Exe Estuary Lesser Crester Tern

With it now being well into December, I had been thinking that that was it for the year as far as national birding was concerned. So when news of a "yellow-billed" Tern dropped on Wednesday at around midday my ears certainly pricked up. Could there be one last hurrah for the year? Now, the trouble with yellow-billed Terns is that they are very hard to identify (see my handy guide at the end of this post). This bird was intially being reported as a Royal or West African Crested Tern and it was only a few hours later that the ID was firmed up to Lesser Crested Tern. Anyway, it didn't really matter to me - any one of these yellow-billed Terns apart from Elegant (see here for an account of seeing the one at Pagham Harbour) would be a lifer for me. So, the next question was "what to do about it?". Now, my youger daughter was wanting to have the house to herself on Saturday to host a "Friends Giving" party for all her friends and she wanted me and my wife out of the house. This would be the perfect opportunity for me to head down to the Exe Estuary and to stay over somewhere on Saturday night. I hatched a plan accordingly and watched developments in Devon that week with keen interest, hoping that the bird would stay. The Tern did indeed do the decent thing and decided that the Exe was to its liking. It seemed to like Dawlish Warren the most and was pretty much a dead cert first thing in the morning where it would loaf around on a buoy for long periods. "If the bird stays then this is going to be fairly easy" I was thinking to myself as I tracked the news each day leading up to Saturday. Had I learned nothing about jinxing from all my years of birding? It would turn out to be far harder than I was expecting.

Come Saturday and I have a few errands first thing so it wasn't until about 9:30am that I set off on the three hour slog down to Devon. Unusually the bird had been seen first thing but then had disappeared. That was a break from its usual pattern and started me fretting somewhat. News dropped from Bird Guides about the Lesser Crested Tern. "Surely that will be confirmation that it's still there" I thought. But no, it was "no sign since 7:30am" - not what I wanted to hear. I followed the route down towards the South West that was so familiar from my Cornwall days, trying to recalibrate my expectations for this trip and to come to terms with the fact that I might actually dip. For much of the journey down there was just stoney silence from Bird Guides. Finally on the M5 towards Devon news came that it was on a pontoon at the Turf Hotel, a Tern location that I'd not hitherto heard of. However, it didn't stay there long and soon disappeared again. Next it was distantly viewable from some beach I'd never heard of that was on the east side of the estuary rather than the usual west side. Hmmn, the bird was certainly not sticking to the script at all and I was not sure what to do. As I got closer to the junction 30 turn off, the news was now "no further sign". So in the end I decided to go to the Exeter Services, that being equidistant between the east and west sides of the estuary, to eat my packed lunch and to await developments. 

I was just finishing my lunch when more welcome news dropped: "showing distantly from Starcross railway platform". I needed no further prompting, set the Sat Nav accordingly and raced off.  At this point Google Maps in its infinite wisdom saw fit to take me on a really tortuous route down the A38, and then on some single track road through somewhere called Kenn before rejoining the main road south. While I'm sure I probably saved a minute or so, the anxiety it caused from fretting about where on earth I was being taken probably cost me at least a minute off my lifespan! Anyway, about 20 minutes later I rocked up at the Starcross car park. I grabbed just my bins and scope and hurried along the path. I was expecting to go to the railway platform itself some 200 yards away but almost immediately I came across some birders on the other side of a path across the railway track, entered via a kissing gate. They seemed to be scoping something intently so I hurried across to be given some instructions:

"See the blue buoy?" (thankfully there was only one)

"From that drop down to the nearby red buoy at around 8 o'clock" (got that)

"and it's immediately behind that on the far sand bank"

I had been thinking he was going to say on the nearer sandbank but no, it was the incredibly distant one. However, the sun was shining behind us and I could make out some distant Oystercatchers and a single small white bird. It then turned its head and I could make out its yellow bill and black rear half of its head. Bingo - it was in the bag! All the tension from this morning evaporated and I could relax, safe in the knowledge that this was to be a successful trip. After a few minutes I decided to head back to get my coat and walking boots so I could go down the steps onto the beach, thereby being out of the really strong wind that was making viewing at such a distance even more difficult. So I went back, got the rest of my stuff and returned. However, duing those few minutes the Tern had decided to move on and was now in flight. I tracked it along with the others as it flew relatively close over some nearby fishing boats before heading south down the estuary. Wow - that had been a close thing! I had really only just made it by a few minutes.

I didn't manage any photos from my initial view so here is one courtesy of Ewan Urquhart

"It's probably going back to its old haunts from the previous days at the south end of the estuary" I thought. I headed back to the car and decided that I would probably go to Dawlish Warren to set up camp there. I reprogrammed the Sat Nav and set off south, passing through some pretty villages and a lovely small harbour with a picturesque thatched pub. News dropped that the bird was on show distantly from the Cockwood Steps. This had been a location that had featured regularly in previous days as an alternative viewing location. In previous days, it had always been more distant from Cockwood than the Warren so I decided to stick to my plan. I duly arrived at the Dawlish Warren car park, paid a (rather hefty) fee for parking and set off along with a few other birders with the same idea. We weren't entirely sure where to go but soon met a young local birder who, along with his father, guided us on our way.

It turned out that the bird hide, from which sightings had generally been reported was now closed. While it was possible to walk along the north border of the Warren to view from near the hide, our guide suggested going out to the Point instead where it would be a bit more sheltered. The walk was through some pleasant scrub area (known as Greenland Lake for some reason) and I kept my eyes out for Cirl Buntings though without any luck. It turned out to be a good half an hour all the way to the Point and when we got there it was still blowing a gale. We found shelter as best we could and scoped the estuary. One of the others soon picked out the bird, very distantly all the way across the estuary, rather close to the Cockwood side. We tracked it as it flew around occasionally or loafed on the sand though views were so distant that I couldn't even see the yellow bill from this range so I had to rely on younger eyes to tell me which bird it was. I realised that I had made a tactical blunder in coming round to this side and I should have gone to Cockwood steps where not only would the bird have been much closer but it would also be completely sheltered down on the beach under the sea wall. Oh well!

The view from Dawlish Warren Point across the estuary to Cockwood in the distance

Dawlish Warren landscape

We all eventually decided to give it up as a bad job and headed back on the half hour slog to the car park. It was getting late but I decided to head over to Cockwood to see if the bird was still on show there. After all, it was on the way to my AirBnB for the night anyway so there was nothing to lose by doing this. I parked up in the layby which was suspiciously empty and reviewed my Bird Guides messages. Gah! The Tern had apparently flown off 15 minutes ago. On well, I thought I would go and take a look at this site anyway. After all it might come back and at least I would complete the set of viewing sites! Down the steps on the beach it was wonderfully sheltered. With just a few birders left and it getting late, it was very peaceful and I really enjoyed a chance to relax finally after a day of rushing around. There was a party of four Red-breasted Mergansers hunting close in on the water and distant flocks of Brent Geese spread around the bay over towards Dawlish. Greenshank, Oystercatchers and Redshank were dotted about the place and I looked through the loafing gulls to see if I could turn up a Caspian (I couldn't). Gradually more and more people left until I was the last one there. I reflected on my day: it had been successful for sure though the views could have been better. I'd seen some gripping photos on WhatsApp from the Cockwood side where the bird had at times been very close indeed. Still, I had my shiny tick under the belt and I had tomorrow morning to try to get better views before heading back home. All in all, not too bad.

The view from the beach by Cockwood steps

I returned to the car and set the coordinates for my AirBnb which was located on the south side of Exeter only 20 minutes away. It turned out to be a simple but comfortable affair though on a rather noisy main road. I headed over to a nearby supermarket for provisions before settling in for the evening in the B&B. Soon after, news broke of a Scops Owl that had been found in a park in Swansea. This did get me thinking that, should be it found roosting tomorrow, it would make the perfect on-the-way-home bonus bird. However, the weather forecast for tomorrow for the whole of Wales and indeed also the South West where I was, was horrendous with strong winds and driving rain so any self respecting owl would probably want to be tucked well out of sight. I would have to just see how tomorrow would play out and settled down for the night, enjoying the restful sleep of someone who had already connected with their target bird. 

I awoke the next morning after a reasonable sleep to find the weather forecast had proven accurate. This would make hunting for the Tern rather problematic and I didn't really fancy braving the elements in all that. So instead I decided to head over to Broadsands at first light to see if I could catch up with some Cirl Buntings after my failure at the start of the year when coming back from the Booted Eagle. As I drove through the half light of dawn the weather was as atrocious as predicted with strong winds and driving rain. I was starting to wonder if the entire morning was going to be a write off at this rate.

I headed down to the usual lower car park and, after some on-line guidance from a friendly birding WhatsApp group, I settled down to try to winkle out some Cirls. Such was the weather that I decided to set up the scope in the back seat of the car and to watch from there as otherwise it would have been hopeless. This way I could at least scope the hedges and the ground in front of them, though with the car window open I was getting lots of rain coming in and onto my scope lens. Given the strong winds the only birds that were around were some Wood Pigeons and Carrion Crows. After a while I did notice a flock of smaller birds flying around near the seeded area though the wind was making them very skittish. Eventually I managed to see them well enough to identify them as Chaffinches. They soon gave it up as a bad job and disappeared.

After a while I decided to move further away so that rather than viewing along the hedge line I was viewing more perpendicular to it. This way I could stand a better chance of actually peering into the hedge a little. I eventually spotted a small streaky brown bird in the hedge which turned out to be a female House Sparrow. A flock of them soon descended and rapidly worked their way over the seeded area but they too were very skittish and kept retreating. A Sparrowhawk shot over the area, no doubt used to finding lots of prey around that area but this morning there were no birds to be had. 

The more distant view across the car park from my car window, trying to peer into the hedges on the far side

 

I poured myself a cup of tea from the flask and started thinking about when to give up. It had been about an hour now and I was starting to think that the weather had defeated me. Was I destined not to see a Cirl Bunting once again? Just then I noticed a bit of movement at the bottom of the hedge and shifted my scope to view that area. Bingo! There was the stripy headed beauty that is a male Cirl Bunting. There were four birds in total, two males and two females and I watched them for several minutes as they worked their way over the seeds before they too fled back to the protection of the hedges at the next big gust of wind. 

Pleased with my success I packed away my gear and pondered what to do next. There was no news on the Tern still and the Owl had come back as "no sign" that morning. So I started to think about maybe just heading home and set the Sat Nav accordingly. Some 10 minutes into this journey back towards the Exe estuary area, news broke that the Tern was back at the Turf Hotel pontoon at the end of the Exeter Canal where it meets the River Exe. It had been seen at this location yesterday morning briefly while I'd been driving down but was a site that I'd hitherto not visited. It was right on the route back home anyway so it seemed like a no brainer to try for it before heading home and I adjusted the Sat Nav accordingly. 

Some 20 minutes later I was following a couple of other birders' cars down a narrow single track road towards the parking area. At one point we all had to manoeuvre to let someone through coming the other way and in doing so one of my front wheels went into a ditch. Thank heavens for the all wheel drive of the Gnome-mobile to get me out again. Phew! That wasn't the end of it: towards the end of the road, we had to drive through some deep flood water for about 30 yards before finally arriving at the small car park, which thankfully wasn't too full yet. I found a parking space, tooled up with all my waterproofs and followed my fellow birders off on the path.

It turned out to be about a 20 minute walk along a tarmacked path that ran parallel to but below the canal. In the fields next to us were Exeminster Marshes with plenty of Geese (mostly Brents) and some calling Redshank. I hurried on, all too aware that the Tern had a tendancy to suddenly fly off and could do so at any moment. I was just rounding the final bend when some birders started coming back the other way and news broke on WhatsApp that the bird had indeed flown off! Gah - so close! 

The pontoon - providing a good roosting spot at high tide

Given I had walked all that way I thought I would at least go and see the now ternless pontoon and made my way over to the group of other birders who were still there. They were mostly standing around aimlessly though a few were actively scanning the water. It was pretty much high tide presently and there were not really any sand banks on which the bird could rest and nor were there many buoys in sight - it was all just water. Suddenly someone picked up the Tern flying back towards us before it landed back down on the pontoon again. What joy! There it was in all its terny glory and only about 150 yards away, so not the distant speck of yesterday afternoon. I set about trying to take some digiscoped video though the wind was still very strong and shook the scope mercilessly.

A phone-scoped image of the Lesser Crested Tern in all its glory

 
...and some rather shaky disgiscoped video footage

The bird did have another little fly around briefly before resettling on the pontoon. There were also some Oystercatchers, a few Black-headed Gulls and some Dunlin around. I watched it for quite a while - this very much felt like a fitting climax to the weekend's birding proceeding with the most prolonged and settled views of the trip so I spent a while taking it all in. Eventually I felt it was time to head back so retraced my steps in a much more relaxed frame of mind than when I'd been hurrying anxiously towards the bird. 

Birders enjoying great views of the Tern in the pouring rain

The end of the Exeter canal

Back at the car park it was carnage! Birders were still trying to get in while others were trying to leave and for a while the whole car park was literally grid locked. Someone managed to reverse into another parked car and leave a mark which the owner wasn't too happy about. Eventually with a bit of orchestrated shuffling around of cars, those who wanted to could leave and the newcomers could park. I headed back down the single track road and back to the main road. 

I made a quick pit stop at the Exeter services to buy some lunch and then it was back on the M5 for the long slog home. I kept an eye on the bird news in case the Scops Owl should be found but there was no sign of it as I journied north so I committed to heading home and back to Casa Gnome, arriving back mid afternoon for a most welcome celebratory cup of tea. It had been a very successful trip with multiple sightings of the rare Lesser Crested Tern and some lovely bonus Cirl Buntings to boot. What a grand weekend adventure!

 

A fabulous photo of the Lesser Crested Tern, taken by Ewan Urquhart from a boat. 
See his great blog here

The Gnome Cut-out-and-Keep Guide to Yellow-billed Terns

There are five yellow-billed Tern species which are all confusingly similar. Royal, Elegant, West African Crested, Greater Crester and Lesser Crested. It is a testament to how confusing they are that even this bird, arguably the easiest to identify, was misidentified for several hours. LCT has a grey rump which distinguishes it from the others. Royal, GCT and WACT are all larger. Apart from that it is down to nuances of bill structure and wing colour.

Royal Tern

This is a larger Tern with a chunky bill - think yellow-billed Caspian Tern. It is found on both coasts of Central and South America as well as the the east coast and the Gulf of Mexico of the USA

Elegant Tern

A medium sized yellow-billed Tern. It is found on the west coast of the USA and Mexico in the summer and migrates south to the west coast of South America in the winter. Some vagrant birds have made it over to Europe where they have bred with the locals to produce hybrid off-spring. The Pagham Harbour bird I saw was a (pure) European Elegant Tern that had hopped over from a colony in France.

Greater Crested Tern

A larger yellow-billed Tern. It is widely spread from the east coast of Africa though the Middle East and Asia all the way to Australasia. There are five subspecies 

West African Crested Tern
The third of the three larger yellow-billed Terns, formerly thought to be conspecific with Royal until DNA evidence revealed it was actually closer to Lesser Crested. As the name suggests, it is found along the west coast of Africa

Lesser Crested Tern

Breeds in subtropical coastal parts of the world mainly from the Red Sea across the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific, and Australia, with a significant population on the southern coast of the Mediterranean on two islands off the Libyan coast.