NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

I recently spent a few days in the small but perfectly formed town of Shaldon, in south Devon, nestled on the southern flank of the mouth of the Teign estuary, where the river discharges into the Atlantic Ocean. Although not a birding trip, the optics, of course, came along too. Two dawn starts were made (31st March and 2nd April) where I walked southwards along the South-West Coast path, leaving Shaldon via a number of steep slopes before arriving at Labrador Bay, an area of farmland, copse, gorse scrub and hedgerow, managed in part by the RSPB - whose presence is explained by residency of a very special bird indeed - the Cirl Bunting. Coming from Surrey, I have few opportunities to watch this species, although I am old enough to have seen this bunting in my home county (way back in the 1970s and early 80s, although even then the population was down to a single pair). My two visits to Labrador Bay were blessed with clear skies, sunshine and shelter from a nagging and cold northerly wi...

Number 3 - 22 June 2009 - Torcross to Prawle and back And now we reach the top three. If you are expecting there to be rarity, enormous falls or jammy finds, I am about to disappoint you. The top three are (mainly) of the ordinary - at least on the surface they might appear to be ordinary. But to me, all three are most certainly nothing but extraordinary ... I almost went to Soar Mill Cove to look for Shore Dock, and a more dull species of plant is hard to imagine. But I just couldn't find the enthusiasm in me to get in the car and drive there. Instead, I got out the OS map, opened it out on the table at the B&B I was staying at, and planned a long walk. After all, the weather forecast was for a sunny, warm and calm day and the scenery around Slapton and Torcross was more than agreeable. After a 'Full English' (hats off to the Plodding Birder) I left the pretty cottage garden of the guest house and strode southwards along the coastal path out of Torcross. I will ...