Mediterranean Gull and Bar-Wits at Perranporth, September 5th 2012

A bright and sunny but windy day and with the kids all back at school (Hooray!) we headed off to Perranporth for a walk along the beach and a cooked breakfast at The Watering Hole. What looked like sea-spray over the beach was actually sand due to the strong offshore wind but it was a very pleasant September day despite the wind, and eating a cooked breakfast overlooking the beach with the sand between my toes was heavenly, unlike last year when it was cold, wet and windy and we had to eat inside.

While waiting for the breakfast to arrive I found a winter-plumaged Mediterrnean gull amongst the black headed gulls roosting by the stream flowing across the beach. Later when walking back along the beach it flew overhead before settling along the shoreline allowing close views and I managed to get some nice photos.

 Mediterranean Gull

 Mediterranean Gull

Mediterranean Gull

Also roosting on the beach amongst some gulls were 2 winter-plumaged bar-tailed godwits and despite the large number of people on the beach nearby also allowed some fairly close views.

 Bar-Wits

 

 Bar-Wit with Herring Gull

 

Bar-tailed Godwits

 



Also seen were gannets and fulmars offshore with a flyby cormorant, a male kestrel, a winter plumaged dunlin flying along the shoreline and swallows and house martins overhead.

A six-spot burnet and a small tortoiseshell were also seen along with common blues and meadow browns, and trout were again seen in the stream running through the village.

Trout

 



Wembury - 31st August and 3rd September

Heading out to Wembury on the Friday 31st August a juvenile male sparrowhawk was stood over a woodpigeon on the road leading down to the beach. I jumped out of the car and watched as it tried to fly off with the woodpigeon, gradually getting closer to me until it was just a few feet away. Unfortunately a car then drove past and it flew off in to the nearby scrubbery, leaving the carcass on the road. I had a look at it and it had no head and appeared to have been squashed a little by a passing car, I'm not sure if the sparrowhawk had actually killed it or if it was road kill but on the walk back the carcass had gone.

Juvenile male Sparrowhawk with a Woodpigeon kill

Male Sparrowhawk with kill

There were no moths in the toilet block but butterflies were on the wing - small tortoiseshell, speckled wood, red admiral, meadow brown and large white. A dark bush cricket and a bloody nosed beetle were seen along with the usual common lizards - small, dark young and adults.

Common Lizard

Waders were feeding along the beach - 2 redshank, 1 dunlin, 5 turnstone, 4 ringed plover, 1 common sandpiper, 3 whimbrel, oystercatcher and curlew.

2 juvenile wheatear were seen in the cow field and swallows were feeding young on the barbed wire fences.

Juvenile Swallow

 



A kestrel caused my blood pressure to rise for a second as it did an impression of a hobby by eating something in its talons as it soared overhead and a buzzard was also seen.

Monday 3rd September and I headed out to Wembury again. A wryneck was again reported from Wembury Point over the weekend and so I spent some time looking for it but with no luck. However I did see 2 very smart tree pipts perched on top of a bramble bush which was some consolation along with one of my favourite birds, a yellow wagtail, feeding along the beach amongst the pied wagatils and a white wagtail. Chiffchaffs and whitethroats were flitting about in the bushes, the whitethroats were seen feeding on ripe blackberries, and swallows and house martins were busily feeding overhead in the hot sunshine.

Tree Pipit

 

Yellow Wagtail

 



5 sanderling, 4 turnstone, a dunlin, 5 ringed plover, a curlew, oystercatchers and around 10 mobile and noisey whimbrel were seen along the beach with mallards feeding amongst the rocks around the sewage pipe. A female sparrowhawk flew over being buzzed by swallows, 2 buzzards soared overhead mewing and a juvenile peregrine spooked the waders and gulls on the beach. A green woodpecker was heard yaffling but not seen.

Red admirals were much in evidence along with meadow browns and a painted lady was a nice find with a small tortoiseshell on some buddlea flowers. A flyby large yellow underwing was a surprise but there were no moths again in the toilet block. A Helophilus pendulus was seen in the valley to the beach.

Helophilus pendulus

 

 

I have bought myself the TZ27 Panasonic Lumix camera, quite pleased with it so far, but I do miss my old TZ8, it was much simpler and smoother to use but I guess I will get used to my new one.