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Devon Wildlife Tours

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10/01/2025

Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis)

A winter rarity in Devon and much of the south, three of these birds have been hanging around Budleigh Salterton beach for the last few months and one was seen during our guided walk yesterday.

✨ Identification Features:

- Called the “snowflake bird,” a touch of Arctic white and glacial blues are mixed with muddy browns and crisp blacks.
- The bright yellow bill stands out

📍 Tips to see one:

- I mostly encounter them on coastal beaches or salt marsh, often on the margin between shorter vegetation & bare ground/mudflat/paths.

- They largely skulk around on the floor feeding on seeds from grasses and weeds. These ones were favouring the seeds of Sea Beet! Occasionally they pop up to give excellent views

- The camouflage is unreal, making them incredibly hard to first see when not moving, however, once found they are incredibly tame and will happily feed just a few metres away (see photo).

http://www.devonwildlifetours.co.uk/walks/

09/01/2025

In winter, many kingfishers relocate to large rivers, lakes and coastal areas, where they know they can dive for fish even in the cold. Whilst excellent hunters, even they can't break through ice! ❄️🐟✨

This particular bird has taken to using this bridge as a perch for hunting. While normally they would use overhanging trees, at coastal estuaries, where trees are few and far between, they use a combination of methods such as diving from artificial structures (like this) or even hover hunting! - I'm working on getting a picture of this to share.

This photo was taken today during a guided walk in East Devon.

http://www.devonwildlifetours.co.uk/walks/

08/01/2025

Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus)

Recent heavy rain (and flooded wetlands) led to five of these typically skulking birds being seen on our guided walk yesterday. Exposed damp soil was limited to a few open areas forcing lots of birds to feed in the open but how to know its a Water Rail?

KEY ID FEATURES:
- Super stylish; brown overcoat flecked black, grey shirt & zebra stripped pants
- Bill long and red

CONFUSION SPECIES:
Moorhen - uniform dark plumage except a white slash on each flank. No barred flanks here; they're keeping it simple. Bill short in snazzy red & yellow colour combo.

Coot - Clad in all-black. Bill short in standout white. Minimalist chic.

30/12/2024

Turkey Tail Mushrooms (Trametes versicolor): The maltifarious of all fungi - so how to spot 'em?

✅ Watercolour-esque Striping: Bands of brown, beige, orange, and even blues, like a tiny woodsy flag.
✅ Velvety Texture: Soft to the touch—nature’s mushroom rug.
✅ White Underside: Flip 'em over. True turkey tails have tiny pores (not gills), keeping it classy.
✅ Shelf Life: Literally—they grow on fallen logs like natural bookshelves! Seen all year, grow all year.

🔀 Hear are the lookalikes:
🚫 False Turkey Tail (Stereum ostrea): Looks legit until you flip it. Smooth underside = FAKE! (Also, not velvety—more like a scratchy sweater from Aunt Martha.)
🚫 Hairy Bracket Fungus (Trametes hirsuta): Close cousin, but too furry! Did we ask for a s**g carpet?
🚫 Gilled Polypore (Lenzites betulina): Has gills instead of pores. You had ONE job!

🪵Remember: If it’s on a log and looks like a watercolor painting, good chance its Turkey Tail! 🌿

29/12/2024

Velvet Shank Mushroom (Flammulina velutipes) – The winter mushroom that’s too cool to freeze! ❄️

How to Spot This Fungal Fashionista:
🔸 Cap: Bright orange, like a tiny umbrella left out in the rain—sticky when wet, smooth when dry, and rocking a slightly darker center. Size? Anywhere from "baby button" to "mini pancake." 🥞
🔸 Gills: Pale cream to yellow, tightly packed like rush-hour commuters. And no, they’re not clinging to the stem—gill independence is key! 💪
🔸 Stem: Dressed for winter in a velvety coat, brown to black at the base, fading to yellow toward the top. Tapered, because nobody likes baggy stems. 🧥
🔸 Habitat: Loves a crowd! Look for clusters on dead wood—preferably hardwood but isn’t too picky. Think “woodsy social butterfly.” 🌳
🔸 Season: A winter wonder, strutting its stuff from late autumn to early spring when most other fungi are in hibernation.

⚠️ Confusion species: most likely to mistake it for the sneaky Funeral Bell (Galerina marginata), the toxic doppelgänger ☠️

11/12/2024

What does a Heron eat? More than just fish!

This Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) has become a regular hunter of small mammals in front of a local bird hide. After ~6 minutes of musical statues, it caught this Common Shrew (Sorex araneus) and swallowed it in one. Annoyingly, after getting a dead arm, I stopped filming after 5 minutes......but was quick enough to grab this image. I'll try again another day.

23/05/2023

These two are rather cute 🪺 anyone want to have a guess at which bird species they are?

I’ll give a clue…..the nest is in a barn…. 🤷‍♂️

02/01/2023

Happy 2023 everyone! ⭐️

And look who was back to feature on this years garden bird list, a highlight of 2022 - the Black Redstart!

We’ve not seen/noticed this bird since mid-October 🤷‍♂️ but chances are it’s the same bird and is wintering in the local area.

The video is particularly cool because of the mist coming off the fence in the morning light. Note the Robin song too 🎶

25/12/2022

Ok I was wrong 😂 Santa decided to deliever another crop of Velvet Shanks, spotted while traveling to our Christmas Day destination 🥳 thanks Santa!

Have a lovely time everyone 🍄

24/12/2022

This may be my final mushroom forage of the year but these Velvet Shanks are a winter treat & beautifully sweet! 🍄

Being of the few mushrooms around during the winter and a flame orange colour, there isn’t too much to mix it up with. Key features are slimey cap, ‘velvet’ haired stem, no ring and darkening stem. If in doubt, leave it out! 🔥

I tried some raw but didn’t get the ‘toffee’ taste claimed. So I’ll dry some for future use while the rest will be my Christmas Day breakfast 🍴🌲

15/11/2022

Today I was asked by Shallowford Farm to run a Harvest Mouse survey workshop for their Dartmoor volunteers. After a good search for ~hour, we found our first nest hidden in a Molinia (grass) tussock!!

This was the first of five nests found & a strong indicator they’re doing well at this previously unknown site.

Harvest Mice are one of the most under-recorded species so this type of survey is gold ⭐️ Want to learn more? Visit the UK Mammal Society website where they’ve set up a national survey to help gather data - it’s super easy & super fun!

23/10/2022

Oodles of Ring Ouzels!

What an incredible walk today on Dartmoor with this stunning thrush. Ring Ouzel (the ‘upland Blackbird’ so to speak) historically used to breed on both Dartmoor and Exmoor but for various reasons (disturbance, climate change, land management) have been lost from both… Now our only chance to see them in Devon is on migration when birds from Scandinavia move through and autumn is your best chance 🍂

Todays walk was timed to perfection as Ring Ouzel have been flooding through the country since Thursday & in BIG numbers! Typically we’d be lucky to see six to ten in a day but today we saw at least 40!!! Oh and hundreds of Fieldfare too 🤩

To top off a great walk, we also managed to bump into two other striking rarities; a Firecrest and Black Redstart 🔥 it was just one of those red letter birding days that left everyone delighted 😁

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Kingskerswell

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http://devonwildlifetours.co.uk/

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