I met up with my work colleague Sue at Saltram on Thursday 15th December for a walk with her dog Daisy, it was a very cold and frosty morning again and I arrived at Marsh Mills at around 8:15 to have a look at Blaxton Meadow on the incoming tide before meeting her at the car park at 9am.
It was a glorious morning despite the cold weather and I began my walk with a clear blue sky and the sun beginning to appear above the horizon.
A Cormorant was having a massive struggle trying to swallow a huge fish it had caught just above Long Bridge, unfortunately I didn't have the time to linger to see if it eventually managed to swallow it.
As I reached Blaxton Meadow 5 Lapwing flew over heading east and out on the Meadow as the tide began to head in through the sluices were the usual waders (Curlew, Redshank, Dunlin, Oystercatcher) with 3 Turnstone, 10 Greenshank and a Grey Plover. Also present were 2 Teal and 8 Wigeon with Mallards and Shelduck.
The female Red Crested Pochard was on the duck pond with 2 Teal, presumably the 2 from Blaxton Meadow, while in the Park 4 Redwing, 3 Ring-necked Parakeet and a Green Woodpecker were noted.
Sue and I put the world to rights while Daisy sniffed around and ignored us and then after dropping off Daisy at home we headed up to the picket line at Derriford Hospital for the RCN nurses strike, the largest strike by nurses in the RCN's 106 year history. I started working on a permanent contract as a Registered Nurse at Derriford Hospital 25 years ago to the day, I never imagined then that it would come to this but nursing in the NHS really isn't great anymore.
I'm not an RCN member (I'm in Unison), it was my day off and my area of work (chemotherapy) is derogated (exempt) from strike action but I went along anyway to show my support. It was an odd experience and a freezing cold one too but I'm glad I went along and I imagine it is just the start of things to come.
Friday 16th December saw us heading down to Truro for the day before staying overnight at nearby Nancarrow Farm for a festive feast. There was a dusting of snow on the higher ground and along the roadside verges out of the sunshine on the drive down to Truro and it was another very cold but sunny day. A Snipe flying high over the road was an odd sight as we passed by St.Austell.
Truro was very festive and not too busy and we enjoyed a wander around before heading on to the Farm and on arrival I had a short walk around in the fading light and managed to see 2 Raven, a male Bullfinch, Redwings and 2 Fieldfare before it got too dark.
The feast was lovely and we had a great time, it was freezing cold outside but very cosy in the large barn where we had our meal and it was very enjoyably Christmassy.
We headed back to Plymouth the next morning and it was still very cold with patches of black ice on some of the smaller roads but we arrived home safely. It was high tide on the Plym mid-morning and so I decided to clear my festive tipple head and take a short walk around Saltram in the chilly sunshine.
Blaxton held the usual roosting birds with 5 Turnstone, 2 Greenshank, 9 Wigeon, 9 adult Common Gull and the Grey Plover amongst them. A Little Grebe and 2 pairs of Goosander were also noted out on the river despite disturbance by a paddle boarder.
Around the Park 3 Buzzards were mewing overhead and Redwings were busily feeding away and allowing close approach. A female Stonechat was feeding along the fence by the road leading down from the car park and the female Red- Crested Pochard was still in residence on the duck pond.
I had a quick scan of the small pond in the field by the wet wood as I always do, more in hope than expectation, and was very pleased to finally see a Water Rail feeding there, its only taken me nearly 2 years to see one here!
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