Red Kite above escarpment
In The News
Some Observations of a Local Birdwatcher
Colin Humphrey, and his wife Tricia, have recently moved from Maidenhead to Bideford in Devon. We wish them well and hope that their new environment will provide many opportunities to photograph wildlife.
Colin made many contributions to our previous website in the guise of a 'local birdwatcher' reporting on wildlife seen on his local walks with his dog, Merle. Sadly, Colin will not be able to continue in this role............................perhaps there is a successor out there who would be willing to help us continue with these excellent series of observations?
Colin has emailed with a short article relating to his bird watching in Devon. This will give an idea of what could be done relating to the East Berks area.
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The signs of autumn have been apparent down here in North Devon for some weeks.
Lots of young Wheatears on the wing, they breed here, Linnets are in flocks and
Swallow numbers are high along the shoreline feeding on the bugs, they actually
land on the wet mud as the tide falls back to snatch insects there.
Last week on the estuary the Curlew flock was 71, Oystercatchers numbered 30,
this week the Oystercatcher flock was up to 57. A pale Brent Goose , a Dunlin
flock of about 30 all it seemed in slightly different plumage together with 9
juvenile Ringed Plovers, arrived at the weekend.
Ringed Plover
Tonight Redshank, Greenshank, and Turnstones came up with the high tide, but no
sign of the Dunlins or Ringed Plovers, moved on ....... .
Two families of Shelducks we have watched from the house for some weeks have
grown up and gone, leaving just a few scruffy moulting Mallards, Egrets and
Gulls.
Most evenings last week a tight flock of screaming Swifts was racing around the
rooftops of Appledore but this evening no sign of them either, can they have
left already.