Garden Centenary!

Just totted up my garden list and this mornings Short-eared Owl was my 100th species!!

Viz Miggin' - Tuesday 14th November 2011

This mornings efforts watching the visible migration over my house produced the following between 0900-1030hrs. Weather was fine with occasional cloud and a stiff E/SE wind with stronger gusts:

Chaffinch - Resident birds showed some dispersal but only c50 actually counted
Fieldfare - 41
Redwing - 124
Bullfinch - 1 male
'Alba' Wagtail - 4
Starling - 87
SHORT-EARED OWL - flew high west mobbed by Carrion Crow.
Skylark - 10
Meadow Pipit - 7
Woodpigeon - 44
Black-headed Gull - 1
Curlew - 1
Lapwing - 144 (flocks of 30,24 and 90)
Golden Plover - 1
Goldfinch - 10

Other species recorded but not counted were: Herring Gull, Carrion Crow, Rook, Jackdaw, Collared Dove, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Dunnock, Robin, Wren, Magpie.

1st winter male Desert Wheatear at Nanjizal

Finally got the opportunity on Tuesday to nip down and see the Desert Wheatear at Nanjizal. What a superb bird. The weather wasn't particularly pleasant but I spent about an hour with this bird completely on my own! It came extremely close at times and finally close enough for one or two reasonable photo opportunities. This is only the sixth record for Cornwall and the first since 1997!

Probable Eastern Asian Lesser Whitethroat, St Agnes, IoS 27th October 2011

A few photos of the presumed East Asian Lesser Whitethroat on St Agnes. I'm of the opinion that this is 'minula' rather than 'halimodendrii'? If my memory serves me correctly the halimodenrii at Lelant and Porthcurno a few years ago showed much more grey on the head than this bird. Photos of the Porthcurno bird on the right for comparison.

Photos above and below by Matt Sallis.

Scilly Week - Day Eight

I had purposely booked a late plane ticket to take full advantage of a whole day on our final day on Scilly. However, as per usual the bloody weather put pay to any great ideas and by 10am the fog rolled in and the wind picked up. I resigned myself to the fact that once again I would be going home on the Sicklonian III. So that was that, but no complaints. Another superb week on Scilly with three lifers (!), seven Scilly Ticks and 15 year ticks, aswell as great company with the lads and meeting up again with loads of birding friends and aquaintances. It'll take some beating!

Scilly Week - Days Six and Seven

Me, Adam, Nathan, Ash and Mark in The Turk's Head, St Agnes

Thursday and Friday were spent on St Agnes, although the best bird was back on St Mary's. The presumed central Asian Lesser Whitethroat was our first quarry on St Agnes and gave incredibly close views. There was no sign of the Bluethroat or Radde's Warbler from yesterday so we had to do with a Lapland Bunting skulking in a field and a flyover Richard's Pipit. Anyway, after a fairly uneventful day, we were just pulling into St Mary's harbour when a Red-eyed Vireo came up on the pager. Ideal. A run, jog, fast walk to Carn Friars lane soon saw us all watching a superb REV! Nice end to the day.

The following day Me and Mark went back to St Agnes. The weather was reminiscent of May rather than October! Very warm sun with hardly any wind and very few birders! Bliss! Unfortunately, there weren't many birds either, but a Pallas's warbler showed really well in The Parsonage and a Brambling was in weedy fields at the end of Barnaby Lane.

Scilly Week - Day Five

On Wednesday we were joined by Ash, so I spent the afternoon walking round with him, looking at the Upland Sandpiper again and picking up Pink-footed Goose (2), Peregrine and Wheatear and the first Fieldfares of the week. Earlier I had a bit of fun trying desperately to photograph the Dusky Warbler in Black and White Woods, Lower Moors. The image shown is the best of a bad bunch!! The best bird of the day however, we saved til last. Sitting quietly in Carreg Du gardens waiting for Firecrest and Yellow-browed Warblers, we were treated to superb views of a Treecreeper!! This was only the 12th record for Scilly making it rarer that the Upland Sandpiper in terms of records!!

Scilly Week - Day Four

Day four dawned bright and early with beautiful sunshine! The view from our digs is superb, looking across The Roads to Tresco, Bryher and Samson. Tresco was the destination for today but with the boat not leaving til 1015hrs, I went for a walk to Porthcressa beach with Mark. Merlin, Water Pipit and Common Sandpiper gave good views on the beach and the Lower Broom on the Garrison looked sheltered and full of birds so I decided to look there. Stupidly I took the route along the rocks on the beach and by the time I'd got to the southern end of Lower Broome I was dripping with sweat and exhausted!! Luckily I bumped into Nathan who kindly agreed to take my fleece back to the digs! I'd cooled down considerably by the time I boarded the boat to Tresco. The first boat was full so  I caught up with Mark ten minutes later photographing the two Snow Buntings at the south end of Tresco. A short walk to the Great Pool and we were soon watching Spotted Crake and Lesser Yellowlegs on the exposed mud. The latter being a Scilly tick for us both! The heavens opened shortly after but we still managed to see Tree Pipit, Mistle thrush, Pectoral Sandpiper and Med Gull before catchimg the boat to Bryher. This was a wasted trip as the Pallas's warbler seen a few days previously was not seen again!

Scilly Week - Day Three.

My third day was again spent on St Mary's where I concentrated on the Porth Hellick/ Lower Moors area for most of the day. A first winter Med Gull was with ten Little Egrets in Old Town Bay. A female Merlin zipped through and a Kingfisher was also present. I finally caught up with the flighty White-rumped Sandpiper on Porth Hellick beach after running backwards and forwards between there and the airfield! A Pallas's Warbler showed very briefly at Lower Moors so I went to the ISBG hide for better views of the Wilson's Snipe. A stroke of luck as I was watching it as the Northern Waterthrush hopped out right at the side of it!! Highlight of the day, with nothing much else seen after that.

Scilly Week - Day Two

After yesterdays binge on megas' our second day was bound to be a slight anticlimax, but that doesn't matter on Scilly and gave us time to spend a bit more of a relaxing day enjoying the scenery and finding our own stuff. The weather wasn't too bad, occasional sun, occasional rain but a very strong SE wind made birding hard work. I decided to find some sheltered areas and headed for Carreg Du gardens, taking in a Whinchat on Porthmellon Beach en-route. The gardens were indeed quiet and sheltered and afforded me good views of at least three Firecrests and a Yellow-browed warbler whilst picking through the Chiffchaffs for a trisitis type.
I left the gardens and headed for Salakee farm, taking a detour along the Tremelethan Trail. Two Pink-footed Geese flew in from the north and alighted on Porth Hellick pool, so i headed back to get a better look. Quite a scarce bird on Scilly and only my 5th and 6th after the four on Tresco at the beginning of the year. I decided on a seawatch from nearby Giant's Castle and hunkered behind a rock I recoreded, 11 Bonxies, 2 Arctic Skuas, a Pomarine Skua (juv), which was a Scilly tick, a juv Med Gull, 9 Kittiwakes and over 150 Gannets in an hour. By now the rain had set in and I decided to head back to Hugh Town for a cuppa. Ten Ringed Plover (no Semi-palmated after scrutinsing the juvs!), a Golden Plover, a Dunlin and four Turnstone were on the airfield and 17 further Turnstone and 120 House Sparrows (!) were counted in Old Town.
After a cuppa back at the ranch I ventured up to Peninnis Head with 20-30 others where a 'possible' Nighthawk (or kestrel!) had been reported the previous evening. No sign of it after waiting til dark but a Woodcock flew over the house in Hugh Town as I arrived home. Tired and ready for a pint!

Epic Week on Scilly - Day One

After a few leaner years and a year off (for me!) the 'Team' ventured across to Scilly again from Oct 22nd - 29th 2011. Myself and Mark (Halliday) flew over for 10am with Adam Hutt, Adam Stoyle and Nathan Pickering arriving just after midday (too late for the Tanager unfortunately!) Anyway, on arrival Mark and I headed straight to Lower Moors and got straight on to the Northern Waterthrush which was showing well at Shooter's Pool, along with Firecrest and a Yellow-browed Warbler. After only 10-15 minutes, the pager went off, signalling a mad rush for Sandy Lane, where a Scarlet Tanager was showing. After an agonising wait I was soon watching it moving through the top of a pittisporum hedge! Nice to get that one back after missing the one at St Levan the previous day. There has been talk of the birds being one in the same, but closer scrutiny of photographs shows them to be different. After the rush, it was nice to take a relative stroll to Watermill Lane where the two Olive Backed Pipits showed extremely well in the bulb fields. The Upland Sandpiper was next on the target list and was located in another bulb field at the back of Borough Farm. Three lifers in the space of a few hours, superb. The others had by now landed on the island and were enjoying views of the Waterthrush!

The rest of the day was spent between Porth Hellick and Lower Moors, the latter area providing great vioews of the Wilson's Snipe from the ISBG Hide.

New Look and long update!!

The Blog has had a bit of a re-vamp as you can see and I hope you like the new design! As for birding, 2011 has been a superb year and Scilly was well above average on our week birding holiday there at the end of october. Im currently on 249 species for the year with some goodies like Northern Waterthrush, Upland Sandpiper, Scarlet Tanager (three lifers in one day!), Olive backed Pipits, Red-eyed Vireo, Pallas' and Dusky Warbler, Glossy Ibis, White-rumped Sandpiper and Wilson's Snipe at the end of October. Before that Black Kite in Cornwall, Common Crane in Yorkshire as well as an awsome viz mig day at Spurn, Red-backed Shrikes in Devon then back to Cornwall for Baird's, Buff-breasted, Semipalmated and Pectoral sandpipers, Long-billed Dowitcher, Lesser Yellowlegs and a Bee-eater on The Scillies. A superb seawatch off St Ives on September the 18th produced all the Skua's, Leach's Petrels, Sabs Gulls by the dozen, Black Tern and Red-necked and Grey Phalaropes! One more bird for 250 and I can retire for the year! I'll keep you posted.

Rare and Scarce Birds 2010 now Available!

The Report is ready and we have managed to keep the cost to £10 (£12 inc p&p). Please use the Contacts and Submissions page on Cornwall Birding to purchase a copy NOW!! It comprises 112 pages of Species accounts, finders reports and 74 colour photos (and more....).

Readers say: " Excellent Glossy report, almost rivals the Scilly one!" BD

"Well done, great report, obviously lots of work gone into this" JD

"At last, a decent report on Cornwall's birds, well done Conrwall Birding!" PM

"Thanks for a fantastic report and a great website, we live out of county but use it daily to see what we are missing! MC

Barnies and Sooties............

After driving hundreds of miles at night at work I would have hoped to have seen a Barn Owl by now (this year), but no. Not until July 20th that is when I get called to a farm at St Erth to see to an abandoned car. The farmer was very obliging and showed me an old water tank complete with youngsters being fed by adults!! Year tick number 195 (the pacific goldie was 194). The following Sunday saw my first seawatch of the year at PG with Monty and Mark. About 3000+ Manx Shears passed close inshore in two hrs until the fog roled in and finished our morning. Before that we were treated to a very close Sooty Shearwater (196), a Balearic Shear and two Puffins (197). Two of this year Choughs gave extremely close views nearby and a family of Northern Wheatear were on the slopes below us.

Another Tundra Plover Dilema!

Working night shifts often provide me with oportunity to do a bit of birding either before or after. So I left home early on Tuesday 19th July in order to call at Ryan's Field RSPB before work. The tide was high and there were good numbers Curlew and BH gulls but apart from a few Common Sands, very little else of interest. I scoped the far bank from the hide and a summer plumaged adult Golden Plover came into view from one of the ditches at the back of the field. Alarm bells immediately started ringing. The white 'snake' from the supercilium to the upper flanks was bold and didnt appear go past the forewing as you would expect in European GP. So I'd got an American or a Pacific. I was aware that time was moving on and light was fading fast. I didnt have my camera and I didnt want to go round to the road to get a closer view in case it flew. Plus I had ten minutes before I had to go to work. I immediately phoned Mark Halliday and Ash Hugo and told them to view the bird from the road side and of course get some photos! While I waited for them to arrive I looked through some literature and photos I had on my phone and made a sketch and nbote in my notebook. Everything pointed towards Pacific but a combination of distance, poor light and sporadic views meant I could'nt rule out American 100%. I saw the others arrive and made a quick phonecall to Ash to make sure they got plenty of photos. Unfortunatley I then had to leave for work, leaving Mark and Ash to clinch the ID. At about 2200hrs I got the call from Mark to say they'd seen the bird in flight, got plenty of photos and after much deliberation and scouring the literature were convinced it was Pacific Golden Plover. Excellent, only the fifth record for Cornwall and the first since 1999! I immediatley phoned the news out to RBA and Ash put it on the website.
The following morning, straight from my night shift, I returned to Ryan's Field but the bird was nowhere to be seen. It was now raining heavily and the tide was on its way in, so I tried my luck on the main estuary. The bird was still there, showing well from the causway bridge. I was joined by Monty Curtis and Ash and a little later Dave Parker. The bird performed well being driven closer by the incoming tide and allowing for some more photos to be taken, this time in better light. At about 0800hrs, the bird began calling, a distinct two sylable, 'two-ee, two-ee' then flew straight towards us before circling high above Ryan's Field and heading North, still high up, over Harvey's Towans and out of sight, giving good views of the dark underwing in flight.
Despite searching the surrounding areas of the estuary, Copperhouse Creek and St Gothian Sands, the bird could not be relocated and was not seen again. A report of it seen at about 1340hrs in the mouth of the estuary was thought be eronneous.

Pacific Golden Plover is an extreme rarity to the county. The previous four records were:

1999 - At Culdrose on 19th October - 22nd November
1998 - At Bosanket, between Sennen and St Buryan on May 3rd and 4th.
1994 - At Hayle, an adult moulting from summer plumage on Aug 26th.
1978 - At Stithians, a first cal year on 7th November

For photos of this bird see: http://www.cornwall-birding.co.uk/recent-sightings/wednesday-20th-july-2011-cornwall-bird-reports/

Quality Rarities in Abundance!

What a superb spring we're having! Since the Bonapartes Gull, the decent yearticks have not stopped! A Reed Warbler (174) at Marazion on Apr 16th was followed the next day by an elusive PURPLE HERON (175) at the same location. It was well spotted by Mark Halliday hiding amongst the reeds at the west end of the reserve. A trip to Goonhilly Downs the same morning did not bring us the Montagu's Harrier we had hoped for but a male Dartford Warbler (176) and a Cuckoo (177) were obliging all the same. My 1Km square count around Godrevy Head on 19th April saw Little Ringed Plover (178), Yellow Wagtail (179) and House Martin (180)added to the list and my first Swift (181) of the year flew over the A30 at Redruth on the 30th whilst I directed traffic after a nasty car crash! A Common Sandpiper (182) was on the estuary at Hayle later the same day.

American Golden Plover (P.Freestone)

Sunday the 1st May saw pretty awful weather conditions with lots of that fine rain that wets you through! I met up with Mark on the Hayle Estuary who informed me that Brian Mellow had seen an 'interesting' Golden Plover on the estuary earlier in the day. I located it a short while after out on the mud flats from the old garage on the causeway and immediately phoned Mark, who had his scope with him. I managed a few distant flight shots which clearly showed a dark under wing, diagnostic of both Pacific and American Golden Plovers. So we had a rare one, but which was it. The bird looked really dark as it was very wet and views we had were relatively poor. After an hour or so we were fairly confident we had seen all the features of American Golden Plover, but put the news out as a 'probable', to at least get other birders out to see it. Fortunately it showed really well in much better weather conditions the next day and it was indeed an AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER(183). On the evening of the same day I received a phonecall from Tim Twiggs who alerted me to a drake Garganey (184) at Gwithian. Luckily it was still there when I arrived! The next day I returned for better views of the Golden Plover with Ash and Monty and as we walked down to where it was being viewed from, a superb adult Hobby (185)flew overhead. After watching the plover for a while we headed back to the bridge to photograph the Bonapartes Gull. Monty and Ash left a short while after, missing the Curlew Sandpiper (186) that flew in with Dunlin!

Great-white Egret (Photo by Monty Curtis)

And so to more recent events..............On May 8th I arranged to meet Ash and Monty at Marazion early morning. I had been on night shift and was obviously quite tired. However, I still needed the GREAT WHITE EGRET(187) for the year. I soon had that in the bag as it flew a short distance in the sanctuary area. It did not show again, but Monty and Ash had already seen it so weren't too bothered. It was blowing a very fresh southerly at Marazion so I mentioned to the others that Gwithian might be a bit more  sheltered for tired migrants. What a decision that turned out to be!

Black-winged Stilts (P.Freestone)

The other two were in Monty's car and were well ahead down the main path at St Gothian when I arrived and I admit i was struggling to catch up with them in my tired state. Fortunately they stopped to look at the sanctuary area on the left enabling me to catch up. As i approached them I scanned the spit on the end of the island on the main pool as I always do for waders and Gulls. There, to my suprise and then elation I could quite clearly see a black and white bird with very long red legs. I lifted my bins and saw not one but three BLACK-WINGED STILTS! (188) I said to the others, "What the bloody hell are you two looking at! Theres three Black-winged Stilts over here!!" After a few seconds panic, both got onto them and we moved around the corner for a better view, only to find ANOTHER! So four in all, a new County record! I quickly phoned RBA and then all the numbers I had at my disposal. A steady trickle of birders gathered through the day and the birds showed really well.

Temminck's Stint (P.Freestone)

Friday 13th is thought to be unlucky by some. But not for Phil Taylor and Hilary Mitchell! I recieved a phonecall from John Swann to say that two visiting birders from Yorkshire (Gods other own county!) had found what they believed to be a TEMMINCK'S STINT (189) on Ryan's Field and did i have time to have a look. Fortunately I did and I soon joined Phil and Hilary in the hide who were still watching the bird in question. Temminck's Stint is a really rare bird in Cornwall, so I got the news out straight away allowing for plenty of locals to catch up with it. It remained until about 1630hrs when it walked out of sight on one of the islands and simply disappeared! A superb little wader and my 292nd County tick. Eight more to go!

Summer migrants, Goodies and missed Goodies!!

Hmm. Where to start. Its been a bit of an up and down period since i last updated. Plenty of summer migrants to catch up with and equally as many good scarcities. I managed a superb male Ring Ouzel (164) whilst waiting (in anticipation) for the roaming Golden Eagle (165) which eventually soared over after a two hour vigil on March 23rd. Spring migrants followed with Swallow (166) on 31st, Manx Shearwater (167)and Sandwich Tern (168) on 8th April, Willow Warbler (169)from my back garden on 8th. An extremely unsuccesful trip for Gull-billed Tern, Sub-alp and Woodchat on the 11th was further ruined by the fog and the fact i missed alol of the aforementioned. The Whitethroat (170) felt like little consolation as i trudged back, wet through, to the car at Trevilley!! I did manage to get a Sedge Warbler (171)the same afternoon after taking the kids to the park at Copperhouse. 

The bike into work on the 13th April proved dividends when I got Grasshopper Warbler (172) whilst passing Loggans Moor NR. Finally, after three attempts, I caught up with the 1w Bonapartes Gull (173) at Cooperhouse Creek this evening. Some you win.........as they say!

Sunday Morning...

The Waxwing performed (if you can call sitting in a tree performing!?) at Treneere agaion this morning, but again the light was rubbish for photos. Still managed a reasonable one below! The Hoopoe (162) at St Levan was less obliging for the camera, but did show well. And nearby Porthgwarra had a Wheatear and two Chough (163). A quick look on the estuary at Hayle produced two Ruff and a Little Gull. Lovely weather and nice to get out with the boys (and girl) again.



Yorkshire and Devon Delights.

So, after a fairly successful trip to Yorkshire and Devon visiting family, I managed to get to 159 species by the end of Feb. Since then Ive been back at work and back to building my extension, so not much birding time! Spring is definately on the way though and i finally got to 160 sp. with a Wheatear at St Gothian on Friday. Land's End was freezing this morning with nothing but Magpies in the way of birds so Mark and I headed back to Marazion where two Sand Martins (161)were over the marsh.

New birds 'aquired' in Yorkshire included a Smew, Lesser Redpoll and Bramblings at Hatfield Moors, my old patch, but i failed to connect with the RL Buzzard that was reported nearby. Nearby, Park Drain, gave me good views of Grey Partridge. Blacktoft Sands RSPB reserve had over 70 Tree Sparrows and a pair of Marsh Harriers. A walk around Lakeside, Doncaster produced two Mealy Redpolls with the Lessers, but no Ruddy Duck. I also dipped on my Little Owls for the second year running.

A days birding in Devon began at Yarner Woods with Lesser Pecker and Marsh Tit soon added to the list. From there I drove to Bowling Green Marsh where I caught up with Avocets (loads!) and another Smew, but no Spotted Redshank. I then got directions to Aylesbeare Common where  a Great-grey Shrike had been seen two days previously. Didnt take too long to find the place but I'd nearly given up on the bird when it finally showed in flight then briefly perched up. Cracking bird and my first for quite some time. Finally I spent the remainder of the day at Dawlish Warren where Surf Scoter, Velvet Scoter, Black-necked, Red-necked, Slav and Great-crested Grebes, Long-tailed Duck and Eider were all offshore. Great couple of days birding, the GG Shrike being the highlight. Bring on the spring goodies!

Oh and i caught up with the Rose-coloured Starling in Penzance too.

Recent Photos

Been a bit busy since the end of January but managed another 19 yearticks. Photos of some of them below and I'll update the text when i get a minute!