Baird's Sandpiper, Marazion

Sunday 3rd September was foul - strong south easterly winds and torrential rain - but I wanted to get out of the house and so I headed off to the hide at Dawlish Warren. I got soaked walking to Plymouth railway station from home and I got soaked again on walking to the hide at Dawlish Warren but once ensconced in the hide I was out of the rain and wind and settled down to enjoy the birds on the incoming tide, having the hide all to myself.

I saw a good selection of waders - 8 sanderling, 8 knot, dunlin, ringed plover, curlew, redshank, oystercatcher and bar tailed godwit - along with Sandwich terns, little egret, a teal, 4 wigeon and a bedraggled wheatear feeding in the saltmarsh. I also found 2 juvenile yellow legged gulls in the gull roost in front of the hide, 1 bird partially hidden amongst the great black backed, lesser black backed and herring gulls and a very large looking bird right out in the open, almost as large as the great black backed gulls and with a pissed off expression in the grotty weather conditions.

I had a quick scan offshore and picked out 2 fulmar, a gannet and 2 Sandwich tern in very poor visibility and the only other sighting of note were 100's of Autumn ladies tresses in flower across the site, the most I have ever seen at Dawlish Warren.

Wednesday 6th September and it was off to Perranporth for the day on our annual Autumn pilgrimage. The weather forecast wasn't great but we decided to go for it anyway and apart from a heavy shower when we arrived at The Watering Hole for breakfast the sun did shine although it was cool and hazy and breezy. The usual wildlife was on show - gannets, fulmars and Sandwich terns offshore, a ringed plover along the beach, stonechats along the cliffs, trout in the stream (7 large and 2 small, fewer than seen last year) and house martins over the village.

 Trout, Perranporth

 Dahlia, Perranporth

 Bathing Mallard, Perranporth

 Bathing Mallard, Perranporth

Bathing Mallard, Perranporth

 Bathing Mallard, Perranporth

Bathing Mallard, Perranporth

Thursday 7th September and I headed off on the early train to Penzance for the day, firstly to look for a Baird's sandpiper that had been found along the beach at Marazion and secondly to head out later on a wildlife boat trip from Penzance with Marine Discovery.

I arrived at Marazion at around 9:30am on a grey and dull and breezy morning just as the tide was beginning to go out and there were already various birders/photographers patrolling along the beach. Amongst the pebbles and seaweed were various small waders roosting, preening and feeding but despite searching through the dunlin, turnstone, ringed plover and sanderling there was no sign of the Baird's.The birds were quite mobile and flighty along the beach especially as the outgoing tide revealed the silty foreshore and it was beginning to look like I was heading towards another Baird's dip (previously not having seen birds at both Marazion and Hayle) but eventually I found it feeding on the silt amongst the other waders before it was flushed by walkers. However I soon refound it and managed some great views as it fed with a dunlin and 9 sanderling before being flushed again - long winged looking in flight, long primary projection at rest, short and straight bill, short legs, flattened body shape at certain angles, neatly scalloped upperparts and a distinct line of demarcation between white underparts and buffy breast - cue my usual quality record shots.

 Ringed Plover, Marazion

 Sanderlings, Marazion

 Baird's Sandpiper, Marazion

  Baird's Sandpiper, Marazion

Baird's Sandpiper with Sanderling, Marazion

Baird's Sandpiper with Sanderlings, Marazion 

Baird's Sandpiper with Dunlin, Marazion 

It eventually flew off towards St.Michaels Mount where I picked it out feeding amongst dunlins on the weedy foreshore (although it was getting quite a lot of grief from any dunlins nearby) and I was very pleased to have found it after the previous 2 dips and very glad to get my first lifer of the year.

Walking back along the coast path to Penzance and I found a raven feeding along the beach before it flew off inland, a female common scoter flying along the beach before landing on the sea, a juvenile wheatear on the rocks by the bus station, a first winter Mediterranean gull along the waters edge and 7 bar tailed godwit flying over heading west.

After a quick sandwich it was time to head out on a 2 hour wildlife watching boat trip with Marine Discovery. I have been wanting to do another pelagic type trip since my Brixham one back at the beginning of August especially as this year there have been some good sightings of seabirds along the Devon and Cornwall coast but work, weather, lack of places and other commitments have got in the way. Originally the trip was scheduled for 3 hours but the weather conditions had curtailed it to 2 and it was quite choppy and began to rain as we headed out of the harbour. The conditions weren't looking great but I kept my fingers crossed that I would see something interesting.

We headed out to St.Clements Island off Mousehole where 2 grey seals were hauled out on the rocks. Unfortunately a woman in a canoe paddled too close and spooked a very yellow looking pregnant female seal into the water much to our guides annoyance -  apparently it is dangerous to chase pregnant seals off the rocks as they are more likely to miscarry or have a stillbirth. A large male seal remained in place but looked quite nervous - the photo below was taken on maximum zoom (x60).

Male Grey Seal, St.Clements Island off Mousehole

We headed out offshore into very choppy seas and I got absolutely soaked by the waves and the rain but finally the engine was cut and the sails unfurled and we gently sailed across the sea enjoying the swell. The rain stopped too and I managed to see a few birds - 2 fulmars, gannets, a razorbill, guillemots, Manx shearwaters, 2 common terns (adult and juvenile), shags, herring gulls, great black backed gulls and a storm petrel - along with a very brief view of a harbour porpoise. Frustratingly I had a brief and distant view of what was probably a sooty shearwater flying away from the boat - I found a small group of shags sitting on the water as I scanned around and on a rescan the shags had disappeared and I thought a large, chocolate brown bird flying away from the boat was a juvenile shag as it flew low over the waves. However it banked as shearwaters do showing chocolate brown underparts and long and thin wings before it disappeared from view - one that got away.

Arriving back on shore in Penzance and I headed off to the train station for the journey home and on a quick look off the sea wall at the bus station along the way I found the long staying male eider floating by in eclipse plumage, a nice end to the day.

Eclipse Male Eider, Penzance