Devon/ Cornwall

Off on another tick hunting trip.
It never stopped raining for the whole journey down and I did wonder whether the decision to go was a wise one. My worries however were soon dispelled on arrival as dawn broke over Exminster Marshes in full sunshine

Spent about 10 minutes sifting through the many wigeon and eventually found the odd coloured one

This was a piece of luck. The LEO that had been present earlier in the winter had moved on before my first trip here, only to return yesterday

Next stop Tamar estuary, which proved a little more difficult

It was a bit of a sod to find really (especially when your OS map is 25 years old and some of the roads are not actually on the map!) It didnt get any easier on arrival either. I thought I had done the hard bit but spent the next 15 minutes wandering around a golf club complex including a few excursions across fairways etc which didnt go down too well. I do find golfers to be on the whole an arrogant bunch of wankers so I didnt mind upsetting them. I eventually found the footpath which led to the hides where upon I met another tosser, who with no prompting at all said. "Oh are you looking for the Yellowlegs? I have been watching it well for the last 15 minutes and its now flown off up the creek"

Yeah probably flushed by you, you smug git.

As expected the bird hadnt come back when I reached the hide. Also the hide was full and people had spilled out onto the foreshore which wasnt really going to help.

In a stroke of luck the bird suddenly flew in and landed on the far bank. It agitatedly nodded and bobbed Redshank style for a bit before buggering off back where it had come from. But crucially not before I had managed to get some cracking photos.

Despite waiting for another hour it didnt come back again so I decided to settle for the photos I had

Decided to head back north via Dartmoor

The Rooks around the car parks were very tame. And particularly ugly.

Few Skylarks also about

A wander along a couple of likely looking streams didnt produce Dipper but Wren was a tick . Again not the best photo you might see but they all count.

The other main target of the day was Cirl Bunting. Namely the ones at Broadsands car park.
Leaving my banned 'cheap wild bird seed mix' in the car and armed only with my premium budgie seed
I headed off to the back of the car park. Actually I didnt have any of these but these are the strict instructions one must abide by when visiting this car park.
On arrival the fields at the back looked more promising and after a few minutes I was greeted by this calling male on the top of the hedge