Wolves Wild

Bright red and glossy berries of a stinking iris (Iris foetidissima). Growing all along by the side of the path climbing from the end of the prom at Exmouth to the start of the Jurassic Way Coastal Path.

The same pair of black swans seen flying upstream over the Exe estuary in yesterday’s post. Now, a couple of hours later, they were on the water by the stone jetty at Topsham, feeding on the weed at the end of the jetty, and swimming gently up and down for the people sitting on benches eating their sandwiches.

Items of metalwork repeatedly submerged in the sea, covered in limpets and other small shellfish. All seen at different points around the harbour at Ilfracombe.

A small colony of black swans has been established along the south Devon coast for many years. here a pair were flying upstream over the Exe estuary.

Topsham churchyard, where several of these pictures were taken, backs on to a low cliff by the Exe estuary. It gives a good viewpoint across the water, towards the direction of the setting sun behind the high ground of the Haldon Forest.

The Bridge at Topsham: a pub with buildings dating back to when the first Elizabeth was on the throne, owned and run by the same family since Victoria’s reign, and the only one (probably) to be visited by the present monarch.

The beers are good, from a changing selection of local small breweries and poured from the barrel. But it’s also an ideal venue for a break from birdwatching. It’sd a quarter hour or so walk from three different open access RSPB reserves.

It’s even possible to carry on birdwatching while having a drink there. The beer garden overlooks the small weir which marks the tidal limit of the River Clyst. There’s unually ducks of some kind feeding on the water or the exposed mud at low tide, though they may be no more exotic than mallards. A pair of swans are regulars. But the first places to look are a tubular steel fence by the side of the weir, and a small reed bed directly upstream of it.

Sometimes, there isn’t anything to be seen there, of course.

Sometimes, there is a heron, watching for fish. Not on our visits to the Bridge last month, when herons were more likely busy at the Powwderham heronry on the far side of the Exe estuary.

At other times, also on the lookout for fish to eat, there’s one of the kingfishers which nest in a sandstone bank a little further down the Clyst. I didn’t have a powerful enough lens to get more than record shots. Each one has the full picture and a cropped version centring on the bird.