Franklin's Gull, Hayle Estuary

Another gloomy and dull day on Sunday 30th October saw me heading off on the train to the Hayle Estuary in Cornwall to look for a Franklin's gull that had been seen somewhat erratically for the past few days. I was feeling tired and wasn't in the mood to spend 4 hours on a train (2 hours there, 2 hours back), but armed with food and drink, my MP3 player and the Sunday paper crossword supplement the journey wasn't too bad and allowed me time to contemplate my lot in life as the gorgeous Cornish scenery passed by.

I arrived at Hayle at around 11am and walked off towards the Carnsew Pool, seeing a kingfisher and a little egret along the quay by Asda. On the Pool were at least 6 mobile little grebes all constantly diving along with 2 female red breasted mergansers. Another (or the same) kingfisher was perched on seaweed covered rocks by the waters edge before being disturbed by walkers.

Kingfisher

 A few waders were feeding on the exposed mud - dunlin, redshank, grey plover, oystercatcher, curlew and bar tailed godwit - but my attention was quickly grabbed by a very close immature spoonbill busily feeding in the shallow water, presumably the long staying bird that has been around on and off for the past year. It had a small amount of black feathering in its primary tips, noticeable only when it flapped its wings, but its bill was still a pinky, yellowy colour with some darkening to black noticeable.

 Spoonbill

Spoonbill

I was a bit distracted by the spoonbill and finally remembered why I had made the trip to Hayle when I saw the large group of birders on the causeway bridge busily pointing their telescopes and cameras at the mass of gulls, ducks and waders roosting and feeding on the mudflats. I hurried down to the bridge as quickly as I could and on arriving a birder very kindly put me onto the Franklin's gull sleeping amongst the gulls quite close to the road - result, a British/life tick for me! A smart looking bird, black headed gull sized, with dark legs, dark grey upperparts with distinct black and white wing tips and a hint of a partial black hood as its head was tucked under its wings.

Franklin's Gull (Centre)

It eventually awoke and walked down to the waters edge where it stood around and sipped water for a while before yakking up a pellet and flying off south over Ryans Field and out of sight but I was very pleased to have seen it so well.

 Franklin's Gull

 Franklin's Gull

 Franklin's Gull

 Franklin's Gull

Franklin's Gull

Franklin's Gull with Teal, Redshank, Little Egret, Black Headed Gull, Herring Gull and Wigeon

With the gull disappearing from sight I headed back to the Carnsew Pool to enjoy more close views of the spoonbill, probably the best views I have ever had, and it was nice to watch a spoonbill actually doing something! It was also very nice to point it out to a lady birder walking by who had never seen one before, she was very pleased and excited to see it.

 Spoonbill and Little Egret

Spoonbill and Little Egret

 Spoonbill

Spoonbill

Bar Tailed Godwit

At least 4 adult winter plumaged Mediterranean gulls were mobile around the Pool, feeding, preening and looking quite ghostly in flight in the sunshine which had begun to appear from behind the clouds.

Mediterranean Gull with Herring Gull

I wandered back along the estuary to the causeway bridge to admire the birdlife in what was now lovely light - a common sandpiper, 2 greenshank, teal, wigeon, ringed plover, 3 black tailed godwit, a grey plover, dunlin, lapwing, grey heron, cormorant, little egret, golden plover, Canada goose, lesser and greater black backed gull, herring gull, a 1st winter common gull, greylag goose, black headed gull, rock pipit, starling, redshank, curlew, oystercatcher, carrion crow and Mediterranean gull were all seen.

 Common Sandpiper

 Male Wigeon

 Lapwing and Teal

Lapwing and Golden Plover

Golden Plover, Teal and Black Tailed Godwit

The spoonbill appeared on the mudflats down river as the tide came in and the Franklin's gull was refound on the sand banks off Lelant railway station, distant views only through my telescope but still a striking and obvious bird amongst the black headed gulls and Mediterranean gulls.

It was time to head off home and I walked up to the railway station at St.Erth to catch the train home, having had a very enjoyable time and all for the princely sum of £10.10 for the train ticket.

Migrant Waders

The original plan for Wednesday 20th April was to head down to Bude with the Outlaws to sort out the caravan but with ongoing emergency repairs being done to the awning we headed off to Thurlestone for a walk instead. It was very windy, surprisingly so, and probably not a good day to be putting up an awning with a pair of 80ish year olds.

The walk from Thurlestone to Hope Cove and back was very windy and did put a damper on birding but I managed some nice sightings. A chiffchaff was feeding in sheltered bushes at South Milton Sands as swallows dashed past at almost supersonic speeds in the strong tail wind. A coot and 2 female teal were on South Huish Marsh along with a surprise winter plumaged grey plover. 2 whimbrel flew west along the shoreline, calling noisely, and later 3 birds were disturbed from the mud by the footbridge over South Milton Ley.

A pair of cirl buntings and a male stonechat were seen along the clifftop along with my first oil beetle of the year - it looked like it had been stood on but was only dazed and not obviously injured so I placed it in cover by the footpath.

Oil Beetle

Friday 22nd April and rain was forecast for the whole day and it was grey, cold and wet but I needed to get out of the house so I headed off to Wembury for a quick hours walk - 10:30hrs bus there, 12:00hrs bus home - but the rain did ease and then stop and as I was having such a good time I stayed until 13:30hrs.

A willow warbler was again singing in the bushes behind the stables, presumably the same bird as last week, and later it was singing in bushes below the church before flying back across the valley towards the stables. Chiffchaffs were vocal and showy and 4 whitethroats were heard too. 2 swallows low around the horse fields looked miserable in the cold and wet weather.

Along the beach were 9 + whimbrel, very vocal and mobile and lovely to see and hear on a crappy weather day. 1 bird had a green plastic ring on its left thigh and a buff coloured one on its right thigh but I can't find any recent details about it on the internet and it may be quite an old ringing scheme as whimbrels are quite long lived. Amongst the rocks were also 3 bar-tailed godwit (2 in smart summer plumage), a common sandpiper and 2 grey plover (1in partial summer plumage) along with oystercatchers but all the birds were very flighty due to disturbance by dog walkers.

 Bar-Tailed Godwit - summer plumage

Bar-Tailed Godwit - winter plumage

Also seen were gannets and fulmars offshore with 3 Sandwich terns heading west, a singing male cirl bunting at The Point with a second bird heard nearby, 3 little egrets and 2 male mallard. No moths or butterflies again and just 1 non-bonking bloody nosed beetle found, not surprising in the bad weather.

Heading home and a nice surprise was a swift over the village, my first of the year and 2 days earlier than last years first sighting. Spring is still slowly creeping in.