I went to Hopes Nose, Torbay yesterday, it was a nice bright day and the weather forecast for the rest of the week wasn’t good, I needed to make the best of it.  I had heard about, and seen photos of, Little Gull that had been seen  there and I wanted to add this species to my galery of Devon Birds, I made a massive effort to make the trip.  Getting there wasn’t too bad but still feeling a bit under the weather, it was a hard trudge walking  down the track and even worse climbing back up, not without reason is this place nick-named Cardiac Hill, it certainly makes your heart pump!

Once I got down to the shore, which is a granite headland jutting out  into the bay, I was amongst a large flock of gulls which included Black-headed, Common and some really attractive Kittiwake. They were feeding in the surf which was close to an outflow, suspiciously smelling of perfume, a sure sign of sewage!  I am told by locals that this historic seagage outflow is not used as such anymore but frankly I don’t believe that. Birds feeding in the way they were and the smell, well there’s the conclusive evidence right there.  Sounds nasty but it really isn’t and the birds certainly like it!!

Anyway, what a fantastic photo opportunity it is.  I took hundreds and hundreds of photos of flying Kittiwake which is a lovely, lovely bird with a bright yellow beak and attractive black tips to the wings.  I didn’t photograph, or even for that matter see any Little Gull and that was a shame.  I caught sight of Great Northern Diver and also lots of glorious adult Shag, in breeding condition and displaying their pretty iridescent greeny plumage and crest. With a yellow gular patch, this is a really stunning bird when you are close to it.

After 3 hours I decided to call it a day, I was cold and stiff, I hadnt realised how cold I actually had become because I was so engrossed.  I also hadnt realised that Chris and Janet Procter were nearby and Chris had discovered, or re-found a female Eider Duck?  I haven’t photographed this species before so I quickly joined him and added species 200 to my Devon Galleries!

I am pleased with this image, an attractive bird feeding on crabs and molluscs that it was diving to collect from the sea bed.

A great opportunity to photograph this gull which is normally off-shore and only comes to land to breed, they are rarely if ever seen in land.