Birdwatching Trip Report - 18th March 2023

A lovely, still morning for this morning's Birdwatching Tram trip, and dry too. Conditions were perfect for hearing birds, as well as seeing them.

We are at that time of year when wintering species are leaving the Axe Estuary for breeding grounds further north, while the main flush of summer visitors is yet to arrive. Nevertheless, there were still plenty of Wigeon and Teal to see, as well as several lovely Shoveler. Black-tailed Godwits were still present in good numbers also, several now developing the rich, terracotta colours of their breeding plumage. On the other side of the coin, despite hundreds being present until recently, we saw just one Lapwing!

Among the gulls, several newly-arrived Lesser Black-backed Gulls revealed their mustard-yellow legs, and the high-pitched calls of Common Gulls were lovely to hear. The latter won't stay long, but will quickly head on towards their breeding quarters.

One of today's prize birds was Greenshank. A scarce wintering species on the Axe, they are not always easy to see here, but this morning we were fortunate to encounter probably two birds. One showed particularly well on the Colyford Marsh scrape. A little further north were two Greylag Geese on Bridge Marsh, feeding among the sheep. And it was a treat to see three gorgeous Wheatears on Sheep's Marsh – two males and a female – one of our earlier spring migrants.

Not birds, but three Roe Deer looked terrific in this morning's sunshine.

There were a few conspicuous gaps on our bird list today, including Buzzard, Rook and Collared Dove,  and we didn't see our one and only Cormorant until the return leg! The final tally is 50 species, listed below.

Gavin Haig