I usually plan a day trip to The Hayle Estuary in January or February but this year it never happened for one reason or another. I visited nearby Marazion back in January, usually I would tag on a quick stop at Hayle on the way home but instead I spent the whole day at Marazion not seeing the Booted Eagle or Pacific Diver! However I did visit Hayle at the end of February with my friend Sue to see the wintering Spoonbill on Copperhouse Creek but we didn't do any other birding in the area.
Anyway, with a trio of rare Gulls reported at Hayle on Sunday 9th March (Iceland, Ring-billed and Bonaparte's) and with dry and mild but overcast weather forecasted for Monday 10th March I decided to catch the train to Hayle for a visit. I took my repaired tripod with me to put it through its paces and on the train journey to Hayle I steeled myself for the usual "Where's Wally" Gull search to come
On arriving at St.Erth I walked down to the causeway bridge and had a quick scan through the mass of Gulls roosting out on the mudflats but there was no sign of anything rare amongst the large numbers of Herring, Common, Great Black-backed, Mediterranean, Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls present.
Most of the Gulls were roosting further down the estuary and so I walked over to Lelant station for a closer look, finding a smart male Black Redstart around The Old Quay House gardens along the way. From Lelant station I soon picked up the wintering adult Ring-biled Gull roosting amongst the Common Gulls just as it tucked its head under its wing and went to sleep but with the water rising on the incoming tide it soon woke up and showed very well before flying off upriver.
I walked back to Lelant Saltings station as the Gulls continued to move upriver with the tide, I couldn't refind the Ring-billed Gull but I did pick out a smart looking adult Yellow-legged Gull hidden in amongst the mass of Gulls and also the wintering juvenile Spoonbill which was roosting out on the mud.
I walked back to the causeway bridge for a final scanning session but didn't find any more unusual Gulls as the tide steadily rose, there was no sign of the male Black Redstart from earlier either although the Spoonbill was still present and roosting much closer.
Other birds of note on my visit were Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck, a male Mallard. 3 Canada Geese, a Little Egret, 2 Greenshank, 16+ Bar-tailed Godwit, 20+ Dunlin, Curlew, Redshank, Oystercatcher, a Jay and my first singing Chiffchaff of the year.
The train journey back to Plymouth was delayed due to a medical emergency at Truro station, we were held at Redruth station for 50 minutes and arrived into Plymouth 59 minutes late, just 1 minute short of being able to claim back 50% of my ticket cost instead of 25% but never mind! My tripod performed perfectly though, in fact much better than before it broke, and I did get to see 1 of my target Gulls along with a bonus Yellow-legged Gull on an enjoyable day out.
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