Birdwatching Group: Cuckoos & other Feathered Friends.
On 9th May, on a lovely sunny and warm late spring day, the birding group visited the Devon Wildlife Trust Emsworthy Mire nature reserve near Haytor on Dartmoor.
The reserve covers 99 hectares and is set in a gently sloping valley which leads you down between ancient dry-stone walls to the ruins of a moorland farm, abandoned since the 1870s. In early summer the fields all around are a dazzling purple from the flowers of thousands of bluebells...and we went at just the right time to enjoy this lovely spectacle.
Our first sighting was a wheatear, quickly followed by redstart. Then, quietly in the distance, we heard a cuckoo call - something some of us had not heard for many years.
As we moved closer to the Mire, the calls became louder and louder until a trio of cuckoos flew past us, weaving in and out of the stunted trees. And, just a few steps on, near the ruined farmhouse and perched in full view, a glorious male cuckoo, who posed for us for quite some time. By this time the cuckoo calls were coming thick and fast from all around us. Some pied wagtails, skylarks, goldfinches, stonechats and a few others later it was time to leave for lunch.
We had an enjoyable lunch, outside in the sunshine, at the nearby Ullacombe Cafe, a bustling farm shop, café, and butchery.
After lunch, as the weather was so pleasant, we decided to move on to another site, just a few miles away. The car park is next to a path into the wood and just a few steps in...pied flycatchers swooping in and out of the nesting boxes, snatching insects to feed their young. An excellent end to an excellent day.
Click on an image to start the lightshow
Bird List
(H) = Heard but not seen
- Blackbird
- Blackcap (H)
- Blue Tit
- Buzzard
- Carrion Crow
- Chaffinch
- Cuckoo
- Curlew (H)
- Goldfinch
- Great Tit
- House Sparrow
- Jackdaw
- Magpie
- Meadow Pipit
- Pied Flycatcher
- Pied Wagtail
- Redstart
- Skylark
- Stonechat
- Swallow
- Wheatear
- Willow Warbler
- Woodpigeon
- Wren (H)