It was an unusual day yesterday. I was drinking a cup of coffee and watching the bird table when this little fella pops-up in the tree next to the feeding station. I had to do a double-take, I couldn't believe my eyes! A month since one was last seen in the garden a single, male Brambling was back.
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| Brambling, male, Whitestaunton: R. Harris |
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| Brambling, male, Whitestaunton: R. Harris |
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| Brambling, male, Whitestaunton: R. Harris |
A late individual - I'm not sure I've ever had one in May in this part of the world before. Great to see in full summer plumage. It hung around for an hour picking at food on the bird table before vanishing as quickly as it had arrived.
Fast forward six hours and I'm sat in the car park of my son's school waiting to pick him up when I see a tweet from Seaton birder Phil Abbott to say he had found an Osprey, his fourth this year no less! Luckily for me my son loves to go for a walk along the front at Seaton so we were off as soon as he got in the car. A quick glance around from Coronation Corner revealed very little but then suddenly the Shelduck took to the air and then there it was. It just glided quietly (and surprisingly not harassed by gulls) down the length of the river towards the harbour before being lost to view. I managed to fire off a quick burst of photos as it headed away.
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| Osprey, River Axe, Seaton: R. Harris |
After waiting for 10 minutes to see if it would return, Jake and I continued to the seafront and started our usual walk. Walking back to the car 45 minutes later my attention was drawn to a commotion of gulls and corvids just off the beach by the town centre - there it was again, this time heading west towards Beer with an entourage of followers all trying to see it off.
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| ahead of its chasers as it flew towards Beer. |
Great to see, I don't always catch up with them on the Axe but today it was a case of right time, right place.
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