With a sunny and calm day forecasted for Saturday 22nd February I decided to head out to look for Goshawks at my usual spot. However I read the bus timetables incorrectly and ended up having to catch a different numbered bus before walking about a mile to get to my usual starting point but never mind, the extra exercise will do me good.
There was very little breeze and it was a little bit misty and hazy but it felt mild and there were birds singing away as I began my walk up to my lookout point. The path wasn't too muddy either and the mist slowly began to dissipate as the breeze gently picked up.
I managed to find 4 Red-legged Partridges in the fields amongst copious Pheasants along with a male Stonechat, a Mistle Thrush and around 20 skittish Redwings. I had a look for Fieldfare too but with no luck and I drew a blank on Marsh Tit in the woodland as well.
I was hot and out of puff on negotiating the hills to get to my lookout spot but after catching my breath and setting my scope up I began to scan the skies only to find nothing was up on the air, not even a Buzzard. I figured that it may have been too early in the day as the breeze hadn't really gotten going and while it felt mild it wasn't that warm and thermals hadn't started to develop so I just had to wait.
Eventually I picked up a few Buzzards displaying and soon after a distant Goshawk which showed briefly over the trees before disappearing, a large looking bird and with Colgate white underparts in the bright sunshine. I eventually refound it but it had flown further up the valley and then it disappeared from view again.
More Buzzards were taking to the air along with a female Sparrowhawk and a few Raven before I found another Goshawk circling with 2 Buzzards, this bird was darker underneath but it was large again and had a few feints at one of the Buzzards before drifting away.
I then found another Goshawk, large and very white looking underneath but with some secondary feathers missing on its right wing. At one point a male Sparrowhawk appeared and interacted with it before heading away and it looked really tiny compared to the Goshawk.
I then caught sight of possibly the first Goshawk I had seen earlier and I watched it for a while in display flight mode with its white under tail coverts all fluffed out. It was a joy to watch despite being high up in the sky and distant but the stylised wing flapping and swoops and stalls were great to see.
Very suddenly all the Woodpigeons and Corvids in the nearby wood noisely scattered out of the trees and as I watched I picked up an immature Goshawk powering through the branches causing complete panic. It disappeared over a ridge but I continued to see Woodpigeons and Crows taking to the air along its route, a close but all too brief view of a monster of a bird, large, fast and powerful looking and exciting to see.
It was soon time to head back home but not before my tripod snapped on me, I'm not sure what happened but as I turned the scope around to scan the sky it buckled towards me and as I looked down one of the legs had just snapped off! I wonder if there had been some stress damage to the leg when it fell off Langstone Rock and onto the beach below back in 2022 and today it finally gave up the ghost, it's never been the same since this incident anyway but hopefully David can work his magic on it and sort out some kind of a repair.
David very cleverly managed to fix the tripod using a glass fibre rod and epoxy, it seems to be OK but I'll have to see how it fares in the field. I did fish out my old Opticron tripod to use in the meantime, I bought it back in 2012 and I only used it a few times as I didn't get on with it so it was stored away and forgotten about but it's actually not a bad scope and has a Manfrotto head on it.
With Tuesday 25th February being another fine and sunny day and wanting my repaired tripod to be rested for a bit longer I decided to take my old Opticron tripod out birding with me on a trip to Looe to see how I got on with it in case the Velbon tripod repair didn't hold.
The forecast was for a lovely day but no sooner had I stepped off the train at Looe than I was greeted with rain! I walked out to nearby Hannafore Point, somewhere I haven't visited before, and as I arrived the rain fortunately cleared through and the sun reappeared.
I set up my scope and scanned about, finding a male and an immature male Eider close in offshore along with Gulls, Shags and Cormorants. I also found a distant Great Northern Diver and then an even more distant group of 4 more before finally getting onto a Slavonian Grebe just as it dived underwater. Despite scanning about with my scope it took me a while to refind it but eventually it showed well if distantly in harsh light and swelly seas.
Also of note were a Razorbill, 2 Curlew, a Kestrel, a Grey Seal and 9 Rabbits before I headed back to the train station in Looe for the journey home but not before picking up some lemon meringue pie from a cafe for our tea.
And so to the tripod, it's actually a pretty good one, much better than my Velbon tripod, stronger and sturdier but heavier and bulky and especially the head which seems overly complicated and has an unnecessarily long panning handle. It has twist leg locks too which I'm not keen on but overall it's not bad and better than I remember.
It was another lovely sunny day on Thursday 27th February as I headed down to Cornwall with my friend Sue to hopefully see the juvenile Spoonbill wintering on the Hayle estuary. On arriving at Copperhouse Creek we quickly found the Spoonbill feeding on the low tide before it promptly went to sleep as Spoonbills are prone to doing but it gave some nice views when it occassionally woke up. Other highlights here were a Snipe, a Chiffchaff, a Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Grey Plover and 2 Greenshank.
We carried onwards to nearby Godrevy but not before paying a brief visit to Sue's Uncle Pete in Carbis Bay and while it had been warm in the sunshine at the sheltered Copperhouse Creek it was cooler in the breeze at the more exposed cliffs of Godrevy. This didn't seem to bother the 100+ Grey Seals hauled out on the beach or swimming in the sea at Mutton Cove, an amazing sight and the most Grey Seals I've ever seen together.
Other highlights here were 2 Raven, a Kestrel, 2 Fulmars, 2 Guillemots, Gannets and Kittiwakes but the birds of the day were 2 Chough which flew high overhead calling before drifting off towards Hayle.
It was yet again a sunny day on Friday 28th February so we headed out to Hope Cove for a walk along the coast path to Thurlestone and back. The sea was flat calm and birdless but South Huish Marsh was flooded and packed out with birds and the highlights were 2 Water Rails feeding out in the open with a third bird heard, 10+ Snipe, 7 Oystercatcher, 3 Little Egret, 2 pairs of Stonechats, a Greylag Goose and 2 Cattle Egret.
And so February comes to an end, a sixth of the year already gone, and the dry and sunny weather is looking set to continue for a few more days yet.
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