Pre-Christmas Dipping

Friday 11th December was the last day of my annual leave time from work and so I decided to revisit the Penzance area again for a final day of holiday birding.

I started off at Hayle and walked around Copperhouse Creek on the low tide. A Ruff and a Curlew Sandpiper had been seen there the previous day but there was no sign of them on my walk but I did see a Kingfisher, a Greenshank, a Grey Plover and a Bar-tailed Godwit amongst the usual birds.

Onwards to the Carnsew Pool and a Great Northern Diver and 4 Little Grebe showed well along with 24 Grey Plover, 14 Dunlin and 2 Greenshank. A walk along the estuary towards St.Erth revealed another Kingfisher flying over the mudflats along with another Greenshank feeding in a small creek and there were 2 male Goosander fishing together in the river channel. The usual Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Wigeon, Teal and assorted Gulls were also seen. 

I carried on to Penzance to stake out the sea off the Jubilee Pool to look for the Pacific Diver reported the previous day and again it was a big fat dip. 4 Great Northern Diver showed well though and further offshore Kittiwake and Gannet were flying around. 

On the rocks the small waders were gathering to roost on the incoming tide and I had some nice views of Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Turnstone and 2 Purple Sandpiper.

Sanderling

Sanderling

Turnstone and Sanderling

Sanderling and Purple Sandpiper

Another Kingfisher perched briefly on the rocks before flying off out of sight and on the nearby roofs a pair of Black Redstart were flitting around but were very elusive, disappearing for long periods of time before reappearing elsewhere. 

Kingfisher

A Chiffchaff gave itself away by calling in trees near the railway station in Penzance as I returned to St.Erth for another look at the Hayle Estuary. The tide was quite high by this time and so I walked over towards Lelant Station to scan through the Gulls amassing to roost in the saltings. 

Amongst the mostly Herring, Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls were a few Common, Great Black-backed and Mediterranean Gulls and at least 2 very smart looking adult Yellow-legged Gulls with Daz white heads glowing in the shaded sunlight. 

Yellow-legged Gull with Lesser Black-backed Gulls

A Knot was roosting in the saltings too along with 3 Bar-tailed Godwit and Redshanks and out on the water there were 3 redhead Goosander roosting amongst the Gulls. I also thought I had a brief view of the reported adult Ring-billed Gull amongst the throng of Gulls on the saltings but couldn't be sure, quickly loosing sight of it as the Gulls moved around and despite searching I couldn't refind it. I also failed to find the reported adult Iceland Gull and the 2 1st Winter Caspian Gulls before I had to head home but an enjoyable day out was had despite it being a very dippy day.

Monday 14th December was wet and windy on awakening but as the skies cleared I decided to visit Exwick in Exeter where a Dusky Warbler had been found. The bird was frequenting a stand of trees alongside the River Exe but had to be viewed from the opposite side of the River due to a lack of public access. 

A few Birders were already present but the news wasn't positive and after 3 hours of watching, waiting and listening it wasn't positive for me either! A few times I thought I heard the "tac" call of a Dusky Warbler but it was faint and difficult to hear with all the ambient traffic noise and I think it may only have been a case of wishful thinking. 

It was nice to be out though with COVID Christmas meltdown building and chatting to the Birders present was interesting and informative. 

A few birds were seen as well - 3 Little Grebe, a Kingfisher, a Grey Wagtail, Mallard and Cormorant along the River, a Chiffchaff with Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits in the trees and a Sparrowhawk and a few Redwing flying over. 

Very dippy days out indeed, I hope it doesn't continue! 

Yet Another Yellow-legged Gull at Wembury

Monday 21st September was another very busy long day shift at work and on getting home at around 9pm I put the moth box out in the back yard again. It was a still and warm night again although cooler than my previous nights trapping on Saturday and in the morning I disappointingly only had 8 moths of 7 species in the trap - Silver Y, Light Brown Apple Moth, Tachystola acroxantha, Square Spot Rustic, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Large Yellow Underwing and 2 Willow Beauty (1 of which was faded and which I thought at first was an Engrailed).

Willow Beauty

Willow Beauty (ID'd with help from @MothIDUK)

After sorting out the trap and having some breakfast I headed out to Wembury for a walk. It was cool and overcast which seemed to keep visitor numbers down and which meant there was less disturbance along the beach for the birds roosting there on the very high tide.

The usual Gulls were feeding on the rotting seaweed along the beach and roosting on the rocks but numbers were much reduced from my previous visits. Mostly Herring Gulls of assorted ages were feeding on the seaweed with a juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull and a few juvenile Great Black-backs while Black-headed Gulls noisily fed along the breaking surf line. Amongst them were 7 Mediterranean Gulls (1 juvenile) and all unringed. 

Mediterranean Gull

I did find another juvenile/1st Winter Yellow-legged Gull amongst them, giving itself away as it flew onto the rocks and showing its white rump with smartly contrasting dark tail band.

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

I have had quite a run of Yellow-legged Gull sightings at Wembury in the last 2 weeks, presumably due to the high number of Gulls feeding along the beach and attracting the Yellow-legs in. Or maybe there are more around this year or I am getting better at picking them out or maybe I'm spending more time looking for them. Whatever the case it has been nice to find 4 of them now with 3 photographed (badly) and clearly different birds.

Waders were also showing well on the high tide with 2 Knot roosting amongst the 54 Oystercatcher and 6 Curlew present at The Point, only my second Wembury sighting, while along the beach there were 15 Turnstone, 9 Ringed Plover, 2 Dunlin, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit (presumably the same birds seen on previous visits) and 4 Grey Plover.

Ringed Plover

Bar-tailed Godwit

Knot

Grey Plover

Grey Plover

While watching the Gulls and Waders a Kingfisher flew in to fish in the rock pools while a Wheatear flew along the beach and Gannets dived offshore. 5 Little Egrets were looking a little forlorn as they roosted together on the rocks and Pied Wagtails and Rock Pipits fed along the beach with a few Meadow Pipits. Overhead a Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk and a Peregrine were noted and along the coast path Stonechat, Chiffchaff, Cirl Bunting and Blackcap were seen.

The cool and sunless conditions meant only a single Red Admiral and 2 Large White were seen along with a surprise Wall, presumably a third generation individual. In the toilet block there were 2 Rusty Dot Pearl and 2 Eudonia angustea which I caught and released outside.

Eudonia angustea

Ivy Bee on Ivy - a new species for me

A very nice walk as always with a tasty Chunk pasty for lunch from the cafe on the beach topping off a nice trip out.

Moths, Wembury Visits and a Weird Trip to Perranporth

On checking out the back yard moth box on the morning of Wednesday 9th September I was very pleased to find a Large Ranunculus, another of my Top 10 back yard moths - a beautiful moth but a sign that Autumn is here and that there are not many moth boxing nights left to go this year.

Large Ranunculus

Large Ranunculus 

Other highlights in the trap included a Silver Y, an L-Album Wainscot, a Mullein Wave and a Pale Mottled Willow, my 94th moth species for the back yard this year.

Silver Y

L-AlbumWainscot

Mullein Wave

Pale Mottled Willow

Lesser Yellow Underwing

Later that morning I headed out to Wembury for a walk along the coast path on what was a cloudy but warm day. It was nearly high tide and along the beach near Wembury Point there were quite a collection of Gulls feeding on the rotting seaweed masses and resting on the rocks - mostly Herring, Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls but including an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull along with a few juvenile birds, 42 assorted plumaged Mediterranean Gulls (9 Juveniles) and a ringed juvenile Great Black-backed Gull from a ringing scheme in Portland Harbour.

Mediterranean Gulls

GBBGull - ringed in Portland Harbour in June 2019

The Gull highlight though were 2 juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls, the first resting on the sewage pipe but which unfortunately flew off towards Plymouth as I walked closer towards and the second showing much better as it flew in onto the rocks before going to sleep.

Yellow-legged Gull with Herring Gull

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

There was no sign of the recently reported Curlew Sandpipers as expected but I did find 14 Turnstone, 6 Ringed Plover, only 6 Oystercatcher, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit and 3 Dunlin.

Cirl Bunting, Stonechat, a Wheatear, a male Sparrowhawk spooking 5 Meadow Pipit from the grassy sheep field and 28 Canada Geese roosting in the stubble field were also seen along with a few Red Admiral, a Common Lizard, a Flounced Rustic, a Rusty Dot Pearl and a Speckled Wood.

Wheatear

 Flounced Rustic

Rusty Dot Pearl

Speckled Wood

Thursday 10th September was a beautiful autumn day as we headed down to Perranporth for our usual pre-holiday day out although in this weird COVID time we have no holiday to go on this year. It was hot and sunny with very little breeze and we had a lovely day as usual but it was a bit weird - there were many, many more people than usual and we couldn't get a breakfast at The Watering Hole and had to eat at The Dolphin Cafe on the opposite side of the beach, sitting outside and eating out of a take away cardboard box with a wooden knife and fork. The shops all had restricted access, we had our usual cider in a plastic cup and not a glass and we didn't have an ice-cream but this is the new normal for life in general at the moment.

No sign of the recently reported Choughs as expected but I did see 2 Raven, a Fulmar, a Sandwich Tern, a House Martin, a Small Tortoiseshell, a Red Admiral, a Common Darter in the small park and the usual Trout in the stream.

Friday 11th September and with cloudy skies again I decided to revisit Wembury for the high tide roost. I took my telescope with me this time as I had noted a few Mediterranean Gulls with green, yellow and white plastic leg rings amongst the gull flock on my previous visit but they were too far away to read with just my binoculars. I only managed to find 1 ringed Mediterranean Gull on this visit, an adult bird with a white ring on its left leg with code 3LKT, a bird ringed in The Netherlands in June 2012.

Herring, Black-headed, Great Black-backed and a few juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls were roosting on the rocks or feeding on the seaweed masses and amongst them were 66 Mediterranean Gulls (11 juveniles).

Again the gull highlight was a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull feeding amongst the assorted gulls on the seaweed mass along the beach, a subtle looking individual with the usual nonchalance typical of this species and keeping itself away from any nearby gulls (or more likely the other nearby gulls keeping away from it).

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Offshore a group of around 100 Gannets were diving for fish just past The Mewstone while a Fulmar flew west over the stubble field where 23 Canada Geese were roosting. Cirl Bunting, Stonechat, a juvenile Peregrine, a Buzzard, 5 Chiffchaff and a female Blackcap were also noted.

Carrion Crows - white winged fledgling still present around the main beach

Wader numbers had changed and there were 34 Oystercatcher, 18 Turnstone, 11 Ringed Plover, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit and a Dunlin present along the beach and on the rocks. A Kingfisher calling and fishing from the waterline rocks was a nice sighting and just 1 Little Egret was seen offshore flying west.

Bar-tailed Godwit

A Red Admiral, a Common Lizard, a Silver Y, a Devils Coach Horse, 2 Volucella zonaria, a Knot Grass caterpillar, a Satin Wave in the toilet block and a Grey Seal hauled out on the rocks of The Mewstone were the non-avian highlights.

 Satin Wave -2nd Generation

 Common Lizard

Volucella zonaria 

Knot Grass Caterpillar

A Strange Trip to Suffolk

With nearly 2 weeks of annual leave from work booked for March of this year I had originally planned to head off abroad somewhere but decided instead to visit family in Suffolk - very fortunate really as we would probably have ended up stuck somewhere unable to get back to the UK with transport systems crashing due to the Corona virus shutdown.

We travelled up to Ipswich by train on Monday 16th March and it was a strange experience with the trains, underground and London being eerily empty and quiet. The lock down of the UK began that night with Boris Johnson beginning his daily news conferences and as the week progressed the restrictions grew but we were fortunately able to get back to Plymouth on the train on Friday 20th March with the trains, underground and London being even more deserted.

The weather while we were in Suffolk was mostly grey and dull but fortunately dry and with people being asked to self isolate and socially distance themselves we decided to get out into the countryside to enjoy the fresh air while avoiding people and crowds.

Our train journey to London on Monday 16th March provided the usual sightings of Red Kites between Swindon and Paddington and Herbert the Slavonian Grebe was seen off Cockwood on the River Exe.

Tuesday 17th March and we visited the Beth Chatto Gardens near Colchester, somewhere we haven't been before, and we had a pleasant wander around listening to a singing Chiffchaff and I finally saw my first butterflies of the year - Peacock and Brimstone - flitting about.

Peacock, Beth Chatto Garden, Essex

Wednesday 18th March and we visited Ampton where the Tree Sparrows were easily found around the bird feeders although they were very nervy and skittish. A couple of Red-legged Partridges were seen in the fields with lots of Pheasents but the highlight were 3 Grey Partridge feeding in a stubble field.

Tree Sparrows, Ampton, Suffolk

Tree Sparrows

Grey Partridge, Ampton

Onwards to Risby Barns and 3 Red Kites were seen soaring overhead along with numerous Buzzards while in the fields  more Red-legged Partridges were seen along with Hares and Muntjac Deer.

After a quick look around the antiques centre and lunch at Mums cousins cafe we drove to Lackford Lakes for a walk, only my second visit here. Chiffchaffs were singing away despite the cool breeze and grey skies but a Kingfisher showed very well right in front of the hide along with Snipe, Shoveler, Teal, Pochard, a Little Egret, Greylag Geese and Reed Buntings.

Kingfisher, Lackford Lakes, Suffolk

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Snipe, Lackford Lakes

Thursday 19th March and Mum decided to head to Sainsburys to do some food shopping as it was over 70's only from 8am to 9am, a move instigated by Sainsburys due to the stripping of food from the shelfs in supermarkets, something we had experienced already on a brief look in both Tescos and Sainsburys on out travels the previous few days. Mum managed to buy what she needed including toilet rolls which bizarrely are like gold dust at the moment but there were apparently some ugly scenes in the aisles and Mum was harrassed and harangued by a belligerent old lady who didn't believe she was over 70 and felt she should be kicked out of the store (my Mum is nearly 74!).

After Mums shopping adventure we headed off to Minsmere where I had 3 hours to myself - the visitors centre and cafe had been closed but the nature trails were open and I made full use of my limited time there.

Bitterns were booming, Bearded Tits were pinging, Green Woodpeckers were yaffling and Water Rails were squealing but I didn't see any of them. Marsh Harriers showed very well quartering over the reed beds and I did get a brief view of a Cettis Warbler singing in the undergrowth. 2 Red Deer were a surprise sighting out in the open before they entered the water and disappeared into the reeds.

Marsh Harrier, Minsmere 

Red Deer, Minsmere

Red Deer

The Scrape held the usual birds - Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Lapwing, Gadwall, Teal, Wigeon, Tufted Duck and Shoveler were all seen along with a flock of (feral) Barnacle Geese and lots of Gulls - Great Black-backed, Herring, Common, Black-headed and Mediterranean. I also found a 3rd Calendar year Yellow-legged Gull preening away which was briefly joined by a 3rd calendar year Caspian Gull which it took great umbrage to and attacked causing it to fly off.

Yellow-legged Gull, Minsmere

Yellow-legged Gull

Yellow-legged Gull - yellow tinged legs

Yellow-legged Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

Herring Gull and Yellow-legged Gull

Herring Gull and Yellow-legged Gull

Herring Gull and Yellow-legged Gull

Herring, Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls

H, C and YL Gulls

Herring, Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls

YLGull sees Caspian Gull

YLGull attacks Caspian Gull! 

The sea was quiet but the dunes held a pair of Stonechat and Linnets and I almost stepped on 2 Adders curled up together out of the wind before they slithered off into the gorse.

Adders, Minsmere

Adder, Minsmere

On the journey back to Ipswich we stopped off briefly at Snape Maltings where I had a quick look along the river and was very pleased to find a very lovely looking Spotted Redshank along with 4 Avocet and quite a few Black-tailed Godwits including a bird with coloured leg rings.

Spotted Redshank, Snape Maltings, Suffolk

Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank

Black-tailed Godwit, Snape Maltings

Black-tailed Godwit with leg rings

The train journey back to Plymouth on Friday March 20th was uneventful with more Red Kites seen between Paddington and Swindon and I also saw quite a few Roe Deer out in the fields and a Snow Goose with Canada Geese at Powderham along the River Exe.

And so a great time away in what is fast becoming a very strange time. Next week I return to work, entering the lions mouth of Derriford Hospital and who knows what which will mean my wildlife watching choices will likely become much more limited.