Thursday 1st February was a beautiful and sunny day and with no real plans I decided to head over to Tregantle Beach to look for a reported Snow Bunting. I've never visited here before, having just passed by on the way to Rame Head, and so it was somewhere new and different to explore. The area is part of an active military firing range and access down to the beach is prohibited if it is in use and so I checked the official website beforehand to see what was going on. Unfortunately the range was supposed to be in use for all of the week but with the bird being reported daily since Monday I decided to risk it and head out anyway.
Needless to say the range was in use when I arrived off the bus and the gates to the paths leading down to the beach were locked so there was no Snow Bunting for me. However it was a beautiful day and the scenery was stunning and so I had a wander along the clifftop footpath instead. I hadn't brought my scope with me which was a shame as the sea was flat calm but scanning offshore I managed to find a Red-throated Diver and a flock of around 20 Common Scoter fairly close in with 2 Great Northern Divers, a further 3 Common Scoter and Auks further out. The Common Scoter flock often dived in unison, one minute they were at the surface, the next minute there was no sign of any of them but eventually they all flew further out offshore.
Along the cliff top Skylarks were singing away, Meadow Pipits and Jackdaws were feeding in the fields, a Kestrel over was mobbed by 3 Goldfinch, Robins and Stonechats were flitting about on the cliff slope and 2 noisy Buzzards were displaying overhead.
I had noticed some distant white blobs in the cow fields just before I got off the bus at Tregantle so I headed back there for a closer look, hoping that the white blobs could be some of the Cattle Egret flock wintering in the area. At first I couldn't see any cows or white blobs but eventually I found a herd of cattle hidden behind some hedges and with them were 3 Cattle Egret, 2 Little Egret and Black-headed Gulls. A Fox was also seen trotting across the fields and a few Sloe flowers were beginning to appear in the hedgerows.
I caught the bus back to Plymouth but stopped off at Torpoint for a quick look off Marine Drive before continuing my journey home, the tide was low, I was looking into the sun and I was scopeless but I managed some good sightings despite this. The usual Waders, Wildfowl and Gulls were present, there was no sign of any Brent Geese though but the highlights were 2 Great Northern Divers, 10 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Little Grebes and a Black-necked Grebe out on the water. The strangest sighting was of a female Sparrowhawk which swooped low over the mudflats and took out a Dunlin before flying off into some bushes along the shoreline being noisily pursued by Carrion Crows.
Friday 2nd February was back to being all grey and claggy but I headed out to Wembury for a walk anyway. On arriving it was so misty I couldn't even see The Mewstone but it did eventually clear although the mist did return at times. At least the grotty conditions kept the fair weather dog walkers indoors.
It was quiet as expected with the highlights being sightings of a female Bullfinch and 2 Canada Geese, both Wembury year firsts, and the Redshank, 14 Turnstone, 5 Little Egrets and the Curlew along the beach. It's good to see the Redshank is sticking around despite all the beach disturbance, not so good is seeing just the one wintering Curlew.
A female Blackcap and 3 Chiffchaff were also of note along with 25+ Stock Doves still present in the fields above the sewage farm. A female Sparrowhawk dashed through the village gardens but didn't catch anything for its breakfast and Fulmars were again wheeling around The Mewstone.
There was a lot of flotsam deposited along the beach following the recent storms and more of the cliff face has been eroded away but a sad sight were 4 Guillemot and 2 Razorbill corpses.
A very decomposed Dolphin or Porpoise corpse was also washed up on the rocks, it looked like something from an alien horror film and was providing a juicy but gory meal to Carrion Crows, Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls. There were also plenty of Cuttlefish "bones" washed up along the beach too.
Saturday 3rd February was grey and claggy yet again but with the firing range at Tregantle Fort not in use and access to the beach now open I decided to go for a revisit to look for the Snow Bunting. It remained claggy throughout my time there with mizzle at times but there were also a few very brief brighter spells too.
After alighting from the bus I headed down the steep footpath to the beach, noting a female Sparrowhawk in full hunting mode and a pair of Blackcap skulking in the undergrowth along the way. I then wandered back and forth along the base of the cliffs as the tide receded, keeping my eyes and ears open although the gentle noise of the surf meant hearing any bird calls over it was almost impossible. Despite the grotty weather the beach was busy with walkers, dogs and children but they mostly kept away from the cliff base and so I managed to get some good views of a White Wagtail and 3 Rock Pipits here.
I found a dead Razorbill along the tide line, it had been partly eaten, presumably by the pair of Ravens and the adult and the 1st winter Great Black-backed Gull present as they also tucked into a Dolphin corpse nearby. A further 2 Dolphin/Porpoise corpses were found but they were much more decayed and I also found a tiny Cuttlefish amongst all the Cuttlefish "bones".
Offshore the flock of Common Scoter had grown to 60+ birds, mostly female/juvenile types and all diving in unison as juvenile Herring Gulls danced attendance close by in the hope of stealing a morsel of food.
Along the beach I also found lots of plastic nurdles, tiny pellets of plastic used in the manufacture of plastic goods which end up accidently finding their way into the sea. I've never really seen them before but then I haven't really looked for them before, they are considered very toxic within the marine environment and are, ironically, known as Mermaid Tears - a better name considering their high pollution factor might be Kraken Snot Drops or Neptune's Turds.
After 3 hours of searching there was no sign of the Snow Bunting and with the conditions getting wetter it was time to call it a day and head back up the hill to catch the bus back to Plymouth. I had a quick and final look along the beach just by the wooden steps that lead down onto the sand and movement caught my eye, sadly it turned out to be a male Stonechat but a further glimpse of another bird flitting about close by turned out to be the Snow Bunting - result!
It showed wonderfully, allowing very close approach as they usually do and I enjoyed a quiet 10 minutes with it all to myself before I had to leave to catch the bus - a fantastic little bird indeed, just a shame I hadn't found it sooner!
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