Sunday
31st January fresh to strong W cloudy AM sunny intervals PM 13C
The
final day of the first month starts at Bowling Green RSPB reserve
near Topsham. Waders in large numbers are coming in from off the
estuary as high tide approaches. Black-tailed godwits number around
800 with a few bar-tailed with them. There are also a couple of
hundred avocet and smaller numbers of dunlin and redshank. They all
take off together when first a sparrowhawk flies along a hedgreow and
then a female merlin does likewise.
I
still need to find the Bonaparte's gull and with the weather nothing
like the heavy rain forecast I cycle to Exmouth. Along the way
another cyclist, Max joins me and we cycle together for a couple of
miles. He talks of his job and of his two young children.
I
spend a few hours along the seafront in Exmouth checking every gull
as the tide recedes.
There are very few gulls though and around
4:30pm I head off for a nearby country hostel. Reaching it I am
greeted by two Midlanders acting as managers of the complex. One has
a coffee in her hand which is in an Aston Villa mug, my own football
team sadly.
11.12
miles 497 feet elevation up 430 feet elevation down
So
the day ends. Monthly statistics:-
Green
Year list 146 birds
Number
of birds not seen in 2015 3
Mileage
723.56 miles
average
mileage on days cycled 27.83 miles
elevation
up 40,184 feet
elevation
down 40,344
best
birds :
| great white egret x 10 |
| hoopoe |
| grey phalarope |
| lesser scaup |
| cattle egret |
| glossy ibis |
| American wigeon |
| smew |
| Red-necked grebe |
| great northern diver x 22 |
| Firecrest x 2 |
| Black-throated diver x 6 |
| Ring-billed gull |
| Rose-coloured starling |
| slavonian grebe |
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