Due to various circumstances I haven't managed to do any proper seawatching so far this year but with Storm Benjamin exerting its influence across the UK I headed down to St.Ives in Cornwall on Thursday 23rd October for a look about on a day with squally showers blown in on strong north westerly winds.
I caught the 6:40am train from Plymouth and arrived at the coastguard lookout on St.Ives Island at around 9:15am, later than I would have liked but I really didn't fancy catching the 5:30am train from Plymouth (although the £28.20(!) ticket price was the same for either train).
When I arrived at the lookout there were a few birders already present, a friendly bunch with a couple of very experienced seawatchers amongst them (Liam and Steve) who did a sterling job of finding birds and calling them out although I did find it difficult at times to get onto the birds despite their excellent instructions.
As I was walking up to the lookout I could see birds streaming past in the lee of the island before heading out into the stormy north westerly wind and it pretty much continued for the 6 hours I was there, only beginning to peter out when I left to head home, and I had some great, close views of Gannets, Kittiwakes, Razorbills and Guillemots as they flew past. It was very heartening to see so many juvenile Kittiwakes amongst the throng and good numbers of juvenile and immature Gannets too.
The occassional Manx Shearwater came past and often fairly close in too and I had some cracking views of Arctic Skuas as well with at least 10 variously aged and plumaged birds passing by at varying distances. Even better were 3 Great Skuas, a pleasure to see after their population crash following the avian flu epidemic a few years ago. Common Scoters flew past with singles and small groups seen but 4 Teal and 7 Tufted Duck were a surprise. A Sanderling, a Curlew, 2 Oystercatcher, 6 Sandwich Tern, Mediterranean Gulls, 3 Fulmar and 3 Great Northern Diver were also noted and it was good to see 4 Arctic Tern pass by, a bird I don't often see. I struggled to get onto a Little Gull flying by, I had a very brief view of what I think was it just as it disappeared out of sight behind the rocks so I can't really add that to my list but I had better luck with seeing a very smart Balearic Shearwater moving through along with 3 equally smart Sooty Shearwaters.
A juvenile Sabine's Gull was found and eventually I got onto to it, it was distant though and would regularly settle on the rough sea where it would just vanish amongst the swell but in flight it was a very smart and distinctive looking bird. It gradually moved west across the Bay and was lost from sight but later I had better and closer views of presumably the same bird which may have doubled back on itself to start its feeding flight into the wind again. Remarkably it was eventually joined by a second juvenile bird which sadly very quickly disappeared east across the Bay and was lost from sight.
Birds of the day however were 2 juvenile Long-tailed Skuas, picked up by Liam and Steve and a new bird for me. The first (at 10:08am) moved through fairly close in, an intermediate phase bird with a noticeable pale head/nape area and quite a distinctive looking bird. The second bird (at 11:55am) was a little further out, a darker looking intermediate phase type and less obvious (to me anyway) and at one point it very briefly harrassed the feeding Sabine's Gull as it flew past. Interestingly 2 juvenile Long-tailed Skuas were also seen that day at Pendeen further west along the coast and presumably the same 2 birds seen at St.Ives.
After 6 hours my back and legs eventually had had enough and it was time to leave for home but it had been a great day's birding on what is only my second ever St.Ives seawatch (the first was back in 2021!). I was very pleased to catch up with some sea birds at last and to get some great views of them too, I do enjoy seawatching despite the rain, wind and cold and difficult viewing conditions but I still have a lot to learn. Thank goodness Liam and Steve were there to help out as I would undoubtedly have missed out on seeing some of the birds that ended up on my day list and hopefully it won't be another 4 years before I seawatch at St.Ives again.
With the weather having calmed down by Saturday 25th October I caught the 7:00am bus out to Wembury for a walk. It was cool in a continuing north westerly breeze with occassional drizzle showers in mostly sunny skies and I hoped for a bit of birding movement going on overhead.
It was only just getting light when I arrived off the bus but a Cetti's Warbler was heard calling in the valley to the beach as I walked up to the church. There wasn't much going on from here so I headed out along the footpath to The Point where I could see Egrets roosting along the beach on the high tide. I hoped a Cattle Egret might be in amongst them, it wasn't but a count of 20 Little Egret was probably my highest ever here. The usual Oystercatchers were present too along with 17 Turnstone but I couldn't find anything more unusual.
I continued my walk up to the radar station for a look about, it was around 9:30am when I got there and so far I hadn't noted any movement overhead, however this soon changed with a silent Siskin over heading west followed by a few calling Chaffinch. Over the next hour there was a steady trickle of Chaffinch and Siskin heading west, the Chaffinch were vocal, slow moving and more numerous, the Siskin totalled around 50 birds and were mostly silent and flew over very quickly in small flocks.
Woodpigeon flocks were on the move too, no larger than around 100 birds at a time and all half heartedly moving west with some flocks doubling back or heading inland and I did find at least 2 Stock Doves in amongst them too. Skylarks were moving west also but again appeared to be doing so without much enthusiasm and often doubling back and heading inland or settling in the fields.
After an hour things dried up and as I walked back to the bus stop in the village the usual birds were seen with Cirl Bunting, Stonechat, 2 Goldcrest, a Kestrel, a Raven, 2 Sparrowhawk, Gannets, a Coal Tit and 2 Buzzards all noted. There were plenty of Pheasants around too, released from the pens up in the fields above the wheatfield and waiting to be blasted out of the sky on the next shoot. A Small White and 3 Red Admiral were also seen flitting about as the sun warmed things up a bit but with the clocks due to go back that night it certainly felt very autumnal with winter not far away.
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