It was very windy and misty when I arrived at Whitsand Bay but the walk along the cliff path wasn't too bad as it was quite sheltered from the wind. Chiffchaffs were heard singing along with quite a few Whitethroats and Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Goldfinch and Blackbird were all seen.
Arriving at the chapel and the full force of the wind hit me with a vengeance and so I hunkered down against the chapel wall to at least get some protection from the wind. I had brought my telescope with me but didn't bother getting it out of my rucksack as it was very misty offshore and visibility was quite poor. There seemed to be nothing moving but after a few minutes of scanning through my binoculars I picked up the odd Gannet, mostly quite close in and moving west with a few further out moving east. Further scanning over the next 2 hours revealed more Gannets, 3 Fulmar moving west and 11 Manx Shearwater - 3 west, 3 east and then 5 west - along with 2 summer plumaged Great Northern Diver moving west.
Great Northern Diver
A Shag, a Cormorant, an almost adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls were also noted with a few Swallows appearing to come in off the sea and a trickle of Swallows and House Martins overhead heading west.
A pair of Yellowhammers on the cliffs below the chapel provided a distraction and added a note of colour with the male singing briefly.
Yellowhammer
The weather took a turn for the worst and heavy rain arrived with visibility offshore becoming almost non-existent and so it was time to call it a day and head home to dry off and warm up but I had had quite an enjoyable time despite the conditions.
Monday 10th May was a day of annual leave for me and so I decided to head down to Newlyn to have a look for the 1st winter American Herring Gull being reported from there since March. It was dry and mostly sunny but with a strong wind and the walk along the sea front from Penzance to Newlyn was quite invigorating to say the least.
I settled down against the cliffs on the beach at Newlyn where it was quite pleasantly sheltered from the worst of the wind. Various Gulls were loafing about on the exposed sand on the low tide - adult and 1st winter Great Black-backed Gulls, an adult and 3rd summer Lesser Black-backed Gulls and assorted Herring Gulls - and I quickly found the American Herring Gull amongst the 1st winter Herring Gulls which flew over to where I was sitting expecting to be fed.
American Herring Gull
American Herring Gull
American Herring Gull
The American Herring Gull was quite distinctive looking with a lovely black tipped pink bill although its plumage was very worn and faded in the strong sunshine and it did not look as dark as I had expected. It came very close to me but was very submissive to the 1st winter Herring Gulls present, often being chased off by them and flying off for a short distance so allowing me to check out its upperwing and tail patterning.
American Herring Gull
An interesting bird to watch but in all honesty if I had found it myself I would have dismissed it as an "odd" looking Herring Gull. I've seen 1st winter American Herring Gulls before in New York but all were much darker and more distinctive looking than this one and so it has been quite an instructional bird to observe.
American Herring Gull
American Herring Gull
American Herring Gull
A summer plumaged Dunlin, 4 Turnstone and 2 Common Sandpiper were also seen feeding along the shoreline, Swallows and a Raven were seen overhead and a few Gannet and a Fulmar were noted offshore.
It was soon time to head back out into the wind for the walk back to Penzance and along the way 2 Sanderling were seen feeding along Tolcarne Beach. A quick look at the rocks by the Jubilee Pool on the incoming tide also revealed a good total of 41 Purple Sandpiper with 4 Turnstone.
Purple Sandpiper and Turnstone
Purple Sandpiper
A very good day out indeed, some gentle and easy birding and my third UK life tick of the year in the bag.
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