Devon- Desert Wheatear and Cirl Buntings

On Monday morning we left campus and drove north with the hope of seeing the Desert Wheatear at Thurlestone on the south coast of Devon. After an anxious drive up we arrive shortly after 11am. Luckily, Leas Foot beach (where the Wheatear was present) is a very small beach, so after a quick scan of the area, we soon pick up the stunning Desert Wheatear, amongst the seaweed on the strand line. The bird entertained us for hours and was very showy, even down to a few metres at times! The combination of the orange/sandy tones, the black wings, face and tail and the white rump make this very attractive bird, surprising camouflaged against the sand, usually in a desert, but in this case on a beach!  A fantastic bird and very much worth the trip to see it. We turned our attention briefly to the sea. Quite with a few Razorbills and Gannets moving past, that was until Calum picked up a Bonxie flying along the coast! 

Desert Wheatear (what a stunner!)

We had a few more hours free before we need to get back so we decided to drive a little further north to Broadsands with the possibility of seeing *Cirl Buntings*. We had a quick lunch and then carried on to look around the site. A local birder gave us some useful infomation as to where to find them so we took his advice and walked on the seafront checking the hedgerows alongside. 14 Brent Geese including 1 pale-bellied were close in shore but there was till no sign of our buntings. However, our doubts were short lived as Calum picked up a few calling in the reeds. A smart male then jumped into view and gave good but brief views. By now a little group of about 8 had joined and seemed to be moving along the hedge, Back at the car park we found a pair coming to seed place just alongside the hedge, here we had some really great views of another very smart species. Just before the light faded to much we had a look offshore, A small scoter flock was very distant but I was happy to call at least 2 Velvet Scoters with a few Commons, Also, a Black-necked Grebe out in the bay.

Cirl Buntings