With Christmas, Twixtmas and New Years looming large on the horizon I wanted to get some further afield birding in before all the chaos begins. The weather has been thwarting my plans somewhat with some heavy and prolonged periods of rain, however with Tuesday 16th December forecasted to be a dry and bright day I decided to take a trip to Broadsands for a look about.
I arrived on site at around 10:30am and checked out the bushes around the car parks where a Yellow-browed Warbler has been seen recently but I was out of luck. However I did have some great views of 3+ Firecrests, 4+ Goldcrests, a Chiffchaff, a pair of Blackcap and a male Sparrowhawk while a Cettis Warbler was heard calling.
A look offshore was more productive, there was no sign of the reported Red-necked Grebe out in the Bay but there were good numbers of Auks seen, many too far off to ID but those closer in were all Guillemots except for at least 2 Razorbills. Gannets, Common Gulls, an adult Kittiwake, an Oystercatcher, 8 Great Crested Grebe, Shag and Cormorant where also of note along with 2 Grey Seals poking their noses out of the water and a pod of around 10 Common Dolphins alternating between stealth mode and leaping out of the water as they moved around the Bay.
It was all about the Divers though and I had some great views of both Red-throated and Great Northern Divers, some quite close inshore but most futher out and dotted around the Bay. At least 10 Red-throated Divers were seen including 3 swimming together and 2 flying out of the Bay towards Berry Head and at least 5 Great Northern Divers were counted including a bird still wearing some of its summer plumage or already moulting out of winter plumage - interestingly some of the Guillemots were already in summer plumage too.
It was another 3 Diver Day in Devon for me as well with a brief and distant view of a Black-throated Diver offshore, its white, rear flank patches were very noticeable and very unlike the white flank lines some of the Red-throated Divers were sporting. I had binocular views of it before it dived, I quickly got my scope set up but despite scanning around I unfortunately never refound it.
We had more heavy rain the next day and Thursday 18th December was the same but it had cleared through by early afternoon and so I had a walk around Plymouth Hoe to look for the 3 Purple Sandpipers reported here a few days ago. It was almost high tide and I found a lone Turnstone down on the rocks off the Pier One cafe but a look off Rusty Anchor revealed 5 Purple Sandpipers roosting together, the most I've seen here for many a year now - and I had foolishly left my camera at home!
Friday 19th December was forecasted to be sunny but breezy and so I decided to head down to Penzance on the train for the day. I caught an early train costing a whooping £28.20 but I wanted to get the most out of my day on what will probably be my last big birding trip of the year.
Up to 2 Pacific Divers had been seen at nearby Mousehole and so on arriving off the train at Penzance I caught the bus out to Penlee Point to begin my big birding day out. The Pacific Divers hadn't been reported for 2 days which wasn't surprising considering the weather conditions we'd just had but I kept my fingers crossed they would still be present. I have only seen Pacific Diver just the once before way back in 2009 with a bird seen briefly on the Carnsew Pool at Hayle, all my subsequent attempts to see another one have failed so I was very keen to end this run of dips.
I stepped off the bus at the old Penlee Lifeboat station where 3 birders were present looking through their scopes, they put me on to a Pacific Diver but it was very distant out in the Bay and soon dived and I lost track of it. I kept scanning across the water and found at least 5 Great Northern Divers, at least 3 Red-throated Divers, numerous Guillemots, a Razorbill and Shags and eventually I refound the Pacific Diver which came in quite close off the Lifeboat Station and showed off its chin strap beautifully which a birder present captured with his camera.
I had also hoped to see Black-throated Divers which have also been present in the Bay but I failed to find any and with time marching on I headed back to Penzance to catch the train to St.Erth for a look around the Hayle Estuary.
It was low tide as I scanned the estuary from the causeway bridge, the usual birds were present including large flocks of roosting Gulls out on the mudflats so I walked around to Lelant station for a closer look. A good scan through the Gulls from there failed to find the recent Ring-billed Gull but I had some good views of Common and Mediterranean Gulls amongst the Herring, Great Black-backed, Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls present.
From Lelant Station a Great White Egret dwarfed the Little Egrets it was feeding alongside, 2 Dark-bellied Brent Geese (an adult and a juvenile) were preening out on the sandbanks, a Great Northern Diver was living up to its name out on the river, a Kingfisher was a lovely splash of colour and a Whimbrel was unseasonal but with the tide starting to head in I walked back to the causeway bridge for another look about.
With the tide heading in quickly by now a flock of Goosanders were out on the water and moving towards the bridge, I had seen 4 (2 males) earlier from Lelant Station but now there were 13 - 2 males and 11 females - and they were catching small silver fish in a bit of a feeding frenzy. The Gulls began to depart as the mud disappeared underwater and a nearby birder called out an adult Yellow-legged Gull which I got onto just as it flew off towards St.Erth. I kept scanning through the Gulls but there was still no sign of the Ring-billed Gull although I had a possible adult Caspian Gull , a distant view before it flew off downriver.
Teal, Lapwing, Wigeon, Black-headed Gull, Bar-tailed Godwit and Dunlin were roosting and feeding along the waters edge below the bridge and out on the mud nearby I picked up an also unseasonal 1st winter Curlew Sandpiper feeding on its own along a small creek before it flew off with the Dunlin as the water level rose higher. To finish off my day I saw the wintering Spoonbill feeding on Ryan's Field as I passed by on the train on my journey back to Plymouth, a nice end to a great day out.
I had planned to have a quiet weekend after all my recent birding excitements but with a Yellow-browed Warbler being reported at Efford Marsh in Plymouth I decided to go and have a look for it on the morning of Saturday 20th December before yet more rain was forecasted to arrive. It is just over a year ago that I saw a Yellow-browed Warbler at Efford Marsh and on that visit it had taken me a few hours to finally catch a sight of it so I was hoping that it wouldn't take quite as long on this visit.
I was well prepared this time with my Wellies packed in my rucksack but the paths, while muddy, weren't that bad and I didn't need to wear them as I began my walk along the path through the nature reserve. I started checking out every small bird flitting about in the tangled mass of vegetation as I went, I found Firecrest, Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, a Coal Tit, Wren, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Robin, Long-tailed Tit and a Dunnock and after half an hour of searching I found the Yellow-browed Warbler - result!
It didn't stay still for a second and would regularly disappear into the branches but it would always return to the same spot and show very well before disappearing again. It was quite a bright looking bird and I also heard it call a few times despite the constant noise of traffic on the nearby A38 - such a beautiful, feisty bird so far away from home, an absolute joy to watch and I enjoyed it all to myself.
Also of note along my walk before I headed home were a Grey Wagtail, a Buzzard, singing Song Thrushes, a flyby Kingfisher and a pair of Mallards with a Jay, Teal and Moorhen heard only.
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