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Week 15 - 05 - 11 April 2026 (Swallow and Barn Owl)

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So this week began as the previous one ended, still at the in laws in the West Midlands for the easter weekend. As nice as that was I was looking forward to getting back home after 4 nights away. I returned home and back to the patch on Monday evening. Tuesday was a rare day where my daughter had a day at nursery, I was off work, and the weather was absolutely stunning (although the breeze picked up a little). As such I headed out for my away trip of the week on Tuesday, heading down to Otterton and doing a 6.5 mile loop. This took in the Otter, a section of the Lower Otter Nature Reserve, and then a section of the Southwest Coast Path towards Ladram Bay. I just really enjoyed this walk, so lots of bird life, and even saw (while confidently identifying) my first Northern Fulmer . Northern Fulmer photographed from Stantyway Farm, Southwest Coast Path, East Devon. Much to my delight, I also then got out on the patch on the Tuesday afternoon with the dog. Heading around the Rockbeare sect...
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Week 14 - 29 March - 04 April 2026 (Lesser Black Backed Gull)

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Due to work early in the week, and then heading away on the Thursday evening for the Easter Weekend with the in-laws, this was my quietest week visiting the patch to date. With just one loop around the Rockbeare part on Tuesday 31 March, and then a short loop (post night shift pre school pickup) with the dog around the Cranbrook Ecology Park area on Thursday 02 April. Not too much unusual to report this week, other than the weather being lovely on both days. Highlights on the 31 March walk were the best views of Stock Dove I've had this year with a pair feeding together in a weedy field (it has since been ploughed), and the best views / photos of Common Chiffchaff I've got so far. Chiffchaff are mostly migrants, heading down to France and Iberia during UK winters, being an early returner in the spring, but many UK Chiffchaff no longer bother to migrate over the sea, with the milder winters in recent years allowing some to remain in the UK throughout winter, and we have a small...
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Week 12 & 13 - 09 - 28 March 2026

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A busy last couple of weeks with my wife away from work, leaving me to solo parent our daughter and dog around working full time myself. This meant I was unable to get the time to write my post last Saturday, and this last week has been so hectic that I've taken any moment of down time I can get to rest and sleep. Despite all this, I still have to walk the dog, and when the chance to do this has come during daylight hours I've made the most of it and got out in my small 1 mile radius patch from my home. As such I've managed 13 eBird checklists during this time, all bar one in either the Rockbeare part of the patch of Cranbrook, with the one down Southbrook Lane. No new species were seen in these 2 weeks , despite my attempts to see a Kingfisher. But there were plenty of other highlights, the breeding season continues apace, with lots of evidence of courtship and nest building seen in recent weeks, and I've had an abundance of Linnet feeding in the weedy stubble fields ...
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Week 11 - 08 - 15 March 2026

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 A whole week around home with no away trips this week. It started very grey and drizzly on Sunday, picked up and became lush by midweek, and then following a wettish day on Thursday, a couple of variable days to finish the week.  I managed 5   trips around the patch this week, as well as an incidental spot of a Sparrowhawk flying past my garden on Tuesday, much to the alarm of the birds in the vicinity. I've now become very attuned to the presence of Sparrowhawk, purely by recognising the change in the calls of the other birds! Despite remaining on keen watch for spring migrants, and seeing plenty of other reports o n  Hirundinidae  arriving on the south coast, nothing has appeared in the patch thus far. So the list has remained at 51 species seen within a mile of my house this year.  Although I've briefly seen one overflying in February (so already on the patch list), a pair of Mallards have returned and taken up residency in the Ecopark this last week....
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Week 10 - 01 - 07 March 2026 (Great Black Backed Gull)

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I achieved 6 walks around the patch this week, covering most of it across them all, hitting the Rockbeare section 3 times, Cranbrook Country Park twice, and Southbrook Lane once.  This week as well as the theme of evening more birds breaking into song, I've seen plenty of evidence of courtship and nest building, tried again (and failed) to see any of the local owls and I've been on the lockout for spring migrants, with both House Martin and Northern Wheatear being reported on eBird with 10 miles. I also managed an away trip on Wednesday up to Aylesbeare Common RSPB reserve, to see if anything to add to my Devon list, and check on the overwinter progress of the resident beaver population.  On Sunday 1st, the best spot was a Stock Dove in the Great Meadow, at this time of year I only tend to come across a couple of them each month, and also seeing Jackdaws and Rooks working in tandem to mob and drive away a Buzzard . This is a likely sign of some nests that they wished to pro...
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Week 9 - 22 - 28 February 2026 (Feral Pigeon)

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It's the beauty of patch birding, that a species that is very commonly seen by much of the UK population every week, can be a bit infrequent on a patch. This is the case for me and Feral Pigeons . I live about 5 miles northeast of Exeter, in a new town surrounded by countryside. We have few places for Rock Doves (the species name for a feral pigeon ) to nest, as they preferred rocky cliffs, but many a concrete ledge on a city suffices in modern times. We also don't have much of a town centre with shops / cafes / takeaways for them to forage among dropped crumbs of commutators. As such, I often only see Feral Pigeons on the patch among the vast number of Wood Pigeons and Stock Doves that descend following the grain harvest to pick over the spillages in the crop fields in August and September. So this week it was a nice surprise to see two un-ringed Rock Doves (Feral Pigeons) on the morning of Wednesday the 25th February picking around Ford Farm Farmyard, with the male displayi...
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Week 8 - 15 - 21 February 2026

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With half term it was a fairly quiet week, with time off work looking after my daughter, the patch walks this week were not as frequent as typical. With no new species added to the 2026 patch list. On Monday the 15th a loop around Rockbeare in the morning yielded a good number of fairly regular of birds, with the march towards breeding evident. Plenty of pairs in suitable habitat, and I think I may have found the site a pair of Long Tailed Tits are nest building.  Black Headed Gull in flight at Seaton On Tuesday the 17th, my daughter was in nursery, and I was off work so I had a rare chance to go of my patch and spend a morning watching birds. I chose to head down to Seaton , as I'd been hoping to get to the bowling green in the town and see the overwintering Black Redstarts and Lesser Whitethroat. I arrived nice and early so went down to Seaton Wetlands Black Hole Marsh for the sunrise on a beautiful / cold morning, and see if I could pick up the Western Cattle Egrets that have...
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