Three birds you can spot on the Exe Estuary

By Will Goddard 29th Jul 2021

The Exe Estuary is a beautiful place to live, and Exmouth was long considered a place to holiday and convalesce centuries before it was a fully-established town.

Birdwatching, or simply spotting a few on the estuary now and then while out for a walk, can be a great and relaxing pastime.

On the estuary there are over 20,000 species of 'wading birds', that is, birds that feed on the mudflats when the tide goes out.

In fact, it is considered a site of international importance because of this, as well as an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest).

To get you started, we've identified three common wading birds that can easily be seen at low tide on most days.

Three wading birds of the Exe Estuary

Avocet

The first of our trio is the avocet. Namesake of the GWR railway line to Exmouth, the avocet has long legs, an upcurved bill, and pied feathers (eg. black and white).

Click here for more details.

Curlew

Curlews are larger birds, with downcurved bills and mottled feathers.

Click here for more details.

Oystercatchers

Oystercatchers have distinctive large orange bills, which they use to open molluscs such as oysters (hence the name).

Their feathers are usually either all-black or black with a white underbelly.

Click here for more details.

Great birdwatching spots

Dawlish Warren and the Bowling Green Marsh are both excellent spots to see them, as well as the estuary itself at low tide.

Why not grab a pair of binoculars and see if you can see these three on the estuary?

     

New exmouth Jobs Section Launched!!
Vacancies updated hourly!!
Click here: exmouth jobs

Share:


Sign-Up for our FREE Newsletter

We want to provide exmouth with more and more clickbait-free local news.
To do that, we need a loyal newsletter following.
Help us survive and sign up to our FREE weekly newsletter.

Already subscribed? Thank you. Just press X or click here.
We won't pass your details on to anyone else.
By clicking the Subscribe button you agree to our Privacy Policy.