Dippers and Bitterns

I was absolutely delighted to be able to see some dippers with a pair of young last weekend.   The youngsters were fairly easy to photograph unlike the adults.

This young robin has been on Seaton Marshes this week

A trip to Ham Wall for Hobbies this week was unsuccessful as they were all so high up we couldn't  find them without binoculars even though there were plenty of them.   The bitterns made up for this however as they were showing very well that morning.

And finally this young heron was still on the nest exercising its wings getting ready to leave.

Short Eared Owl

I was unable to get to see yesterdays short eared owl until late afternoon by which time it was always distant for my camera and only flying briefly a few times while I was there.  As I already have some very nice short eared owl pictures in my collection I was not too concerned and just pleased to have been able to see it.   Late afternoon today I returned primarily hoping for the summer plumaged knot which unfortunately had just moved down river before I got to the tower hide.  The short eared owl was still present though distant to begin with on a far post.  This time it was a bit more active and I was lucky enough to get a few much closer views than yesterday.

A bit too close on this occasion

Taken through the branches of a tree 

Finally just a few more of the Musbury hoopoe before it moved on

Caught off guard

Most people know I'm rather obsessed with kites but am never that successful at seeing them unless up high.  Well today that changed as a red kite suddenly flew low over some trees close by carrying what looked like a rat (or possibly just half) and being harassed by crows.   Unfortunately the light was poor in its direction; I wasn't prepared for it and it came a bit too close for me to get in some of the frames as you can see.  It was gone as quickly as it appeared and soon disappeared over the top of the next line of trees.  It made my evening though I have to say.  Maybe next time I'll get the blue sky to go with it.

 These red legged partridges are what I was photographing when the kite flew over

There have been quite a few wheatears passing through recently.

A few meadow pipits

And lastly this is Phils garden warbler.  Best I could manage as it was never going to keep still

My First Patch Hoopoe

Having heard about the local hoopoe last evening I was so pleased that it chose to stay around as firstly,  I've only ever seen one very distantly and secondly, I was unable to get out to see it until lunchtime today.    I'm grateful to our intrepid local birders who spent time this morning relocating it and as you can see it was well worth it.   Needless to say I took quite a few photos some of which follow.

Montagu's and Kite

Well, such an exciting day!  A montagu's  and a red kite all at once! I didn't know which one to watch.  Well I did really and the harrier won of course.  I started the day off badly through nobodies fault but my own. I waited for just over an hour from 8ish with Tim White (who had been there since 5.30am!), but boredom got the better of me and I cycled off down to Seaton Marshes not knowing if it was still present or not.  Luckily Tim was more persistent and text me that it was up.  Its a long way from Seaton Marshes to Colyford Common under those circumstances believe me.  Anyway I got back there to find it had gone down in the reeds again.  At least it was still here.  More persistence this time and after about an hour and 20 minutes up it came.   A great show followed with the highlight being the red kite mobbing the harrier.

The squabble with the red kite was nearer to the people gathered on the Axmouth road than us but we still had great views all the same

Eventually the harrier moved away and we lost sight of it but it was seen to go up and off by others.

Finally the last sighting of the kite as it went up and eastwards over the hills.  Thanks to Tim for his help and don't forget to look at his 'Colyton Wildlife' blog which will show much closer photos than mine from his big canon lens.   Hopefully Steve on his 'Axe Birding" blog will post some great videos that he took.  Both are listed on the right hand side of my blog.