Thursday 5th October was warm and occassionally sunny and with a mid-morning high tide I headed out to Wembury on the bus for a walk along the coast path. It didnt feel particularly birdy and so it proved to be but it was very pleasant to be back out birding away from the crowds, noise and heat of Madrid.
A surprise was a juvenile Mute Swan along the beach, it flew off towards the River Yealm when disturbed by dog walkers and later it flew over Wembury Point towards Plymouth. Also roosting along the beach were 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, 14 Turnstone, 5 Curlew, 5 Little Egret and the usual Oystercatchers. Gull numbers were noticeably down with only a single Black-headed Gull, a few Great Black-backed Gulls and a few more Herring Gulls present and no sign of any Mediterranean Gulls.
Mute Swan
Bar-tailed Godwit with Turnstones
A juvenile Peregrine was practising its hunting skills and spooking birds here, there and everywhere as it buzzed around but a Sparrowhawk was getting short shrift from Carrion Crows as it passed overhead.
Otherwise the usual birds were seen with the only other birds of note being 2 Grey Wagtails along the stream where a Cetti's Warbler showed very briefly amongst the vegetation near the footbridge.
A Common Lizard, a Comma, a Painted Lady, 2 Speckled Wood, Red Admirals, Large Whites and Ivy Bees were also seen on what was an enjoyable walk.
Ivy Bee
Comma
Painted Lady
Common Carder Bee
I had the moth box out in the back yard that night, it was mild and dry but I only had 7 moths in the trap the next morning - Lesser Yellow Underwing, Garden Carpet, Rusty Dot Pearl, Light Brown Apple Moth, Square Spot Rustic, Shuttle-shaped Dart and a unidentified Micro.
Friday 6th October was warm and occassionally sunny again and so I headed off to The River Plym for a walk on the morning high tide. It was quiet on Blaxton Meadow as the tide flooded in through the sluice gates but amongst the Redshanks were a Black-tailed Godwit, a Common Sandpiper, 10 Greenshank, 14 Oystercatcher and 29 Curlew.
A few variously plumaged Herring Gulls were loafing around amongst the Black-headed Gulls and with them was a juvenile/1st winter Yellow-legged Gull, my first for The Plym. It kept apart from the other Gulls as they usual do, busily preening away before having a big dump and then flying off down river.
It was quiet elsewhere too with a Chiffchaff, 2 Stonechat, a flyover Siskin and a Jay of note around the Park and a female Goosander, 26 Turnstone and 2 Shag along the river. It was also good to see more Ivy Bees on the Ivy flowers and a late Small Copper enjoying the sunshine.
Turnstone
Turnstone
Ivy Bee
Ivy Bee
That evening we headed off to Roscoff in France on Brittany Ferries, something we haven't done since 2019 before The COVID struck. The sailing to Roscoff overnight on the Armorique ferry was smooth and calm but for some reason I didn't sleep particularly well (and I hadn't eaten too much or had any alcohol either).
On disembarking the ferry at 8am on Saturday 7th October it was another gorgeous day, all clear blue skies and sunshine with temperatures eventually getting up to 25°c and my lack of sleep was soon forgotten as we enjoyed our day in France. We even got to wear our shorts, the first time ever on this trip.
A Hummingbird Hawkmoth in Morlaix, Common Darters and a Firecrest at our lunchtime picnic spot and a flyover Grey Wagtail at the Red Bus Wine Cellar were the wildlife highlights although I just enjoyed the day, the weather, the company and the food and didn't spend too much time looking for wildlife.
The View from our Hotel Room, Roscoff
Roscoff
We stayed overnight in Roscoff at the Hotel Les Arcades and caught the Pont Aven ferry back to Plymouth at 09:45hrs on Sunday 8th October, yet another glorious October day and with another flat calm sea. I wasn't sure what to expect on the birding front as there was very little wind but it turned out to be a very interesting trip.
The Armorique coming into Roscoff as we left on The Pont Aven
As we left Roscoff the usual Gannets were seen along with 14 Sandwich Tern, 2 male and a female Common Scoter flying south, Shag, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Guillemot and Razorbill. Things soon picked up though when 2 single Balearic Shearwaters flew through heading west. A group of 6 Sooty Shearwater also powered through heading west and later another 2 were seen in the company of 2 Balearic Shearwater allowing for a good comparison.
2 Cory's Shearwaters were seen but they were distant, however as we reached the half way mark of our journey across The English Channel more appeared closer to the ferry and a total of at least 20 were eventually seen. Great Shearwaters also appeared, at least 100 in total including a raft of around 30 birds, and another 2 Sooty Shearwaters were seen along with 3 Manx Shearwater making it a 5 Shearwater species trip. A distant Falcon heading south (a Kestrel?), regular Meadow Pipits heading south (and north), Kittiwakes, an Arctic Skua (harrassing Kittiwakes) and another Sandwich Tern were also seen
Cory's Shearwater
Great Shearwater
Great Shearwater Raft (and 2 sneaky Cory's amongst them)
It was good to see so many pods of Common Dolphins in the flat conditions, lots of leaping out of the water but also a bit of logging and loafing about at the surface. Also seen were a single Bottle-Nosed Dolphin and 2 Harbour Porpoise along with feeding frenzies of Blue Fin Tuna.
The standout highlight though was a Cory's Shearwater found on the deck of the ferry as we headed into port. The ferry had arrived into Roscoff that morning after a night crossing from Ireland, I guess it was attracted in by the ferries lights and had gotten confused and landed on the deck where it was unable to get back into the air. It was partially hidden under some metalwork and it was quite docile and very light as I picked it up. It seemed OK though and soon tried to escape my grasp and bite me, it also pooped all over my shoes so I took it up to the highest deck and launched it into the air. I held my breath as I imagined it coming to a messy end on the water below (we were 10 decks up) but it flew off strongly across Plymouth Sound and out of sight - quite an experience!
Cory's Shearwater
Cory's Shearwater
Cory's Shearwater
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