HARTLAND

Had a week away to Hartland North Devon a couple of weeks ago, staying at East Titchberry farm. It's right on the coastal path with some spectacular views and beautiful walks, and it turned up two lifers for myself which made it extra special.

our cottage for the week

 Here's some of the fantastic views we had on our walks.

Here's a map of  the coastal path around the area we were staying.

walkers map

There were some fantastic habitat there mostly fields with hedgerows and trees, some small woods and rocky cliffs and seashore. 

Hartland Point has a lighthouse which is no longer open to the public as the shore line around there is very dangerous. 

hartland point lighthouse

On the rocky cliff above the lighthouse a female Kestrel was resident.

the rocky cliff above the lighthouse

the resident female kestrel

Opposite Hartland point was a field where Lamas were kept, not something you see everyday.

some lamas

Besides the Kestrel the cliffs also had plenty of gulls - with seals, whales and dolphins sometimes swimming in close to the shore. I personally didn't see any of the latter but here's a Herring gull I did see plenty of them.

herring gull

My biggest disappointment of the trip was that there were Peregrine falcons nesting on the cliffs and although I had some spectacular views of them through my binoculars I never managed a decent image. The best one I took was this brown blob in the picture below (gutted).

superb flight shot of a peregrine 😂

Back at the farm the owners had set up some feeders where the usual garden species would visit. There were chaffinches, House Sparrows, Robins, Blackbirds and the more common Tit species with the resident Pheasant making the odd appearance.

the feeders

 

the resident pheasant

 On one of my late afternoon walks I was stopped in my tracks when I heard this sound coming from deep inside some thick hedgerow.

Yes a Grasshopper Warbler a bird I've often heard but never seen. I recorded it's call on my mobile phone then played it back, within a few seconds up it popped. I grabbed myself a few pictures before leaving it in peace.

grasshopper warbler

here's it reeling

I was over the moon to have finally bagged my self this very shy and secretive bird.

what a beauty

My luck was about to get even better. Cirl Buntings are quite a rare bird in the UK, with pockets of them in South Devon and some being reintroduced into Cornwall. There was talk that there were a very small number that had made their way to North Devon where I was staying. The coastal path is miles long with vast fields and hedgerows so locating such a small bird would be impossible, but miraculously whilst out on one of our walks I thought I heard the call of a male Cirl Bunting. Scouting along the fields and vegetation with my binoculars there it was.

cirl bunting

I couldn't believe my eyes my heart was pounding as I started taking some pictures. It was a fair way off  but with my new 600mm sigma lens I was able to grab some usable images.

another beauty

What a cracking bird and it sure made the holiday even more memorable than it already was. After that I was on cloud nine seeing a Cirl Bunting I still couldn't believe it.  

Here's some pics of other species that were in the area. Including this family of Stonechats.

male stonechat

female

juvenile

There were some nice Whitethroats around the hedgerows

white throat

 

Also Linnets

male linnet

female

Lots of Goldfinch

goldfinch

And Skylarks

skylark

I had a great weeks birding and seeing the two lifers was the icing on the cake so I was well pleased we went. Beautiful cottage which is owned by Nigel and Karol who were great hosts, just a pity about them peregrines never mind let's hope we go again.