Mediterranean Gull and Bar-Wits at Perranporth, September 5th 2012

A bright and sunny but windy day and with the kids all back at school (Hooray!) we headed off to Perranporth for a walk along the beach and a cooked breakfast at The Watering Hole. What looked like sea-spray over the beach was actually sand due to the strong offshore wind but it was a very pleasant September day despite the wind, and eating a cooked breakfast overlooking the beach with the sand between my toes was heavenly, unlike last year when it was cold, wet and windy and we had to eat inside.

While waiting for the breakfast to arrive I found a winter-plumaged Mediterrnean gull amongst the black headed gulls roosting by the stream flowing across the beach. Later when walking back along the beach it flew overhead before settling along the shoreline allowing close views and I managed to get some nice photos.

 Mediterranean Gull

 Mediterranean Gull

Mediterranean Gull

Also roosting on the beach amongst some gulls were 2 winter-plumaged bar-tailed godwits and despite the large number of people on the beach nearby also allowed some fairly close views.

 Bar-Wits

 

 Bar-Wit with Herring Gull

 

Bar-tailed Godwits

 



Also seen were gannets and fulmars offshore with a flyby cormorant, a male kestrel, a winter plumaged dunlin flying along the shoreline and swallows and house martins overhead.

A six-spot burnet and a small tortoiseshell were also seen along with common blues and meadow browns, and trout were again seen in the stream running through the village.

Trout