A late afternoon walk around the patch today was timed well as the flock of 22 White-fronted Geese arrived onto Little Marsh at around 4.10pm where they joined the Canada Goose flock. They arrived from the north, so may be feeding further up the Otter Valley during the day.
A miserable windy grey day was brightened up late this afternoon thanks to Rick who found a group of 22 Russian White-fronted Geese on Little Marsh. The last time the species was seen here was back in December 2021, so it was a welcome sight!
Other birds recently on the patch include - a bizarre sighting of 2 South African Shelducks on the evening of the 15th with an Avocet. The two immature Spoonbills, Spotted Redshank and Little Stint continue to overwinter on site.
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| 16 of the 22 Greater White-fronted Geese, Little Marsh |
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| The 22 Greater White-fronted Geese, thinking twice about departing in southerly gale! |
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| South African Shelduck, Big Marsh North |
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| Up to 4 Cattle Egrets have been see around Little Marsh |
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| Two immature Spoonbills, seem to be commuting between the Otter and the Teign |
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| Spoonbills |
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| Grey Plover, always nice to see, as ever a common species on the Otter Estuary |
The Slavonian Grebe, Little Stint and Spotted Redshank all still remain faithful to the Otter Estuary NR, but today's surprise was a Purple Sandpiper feeding on the southern edge of Big Marsh with a small group of Ringed Plover. Although I have recorded Purple Sandpiper before in Budleigh, I have only ever seen them on the rocks off Otter Head and they are always very scarce, so to see one feeding on the mudflats was quite exciting.
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| Purple Sandpiper Otter Estuary NR 10 Jan 2026 |
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| Spotted Redshank, Otter Estuary NR 09 Jan 2026 |
Yesterday during the late afternoon, I was very surprised to find a Stint on the patch. It was always distant and the light was fading, but I managed some poor record shots. Despite the distance, I was pretty happy it was just still a Little Stint and nothing rarer. However, I was keen to see it closer, particularly as the plumage looked slightly odd.
The bird was still present today and finally showed much closer, so it was good to confirm it was a juvenile moulting into 1st winter plumage. It's an unusual plumage to see in the UK and it will be interesting to see if the bird stays the whole winter.
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| Moulting Juv to 1st winter Little Stint 31/12/25, Otter Estuary NR |
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| Moulting Juv to 1st winter Little Stint 31/12/25, Otter Estuary NR |
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| Moulting Juv to 1st winter Little Stint 31/12/25, Otter Estuary NR |
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| Moulting Juv to 1st winter Little Stint 31/12/25, Otter Estuary NR |
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| Little Stint, Otter Estuary NR taken on 30th December |
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| Slavonian Grebe, Otter Estuary NR |
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| Slavonian Grebe with Sand Goby, Otter Estuary NR |
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| Slavonian Grebe, Otter Estuary NR |
Finally back from a good few weeks guiding overseas and pleased to be home.
Thanks to a great find by Devon birder and old friend AJ, I added a new bird to my patch list this afternoon, in the form of a Slavonian Grebe. I'm pretty sure it is a first record for the Otter Estuary too. Sadly, it is becoming an increasingly rare bird in Devon these days. Thanks AJ!
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| Slavonian and Little Grebe, Otter Estuary |
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| Slavonian Grebe, Otter Estuary |
Having returned from 2 weeks in Namibia yesterday, I was looking forward to visiting the patch and headed down there late afternoon after having arrived into Heathrow very early morning. I decided to just take my bins and no camera - Big mistake! At around 3.20pm I picked up a distant Common / Pallid Swift being mobbed by a Crow! The light was pretty poor, so the only notable thing during this quick observation as it flew above a line of mature trees on the west side of Big Marsh south, was the very leisurely flight style of the bird. Noticeably slow wing beats and short glides. Possibly also blunter tipped wings.
After around a minute of watching, I took a gamble and quickly drove home to grab my camera and just hoped I could relocate it. I called Rick to see if he was around, but he wasn't available. Luckily, on my return, I picked up the Swift again twice at 4pm and 4.20pm, but I failed to see it particularly well or close and crucially, never managed any photos!
So I headed out again this morning in the hope it had roosted nearby and at around 07.50 I re-found it in the same area and then managed some poor photos at around 08.45! I saw it again at 10am, but at great distance as it drifted inland. Sadly, that was the final sighting, despite a few local birders looking throughout the morning.
Below is the best effort of any photo I managed to get and they do appear to show some Pallid-like features and with such a big national influx of Pallid Swifts in recent days, it's clearly not that unlikely.
I'm still cautious as to how much you trust what are ultimately very poor images....but overall there do appear to be relevant Pallid features, particularly on the photo below.
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| Original just cropped and lightened. Overall paler brown colouration compared to Common Swift and contrasting dark "alien" eye. |
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| Collage of all photos taken. Only heavily cropped and lightened. |
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| Sharpened image. Note contrasting dark eye, extensive pale throat patch |
Since the excitement of the Baird's Sandpiper, the great local birding continues with a nice selection of scarcities. I last saw the Baird's Sandpiper on the evening of the 21st September when it flew off in sunny warm conditions high NNW and calling continually as it went. The following morning a juvenile Little Stint was frequenting Little Marsh and then in the evening, there were 3 Curlew Sandpipers, along with a fly through Marsh Harrier (incredibly my first here) and a flock of 9 Glossy Ibis dropped in at dusk! This takes the total for the Otter this year as at least 17 birds!
This morning's highights were: a Spoonbill, the first Spotted Redshank of the autumn, 2 Little Stints, 1 Knot and the long staying Osprey still.
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| 2 Juv Little Stints, Otter Estuary NR 23 Sep 2025 |
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| Juv Baird's Sandpiper, Otter Estuary NR 21 Sep 2025 |
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| Juv Baird's Sandpiper, Otter Estuary NR 21 Sep 2025 |
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| Juv Osprey colur-ringed 8JT. This bird has remained loyal to the reserve for the last couple of weeks and was ringed as a chick in July on the Tweed River on teh Scottish Borders |
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| Spoonbill, Otter Estuary NR 23 Sep 2025 |
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| Spoonbill, Otter Estuary NR 23 Sep 2025 |
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| Spoonbill, Otter Estuary NR 23 Sep 2025 |
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| Juv Marsh Harrier, Otter Estuary NR 22 Sep 2025 |
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| 9 Glossy Ibis in the last glimmers of light, Otter Estuary NR 22 Sep 2025 |
Well, tonight was exciting on the patch! Literally, the first bird I see at the pools on Little Marsh is a Baird's Sandpiper! Another local birder (Steve Windle) had already found the bird and he had pretty much already concluded it was a Baird's Sandpiper, but understandably he wanted to see it closer and get some better photos to be sure. So it was exciting to be there and help confirm his suspensions with him. A great find Steve! The last record for Devon was 2015 on the Axe Estuary (thanks Mark Bailey for the stats). It seems to be a first for the Otter Estuary too!
Rare waders have certainly been on my radar this autumn as there has been a significant influx of nearctic waders into the SW. I'm just chuffed the Baird's chose the local patch! Also great to see a few locals connect with it tonight including Rick, Clive and Leon. The Baird’s was very flighty tonight and called a lot (low toned prrrt) as it bombed up and down the north end of Big Marsh before settling again on Little Marsh.
Prior to all this excitement, my highlight was seeing a Juv Arctic Tern sheltering from the wind on one of the islands on South Marsh. A rare bird here too and my first actually on the Otter Estuary.
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| Juvenile Baird's Sandpiper, Little Marsh. The pale loral spot, mini pec band, scaly upperparts and long wings all visible on these photos. To quote Richard Millington's Twitcher's Diary a "mini weetabix on legs!" |
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| Juvenile Arctic Tern, Big Marsh South |
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| Tiny legs! |
Great to find 3 Curlew Sandpipers on yesterday's high tide - Equals my highest count for the patch!
