Temminck's Stint at Stithians Reservoir

A short break to Cologne in Germany with friends Julie and Matt with free flights courtesy of Airmiles again (or Avios as it now known as) was very enjoyable and a bit of a blur with all the food and drink we consumed.

The drive up to Heathrow Airport on December 1st was uneventful with a few red kites, red-legged partridges and kestrels seen along the way. Very few birds were seen in Cologne as expected but the highlight again were the ring-necked parakeets roosting in the trees at Heumarkt. There were many more birds present this year compared to last year, probably in excess of 200 birds, and it was great to hear them screeching away and to watch them flying off in small groups in the morning from our hotel bedroom.

Cologne Cathedral Christmas Market

The drive back to Plymouth from Heathrow Airport on December 5th was uneventful too but in dreadful weather and I only managed to see a few red-legged partridges
again in the fields by the road near Stonehenge.

Interestingly the Temminck's stint first reported at Stithians Reservoir in Cornwall on October 22nd was still present on December 4th and with a free day on December 6th before returning to work after our trip away I decided to head off for a look despite the awful weather forecast.

I caught the train to Truro, hearing the distinctive calls of Plymouths population of ring-necked parakeets screeching in the trees outside Plymouth railway station as I arrived to catch my train. From Truro I caught the bus to Carnkie and then walked about a mile to the reservoir dam where the bird has been seen from and it was as windy, misty, drizzley and rainy as forecast. On arriving at the dam I scanned along the waters edge and within a minute my binoculars were soaked along with the rest of me and there was no sign of the bird either. After around 15 minutes of searching and constantly trying to dry off my glasses and binoculars I decided to head over across the dam to the Stuart Hutchings bird hide where at least I would be in the dry.

From the hide there were good numbers of lapwing and snipe roosting and feeding and being disturbed into flight on a regular basis by mischievous carrion crows along with a coot, mallards, a shelduck, 2 female goldeneye, wigeon, a grey heron, little grebes, roosting gulls and flyover fieldfares. I casually scanned through the gulls not expecting much variety but amongst the herring gulls and black-headed gulls I picked up a few common gulls and lesser black-backed gulls and a very smart adult yellow legged gull looking dazzling white with off yellow legs and being given a wide berth as usual by the gulls nearby.

 Lesser Black-backed Gull (upper left), Herring gulls and Yellow-legged Gull (bottom right)

 Yellow-legged Gull

 Yellow-legged Gull

 Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

I walked back across the dam for another look for the stint but there was still no sign of it and with the bad weather not abating I was just about to give up and head back home when a small bird along the shoreline caught my eye and had my heart racing. Unfortunately it turned out to be a pied wagtail but nearby I quickly picked up another small bird feeding along the shoreline and it revealed itself to be the Temminck's stint - result! The stint was tiny, being slightly smaller than the pied wagtail, and despite the poor light and rain spattered binoculars and glasses I managed some nice views with the stints yellowy/green legs being quite noticeable. I even managed some of my usual quality photos although I can partly blame the wet weather and poor light for the results but all things considered they actually aren't that bad.

 Temminck's Stint

 Temminck's Stint

  Temminck's Stint

 Temminck's Stint

Temminck's Stint

It was soon time to leave for the walk back to Carnkie to catch the bus back to Truro and I was absolutely soaked through but it had been great to catch up with only my second ever Temminck's stint and this time getting much better views than I did of my first one at Bowling Green Marsh in 2014.

Beesands Ley and Slapton Ley

Wednesday 21st November and after meeting Mavis at Yelverton we drove off for a days birding starting at Beesands Ley. It was a beautiful November day, cold and sunny with a gentle breeze after a frosty night, and we headed off with high hopes.

We walked down to the hide at Beesands Ley, hearing Cettis warbler and water rails and seeing a goldcrest feeding in the hedgerow with blue and great tits, and from the hide we watched a male and 2 female teal, 2 male, 2 female and an immature male shoveler, coot, a little grebe, 29 mute swans, moorhen, tufted duck, a cormorant and a female scaup that frustratingly kept its distance and spent a lot of time under the water or behind the island and out of view from the hide. A few of the female tufted ducks had quite large white blazes around their bills but the scaups more rounded head shape and lack of a hint of a tuft were all noticeable.

We walked round to the beach side of the Ley where the scaup was still being elusive but we added a greylag goose and a black swan to our day list which both flew in and landed on the water. A quick scan offshore revealed just a few gannets flying around and a pair of stonechats were seen flitting about in the hedgerow before we decided to move on to Slapton Ley.

We parked up at Torcross and walked along the Ley side towards the bridge as a few rain clouds rolled in and we had a few brief spells of rain and hail. Cettis warblers were calling and more stonechats were seen along with a female cirl bunting, a meadow pipit, a reed bunting and greenfinches.

On the Ley we scanned through the wildfowl and mid-Ley we picked out the male ring necked duck amongst the tufted ducks, presumably the bird that overwintered earlier in the year. Also seen were gadwall, wigeon and pochard along with coot, cormorant and mallard before we decided to head back along the beach to Torcross for lunch and scanning the sea along the way we picked out a few shag, a group of 8 female/immature common scoters close to the beach and a great northern diver flying across the bay before landing on the sea and being lost to view.

After a delicious lunch of fish and chips in the Start Bay Inn we drove along the Ley on the recently reopened road to the bridge where we parked up and walked along the back of the Ley to the quarry, seeing a goldcrest and a female blackcap as we began our walk and hearing water rails squealing in the reeds.

There were good numbers of wildfowl in Ireland Bay and scanning through we picked up more wigeon, tufted duck and pochard, teal, great crested grebes, at least 4 little grebes, the male ring necked duck and a female scaup, a different bird to the one seen at Beesands Ley with a smaller white blaze around the bill. Despite scanning we couldn't find the recently reported black necked grebe though.

At the quarry we picked up a feeding flock of small birds and amongst the long tailed, blue and great tits we found a chiffchaff, a male blackcap, a wren, a goldcrest and a very smart firecrest which gave some excellent views. A Jay, 2 ravens, a buzzard and 2 grey herons were also seen before it was time to head back to the car for the journey home but just before we left we were treated to a murmuration of starlings over the reedbed, only a small flock of around 500 birds but lovely to watch (and hear) and a great end to a great day out.

 Starlings

 Starlings

Starlings