Monday 16th January was forecast to be a mostly dry day and with the trains actually running, useful tide times and reports of interesting Gull sightings I decided to have my usual New Year's big day out at Penzance and Hayle.
It was a mostly sunny day with occasional heavy showers and it was pleasently cool too and I arrived off the train at Penzance at just after 9am. I had a quick look off the seawall at the bus station and picked up a male and an immature male Eider along with 27 Common Scoter and a Grey Seal which brought a large fish it had caught to the surface only to have it promptly stolen by a passing adult Great Black-backed Gull!
I had a brief look around at the Jubilee Pool and found 5 sleeping Purple Sandpiper on the rocks and a slightly oiled Guillemot having a preen out on the water before I headed onwards towards Newlyn Harbour.
I had already made my plans to visit Newlyn before news of an Azorean Gull being found there broke the previous day and as a result there were quite a few birders mooching about the harbour when I arrived. Needless to say I didn't see the Azorean Gull and I just missed a 1st winter Iceland Gull but I did get some distant views of a huge 1st winter Glaucous Gull and better views of a 1st winter Yellow-legged Gull circling around the harbour along with an adult Kittiwake.
The usual Turnstones were feeding around the quayside, as tame as always and constantly chittering and bickering amongst themselves, and I counted at least 47 of them.
I eventually had to wander back towards Penzance, finding 2 female type Black Redstarts catching flies amongst the boulders on Tolcarne Beach along the way. There were now 17 Purple Sandpipers roosting at Jubilee Pool when I had a quick look and a male Black Redstart was feeding on nearby roofs. And on another look off the sea wall at the bus station I found yet another female type Black Redstart amongst the rocks.
I caught the train to St.Erth for the next part of my birding day, walking down to the causeway bridge for a quick look at the Hayle Estuary before heading onwards to Lelant Saltings. From the bridge on the dropping tide there were the usual waders and wildfowl present with around 400 Golden Plover and around 300 Lapwing roosting out on the mudflats, a wonderful sight and sound.
A male and 2 female Goosander were fishing in the river channel, one of the females caught a small flat fish and was constantly chased by the other 2 birds as it struggled to swallow it, eventually it managed to get it down but it looked a little uncomfortable afterwards.
From Lelant Saltings train station I had a scan of the Gulls out on the mudflats but they were downriver of the station and it looked like there would be closer views from Lelant Station so I decided to head on to there. I tried to take a short cut through the Lelant Football Club grounds but had to retrace my steps although it was quite productive with a Woodcock flushed from the undergrowth as I walked through the grounds.
From Lelant train station the views of the Gulls weren't that great so after a quick scan I returned to Lelant Saltings and set my scope up there for a look.
There were lots of roosting Gulls present, mostly adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and I began the task of working my way through them. Herring, Black-headed, Common and Great Black-backed Gulls were all present and a couple of the adult Herring Gulls were very dark backed and presumably of the argentatus race.
With various unusual Gull species being reported from the Hayle Estuary it really was like looking for a needle in a haystack but I eventually found an adult Mediterranean Gull which lifted my spirits. I then found at least 3 adult Yellow-legged Gulls with 2 birds showing very well as they postured and displayed to each other with parallel walking and calling noted before they both sat down and went to sleep!
I also found an adult Caspian Gull which woke up and called at a presumed second adult bird which flew overhead before both birds went to sleep also!
I kept an eye on the Caspian Gulls and Yellow-legged Gulls amongst the mass of birds and hoped they would wake up at some point for a better look at them but with some idiot walking along the foreshore all the Gulls took off and flew further downriver and I lost sight of all of them in the flying melee.
With the light fading and my train back to Plymouth due I had one last scan through the Gulls and eventually found the adult Ring-billed Gull asleep amongst the Common Gulls, distant views but showing its distinctive bill when it woke briefly for a quick preen, a nice end to an 11 species of Gull birding day out.
No comments:
Post a Comment