Red-Breasted Flycatcher, Rame Head

October malaise post holiday has kicked in with a vengeance, not helped by a general lack of birds around at the moment. October is always my least favourite month of the year and I hate it when the clocks go back - it also means the "joys" of Christmas aren't too far away as well.

Anyway, I managed to get off my butt on October11th and had a quick walk along the River Plym to look again for the elusive and erratically reported female red crested pochard but with no luck. A female mandarin duck with mallards was some conciliation along with a noisy flyover ring necked parakeet and I had nice views of a kingfisher and 3 little grebes along with the usual fare (curlew, oystercatcher, little egret, Canada goose, shelduck, etc.).

October 16th and with hurricane Ophelia arriving overnight it was a sunny but very windy morning as I caught the bus to Rame Head for a walk. Walking along the sheltered cliff path to the chapel from the bus stop at Polharn and I was pleased to see a very vocal and mobile firecrest in the bushes with at least 3 more birds heard in what has been a bit of a recent influx of birds. A hunting female sparrowhawk, 2 stonechats, a red admiral, speckled woods, a small copper and 4 fallow deer were also seen.

 Red Admiral

Fallow Deer 

The walk up to the chapel was very blowy and as I hunkered down out of the wind by the doorway I scanned the sea to find the usual gannets milling around and diving for fish in rough seas. A few kittiwakes were picked up along with herring gulls, great black back gulls and a lesser black back gull along with a distant great skua heading east which I lost track of as it must have landed on the sea. It was interesting to watch the skua flying into the wind in shearwater style, flying low over the waves, banking up and then back down to the water.

A big surpise was a swift species flying into the wind but losing the battle as it was blown inland and out of sight, first seen high offshore and looking a very pale brown in the bright sunshine but swift or pallid swift? I' ve never seen an October swift before nor pallid swift in the UK but it was too distant and brief a view to confirm either way - it certainly looked exhausted as it was blown along by the strong wind.

 Violet Sp.

 Ponies, Rame Head

Pony, Rame Head

An early finish at 13:30hrs from work on October 17th meant a free afternoon and so we drove out to Buckland Abbey for a walk around the grounds and gardens. It was gloomy and misty but mild and on our walk I managed to see a flyover raven, jays collecting acorns, mistle thrush feeding in the fields and goldcrests flitting about in the bushes. A surprise was a red legged partridge which flew over my head and landed in the chicken coup before disappearing into the vegetation.

With news of a red-breasted flycatcher being found at Rame Church on the 17th I decided to head out there again for a look on October 18th. It was grey and gloomy again and still mild but the sea was flat calm unlike my visit on Monday during the storms. Arriving at the church and 2 birders were present and both had seen the flycatcher so I was pleased to find it was still present. However after 30 minutes of searching the small group of trees near the church where the bird was supposedly present there was no sign of it and I was beginning to feel like a dip was coming. There were plenty of small birds flitting around amongst the still leafy trees - blue tit, robin, goldcrest, chiffchaff, blackcap, wren, great tit, long tailed tit, chaffinch, goldfinch, coal tit and firecrest - and they were all very mobile and active and flighty and difficult to keep track of. I had a very brief view of what I think was a yellow browed warbler before it disappeared amongst the leaves but the views of the firecrests were excellent despite their constant movements, there must have been around 10 birds present. Eventually I managed to find the flycatcher, a brief but good view before it was chased off by a chiffchaff and lost to sight but at least I had seen it. I managed a few more brief but good sightings before it eventually gave itself up and showed very well, even allowing me to take a few of my usual quality record shots. A lovely little bird, very charismatic and handsome looking and a British tick for me.

 Red-Breasted Flycatcher

Red-Breasted Flycatcher

 Red-Breasted Flycatcher

Red-Breasted Flycatcher

 Red-Breasted Flycatcher

 Red-Breasted Flycatcher

Red-Breasted Flycatcher

With more birders arriving to see the bird I decided to walk off down to the coastguard lookout, seeing a painted lady sunning itself in the weak sunshine, meadow pipits and skylarks calling overhead, a flyover swallow and a group of around 10 cirl buntings feeding in a stubble field. From the coastguard station a brief scan around offshore picked up a few gannets and shags and herring gulls before I headed back to the church for another look for the flycatcher. With yet more birders arriving it was beginning to feel uncomfortably twitchy and so after getting a few more brief but good views of the flycatcher along with red admirals, speckled woods, a male black redstart briefly on the roof of a nearby house and a male yellowhammer in a nearby hedge I decided it was time to leave and head off home.

Painted Lady