Melodious Warbler

I had the moth box out in the back yard again on August 22nd/23rd and was very pleased on checking it out in the morning to find a Marbled Green inside it which this time I was able to pot up and get a good look at. Flounced Rustic, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Light Emerald, Angle Shades and Pyrausta despicata were nice finds too.

 Marbled Green

 Marbled Green

 Flounced Rustic

 Pyrausta despicata

Angle Shades

Setaceous Hebrew Character

A Melodious Warbler had been found at Dawlish Warren on Tuesday 18th and I had expected it to be a skulky one day wonder and while it was skulky it was still present on Saturday 22nd. Spoonbills had also appeared at Bowling Green Marsh on Wednesday 19th and were also still present on Saturday 22nd and so I decided to go and have a look for them all on Sunday 23rd.

High tide on the River Exe was around 10:30am and so I visited Bowling Green Marsh first for the high tide roost. The RSPB hide was open and only had 2 Birders inside which was a surprise and 1 of them very kindly got me onto the 2 Spoonbills (an adult and a juvenile) which were asleep side by side and obscured by vegetation from where I was sitting.

I moved position and managed some good scope views of them as they occasional awoke to briefly preen but eventually they moved position and were totally obscured by the vegetation.

 Spoonbill - adult

 Spoonbill

Spoonbill - juvenile

A winter plumaged Knot and a Lapwing were found amongst the roosting Curlew, Redshank, Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwit and around 20 noisy Greenshank flew over towards Goosemoor.

 Curlew

Redshank, Dunlin and Teal

An adult Common Gull was found amongst the Black-headed Gulls and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull patrolled around the Marsh terrorising the smaller roosting waders.

Amongst the eclipsed plumaged Teal and Mallard out on the Marsh were 2 juvenile Shelduck, 4 Gadwall, 2 Wigeon and a few Shoveler while out diving on the open water were a Little Grebe and bizarrely a juvenile Scaup.

Scaup

I moved on to Dawlish Warren, heading straight to the area where the Melodious Warbler was being seen and expected a bit of a wait to see it as it was proving to be very skulky and elusive for long periods of time but within a few minutes of arriving it was found by 1 of the birders present and showed very well for around 5 minutes before disappearing again.

 Melodious Warbler

 Melodious Warbler - with damaged left eye

 Melodious Warbler 

 Melodious Warbler 

Melodious Warbler 

It was a very smart looking bird as it moved around the bramble bushes snaffling down Shield Bugs but it had a very nasty looking damaged left eye although it obviously wasn't affecting its feeding abilities. My first UK sighting of one having only ever seen them in Spain before and a very nice and unexpected sighting too.

I had a wander around the Greenland Lake area where Autumn Lady's Tresses were in flower and a Red Admiral, a Green-veined White, Meadow Brown and Common Blue were flitting about. A Migrant Hawker was resting on a gorse Bush and a juvenile Wheatear was feeding out on the golf course.

 Autumn Lady's Tresses 

 Autumn Lady's Tresses 

 Autumn Lady's Tresses 

Autumn Lady's Tresses 

 Migrant Hawker

Migrant Hawker 

I returned to the area where the Melodious Warbler was being seen and spent a bit more time looking for it but it never showed again before I had to leave. I did see a juvenile Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff (with 1 heard singing) and Long-tailed Tits in the trees while waiting and it was nice to chat to some of the birders present although it was a little bit too twitchy for my comfort and liking.

As I headed home tired but happy after another wildlife filled day it was nice to reflect on all my fantastic sightings over the weekend and to be thankful for being able to get out and about to see it in these continuing weird COVID-19 restricted times.

Hayle and Penzance Birding, January 17th 2019

I had the day free to myself on Thursday January 17th and with a favourable weather forecast I decided to visit Hayle and Penzance to do some birding. GWR had a train ticket sale on so I pre-booked cheap tickets for specific trains, something I don't usually do, but after a particularly exhausting 12 hour shift at work the day before when I had just a 15 minute break I was regretting my decision when the alarm clock sounded at 05:30hrs.

The 07:02hr train left on time and the journey to Hayle was uneventful but mostly because I slept all the way from St.Germans to Camborne (!) and on arriving at Hayle I headed off to Copperhouse Creek first as this is where the wintering spoonbill is most often reported from of late. It was cold and sunny and breezy but there was no sign of the spoonbill on the low tide although there were 2 little grebe in the harbour, a kingfisher along the quayside and some linnets flying over.

Female Wigeon, Copperhouse Creek

Onwards to the Carnsew Pool where 7 little grebe, 10 grey plover, a dunlin and finally the spoonbill were all noted along with wigeon, cormorant and redshank.

 Spoonbill, Carnsew Pool

Spoonbill, Carnsew Pool

Moving on along the estuary to the causeway bridge and there were lapwing, teal, wigeon and around 80 golden plover roosting out on the mudflats close to the road. The roosting gulls were unfortunately much further away downriver and near to the opposite side of the estuary at Lelant so I had no opportunity to scan through them for the recently reported Caspian gulls or yellow-legged gulls. The only other bird of note was a flyby kingfisher and  so I decided to leave earlier than planned and walked to St.Erth railway station to catch the bus to Long Rock.

 Teal and Lapwing, Hayle Estuary

Teal and Wigeon, Hayle Estuary

Lapwing, Hayle Estuary

After getting off the bus at Long Rock by The Mexico Inn I walked back to Long Rock Pool where 6 tufted duck and 3 teal were noted and it was quiet too at Marazion Marsh where the best of it were 3 chiffchaffs feeding together along the railway line hedgerow. The walk along the coast path to Penzance was also quiet with the highlight being 2 adult winter plumaged Mediterranean gulls sat on the sea amongst a flock of black headed gulls.

A quick look at the rocks by the bus station was black redstart-less and so after grabbing a pasty from Rowes (very tasty) I walked on to the Jubilee Pool where there was a small roost of waders on the high tide - 4 oystercatcher, 11+ purple sandpipers, dunlin, ringed plover, turnstone and sanderling. Having dipped on black redstart by the bus station it was nice to find a smart male black redstart feeding along the beach here before it flew over to the small park on the other side of the coast road.

 Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Sanderling, Jubilee Pool

Purple Sandpiper and Ringed Plovers, Jubilee Pool

Offshore there were 3 immature male and an adult male eider with shags and cormorants and 2 distant great northern divers. I also picked up a smaller diver swimming east across the bay, snorkelling as it went before I lost sight of it in the choppy waters. Unfortunately it was distant but it appeared to lack a pale flank patch and appeared small billed/headed but it was too far out to call - a black throated diver or more likely the elusive Pacifuc diver but who knows?

It was soon time to head back to the station to catch the train home and along the way there were quite a few turnstones running around the harbour car park looking for scraps of food and a beautiful cormorant drying its wings on the quayside that unfortunately had green plastic netting caught around its head and bill.

 Cormorant, Penzance Harbour

Cormorant, Penzance Harbour

The train journey home was uneventful too and again I slept most of the way (from Camborne to Saltash) but it had been a very enjoyable day out.

A Surprise on a Birding Day in Cornwall

Monday 17th December saw myself and Mavis heading down to Penzance on the train for a birdy day out, much needed by me in order to escape the pre-Christmas madness.

It was cold and sunny as we set off on the 09:20 train to Penzance but we soon passed through misty patches and then into cloud and by the time we arrived in Penzance it was breezy and overcast but thankfully dry. With high tide due around midday we headed off first to the Jubilee Pool to look for roosting purple sandpipers and quickly found 23 of them asleep in grooves along the harbour wall. They were all asleep with bills tucked under their wings but occassionally one would wake up briefly allowing Mavis to get a better view of what is a new bird for her.

Purple Sandpipers

A small group of dunlin and sanderling were roosting on the rocks with a few turnstone before flying off but later 4 dunlin returned and were joined on the rocks by a couple of turnstones and purple sandpipers.

Dunlin

Turnstone and Dunlins

Dunlin

Purple Sandpiper

The sea was very rough and choppy and scanning offshore into the strong wind was difficult but we managed to pick up a few gannets flying around, shags on the sea and an adult kittiwake feeding with some herring gulls before I picked up a very dark looking gull like bird offshore heading west and out to sea - a skua! I managed to get my telescope onto it and tracked it across the bay - no white wing patches and broad based wings with angular tips, a pomarine skua no less and my first in the UK. A dark phase/juvenile bird, it was too distant to get any real detail on and I couldn't pick up any white wing flashing as it flew low across the water with powerful and purposeful wing beats and the occasional glide and it was soon lost to sight around the headland towards Mousehole.

While tracking the skua I picked up a great northern diver on the sea but couldn't refind it later but a single bird and then 2 birds were seen flying west across the bay with the 2 birds flying up quite high before being lost from view. A small group of around 5 scoter were also picked up distantly in the swell but were very difficult to observe along with the odd auk which were also difficult to view between frequent dives.

We decided to head back to the train station to have a look off the sea wall and quickly found an immature male and a female eider feeding close to shore with a further 2 immature males feeding further out with bizarrely 2 female goldeneyes, my first sighting of this species in Mounts Bay.

Eiders

We had a good look around the rocks and boulders by the sea wall and found a few rock pipits and pied wagtails feeding along with a female type black redstart which gave some very good views.

Black Redstart 

Black Redstart 

Black Redstart

We grabbed a pasty for lunch before catching the 14:00hrs train to St.Erth, walking down to the Hayle estuary causeway for a look at the mudflats on the outgoing tide. As we arrived at the bridge we quickly found 2 male goosander busily diving for food before having a preen and a brief sleep on the waters edge. While out on the mud it was interesting to see how peachy looking their underparts were, not the white that I was expecting.

Goosanders

Golden plovers and lapwings were wheeling around overhead before settling on the mudflats but there was no sign of any predator around. They remained nervous and unsettled and regularly took to the air along with a small flock of dunlin. Curlew, redshank, oystercatcher and a single black-tailed godwit were also seen along with wigeon, teal and shelduck and a single little egret.

We eventually found the wintering spoonbill busily feeding along the waters edge and along the small creeks and at times it gave some nice if distant views, showing its yellow tipped spoon bill occassionally as it paused briefly in its search for food.

 Spoonbill

Spoonbill 

There were lots of gulls roosting and bathing out on the estuary and amongst the herring, black-headed  lesser black-backed and great black-backed gulls were a sprinkling of Mediterranean gulls too, difficult to keep track of as they moved around and either 1st winter or adult winter birds with the 1st winter birds looking very smart and distinctive and the adults pale and ghostly. Unfortunately there was no sign of the recently reported Caspian, Iceland and ring-billed gulls but the wind, dull light, distance and the large number of gulls present were all against us.

It was soon time to head back to St.Erth to catch the 16:10hrs train back to Plymouth but it had been a very enjoyable day out and the perfect antidote to the pre-Christmas stress going on in the world and with a surprise UK lifer to boot.

Spoonbill, Yellow Legged Gull and Great White Egret at Hayle

Wednesday 29th November and despite still feeling crappy from jet lag and post holiday blues I caught the train down to Hayle for a days birding. It was cold with a biting north wind, sunny spells and occassional heavy showers when I arrived off the train at 9am and I headed off straight away to the Carnsew Pool where I quickly found the regular spoonbill, presumably the same juvenile bird that has been hanging around Hayle on and off for a couple of years now.

I walked onwards to the causeway bridge where a flock of around 400 golden plover were roosting on the mudflats, surprisingly my first of the year, but just as I set up my telescope to scan through them to look for the reported American golden plover amongst them they all took to the air and then circled around high overhead for around 20 minutes before resettling, a pattern they then followed throughout the morning, and despite looking through them each time they settled on the ground I failed to find their American cousin amongst them.

Golden Plovers

Golden Plovers and Lapwing

There were plenty of other birds to keep me occupied though - a greenshank. 14 turnstone, 21 bar tailed godwit, redshank, dunlin, lapwing, wigeon, greylag goose, oystercatcher, curlew and teal amongst others - and a brief dash past by a juvenile peregrine which spooked all the birds on the estuary may have been the continuing cause of the golden plover flocks nervousness.

Lapwing

I spent some time scanning through the bathing, preening and roosting gulls out on the mudflats but couldn't find the recently reported glaucous gull amongst the herring, black headed, lesser black backed and great black backed gulls present but I did find an adult Mediterranean gull in winter plumage and a very smart looking adult yellow legged gull with a Daz white head.

Yellow Legged Gull (Top Centre)

Yellow Legged Gull (Middle)

Yellow Legged Gull (Top right)

Yellow Legged Gull (Top)

Yellow Legged Gull (Left) with Lesser Black Back Gull (Centre) and Herring Gull (Right)

With the tide coming in I found the spoonbill roosting on Ryans Field where it gave some nice views and while watching the circling golden plover flock overhead in the hope they would also settle on Ryans Field I picked up a great white egret flying over heading east inland, my first Cornwall sighting of one and a complete surprise.

Spoonbill

Spoonbill

The golden plover flock eventually settled out of sight over on Lelant Saltings and with a heavy shower duly arriving I got soaked as I headed back to the railway station to catch the train back to Plymouth but it had been a very enjoyable morning despite the American golden plover dip.