New Year Listing begins

Friday 3rd January was to be my first birding day out of the year but I switched plans and had a quiet day at home instead which I spent cleaning, tidying, sorting and organising after all the Christmas shenanigans, a shame as it turned out to be a lovely sunny day but with a chilly breeze. We did have a walk though around The Barbican and Plymouth Hoe and I did see the adult Mediterranean gull again amongst the black-headed gulls on Sutton Harbour but there was no sign of any great northern divers off The Hoe.

Saturday 4th January and it was finally time to get out on my first proper birding day of the year. I caught the train to Penzance, arriving at 09:40hrs on a mostly sunny day with a cool breeze and occasional and annoying mizzle showers complete with rainbows. I had my new telescope with me to put it through its paces and it was fantastic and especially so when scanning through the gulls roosting out on the estuary at Hayle but it is a heavy beast to lug around, well not so much heavy but awkward, chunky and cumbersome and by the time I returned home at the end of the day I felt like I had had a bit of a workout. Nevertheless it was well worth carrying it around as it enabled me to get some great views of the birds and has really opened up a new level for my birding.

On arrival in Penzance I firstly had a quick scan from the sea wall by the bus station but could only find a distant male eider out in the bay as a very tame turnstone ran along the wall towards me presumably in the hope of getting some food scraps.

 Turnstone

Turnstone

I began my walk towards Newlyn and on a quick look around the rocks by the Jubilee Pool I failed to find any purple sandpipers. Off Tolcarne beach I picked up a distant female common scoter offshore and on reaching Newlyn Harbour I quickly found my first target bird of the day, a beautiful white winger in the form of a 1st winter Iceland gull floating around on the water.

 Iceland Gull - amazingly close views

 Iceland Gull

 Iceland Gull

 Iceland Gull

Iceland Gull

Also seen were 3 Great Northern Divers which also gave great close views along with a more distant male and immature male eider while off the harbour wall another Great Northern Diver was seen along with a large grey seal swimming by.

 Great Northern Diver - amazingly close views

Great Northern Diver

There was no sign of my second target bird, a black guillemot, and so I walked further along the coast towards Sandy Cove where it has occasionally been seen from but there was no sign of it on arriving as I scanned across the sea. No firecrest, black redstart or water rail were seen either but I did find a female bullfinch, a jay and a redwing to add to the new year list.

I wandered back to Newlyn Harbour where the Iceland gull was still sat out on the water and giving some lovely views before it flew off for a bathe off Tolcarne beach and then a preen on the roof of the fish market. It looked quite small and slight sat on the water but looked more chunky and robust in flight. Still no sign of the black guillemot but on chatting to a local birder he informed me it had just been seen off Sandy Cove and so I walked back there where I quickly found it out on the water having a preen before it continued diving for food - my first for Cornwall and a nice bird to see indeed.

 Black Guillemot - not so close views

Black Guillemot

It was soon time to head back to Penzance to catch the train to St.Erth and along the way I finally managed to find 4 purple sandpipers on the rocks at the Jubilee Pool.

Purple Sandpiper, Jubilee Pool

On arriving at St.Erth after a short train ride I walked down to the Hayle estuary where there were plenty of birds out on the mudflats and amongst the usual birds were a single greenshank and only 1 first winter Mediterranean gull. A quick look at the Carnsew Pool on the walk to Hayle railway station and I quickly found target bird number three for the day, a nice Slavonian grebe and good to finally see one for this years list other than Herbert the resident bird on the River Exe.

Sunday 5th January and I decided to have a quick walk along the River Plym on the high tide for a look around, taking my telescope with me again despite my achey forearms. It was cloudy and cool but remained dry and I had another interesting walk. I had my camera with me but had left the memory card at home so no photos other than just one crappy one saved on the cameras internal memory of a male winter moth on the wall of the underpass near Sainsburys (one of two present).

Winter Moth

On the incoming tide 2 male and 3 female goosanders were preening and roosting out on the mud with a female goldeneye, I think my first sighting of one on the Plym. The great northern diver was still present just off The Folly along with the great crested grebe and at least 5 little grebes while 6 male and 4 female wigeon were feeding by the sluice gates before flying onto Blaxton Meadow to feed.

Redshank, oystercatcher, dunlin and 5 greenshank were roosting along the railway embankment with grey herons and little egrets and there were a few shelduck roosting out on the water amongst the assorted gulls.

I had a walk along the path behind The Folly and eventually found a very smart firecrest feeding in the bushes with 2 goldcrest and a coal tit while at least 3 skittish redwings were feasting on ivy berries with a song thrush and blackbirds.

At Marsh Mills a common sandpiper, a grey wagtail and 2 male and 2 female Mandarin ducks were found before it was time to head back home on the bus and I was relieved to find that using the straps supplied with the telescope stay on case made for an easier and more comfortable experience carrying the telescope around than on my previous days outing.