Midlands Birding Blog

My main birdwatching trip during the week's holiday in Devon was to Dawlish Warren, where I was hoping to find the Roseate Tern. Being July, I wasn't expecting too much, but it ended up being a really productive trip. I hadn't realised that for over a year now the path to the bird hide has been closed due to erosion, turning a walk which was formerly quite short into a much longer slog along the beach.  You now have to walk along the path to Groyne 10 and then along the beach to Groyne 18 and then round and back on yourself to the hide. This probably doubles the length of the walk. We had timed our trip so as to reach the hide around high tide and didn't have time to do the new walk. We therefore feared the visit was over before it had even begun, but decided to make the best of the situation and scope the Bight from the dune-top path level with Groyne 10, just before the path is closed. This turned out to be more successful than we expected and I quickly picked up one

With the relaxation of lockdown allowing holidays, we took the opportunity to spend a week in our holiday home in East Devon. We are very lucky to be close to both the East Devon Commons and the River Otter. On one night, we went for a walk along the river in the hope of finding one of the Beavers which live there. Introduced in 2015, these were the first Beavers to live in the wild in the UK in 400 years, and they have thrived ever since. Seeing them isn't easy however, due to their nocturnal habits. On this occasion though we struck gold, and this beaver swam right alongside us just a few metres away. It was so close that this video was taken on my iPhone camera.  As Devon Wildlife Trust suggests, we have found the stretch of river near to the village of Otterton to be the most productive, and a visit about an hour before sunset (or later). However, they are known to range from Honiton all the way to Budleigh Salterton on the coast. The River Otter is great during the day too,