Water pipit have been a bit of a bogey bird for me over the years and I always seemed to miss them whenever they were seen here in Devon. I am glad to say that I have managed to put that to rest now because I have had really good sightings and taken photos of the bird that has been with us on the River Exe Estuary at the tiny little hamlet of Exton, literally only yards from the Commando Training Centre. There is a new wooden Boardwalk which is part of the Exe Estuary way. if you are local then you really must go, it is a real asset and quite an attractive feature. Water pipits are a nice little bird that I have always had trouble with. I had imagined that they are much more like Meadow Pipits than they actually are and here at Exton was the perfect opportunity to compare 3 different closely related species of "anthus" pipits. I can pass on some of the points that I found useful and you will too. The first thing to say is that Meadow Pipit are much more "stripy" on the back than Water who's backs are only only lightly marked. it is said that water are a bigger bird and they probably are but not significantly. The one I watched had a much  more upright stance than a Meadow and looked lighter in colour and as soon as I saw it I knew it was a Water Pipit. But undoubtedly the two quite significant features that were really obvious, at least in the birds here at Exton were, the  Meadows had quite bright fleshy coloured legs quite a contrast to the much darker legs in the Water, but it is worth mentioning that there was a hint of colour peeking through. Meadow Pipit legs are so flesh coloured that they almost look as though they are sore and suffering from being exposed to the cold which is not the case but that gives a good impression of what they are like. Water Pipits have a totally different face pattern with a very noticeable and obvious long white, perhaps off-white, eye stripe which is never there in such an obvious way in a Meadow. So, no eye stripe…. no Water Pipit, then look at the legs are they pink or dark?  Check the back pattern is it boldly or lightly marked, and that's pretty much it really. Confusion could be made with a Rock Pipit but they are a little darker and do not have such an obvious eye stripe. Much is made of wing bars in the Water Pipit but I have to say that it didn't come across that way to me.

Ringing Session

 It was a hard job when the clock  told me that it was just before 7 this morning and I dragged myself out of the cosiness of my bed, still in the dark. I stumbled down to the kettle and toast. "It better be good" I thought. So what was all this sacrifice about………  bird ringing of course. There is something strange about people who want to get up and do things at first light, but that seems to be the nature of the beast. I kept reminding myself why I was doing it and if you don't know , I am trying to get myself licensed to ring and record the birds in my garden and the surrounding area. It's as though there is this really exclusive club, and the BTO require you to jump through as many hoops as they can before issuing you with a license. I can't think of any better way to control it though and good on them. The scheme is absolutely  fair and you cant jump the queue and circumnavigate the requirements no matter who you are or what you background and personal experience is. It rather pleases me to see RSPB wardens, employees and volunteers all jumping through the same hoops  along side me, and why shouldn't they. I have been going since a year last August and to be honest have learnt a tremendous amount from Ian who is a a mine of "very useful info". He has been ringing for 30 years and is still excited whenever he gets his nets up and starts to catch some birds. To have these birds there for you to study and observe in the hand is such a priviledge and to be honest a real joy. Today when I eventually got out to a site in East Devon, it was still quite early and a bit misty, my flask let me down and was only delivering me cold coffee.. bummer!!!!! That was the low point in an an otherwise great morning session. Birds captured, ringed, measured and recorded included 4 or 5 Marsh Tits and here is photo of a couple of them!