An Odd Gull

Thursday 13th September and a chilly start under a cloudless sky saw us driving down to Perranporth for our annual Autumn day trip. Unfortunately the skies clouded over on the drive there but they did eventually clear again and it became a fine and sunny and warm September day.

Our usual cooked breakfast at The Watering Hole was delicious as always as we admired the scenery with the sand between our toes and offshore I managed to find 4 Sandwich tern, a few gannet and a juvenile kittiwake.

Gorgeous Perranporth

The stream held the usual brown trout and the boating lake held the usual mix of variable mallard including a very pretty female feral type.

 Brown Trout

Mallard

Scavenging Rook

On the beach were the usual roosting herring and black-headed gulls and amongst them were 6 1st winter Mediterranean gulls which gave some good views.

 Mediterranean Gull

 Mediterranean Gull 

 Mediterranean Gull 

Mediterranean Gull 

Friday 14th September and with another dreaded night shift looming I caught the bus out to Wembury for a walk. It was cool and overcast but sunny spells did develop and it was a pleasant mornings walk.

No moths in the toilet block but a clouded yellow, a small copper, speckled wood, a male common blue and small whites were flitting about and a few bloody nose beetles were seen including a mating pair.

The beach near the sewage pipe held the most interest on the high tide with 9 Bar-tailed Godwit, 7 Ringed Plover and 15 Dunlin feeding on the seaweed mass and 9 Mediterranean gulls (5 adult winter, 3 1st winter and 1 2nd winter)  roosting on the beach amongst the herring, lesser black backed, black headed and great black backed gulls.

 Bar-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit 

I did find an odd looking 1st winter gull which looked a bit Caspian like, a scruffy looking bird in heavy moult with long legs and a long looking bill, larger than nearby herring gulls with a very white looking head and underparts and a distinctive head shape - maybe a hybrid or just an oddly put together bird.

 Odd Gull (top right)

 Odd Gull

 Odd Gull (top right)

 Odd Gull

 Odd Gull 

 Odd Gull 

 Odd Gull 

Odd Gull 

 Odd Gull

 Odd Gull

By lunchtime the clouds had rolled back in and I enjoyed a pasty on a deserted beach before heading home, seeing 5 swallows flying over heading west as I walked up the valley from the beach to catch the bus.

Sunday 16th September and I was undecided as to where to visit for the  high tide roost  - Bowling Green Marsh or Dawlish Warren. I plumped for Bowling Green and on arrival at 11:15 hrs I was informed that I had missed both curlew sandpiper and osprey seen earlier - bugger! A report of a wood sandpiper at nearby Darts Farm had me heading over there for a look with local birder Keith but we couldn't find it, seeing 2 green Sandpiper, 3 snipe and a few dunlin, lapwing and black-tailed godwits before a hunting sparrowhawk put everything up. We didn't see or hear the wood sandpiper in the commotion but later we heard that a wood Sandpiper had been seen flying around the viewing platform - bugger again!

The Marsh was quiet on a quick look from the hide with roosting redshank, curlew and black-tailed Godwit and 1 knot and 2 lapwing representing the waders and 2 tufted duck, shoveler, mallard, pintail, wigeon and teal representing the ducks.

The viewing platform was quiet too with oystercatchers, a flyover whimbrel, greenshank and a bar-tailed godwit adding to the wader species for the day amongst the curlew, redshank, dunlin and black-tailed godwits present before everything was put up by a peregrine swooping low over the mudflats. The only other sighting of note was the harbour seal hauled out on the sand bank on the dropping tide before I decided to call it a day and head off home, seeing turnstones and a kingfisher at Starcross on the journey from the train.

And I should have gone to Dawlish Warren where 2 osprey, a curlew Sandpiper and a little gull were all seen but hey ho! I did get the moth box out that night though and the next morning had 2 large ranunculus in a soggy trap with a nice shuttle-shaped dart amongst others so life isn't so bad after all.

Large Ranunculus - one of my favourite moths

Large Ranunculus

Pectoral Sandpiper on an Isles Of Scilly Day Trip

I visited the Isles of Scilly on a day trip back in September 2014 and had a great day out and it is something I have wanted to do again but have never managed to get around to doing. However I decided that this would be the year for a revisit and so on Wednesday 12th September I headed off on the early train from Plymouth to Penzance, arriving in Penzance at 08:15hrs to board the Scillonian ferry at 08:45hrs. The ferry ticket only cost me £25 due to a special day trip offer for residents of Devon and Cornwall only, a bargain price. It was a grey, cool and mizzly morning and as I settled in on a seat on the top deck of the ferry I felt a little nauseated, a combination of lack of sleep, too much caffeine, excitement, anticipation and a bit of anxiety about potentially arriving late on the train and missing the boat.

I scanned around Mounts Bay while waiting for the ferry to leave and noted an immature/eclipse male eider diving in the harbour while gannets, kittiwakes, Mediterranean gulls and 2 Sandwich terns were flying around offshore but more interesting was a stream of Manx shearwaters flying low over the water and heading west in the far distance.

The ferry headed off at 09:15hrs and soon we were offshore amongst the Manx shearwaters as we sailed along the Cornish coastline, there must have been 2000+ present, and as I scanned through them as they passed by I managed to pick out 3 Balearic shearwater. Even better were the 9 sooty shearwaters I picked out too, 1 of which gave a great view as it sheared low over the water right in front of the ferry. A few distant auks were also picked up flying low over the water along with a common tern, a few fulmar and a few brief glimpses of harbour porpoise, bottlenose dolphins and tuna. As we passed the Wolf Rock lighthouse the sightings became much more sporadic with the odd gannet, Manx shearwater and herring gull seen and before long we were arriving in Hugh Town on St.Marys at just before 12:00hrs.

I decided to walk out to Porthellick Pool first, somewhere I haven't visited before, and while walking through Lower Moors on the way there I saw a few swallows overhead and some moorhen on the pool in front of the hide. A few speckled wood were flitting about amongst the sheltered trees, being the Scilly form of speckled wood (Pararge aegeria insula) and not the mainland form (Pararge aegeria tircis), noticeably more orange toned than the yellow toned mainland form. I had seen them before on previous visits but hadn't realised that they were a subspecies and so I was very glad to see and photograph them.

 Speckled Wood - P.a.insula (Scilly, 2018)

Speckled Wood - P.a.tircis (Exmouth, 2017)

Arriving at the hide at Porthellick Pool I quickly found the reported pectoral sandpiper feeding unconcernedly right in front of the hide where it gave some fantastic views.

 Pectoral Sandpiper

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

Pectoral Sandpiper

Also seen from the hide were 3 snipe, a grey wagtail and a common sandpiper along with a few mallard and more swallows overhead.

 Snipe

 Snipe

 Snipe

 Snipe and Pectoral Sandpiper

Grey Wagtail

Onwards to the golf course to look for the reported buff breasted sandpipers but I was out of luck although I did find 3 wheatear, a whinchat, 2 stonechat, a kestrel and linnets and goldfinches while enjoying the stunning scenery.

I returned to the hide at Porthellick Pool but the pectoral sandpiper had moved further away to the back of the pool and so after a brief look I walked onwards to the airfield to see if the buff breasted sandpipers were there but again there was no sign of them although I did find another wheatear along with chiffchaff and blackcap.

It was time to return to Hugh Town to catch the return ferry and I walked back via Lower Moors where a nice spotted flycatcher showed very well, being given a lot of hassle from a robin, and song thrush, house sparrow, collared dove, blackbird and wren were all seen too along with a very well marked large white butterfly.

 Spotted Flycatcher

Large White

My 4 hour stay on the island was nearly up and I boarded the ferry for the trip back to Penzance for the 16:15hrs sailing, far too short a time but it had been a very interesting and pleasant few hours. While waiting for the ferry to set sail a small flock of house sparrows were feeding on scraps around the feet of the passengers, most flew back to the quayside as we sailed away but 3 decided to stay and travelled with us all the way to Penzance - maybe a regular occurrence?

Hitchhiking House Sparrow

The sun was beginning to shine from behind the clearing cloud cover and I was looking forward to the return trip. A few gannets and Manx shearwaters were seen again as we neared the Wolf Rock Lighthouse along with a few common dolphins, they were mostly secretive with brief views only but one pod was very showy with lots of leaping out of the water. As we sailed along the Cornish coastline again I was disappointed to see that the shearwaters and gannets were much closer to shore this time and viewing them was difficult into the wind, in the harsh light and at distance and so I concentrated on the seaward side of the boat where I did pick up a Balearic shearwater and a sooty shearwater amongst the Manx shearwaters flying by.

Arriving back at Penzance in the fading light and I had had a great day out again, one I really must make sure I repeat again next year.

Scillonian Ferry back in Penzance

Whitethroat, Wheatear, Whinchat and Wryneck at Wembury

Wednesday 5th September was a beautiful autumnal day and with my butterflying year now completed I headed off on the bus to Wembury for a walk to do some birding. It was quite a surprise though to find that Stagecoach are no longer running the service and it has now been taken over by Plymouth Citybus, there is still no service on a Sunday or on Bank Holidays but the service is almost hourly and the first service is now at 6:30am.

With the end of summer holiday hell and the children finally back to school it was fairly quiet along the walk which was nice. The toilet block held a few moths too which was a good start - mullein wave, flounced rustic, rusty dot pearl and single dotted wave - and along the walk I found a silver y flitting about in the grass. Butterflies were flitting about too - speckled wood, small copper, small white, common blue and meadow brown with a single gatekeeper - but the highlights were a painted lady and a very smart clouded yellow.

Mullein Wave

Clouded Yellow

Wembury Point was where all the bird action was with a whinchat, 5+ wheatear, 6+ whitethroat, a singing chiffchaff and 3 grey wagtail together flying over heading west all being seen but the highlight was an elusive wryneck which I managed to get 2 brief flight views of only before it disappeared.

Whinchat

Whinchat

Whinchat

Wheatear

Other birds seen included a calling and tumbling flyover raven, a hovering male kestrel, skulky and mobile cirl buntings in the sewage farm hedge, 3+ more wheatears in the horse fields, a single gannet offshore and pied and white wagtails along the beach.

Wheatear

I had the moth box out in the back yard that night, the first time for over a month, and the next morning I had a few moths in the trap - pale mottled willow, Vines rustic, willow beauty and lesser yellow underwing were the highlights.

 Willow Beauty

 Vines Rustic - differing sizes and colouring

Pale Mottled Willow

Thursday 6th September and with grey skies and a cool breeze we headed off to South Huish Marsh for a walk to Hope Cove and back. It was quiet bird wise with the best being a wood sandpiper with 4 dunlin and 5 black-tailed godwit on the marsh with a few swallow and house Martin overhead and the toilet block at Hope Cove holding a mullein wave and single dotted wave.

Wood Sandpiper with Dunlin - awful record shot

Friday 7th September and with a night shift looming I headed out to Wembury again for a walk on another warm and sunny Autumn day. There was just a single flounced rustic in the toilet block this time but the clouded yellow was still flitting about at The Point and I also found a nice comma feeding on buddleia flowers.

Flounced Rustic

There had been a clear out of birds too with no sign of any wheatears or the wryneck and just 2 whitethroats in the bushes but there were a few chiffchaff and blackcaps around and the whinchat was still showing well too. Along the beach white and pied wagtail were still feeding on the seaweed mass and a bar-tailed Godwit was feeding in the rock pools with oystercatchers. A 2nd winter Mediterranean gull was amongst the herring, black headed and great black backed gulls roosting on the rocks and a great spotted woodpecker and a coal tit were feeding in the pines at The Point.

And on a different note it was lovely to be paid a visit by Birdy our herring gull fledgling, he turned up for a drink from the water bowl and a nibble on the rotten plums that had fallen from our Victoria plum tree onto the roof - he was looking very healthy and quite unperturbed by our prescense as usual before flying off.

Birdy

Birdy