Guided Bird Watching Cruise – 3rd January 2026

The Exe Estuary is a nationally important cold weather refuge for birds in north-west Europe, and today’s cruise showcased many of these refugees from the Arctic regions. We saw Dark-bellied Brent Geese from the Siberian Arctic, parties of Pintail, Wigeon and Teal from Scandinavia, Golden Plover and Black-tailed Godwits from Iceland, and Black-headed and Common Gulls from the Baltic. Avocets seemed particularly common; the first bird was at Starcross, but once we reached Powderham Church they were in view continuously, with several hundred easily visible on both sides of the boat. It really was Avocets unlimited!

The day was brilliantly sunny, which meant that birds on the mud were visible at long ranges, and we could appreciate the different feeding actions of the different species, from the ‘sewing machine’ action of the two Godwit species, the ‘tip-forward’ of Grey Plover, and the ‘swish and flick’ of Avocets.

With a very low tide caused by the first supermoon of the year, today was a good opportunity for Skipper Will to demonstrate how stable and safe the ‘Pride of Exmouth’ is when navigating in water less than 6” deep; although we touched the muddy bottom a few times, the incoming tide soon floated us off and we had no problems keeping to our schedule. The uber low tide also exposed the extensive reef of invasive Pacific Oysters that has developed at Starcross, where the mudflats are now completely encrusted and useless for wildlife.

Highlights were two Kingfishers perched on a boat at Topsham, which generated a chorus of ‘oohs’ from the few customers lucky to see them, and a single, disgruntled Grey Seal that was hauled out on a pontoon.

A good trip on the Exe, on a day when the hot pasties and mulled wine proved very popular.

Peter Hopkin