Berry Head seawatch 12:15-13:45: 1256 Manx S with c400 feeding in raft, Sandwich Terns, 6 Common Gulls, m Wheatear in quarry

Stoke Pt: at last migrants arriving in numbers. A House Martin in with Swallows moving down the coast. Many Willow Warblers and 3 Whitethroats.

Berry Hd 1030-1445: Bonxie, 5 Puffins, c1000 Manx, 10 Sandwich Terns, 3 Rt Divers, GN Diver, 8 Swallows, Grey Seal, 2 H Porpoise, c20 Common Dolphins

Berry Hd 1030-1400: Sandwich Tern, Rt Diver, c1400 Manx (mostly N), c10 CN Dolphins. Also Merlin, 4 Swallows, 3 Sand Martins, House Martin all in off sea.

Berry Hd 1030-1230: Manx 590 S c400 N, Cn Scoter, 2 RtDiver, 2 Sandwich Tern, 3 H Porpoise, 4 pods Cn Dolphin tot. c50

Stoke Point today, big movement of Manx heading E up channel c1500 - maybe more as that was in 30 mins. Also another Red Kite

Bit of a Red Kite influx starting with high pressure, while out locally today another 2 and one over my house.

Great news. Dartmoor is an ecological disaster zone masquerading as a National Park, as its ecosystems have been grazed out by sheep. Now this must change.

Out today in this fime weather monitoring certain raptors and a nice Red Kite flies through - always a pleasure to see in Devon and may be in the right place at the right time to find another!

Berry Head: 49 Red-throated Divers through, including one amazing flock of 44. Great Northern Diver on sea.

Seems a decent arrival of Chichaffs with c15 and a couple of Blackcaps around the Zeneca quarry area.

Exminster Marshes: c50 Sand Martins over lagoon + more moving through & over canal, 3 Pochard & a Goldeneye, 8 Euro White-fronts & a Barnacle Goose

Queen’s Marsh, this morning: again 3 Green Sandpipers and 2 Snipe

Yesterday BHd: 9 Manx, Rt Diver, 2 Common Scoter, GN Diver, auk and Kittiwake passage

Queen’s Marsh, Tones this morning: 3 Green Sandpipers ( most I’ve seen here this winter), 2 Snipe, m Goodander, 2+ Mandarin etc

Shoalstone seawatch little moving: RtDiver. walk to incl. Brixham Harbour: BtDiver, 1w Caspian Gull, ad Med Gull, 12 GNDiver

Yesterday a birthday trip to Pendeen,0900-1100: 11 RtD, GND, 36 C Scoter, c200 Manx. c1500 Kittiwakes passing and feeding. From Lelant nice ad Iceland Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Caspian Gull & Yellow-legged Gull in with 100s of gulls.

Shoalstone on sea 12 GND, Black-throated Diver, Red-throated Diver. Out to sea moving ahead of front 1 Manx Shearwater & c1500 Auks

Berry Head/Shoalstone: finally a SW wind but just a RtDiver and a few GNDs on the move. Walk back to Shoalstone indicated a bit of a clear out of GNDs with only 29, but also birds flying on Tor Bay

Then a walk over the top to look at poor Torcross - damaged properties (smashed roof tiles etc on many); and a devasting double breach in the Slapton line, very sad may be not repairable (or the funds to do so!!). Taken with wide angle then full zoom (600mm eqiv).

Beesands Ley drake Ring-necked Duck, 26+ Tufted Ducks, Firecrest by hide. Also total devastation of much of the beach from recent NE to SE storms.

White-winged Gull (most likely Iceland Gull) flew E past Shoalstone; also Brixham/Shoalstone: Caspian Gull 1w, ad Med Gull, 1 BtDiver, 4 Rt Diver,(in flight), 2 Common Scoter, c100 GN Diver

Berry Hd seawatch, relatively quiet 2 RtDivers through and 20 GNDs on sea, another c30 GNDs on walk back to Brixham with where many (c30) in harbour including one X-billed! 1w Caspian Gull also in harbour and same Black-throated Diver as a few days ago at Shoalstone. Mother & calf H Porpoise too!

Brixham-Shoalstone: Black-throated Diver (photo), 8 Red throated Divers (3 on sea pic of 2, also 5 flying), ad Little Gull. Amazing count of 182 Great Northern Divers at 16:00 when forming large roosting rafts across Tor Bay!! Earlier count from end of breakwater (162), also 6 Purple Sandpipers.

Large influx of Great Northern Divers today after SSE gales, managed to see 76 while earlier @clennonvalley.bsky.social had 93. With others dotted around BHd & Hope's N, surely a record 100+ around Tor Bay. Also c50 GC Grebes in 2 groups & 3 RTDs. 6 Purple Sandpipers on the breakwater

My Devon shot of 2025! Not knowing at the time I had taken in-flight shot of both male & female Ring-necked Ducks with male & female Tufted Duck providing a great comparison! For #photographers #BirdingGear its the cheap Nikon Z50II with a sharp (not so cheap) Z400mm 4.5, both bought 2nd-hand

Berry Head 0800-1000 very strong SSE 7-8: lighlights Manx Shearwater and ad w Little Gull; also Great Northern Diver, 624 Gannets, 360 Kittiwakes, 124 Fulmars, c30 Common Dolphins

As a seabirder Balearic Shearwater was bird of 2025 for me. Yet another record year off Devon - my personal tally of c6500 sightings this year off South Devon (many from boat) blew away previous years.

Yesterday up to Hartland to count the Red-throated Divers, a good count of 374 in nice calm conditions. On Bursdon Moor 4 Hen Harriers to roost (3 as males & ringtail) and Merlin.

Teign Est as well usual wintering birds this Dec (Spot Red, 40+ Redshank, 10+ Greenshank, 5+ Common Sandpiper), also today Great Northern Diver mid est, and 16 Avocet ( highest count this winter( upper est).

Happy Xmas from a wild Torcross

Somerset always way ahead of Devon but the we do have Lundy to add!

Berry Hd 10:30-12:00 in flight 6 Red-throated Divers, 3 Great Northern Divers, 30 Common Gulls, ad Med Gull, 2 Wigeon. BHd-Brixham Harbour 32 Great N Divers, 5 Purple Sandpipers (breakwater)

THREE satellite-tagged White-tailed Eagles disappear in suspicious circumstances in England, Wales & Scotland - two tags had been cut off. Press release from Isle of Wight WTE Project Team & additional commentary from me ⬇️⬇️ #RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/12/17/t...

Absolutely shocking. We're offering an overall award of £10k for information that leads to a conviction in these cases. We need to make raptor persecution a thing of the past.

Any ideas on this wing remains. Probable Peregrine kill. Scale with size 6.5 boots (wife’s)

Berry head 10:50-12:25: in flight 4 Great Nothern, Black-throated & 4 Red-throated Divers and Common Scoter. Another 6 GNDs on sea. Two groups of Common Dolphins and 2 Harbour porpoise

Brixham breakwater: 5 Great Northern Divers (incl this juv/1w), the ever obliging adult Med Gull, and 3 Purple Sandpipers. Further towards Berry Head quite a few Common Gulls feeding with Gannets over Harbour Porpoises

Walking up to Turf from Powderham this boat came past heading for the LC Tern, we quickly set up scope on tern as sure it would be spooked. And yes they did just that😡 in front of many birders. LCT flew off and boat headed back down past us. Here they are, well ****** done😡😡!

Berry Hd 1200-1430 to catch the clearance after the big storm. Very quiet just a Rt Diver into Tor bay, 5 GNDs on the sea. A few Gannets, Kittiwakes, Auks and Fulmars, but very low numbers considering!

Berry Hd: clearance just one Manx, Black-throated Diver ( flew into the bay), Rtdiver flew out. Red-necked Grebe and 14 GN Divers on sea from BHd to Shoalstone.

Derbyshire Constabulary appeals for information 3 months later. #RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/12/07/p...

Wow just seen how far down this massive low drags up from!

Back to Cockwood today as my views of a distant 'orange-billed' Tern weren't great and certainly inconclusive on 03/12. But today though distantly perched it did one circuit our way and gave great in-flight scope views. A few quick shots with a 400mm lens. Happy I've seen Lesser Crested Tern👍

Well a few record shots, this is the female Merlin on Exminster Marshes 03/12/25. A tiny fullcrop, only a 400mm lens, but you can see what it is!

Lesser Crested Tern Thalasseus bangalensis off Dawlish Warren this morning. Was speedily succesful catching a good sized fish. Probably the rarest bird I will see in my lifetime. A probable vagrant from W/N.Africa and found in Indian Ocean as far east as Australia.

Teign Est am, 2 juv/1w Spoonbills ( different from the 3 five weeks ago). Also single Avocet

Sometimes Mr& Mrs Great Spot turn up together on our sunflower hearts. There is also a pair of Blackcaps and a Firecrest in the garden this week!

Nice wander around Exminster Marshes, with a Merlin, 3 Marsh Harriers, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Firecrest and a Green Sandpiper. Then down to Cockwood to see a distant, ‘orange-billed’ Tern!

Berry Head 08:00-10:00: 4 Med Gulls, 4 Common Scoter, 75 Fulmar, 88 Common Gulls, 30+ ABF Tuna, 8 Harbour Porpoises. 1000s of commoner seabirds passing and feeding on Horizon, based on timed counts of closer passage: 5500 Kitiwakes, 6600 Auks, 2800 Gannets.