Anyway, I wasn't for kicking round aimlessly so I got the next train to Topsham and toddled over to Bowling Green Marsh to see if the long-billed dowitcher was still about. It was right in front of the hide. Fast asleep with its bill tucked into its back feathers. Behind a pintail duck. The pintail finally decided to move on, but sleeping beauty wasn't the most cooperative model.

Long-billed dowitcher, pintail in the background

Sleeping shoveler

Once twilight had firmly set in I called it quits and got the train back to Dawlish Warren.