Devon weekend

Can't compete with Bustards and fancy warblers but managed a few hours birding over the weekend starting with a visit to Bowling Green Marsh on Friday afternoon, there were good numbers of teal,wigeon,little egrets,redshank,blk tailed godwits,curlew,lapwing, two stock dove and the highlight a female long tailed duck,from the viewing platform there were at least 200 avocet, 3 grey plover and 100's of dunlin,.the rspb have erected new viewing screens just past the railway bridge and from here i counted 100+ brent geese at Darts farm. I agreed  to go shopping with the wife saturday so no birding today but did manage a fulmar,raven and a blk necked grebe from the hotel balcony in Babbacombe and later in Torquay two blk necked grebes and a red admiral on the wing.  Sunday we travelled to Broadsands which was really quiet producing just another blk necked grebe,two g.c.grebes,three heron,and singles of goldcrest and chiffchaff in the trees near the carpark, next port of call was Dawlish i had a quick scan of the sea from Langstone Rock but apart from two common scoter and two brents it was quiet so yomped over to the estuary which was full of birds. There were at least 300 brents,1,000 dunlin ,500 wigeon, 250 teal, 100+ curlew, 6 r.b.merganser,the resident slav grebe and the adult bonaparte's gull off warren point, although divers had been reported from Dawlish and Broadsands i failed dismally to connect with any of them. After an uneventful drive home i checked the Devon bird blog while enjoying a cuppa and almost choked when i saw a Dusky Thrush had been reported from a private garden in Brixham but after composing myself i noticed the bird had been seen earlier in the month and that the powers that be decided not to put the news out fearing a mega twitch and upsetting the locals.