Sunday 11th March 2012

    Trip to Devon today in search of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. No sign im afraid, but did hear one calling in the deep of the wood. Good morning though. A Dipper flew along the stream and there were Grey Wagtails there too. No sign of Goshawks sadly, i have seen there on my last 2 visits. At least one Marsh Tit was seen and heard. Another late Redwing today as well.
    Also there i had the first multiple Butterfly sightings of the year. Brimstone (3), Peacock (3), Comma and a Holly Blue. The Holly Blue, i am told, is the equal earliest sighting of the species this year!

   What to do now was the next question, Exminster Marshes was the decision. Tried looking for the American Wigeon that had been around for a while there. Sadly the light was not from the best direction, we were looking straight into it all the time. On the way out of the reserve, i decided to take a quick look at the area where there had been a Long-eared Owl roosting a while back. We had gone down especially for it with no joy. To my surprise it was back! Showing well, but never quite well enough, always had branches or such in the way.

Long-eared Owl

   Then onto Bowling Green Marshes RSPB to take a look from the hide. Nothing out of the ordinary there, but always nice there. Back to Exminster hoping the Owl had moved into a better position, but it hadn't.