St.Ives Seawatching

The weather forecast for Tuesday 5th October was looking dire although ideal for some sea watching but the forecast kept changing and I eventually switched plans and headed to St.Ives in North Cornwall instead of Berry Head in South Devon due to there being a strong North Westerly wind after a night of South Westerly gales. 

I arrived at the Coastguard Station at St.Ives at around 9:30am, later than I had originally planned, and a gaggle of birders were already present scanning the rough seas out of the wind in the lee of the Station.

St.Ives Sea Watching

The sun was shining and on a quick scan through my binoculars I found 2 Great Skuas, a Balearic Shearwater and a Manx Shearwater along with Gannets, Kittiwakes, Mediterranean Gulls and Auks. With so much going on I quickly assembled my telescope and began some proper searching.

I'm still a novice when it comes to sea watching and at times it was quite overwhelming with large numbers of birds swirling around everywhere. Finding something unusual, getting my scope on it and then trying to ID it while being buffeted by strong winds and fending off members of the public passing by who wanted to chit chat wasn't easy - but I had a great time and 4 hours just flew by! I missed all the reported scarce birds  (Leaches Storm Petrel, Grey Phalarope and Sooty Shearwater) but I think these were mostly seen before I arrived on site although I did have a very brief view of a Petrel species before it just disappeared in the wave troughs. 

I didn't attempt to count numbers as I got the distinct impression that most birds were moving in a circle around the bay especially the Shearwaters and Skuas. Both dark and pale phase Arctic Skuas were seen, probably at least 10 birds, along with probably at least 4 Great Skuas and they gave some excellent views as they passed by close to the headland.

Flocks of Auks were flying west with many ditching on the sea to dive for fish, mostly Razorbills but with a few Guillemots as well. Gannets were everywhere, adults and immature birds, and watching them dive was as impressive as always. Mediterranean Gulls and Kittiwakes of various ages were also flying around with the Kittiwakes regularly subjected to the attentions of the Skuas and Sandwich and Commic Terns were also noted too. 

A few Manx Shearwater were seen flying west but a pair of Balearic Shearwaters stole the show as they fished together close to shore, flying low over the water and diving into the wave peaks to catch small silver fish and then emerging the other side of the wave to do it again and again. They were definently moving around the bay as they would disappear around the headland as they flew west into the wind and swell before circling back into the bay to repeat the circuit again. A few other Balearics were seen moving west including one with a Manx Shearwater allowing for a good comparison between the two and they were certainly the best views of Balearics I've ever had. 

A Bar-tailed Godwit, a Swallow and 13 Common Scoter (all males in 3 flocks heading west totalling 2, 6 and 5) were also noted along with Shag, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull and Black-headed Gull with a brief view of a Grey Seal close to the rocks. 

On the return trip to Plymouth I stopped off at the Hayle Estuary for a quick look around. The tide was low but 7 Dunlin, a Grey Plover, Curlew, Redshank, Oystercatcher, a Greenshank and 13 Bar-tailed Godwit were seen along with Wigeon, Teal, Little Egret, a Grey Heron and Mediterranean Gulls. 

A Whimbrel was feeding on Ryan's Field and a Grey Wagtail was feeding along The Quay but the best bird was a Great Crested Grebe on the Carnsew Pool, my first one at Hayle. 

Whimbrel

Grey Wagtail

Wind and Rain!

Our Holiday-less Holiday continues and the weather has been pretty vile to say the least with what seems to be constant grey skies, strong winds and heavy rain. No chance of any moth boxing in the back yard either with chilly and wet nights and while the east coast of England enjoys a fantastic autumn of bird migration the South West remains very quiet. Never mind but I had hoped for something more interesting as we are usually on foreign travels at this time of year and I always miss out on UK birding at this time. 

Undettered we headed down to Looe by train on Saturday 3rd October with friends Julie and Matt for an overnight stay but the weather was horrid and we actually returned earlier than planned on the Sunday as it really was quite foul. Nothing too exciting was seen on the bird front but there were 3 Eider just off the main beach, a male, a female and an juvenile/eclipse male, and I also had a very brief view of a Great Northern Diver further out just as it dived but I couldn't relocate it. 

Eider, Looe

Looe Signage

Tuesday 6th October was very windy with heavy showers but there was something unusual in the skies too - the sun! - and so we drove up to Stover Park for a walk before heading to The Brookside Cafe at Bovey Tracy for a late lunch. 

It has been a while since we last visited Stover Park and there have been some interesting changes. The footpath around the lake has been improved and is now wider and gravel covered so much less muddy and easier to walk along. Also dogs now have to be kept on a lead at all times around the Lake - I love dogs but am not so keen on dog owners who often ignore the needs of wildlife and the enjoyment of other users of the countryside so this is quite an interesting and welcome development. The construction of the reed bed to help filter the polluted water entering the lake is also now completed and the water quality does look a little better which will hopefully improve and increase the biodiversity of the lake which has notably declined over recent years. 

There were good numbers of wildfowl out on the lake, the most I have seen here before, and amongst the Mallard and Moorhen and Canada Geese were a male Pochard, 2 Mute Swan with 2 grown Cygnets, Coot including 5 juveniles, Black-headed Gulls, 2 Great-crested Grebe (an adult attending to a juvenile), at least 24 active and mobile Tufted Duck (11 females), a Cormorant and a very tame small duck that appeared to be a Mallard x Teal hybrid. 

Teal, Stover Park

Teal x Mallard?

Teal - green speculum but with a hint of blue

Crossbills and Siskins were seen and heard overhead and a Great Spotted Woodpecker chipped away in the pine trees. Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Blue Tit and Great Tit were seen on the bird feeders with 3 Grey Squirrels scavenging the scraps beneath them. 

Bees and Flys were buzzing around the Ivy blossom and included 2 massive Hornets. Common Darters were flying around too in sheltered spots when the sun appeared and included mating pairs.

Hornet

Hornet

Hornet

Common Darter

Common Darter

Thursday 7th October was bright and sunny and calm but with rain and wind forecasted for late afternoon I headed off in the morning for a walk along the River Plym and around Saltram Park.

It was a very high tide and Blaxton Meadow was again almost totally water covered but roosting out on the Meadow were 8 Greenshank, 38 Curlew, 6 Oystercatcher, 3 Redshank, 2 Shelduck, 1 Grey Heron and 11 Little Egret along with Canada Geese, Herring Gull and Black-headed Gull.

A roosting flock of around 140 Redshank were along the river embankment by the A374 with 12 Grey Heron while out on the water were a few Cormorant and Mallard. A Kingfisher dashed past over the water calling noisily but was never to be seen again.

In the Park both Green- and Great-spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch were heard but not seen while Ring-necked Parakeets noisily flew around overhead. Stock Dove, 2 Goldcrest, Coal Tit, Buzzard and Jay were also seen. A worn Speckled Wood, a Large White and a Small White were also noted.

Speckled wood, Saltram

The grass on Chelson Meadow had been cut, I'm not sure why but maybe it gets cut every year at this time and I have never noticed, but mobile and flighty Meadow Pipits were very much enjoying feeding amongst the grass cuttings.

I spent a bit of time looking for Firecrests but with no luck so I headed home via the Plymouth University Campus where 2 Firecrest have been reported and eventually I found them busily feeding in a holly tree along with a Chiffchaff. 2 Speckled Wood flitted about in the nearby tree tops and a Siskin was heard flying over. A Brown Rat rooting around in a nearby hedgerow was a bit of a surprise.

I also had a look around Drakes Reservoir where a Kingfisher has been reported and I easily found it resting on the stone wall of the reservoir. It occassionally flew over the water calling noisily, hovering at times over the water and diving in to catch small fish.

Kingfisher, Drakes Reservoir

A Grey Wagtail was also feeding along the waters edge while a large and stunning Golden Carp swam around in the water amongst its black relatives.

Grey Wagtail

Golden Carp

Golden Carp

Golden Carp

Pectoral Sandpiper on an Isles Of Scilly Day Trip

I visited the Isles of Scilly on a day trip back in September 2014 and had a great day out and it is something I have wanted to do again but have never managed to get around to doing. However I decided that this would be the year for a revisit and so on Wednesday 12th September I headed off on the early train from Plymouth to Penzance, arriving in Penzance at 08:15hrs to board the Scillonian ferry at 08:45hrs. The ferry ticket only cost me £25 due to a special day trip offer for residents of Devon and Cornwall only, a bargain price. It was a grey, cool and mizzly morning and as I settled in on a seat on the top deck of the ferry I felt a little nauseated, a combination of lack of sleep, too much caffeine, excitement, anticipation and a bit of anxiety about potentially arriving late on the train and missing the boat.

I scanned around Mounts Bay while waiting for the ferry to leave and noted an immature/eclipse male eider diving in the harbour while gannets, kittiwakes, Mediterranean gulls and 2 Sandwich terns were flying around offshore but more interesting was a stream of Manx shearwaters flying low over the water and heading west in the far distance.

The ferry headed off at 09:15hrs and soon we were offshore amongst the Manx shearwaters as we sailed along the Cornish coastline, there must have been 2000+ present, and as I scanned through them as they passed by I managed to pick out 3 Balearic shearwater. Even better were the 9 sooty shearwaters I picked out too, 1 of which gave a great view as it sheared low over the water right in front of the ferry. A few distant auks were also picked up flying low over the water along with a common tern, a few fulmar and a few brief glimpses of harbour porpoise, bottlenose dolphins and tuna. As we passed the Wolf Rock lighthouse the sightings became much more sporadic with the odd gannet, Manx shearwater and herring gull seen and before long we were arriving in Hugh Town on St.Marys at just before 12:00hrs.

I decided to walk out to Porthellick Pool first, somewhere I haven't visited before, and while walking through Lower Moors on the way there I saw a few swallows overhead and some moorhen on the pool in front of the hide. A few speckled wood were flitting about amongst the sheltered trees, being the Scilly form of speckled wood (Pararge aegeria insula) and not the mainland form (Pararge aegeria tircis), noticeably more orange toned than the yellow toned mainland form. I had seen them before on previous visits but hadn't realised that they were a subspecies and so I was very glad to see and photograph them.

 Speckled Wood - P.a.insula (Scilly, 2018)

Speckled Wood - P.a.tircis (Exmouth, 2017)

Arriving at the hide at Porthellick Pool I quickly found the reported pectoral sandpiper feeding unconcernedly right in front of the hide where it gave some fantastic views.

 Pectoral Sandpiper

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Pectoral Sandpiper 

Pectoral Sandpiper

Also seen from the hide were 3 snipe, a grey wagtail and a common sandpiper along with a few mallard and more swallows overhead.

 Snipe

 Snipe

 Snipe

 Snipe and Pectoral Sandpiper

Grey Wagtail

Onwards to the golf course to look for the reported buff breasted sandpipers but I was out of luck although I did find 3 wheatear, a whinchat, 2 stonechat, a kestrel and linnets and goldfinches while enjoying the stunning scenery.

I returned to the hide at Porthellick Pool but the pectoral sandpiper had moved further away to the back of the pool and so after a brief look I walked onwards to the airfield to see if the buff breasted sandpipers were there but again there was no sign of them although I did find another wheatear along with chiffchaff and blackcap.

It was time to return to Hugh Town to catch the return ferry and I walked back via Lower Moors where a nice spotted flycatcher showed very well, being given a lot of hassle from a robin, and song thrush, house sparrow, collared dove, blackbird and wren were all seen too along with a very well marked large white butterfly.

 Spotted Flycatcher

Large White

My 4 hour stay on the island was nearly up and I boarded the ferry for the trip back to Penzance for the 16:15hrs sailing, far too short a time but it had been a very interesting and pleasant few hours. While waiting for the ferry to set sail a small flock of house sparrows were feeding on scraps around the feet of the passengers, most flew back to the quayside as we sailed away but 3 decided to stay and travelled with us all the way to Penzance - maybe a regular occurrence?

Hitchhiking House Sparrow

The sun was beginning to shine from behind the clearing cloud cover and I was looking forward to the return trip. A few gannets and Manx shearwaters were seen again as we neared the Wolf Rock Lighthouse along with a few common dolphins, they were mostly secretive with brief views only but one pod was very showy with lots of leaping out of the water. As we sailed along the Cornish coastline again I was disappointed to see that the shearwaters and gannets were much closer to shore this time and viewing them was difficult into the wind, in the harsh light and at distance and so I concentrated on the seaward side of the boat where I did pick up a Balearic shearwater and a sooty shearwater amongst the Manx shearwaters flying by.

Arriving back at Penzance in the fading light and I had had a great day out again, one I really must make sure I repeat again next year.

Scillonian Ferry back in Penzance

Rain stops Birding (For a Day)

Sunday April 30th and I had planned to visit Rame Head again for a look around but the weather forecast was vile so I decided to give it a miss. However on second thoughts I considered going anyway with the forecast rain and strong winds maybe providing some good sea watching but then I wasn't really in the mood to get soaking wet so stayed at home instead. I checked the bird sighting pages during the morning to find good birds were being seen along the South Devon coast (pomarine skua, Arctic skua, Manx shearwater, puffin, etc) and I was beginning to regret my decision so I headed out to Plymouth Hoe for a look to see if anything interesting might have been blown in. The weather was very wet and breezey but not bad enough to blow any birds into The Sound other than at least 6 gannets along with the usual herring gulls, great black backed gulls and cormorants although 3 whimbrel, 2 noisey displaying oystercatcher and a songflighting rock pipit added some interest. But I shouldn't really complain about the rain because we really needed it as it has been dry for many, many days now.

Tuesday 2nd May and we headed out for a walk around Rame Head on a sunny and still afternoon. There was nothing out to sea except herring gulls, cormorants and shags but on land whitethroats were much in evidence with males singing and songflighting everywhere. A singing male yellowhammer and a singing male cirl bunting were also seen along with a peregrine, a sparrowhawk, a kestrel, 2 raven, a male bullfinch and a male stonechat. Butterfly interest was provided by a male orange tip, 3 speckled wood, a red admiral, a small tortoiseshell, a holly blue and at least 6 wall brown and I also saw a speckled yellow moth flitting over the gorse covered cliff side.

Wednesday 3rd May and I decided to head off to Grenofen Woods for a walk on a sunny but cool and breezey morning. I was hoping to find some garden warblers after no sight or sound of any on my 2 spring visits last year and I wasn't disappointed with excellent views of 4 birds, 2 very vocal and mobile males and a third less vocal male with a female in close attendance. I was concerned about my lack of sightings at Grenofen Woods last year but maybe I was just unlucky with birds present but not singing or showing on the days I visited.

Garden Warbler

Garden Warbler

Garden Warbler

I also hoped to see tree pipits after only getting flight views at Yarner Wood last Saturday and again I was in luck with 3 birds seen well - a songflighting male with a female in close attendance and a second male songflighting nearby.

Tree Pipit

Tree Pipit

Tree Pipit

I also had some nice views of 2 or possibly 3 singing and mobile male redstarts along with a female, always a nice bird to see.

Redstart

Redstart

Also seen were 3 marsh tits, a male great spotted woodpecker, a male yellowhammer, 2 nuthatch, 2 male bullfinch, willow warblers, blackcaps and swallows, with chiffchaff, green woodpecker and tawny owl also heard.

Along the river there was no sign of any dippers but a pair of grey wagtail were busily feeding 2 fledglings.

Grey Wagtail

Grey Wagtail - Fledgling

Green veined whites, 3 speckled wood and a tatty looking male and at least 6 female brimstones were on the wing but there was no sign of any small pearl bordered fritillary after last years first ever sighting.

Male Brimstone

Female Brimstone

Female Brimstone

Female Brimstone

Another oil beetle trundling along the path was a nice surprise, they are such lovely looking things, and again I carefully moved it off the footpath and away from peoples feet, and a dor beetle was also found having dug itself out of the ground.

Oil Beetle