Wolves Wild

Yet more birds gathering on the mud exposed at low tide in the Exe estuary. Black headed gulls this time.

Robin perching on a bramble twig. Bowling Green, Topsham: not actually on the RSPB reserve, but the quiet lane leading to it. Hedgerow birds like robins and dunnocks seem to be bolder than usual there.

More birds out on the Exe estuary at low tide. These are redshanks, with a few gulls trying to get in to the picture.

A row of seafront properties at Exmouth, probably small hotels or b & bs. I was struck by the range of colours they were painted in.

Brent geese spend the summer, their breeding season, in Siberia. Come winter, they head for places with a milder climate. Large numbers end in the Exe estuary. By the new year they have finished off their preferred food: eel grass. They switch to the grasses of the Exminster marshes, crowding there at high tide and gathering in numbers on sandbanks exposed by the ebbing tide.

I noticed this distinctive boat on occasional visits to the hide at Dawlish Warren over they years, and vaguely wondered what it was for. A different viewpoint – from the water, on one of the birdwatching cruises on the Stuart Line boat – finally provided the answer. Fishing for mussels. It’s a floating vacuum cleaner.