Sunny Exmoor

Today I spent a enjoyable morning with Tim Taylor down in the coombes of Exmoor. The target was a bird was a first for me in Somerset. It is a bird with a name that raises eyebrows with non birders. It is of course the Ring Ouzel (stop tittering at the back......).

 After a 10 minute walk down through Chetsford water to where Ember coombe meets it, We found the Rowan trees laden with bright red berries. Alas no Ouzels were present at this time.After a wait of approx 30 mins a pair appeared from nowhere & gave brief views before disappearing again. After a short walk along Nutscale water we returned back to where the streams meet & again found a male & female further back along Chetsford water. A fellow birder also pointed out a female on a bush up on the hillside & said he had seen at least 5 others that had flown off. So that made at least 6 individuals present & judging by the amount of berries, they could well stay a little longer before migrating to Africa for the winter.

The record shots below show a male with his large white gorget.