Cornwall DIY Binge

Once again a compilation of my latest Pendeen Birding blog posts. I should warn you that not a lot happens on this trip apart from an indecent amount of DIY!


Thursday 19th March : Back Down Again

As I hinted at the end of my last posting, I'm back down in my beloved Cornwall, this time with just my VLW for company. The reason for our return visit was to complete preparations for the start of the holiday letting season, specifically to bring down some puchases for the cottage and to finish off some renovation work. We left Oxford at a rather leisurely mid morning time and our journey down was smooth and uneventful so we arrived in Penzance some four and a half hours later. There we stopped off at a supermarket for some shopping before heading off to the cottage to unpack.

One of the reasons for coming back had been to check out the fruits of the various tasks that we'd commissioned in our absence. Our electrician had installed a movement-activated exterior light which looked very good. Our plumber had serviced the boiler, fixed a leak, fixed a noisy tap and tweaked the hot water so that it wasn't quite so scalding - all done and working well. However, we'd also asked our handy man to do some exterior decorating which needed doing but it turned out that he'd not done any of it - not good! There then follwed a phone call to him where it turned out that another job he'd been on had overrun. Now I don't have a problem with that, after all these things happen, but I do have a problem with him not bothering to tell us so I was not a happy bunny. I sent out some enquiring e-mails to see if anyone could recommend some decorators but apart from that I was too tired to do much else so my VLW and I had a stroll down to the lighthouse to clear our heads. It was a gorgeous spring afternoon with hazy sunshine and hardly any wind - a real treat for normally wind swept Pendeen. Along the roadside I came across some lovely delicate little flowers which turned out to be Danish Scurygrass - easily identifyable because it flowers before any of the others.

Danish Scurvygrass

On the bird front there was precious little to report with three distant circling Buzzards, a Goldcrest singing in our garden and the usual assortment of Goldfinches and Linnets twittering away on the overhead wires. Back at the cottage we made a list of what needed doing first and we even managed to do some of the interior stuff that evening just to kick things off.

I'd brought my moth trap down with me but as it was a clear night I wasn't going to bother putting it out. However when a Red Chestnut turned up at the "moth light" (our outside porch light) I decided to have a go anyway though I wasn't expected a great deal from it.

After some discussion we decided that over the coming few days we'd attempt to do the worst of the exterior work ourselves that should have been done by our handyman. This meant that we were going to have a very intense DIY binge ahead of us with not much free time for birding. Not that there seemed to be much about at present - it had all gone rather quiet on the news front down here anyway. So expect some blog entries mostly about our renovation efforts over the next few days. Still you never know what might turn up.

Red Chestnut

Friday 20th March: Pendeen & Hayle

Today it was all about getting down to some serious DIY. We divvied up the work so I would do the exterior stuff whilst my VLW would crack on with the various interior jobs. Before I knuckled down I did take a quick stroll down to the lighthouse just to see what was about. I'd been hoping for a Wheatear as a few were being reported in the county now but sadly there was no sign of one. In fact the best I could muster was a singing male Stonechat.

Stonechat

One of the perks of working outside at Pendeen is that one can get a good idea of what birds are around. During my travails I managed to see five Ravens (including a great sighting of all of them flying just over my head). Apart from that there was a single Buzzard and the usual commoner stuff.

I had run the moth trap last night and during my coffee break I did the trap; Not that it took very long with a total of 5 Red Chestnuts, one Common Plume and one Depressaria species (to be identified). I also found an Early Grey out in the open on a neighbour's wall.

Early Grey

Of course there was the matter of the Solar Eclipse to be watched as well. As the time drew closer to the 9:25 a.m. peak, an eerie half light fell over the area. Clouds were scurrying over the sky regularly though leaving gaps in between. This was actually rather useful as one could view the sun through cloud of the right thickness and even take some photos. Here's a shot at what was pretty near the maximum coverage. All pretty awesome (in the true sense of the word).

The eclipse

Late morning I needed to head into PZ to get some more DIY provisions and I managed to blag a very brief detour to the Hayle estuary. I wanted to look for the 2w Caspian Gull that had been loitering there on and off (more off than on by the sound of it) for the past couple of weeks. This would be a much needed Cornish tick for me though having asked M.E. for details, I'd been told that it was very much hit or miss and that lots of time would be required (something I didn't have on this trip) if it was even there at all still: the recent decent weather may well having pushed it off. 

I arrived to find the tide right out and the estuary pretty deserted: being used to seeing it crammed full of birds in the winter it was quite a shock to see it so empty. The gulls were all at the far end, facing away from me into the wind. What's more, in the bright sunshine it was very hazy and the combination of all these things meant that it was a near impossible task to pick them out. Had I had the time I would have gone over to the old jet wash though I could see that it was now being used as a hand car wash centre and so presumably it was not longer possible to park there. I didn't have the time to walk that far so did a couple of quick scans though in the circumstances it was useless even trying. Defeated I quickly gave up and headed back home.

The rest of the afternoon was spent cracking on with the DIY and by the end of the first day great progress had been made both inside and out though we were both exhausted at the end. We retired early and with the local Tawny Owl serenading us briefly, we were quickly asleep..

Saturday 21st March: Hayle & Pendeen

I awoke far too early this morning, especially given how hard we'd been working yesterday. Rather than just lie there in bed until it was time to crack on with the DIY I decided to get up and pay another visit to Hayle to see if I could actually see the gulls properly. It was a lovely sunny and calm morning as I sped over the deserted roads towards PZ and then on to the estuary, arriving shortly after 7 a.m. The tide was right in this time and all the birds were tucked in the corner near the station platform though as I started looking through them the gulls at least started to move out onto the water. There were also a few waders to look through and I managed to turn up 2 Grey Plovers, a Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Greenshank, 2 Dunlin and several dozen Redshank. I searched carefully through the gulls several times from all possible vantage points and can say that I looked at every single bird there but there was nothing of interest. Satisfied that there was nothing I was missing I headed back to the cottage for some breakfast and to crack on with the day's work.

Gulls at Hayle

Today I was working outside again though thankfully the weather was perfect and it was a treat to be outdoors in such a location. The Ravens were still about and the tinkling of Goldfinches and Linnets offered a constant accompaniment to my work. During my coffee break I did the moth trap and was rewarded with a couple of new garden ticks - not that that's hard with my cottage garden list under 100 moths. The two new ones were March Moth and Diurnea Fagella.

Diurnea Fagella

March Moth

To have a break from the work I did have a little wander about the general area to see what spring flowers were about. 

Three-cornered Garlic

There was even some Western Ramping-fumitory flowering in the sheltered spots.
This species is indigenous to the far south west

Navelwort - so called because it looks like a navel

We worked hard all morning. I was just getting to a natural stopping point and thinking about lunch when a text came through on RBA of the 2w American Herring Gull again near St Just that morning. This bird had been found by M.A. at Drift about a week ago but had not been seen since. I went to consult my map and RBA on the computer. It turned out that it had been reported last thing yesterday evening on RBA as having been around for an hour and a half later afternoon as well. Consulting the map it turned out to be literally just five minutes up the road. I decided to go and find out more and hurried off for a look. 

I headed off in the right general directions and then gave P&H a call to find out the exact location - they were able to point me to the correct vantage point by the entrance to Botrea Farm. I arrived to find M.A. by his car. The field in question turned out to be a distant large ploughed field down in the valley near Jericho Farm just by the Pendeen turn-off. Sadly all the gulls had flown off and M.A. suggested that coming back again late afternoon might be the best tactic. I quizzed him for some details and thanked him for his help before heading back to the cottage, resolving to come back late afternoon should the workload allow it.

My VLW and I worked solidly for much of the afternoon. A decorator came round to discuss doing some of the work next week that we weren't able to do ourselves and we showed her what needed doing. Late afternoon I'd done all the things that I wanted to do and we needed to go and buy some paint for the decorator's work so I headed back to PZ, deciding to stop in at the gull spot en route to see what the situation was. There I met another birder scoping the field but he lamented that it was so far, the light so bright and there was so much heat haze that it was a near impossible task. I set up my scope and could only agree - it was going to be impossible to pick out the subtle features of an AHG in such conditions. The other bloke soon left to be replaced by P&H - it was nice to see the two of them again. I briefly got excited when I picked out one HG gull that seemed to have a red bill! Excitedly I pointed it out to the other two though when it turned its head the other way the bill was clearly yellow. It just showed how hard it was to read colours in the bright light. P&H decided to give up and I chose to head on into PZ to do my shopping and then return to see if it was any better. At that moment a "reported possible" Purple Heron came on the pager at St Leven by a wet field next to the playing field. Hmm, there were no playing fields at St Leven proper, did they mean Polgigga? It was all very vague. P&H decided to check it out and promised to tell me if they could find it. Meanwhile I headed over to B&Q for my paint and then Sainsbury's for some provisions. P&H reported back "no sign" and I headed back to the gull spot. There I found M.A.'s car parked up but no sign of him. I wondered whether he had a better vantage point that he was using - it was hard to see how he'd managed to ID the gull otherwise. I had a quick scope and whilst the light wasn't quite as harsh as before the conditions were still too difficult. Defeated I headed back to base where I finished off a few tasks and then we had something to eat. That evening we did some touching up of the interior paintwork before collapsing into bed. It had been a long and exhausting day with what seemed to be a recurring theme on this trip of trying to look at gulls that were too far away.

The ubiquitous Red Chestnut

Common Quaker

Sunday 22nd March: Pendeen

Thankfully I managed to sleep a lot better and awoke at the more civilised hour of 7 a.m. I had a quick walk down to the lighthouse to see if I could find my Wheatear but had no luck and after a quick breakfast it was time to crack on with the DIY. I finished off touching up some of the outside work in the lovely sunshine whilst my VLW did the same with the interior. Then it was time to clear up the cottage and to pack up to head off home. The AHG came on the pager as having been back in the field again but there was no chance of me being able to take a look and frankly unless there was a closer vantage point there seemed little point anyway. All the clearing and packing took some time so it wasn't until about 1:30 p.m. that we were finally ready to leave. The only bird sightings of note whilst all this was going on was a single Raven and a Meadow Pipit staking out its territory with its song.

We stopped in PZ for fuel and sandwiches and then headed off on the long slog back home. Fortunately the traffic was light and there were some interesting programmes on Radio 4 to keep us occupied. As we sped northwards I reflected on the stay: it was always going to be about the DIY rather than the birding but it is such a pleasure being outside in such a beautiful part of the country.  The take-homes for me from this trip were: lots of hard DIY work, some frustrating staring at distant gulls, being outside in the bright sunshine (I even got a tan!), the eclipse, singing finches, cronking Ravens, early spring plants and some new moths. My VLW and I discussed the possibility of coming back later in the spring, not to work but just to enjoy being here. That would be quite a novelty for us - people who stay in our cottage just don't realise how much hard work goes into it all.

Pendeen Raven

Up North for the Dregs of Winter

I was due to head up north again to fetch Daughter number 1 back down from University. It's amazing how quickly this has come around already- it seems like only a week or two ago that I was dropping her off. As regular readers will know by now, I like to combine my trips north with a spot of birding in the area and accordingly a couple of weeks before I am due to go I start keeping an eye of what's about up there. Of course, often what I'm keeping note of decides to leave before I head off and I could only watch in frustration as the Northumberland Black Scoter and Ross's Goose both chose to do a bunk in the days leading up to my departure. This left me rather scratching around for things to see and to make matters worse, I'd been feeling a bit under the weather the last few days, fighting off a rather persistent cold that was trying to take hold. I therefore decided to keep the birding light and as untiring as possible so I picked out a few birds of local interest that would involve the least amount of deviation from the basic route north to Durham and which would also involve a minimal amount of slogging around on site. With it being March, back down in Oxon my thoughts were very much turning to spring but it seemed that the only birds on offer in the north east were still winter birds.

With my itinerary cobbled together the night before my departure, on Friday morning I hastily put in a booking request on AirB&B and some time after 9 a.m. I set off on the now familiar route north. My first stop very much fulfilled my criteria of minimal deviation from the route being a mere two stops on the M62 off the M1. Thus it was that at around midday I pulled up in the rather unlikely site of an industrial estate near Normanton in West Yorkshire where a drake American Wigeon had been lingering in a pond opposite the police station for a while now. I parked up on a side road and walked for a couple of minutes to get to a vantage point by the side of the road which overlooked a distant small lake about 300 yards away. A quick scan with the scope soon found the bird, in with a couple of dozen Wigeon, a few Tufted Duck and a couple of Oystercatchers. I took a quick bit of video footage in order to get a record shot grab. Job done, one out of one so far and I headed back to the car.

Record shot of the American Wigeon

My next target was another hour up the motorway so I carried on north heading towards Darlington, not a place that I'd ever visited before but four Waxwings had been reported there each morning in the city centre for the last week or so. Now I was going to get there early afternoon and I had no idea whether they'd been there at that time of day. What's more, when I'd done some pre-trip research on Streetview I couldn't for the life of me see any suitable bushes where Waxwings might hang out so I was just hoping that it would all become clear when I got there. It was a bit of a punt and this was the en route target that I had least faith in but as it was a small deviation from my chosen route I thought that I'd give it a go. At the very least I'd be able to tick off Darlington which was a town that I'd not previously visited.

I arrived at the location to find that the local car park was completely full. I drove around for a bit and in the end decided to park briefly in a Disabled spot right next to the location. Keeping a wary eye on the car I wandered around to see if I could find the birds. The RBA instructions had been clear on it being at the junction between two roads which was where I was but there were no berries in sight. Perhaps they were just roosting in the two big trees there I wondered. I kept wandering around in frustration without success until a traffic warden stopped by my car. At that point I hurried back to the car, mumbled my apologies and decided to leave. All in all a bit of a waste of time. I'd hadn't really had much of a chance to look around Darlington but I hadn't got a particularly good vibe from the little that I'd seen. So with the score now at one from two I headed onwards.

Next it was on to an area that I visited last time I was up, namely the strange industrial wasteland that is Teeside. I thought that I'd continue my American duck theme and try for a Green-winged Teal that had been resident at one of the pools there not far from the RSPB Saltholme reserve where I'd seen the Long-eared Owls last time. The Sat Nav took me on some rather tricky navigation until I started to recognise the rather bleak industrial and almost post-apocalyptic landscape from last time. I turned off on a road that lead to a large chemical refinery and started to look for the track that lead off to Dorman's Pool, one of the many pools that dotted the landscape here. Eventually I found it and piloted the Gnome mobile along a bumpy track to what I presumed was the "north car park" mentioned in the RBA reports. There I found another car with a birder in it, sporting a large camera and listening to the cricket on his car radio. I asked about the Teal and he said that it was on the far pool (a good 500 yards away) and there was another car park back near the road. I was sure that the RBA report had said this car park so thanked him and set up my scope anyway. A quick scan in the distance soon found a few Pintail, Gadwall and three Teal, one of which was the Green-winged. Result! I took some record shot video and watched it for a few minutes. The other birder then told me that one could get along the bank of the other pool from the other car park so I thought that I'd go and take a look.

Back at the other car park I parked up and thought about whether I could really be bothered to slog my way over there in order to get better Teal views. Sure it had been nice to see the Teal but I was feeling tired now and I didn't really want to push myself given my delicate state of health. Instead I supped on a cup of tea from my thermos and thumbed my way through the RBA reports for the north east just in case there was anything of note. A report of a Snow Goose at Saltholme RSPB soon caught my eye. From my research I knew that that was fresh in today and was literally no more than 200 yards from where I was parked. What's more they had a café, definitely much better than traipsing around for a few more distant Teal views. I fired up the Gnome mobile and a couple of minutes later I was pulling in at the Saltholme car park. At the reception I was told that the goose was still about and that it could even be seen from the café upstairs. A quick look upstairs and yes indeed I could make out a white goose blob in amongst the brown Canada Goose blobs on the far side of the main pool. I decided to head over to get a better look and in under ten minutes I was looking out over a field where a very fine Snow Goose was feeding away with the Canadas.

The Snow Goose

Of course there was the usual question as to whether it was wild or not. It wasn't ringed and the feathers looked in perfect condition but who knows. If it leaves fairly soon then that will certainly help its case. Anyway, it was nice to see and made up for the Northumbrian Ross's Goose that had departed last week. I headed back to the visitor centre where I managed to score a cup of tea and a flapjack just before the café shut. I sat sipping my tea and looking out over the pool feeling content though rather tired. I'd scored two out of three targets with a bonus goose to make up for my Waxwing miss. 

I had one more bird lined up but it was getting late now and frankly I was too tired. What's more I wanted something to do tomorrow morning before the long drive home and my daughter wouldn't be ready until mid morning anyway so I decided instead to head over to the B&B. Some twenty minutes later I pulled up in a rather run-down small village in the middle of no where but only about twenty minutes from Durham city centre. These old colliery villages are symptomatic of a sad decline in the prosperity of many parts of the north east and have a decidedly impoverished air about them. There I got settled into my comfortable room and rested for a while reading on my Kindle. Then I gave my daughter a call and arranged to meet up for dinner in Durham. A quick twenty minute drive later and  we were enjoying a nice pizza and a catch-up on her news before she went off to pack and I headed back to the B&B feeling very tired by now. By 10:30 I was fast asleep, exhausted from a long day of driving and birding.

I slept well and the next morning over breakfast I had a chat with my hostess who turned out to be the number one world authority on the Polemonium plant group (common name "Jacob's Ladder" I think I'm right in saying). She'd done her thesis on it and had since travelled the world collecting samples which she now grew here in her cottage. It's a shame that at this time of year I couldn't have seen the flowers as with my new found flower interest I'd have been keen to take a look - another time perhaps. With a rendezvous with my daughter planned for mid morning I decided to head off for my last bird which was over in Hartlepool some half an hour away. The journey was uneventful and I found myself pulling up at the end of another weird post apocalyptic landscape that's seems so prevalent in this part of the country. I was at the Old Cemetery on the coast just north of Hartlepool Headland where a Shorelark had been reported though there'd been no news for the last couple of days so it was a bit of a punt. Still, it very much fitted in with my vague theme this winter of wanting to catch up with some winter coastal passerines that I wasn't going to see in Oxon. I'd managed Twite, Lapland Bunting and Snow Bunting (thought that had been on the other coast when I'd seen the Laughing Gull) so Shorelark would complete the set. 

The reports had said the wasteland just beyond the end of the cemetery so I duly started to take a look around but it seemed a very improbable location. It was truly a wasteland, looking like a spot where some old buildings had been demolished with piles of rubble and lots of pebbles as well as plenty of fly tipping. I wandered over to the edge of the sandy cliffs and looked down to some dunes and the sandy beach with the pier beyond that. If anything that looked a more likely area so I carefully headed down the cliff and started to look about. There'd been a fire recently so a large part of the grass area had been burnt and there was rubbish strew along here as well but it did seem a better location. I had a good tramp around but it seemed hopeless - there was no bird life at all apart from a couple of Redshank on the beach and the odd Cormorant flying by on the sea. 

The derelict pier - continuing the post apocalyptic theme

I headed back up the cliff defeated. At the top I spotted a car now on the wasteland area with a large lens poking out of it. That looked promising so I headed over to ask for news. It turned out that the lark was indeed about on the waste area after all and I was soon watching it as it worked its way along the top of the cliff just in view. Relieved I busied myself with some digiscoping.

 

Wasteland Shorelark

It was nice to see this species again which I'd only seen once before down in Norfolk (though I'd also seen them in America). Having got my fill and with time marching on I headed back to the car, pointing out the lark location to a couple of new arrivals who were looking for it. Then it was back on the road towards Durham.

The rest of the day passed smoothly: I rendezvous'd with my daughter and a friend who also lived in Oxford and who wanted a lift and we soon had the car packed, some lunch sandwiches bought and were on the road south. The traffic was light and the rest of the journey was uneventful though what with my semi-illness and the long day yesterday I did feel very tired indeed by the time we'd got back to Oxford. Still, it had been a successful if rather low key birding trip north and I'd managed to see some nice winter birds with a target score of three out of four and a bonus Goose to boot. To be honest though, I'm really looking forward to spring - I think that I'm done with winter birding for now.

Serindipity

Readers may recall that on my last outing to see the Laughing Gull, I was torn between that bird and the pair of Serins at Shoeburyness though in the end the Gull won out easily enough. Amazingly though the Serins had continued to stick around so when I found myself with a free Monday (which is generally the worst day for the forex markets so the day I prefer to take off) I thought that it would be rude not to go and take a look, after all they were within my two hour guide line travel time. Thus it was that at about 8am I set off from Oxford into the maelstrom of commuter traffic and threaded my way around the northern half of the M25 before heading down the A127 towards deepest darkest Essex. I was relying on my "trusty" Sat Nav app which stupidly decided that rather than go on the by-pass I needed to see the centre of Southend and Leigh so I arrived some fifteen minutes later than I should have done at about 10:15 a.m.. Still  the "still present" text had come through on RBA and so it was in a confident frame of mind that I parked up at Gunner's Park at Shoeburyness, tooled up and hurried over to the pond area where they were know to hang out.

The Gunner's Park Pond - where the Serins like to hang out

There I met four other birders all loitering in the same area: two ladies and two gents. The ladies informed me that they'd met the person who'd put out the message and that the birds had last been seen about 9 a.m. some thirty minutes before they'd arrived and that neither they nor the other birders had themselves seen them yet. I therefore settled down to wait. Given that it was blowing a gale, we all elected to stand in the relative shelter of the lee of the clump of trees and bushes next to the pond by the car park that was mentioned in just about every RBA text that reported the birds. We figured that the birds too would want to shelter on that side of the trees and that indeed had been where the initial observer had seen them. I must admit that I really don't like birding in the wind, especially for small passerines - it's just such hard work that I generally feel that it's not worth it. Indeed I wouldn't have come this morning with such a forecast except that it had been nearly as windy the previous day and yet the birds had been reported regularly throughout the day. So fingers crossed and I knew that the birds were still about so I should be OK.

Little Egret

Redshank

There were plenty of small birds to check through with modest numbers of Goldfinches and Greenfinches, Dunnocks, Robins and Tits. There was also a very confiding Stonechat (which I tried to photograph but the autofocus managed to miss it completely) as well as a Little Egret and a Redshank along the pond margins to keep us entertained whilst we waited. Initially we were all keen and stayed faithful to the pond area but as time passed we all started to get restless and to wander off looking in other areas. I'd read that the birds were sometimes seen over the other side of the park by the estuary so I periodically wandered over there to take a look. When the tide was out the mud was covered with a hundreds of waders, mostly Oystercatchers and Redshank, with a few Sanderling, Turnstones and Curlew. There was plenty of nice looking scrubby habitat in the area and a small copse of pines but in the wind any hunkered down Serin would sadly go unnoticed. I returned at regular intervals to check on updates from the pond area but no one saw anything.

Stock Dove

Gradually the other birders gave up and left until eventually it was just me left on my own. I decided to go for a final wander over to the other side where I found a great bit of sheltered habitat right along the estuary shoreline on the side of the cliff. There was no wind there and plenty of suitable looking weeds. Indeed I flushed a couple of birds there almost immediately though they were just Goldfinches. I searched as much as I could though time had run out for me now. I'd originally planned to be back home mid afternoon at it was after 3pm already.

The Thames estuary

Finally I had to admit defeat and trudged dejectedly back to the car and headed for home. To add insult to injury there was a huge jam on the M40 just at the Oxford turn-off and it took over an hour to get from the motorway into the city itself so in the end I was back too late to take our younger daughter to her Tae Kwan Do class about which I felt rather guilty.

So all in all a depressing failure. Sure I'd seen some nice scenery and had managed to year tick Brent Goose on the estuary itself but, being a family man with commitments, my time that I could go off on one of my birding jaunts was relatively scarce and therefore rather precious and so it really felt like a wasted opportunity to dip. Still that is part of birding of course and I tried to philosophical about it all though the truth was that the cold fog of dippage hung like a cloud over me for days.

---

Naturally enough the birds were still about and the rest of the week I had to endure the daily reports on RBA of the two Serins in the same location. I had no intention of contemplating a second attempt at these birds. For starters I couldn't really afford to take another whole day off especially as I was due to head up north once more to fetch Daughter 1 back down from Durham at the end of the week. However, I noticed that first thing in the morning seemed to be the most consistent time that the Serins were reported. This got me thinking and eventually I came up with a plan to head back to Essex on Sunday evening for a dawn raid on Gunner's Park which would mean that I would be back at my desk late morning and able to get some work done. So this is what I did.

Sunday afternoon I booked a room on Air B&B in Southend, about 5 minutes away from Gunner's Park and at 8pm after our son L had been put to bed I said goodbye to my VLW and set off in the Gnome mobile into the evening traffic. Whilst the M40 was a bit busy the M25 and A127 were fine and I arrived as expected two hours later at a pleasant enough B&B in a quiet residential area in Southend. There I had a cup of tea and a chat with my hosts before heading to bed, setting the alarm for about 6:15 a.m. the next morning. In actuality I awoke earlier than this so passed the time reading on my Kindle until it was time to get up, shower and then set off. All the birds were already singing as I left the house on what turned out to be a clear but rather crisp morning though mercifully almost completely windless. In fact I'd checked the weather carefully before hatching this plan - had it been a windy forecast again I wouldn't have bothered coming at all. Some five minutes later I arrived at the Park only to find that that car park was still locked (it turned out that it didn't open until 8 a.m.) so I parked up on the main road, tooled up and headed back to the familiar area of the vicinity of the car park pond.

The sun was just rising over the new estate buildings as I arrived and there was plenty of bird activity though it was the usual species that I remembered from last time. I was lucky enough to spot a Water Rail skulking around by the pond though of course it scurried back to the reeds in the centre of the pond when it saw me. There was no sign of any Serins to start with and to keep warm until the sun came up I kept on the move looking in all the bushes and scrub near the pond. A Song Thrush was singing loudly from the tree tops by the pond and there were a few Goldfinches and Greenfinches as before though no sign of the Stonechat. I kept up my efforts for about three quarters of an hour and was just starting to flag and even to start contemplating the prospect of a horrendous double-dip when I spotted something promising in one of the trees next to the pond. Bingo! There was a Serin in all its loveliness. Unfortunately it didn't stay in position for very long but soon flew off. Still, mission accomplished and I could relax. The sun was out now, there was hardly a breath of wind and it was lovely and warm as I went to get the car from the main road and park it in the now-open car park and then returned to the pond.

Shortly afterwards the Serin came back and I managed a bit of video footage of it though its face was in shadow so it wasn't great. After that the views were fairly regular: it seemed to follow a pattern of sitting in the tree for a bit and then flying down into the scrub behind where I was standing where it would miraculously disappear, blending in with the background so only its small mouse-like movements betrayed its presence. When disturbed it would end up back in the trees again. Eventually I was able to get some decent photos and video of the bird in the trees in full sunshine. It was such a relief to have great and prolonged views of this bird that had been so elusive last time round.

Serin's have a curious punched-in-the-face look to them!

At just before 9 a.m. I decided that I'd had my fill and wandered back to the Gnome mobile and headed for home. Fortunately there was some interesting programmes on Radio 4 to keep me occupied and the journey back was uneventful. It was a bit of a shock to the system when I got out of the car in Oxford: the lovely warm sunshine that I'd enjoyed in Essex had been replaced by low grey cloud and a chilly wind. Still I didn't mind, I was able to bask in the warm glow of a revenge tick and finally able to lay to rest the ghost of the dip of this species at Rainham all the way back in January 2010.

Cornwall in February

Once again a compilation of my Pendeen Birding updates from my trip down to Cornwall last week.

Saturday 14th- Coming Down

I’m back down in my beloved Cornwall for a week en famille as it’s the half term holiday. Usually when I’m down at this time of year there isn’t much that I want to see but amazingly this time there were quite a few birds about that I need for my Cornwall list so I was keen to come down. To be specific, my target birds are: the Little  Bunting at Gulval, the Mandarin Duck at Drift, the Ring-billed Gull and possible American Herring Gull at Hayle, the King Eider at Maenporth, the American Wigeon (either near Newlyn or at Kingsmill near Plymouth) and the Bearded Tit at Marazion. In addition I was going to have a try for Jack Snipe (which I still need) just in case I could find one at a location I’d been told about. So plenty of things to chase after with varying chances of success and opportunity.

Our journey down yesterday was uneventful. Had it been me coming down on my own I’d have been off at first light and would have stopped off en route for the American Wigeon at  Kingsmill but instead we left late morning (the general inertia of getting four people ready to depart) and stopped off at Ikea in Bristol to pick up some items for the Cottage. This meant that we didn’t arrive until after dark so there was no chance to sneak in a cheeky twitch. Instead we did a spot of food shopping, got the cottage booted up and spent the evening inspecting the house to see what chores were going to need to be done. As I’ve said before, it’s always a bit of a busman’s holiday coming down to the cottage but just being back down here makes it all worth while.

I’d not brought my moth trap down with me but I did manage to find a few months dotted about the house. I think that they are Parsnip Moths though without my micro book and with several similar looking Depressaria species I’ll have to wait until I get home before ID’ing it.

 

Parsnip Moth?

Sunday 15th- Gulval, Drift & Pendeen

Today we arranged that whilst my VLW would sleep in I would get up early and get some birding done in and around Penzance before doing some more extensive food shopping and then coming back.. The rest of the day was ear-marked for various DIY tasks though we might venture out late afternoon should there be time. That was the plan and that’s more or less what happened.

I didn’t sleep that well - partly as I was woken by a Tawny Owl calling near the house. I don’t quite understand why they should be around here as there’s no woodland to speak of. I finally got back to sleep again though I awoke too early at 6:15 and was out of the house shortly after 7 a.m.  It had been a wonderfully sunny day yesterday but it had been a clear night and consequently it was a frosty start as I sped on the deserted roads over the hill towards Penzance. From my list of target species I decided to start off  with the Little Bunting at Gulval as this species was hard to get down in Cornwall. After that I thought that I’d try the Mandarin duck at Drift which should be fairly straight-forward should it still be around.

I’d been given detailed instructions by Dave Parker on where to go and so at around 7:30 a.m. I found somewhere safe to park the Gnome mobile, got my gear together and walked the few yards to the start of the footpath where three stone steps lead up to a weedy corner of a field. Here I’d been told the Bunting liked to hang out with a bunch of Chaffinches and that it could often be seen in a Blackthorn Tree to the right of the field. I was the only person there and as I arrived a number of Chaffinches flew up from the field into the surrounding bushes. I started to scan through them and then soon noticed what must be “the” Blackthorn Tree and sure enough there was the bird sitting on its own in the middle of it. It was most distinctive with it’s well marked crown stripe and detailed head markings. I busied myself with taking some photos and video though as it had only just got light and the sun hadn’t yet reached the field it was still rather dark and I had to resort to ISO 1600 to get any kind of shutter speed at all.

The Little Bunting

Shortly after this a birder from Plymouth (called Tony) turned up with a bag of seed. He managed to see the Bunting though after a short time it flew off with the Chaffinches to the far end of the field. I put the news out on RBA and as we waited for it to return other birders started to turn up though BM was the only one I recognised. Time marched on and the bird didn’t come back and I was starting to get a bit cold standing there. At around 8:45 having spent a little over an hour there I decided to move on. After all I’d already seen the bird well and I only had limited time before I was due back at the cottage. So I left the others to it and hurried back to the car in order to get warm.

The Gulval Little Bunting

My next stop was Drift Reservoir for what should be a straight-forward visit to find the Mandarin Duck. I parked up and headed down the slope towards the reservoir. Normally I would expect there to be a large mixed flock of ducks all hanging out by the gate near the car park and this was indeed where I was expecting the Mandarin to be. However, the place was almost completely deserted with just a couple of Mallards lurking by the bank to be seen. Oh well, perhaps it was further around I thought and  resolved to walk around to the hide to see if I could find it. It was still frosty as I yomped along the bank though the water itself was remarkably deserted with just a handful of gulls in the centre to be seen and a couple of Goldeneye on the far bank. Over by the hide I could see into the western arm and here I found a few Tufted Duck and a single male Pochard (which I checked carefully to rule out Canvasback and Redhead). A couple of Gadwall, 4 Wigeon and few other bits and bobs could be seen but it was all depressingly deserted. I wandered part way around the western arm with just a Chiffy as a reward and then decided to head back to the car, defeated in my Mandarin search. Still, the sun had finally broken out and it was now lovely and warm and one out of two on my target list wasn’t too bad a start.

Drift Tufties

I arranged for my VLW to text me a shopping list and was soon in PZ picking up our provisions for the day before heading my way back over the hill to Pendeen. Then it was time for a welcome cup of tea and to crack on with the day’s chores. As the weather was so sunny and calm I decided to do some exterior paint work which is always nice as there’s a chance of hearing or seeing something on the bird front. Sure enough I soon heard some Chough calling and eventually located a pair in a field to the west of the house. The sun even brought out my first butterfly of the year with a Peacock fluttering by and I even saw a Bee of some species. I made steady progress though as the day progressed it got chillier but I wanted to get the first coat of all the black masonry paint on today so I steeled myself to get it finished. By the end I was really cold and had to have a really hot bath to warm up again. Then it was time for dinner and a chance to veg out in front of the telly.

Monday 16th - Pendeen & Penzance

In stark contrast to yesterday, today’s forecast was for quite strong north easterly winds and this indeed what materialised though in practice they started off only moderately strong and strengthened throughout the day. I was woken up at 7 am by our 8 year old son L coming to the bedroom for some reason. Today we had the first of several electricians coming round to discuss some work that we were needing to be done to the cottage and with this meeting arranged for 9:30 a.m. I didn’t really have time for a proper outing so instead I opted to spend half an hour down at the lighthouse to see if I could spot anything interesting on the sea. As to be expected for February there wasn’t much of note but at least I managed to year tick the commoner species as a moderate passage of Gannets, Kittiwakes, Auks and a few Fulmars went by. The highlight was a Black-throated Diver which settled briefly on the sea before flying off.

Back at the cottage after having the meeting with the electrician, because of the wind we opted for doing some internal chores. Thus we spent a busy morning putting up some shelves and two pictures and attaching some felt pads to the underside of the bed legs so that they didn’t scrape the floor when moved. After that it was time to head over to Penzance for some shopping. Firstly we went to B&Q to stock up on some DIY essentials, then it was time to grab some lunch and given how hungry we all were in the end we just nipped into Sainsbury’s to have something hot at the café.

With some hot food inside us it was time to head into Penzance. My VLW and our younger daughter B wanted to do some girly shopping so myself and L headed over to the bus station so I could gaze at the sea and he could clamber about on the rocks pretending to do parcour (though he’s too scared actually to try anything thankfully). The main target for me was of course the over-wintering Pacific Diver – I thought that it would be rude of me not to take a look at some point this week seeing as I was down here. It was nice and sunny now and viewing from the bus station the sun was perfectly positioned behind me. However the strong wind was almost directly in my face which made for rather difficult viewing conditions. I scanned about and thought that I caught a brief glimpse of it in amongst half a dozen or so Great-northern Divers but I couldn’t say for certain and all the divers were actively hunting and were only ever up for a few seconds at a time. To give my eyes a break from peering at small distant blobs into the teeth of the wind I spent some time trying to digiscope the smart drake Eider that was swimming about about 200 yards off-shore. I managed a few shots that looked OK on the back of the camera at least and then decided on another crack at the Pacific Diver. 

The smart Drake Eider

Suddenly everything came right at once: there was a lull in the wind, the sun was out again and an interesting looking Diver stayed above the surface for a reasonable length of time and Bingo – there it was! It was a smart looking bird with a distinctly stubby bill compared to all the GND’s; it seemed to be hanging out with a Black-throated Diver. Relieved at having seen it in the end I decided that it was time to get out of the cold and L and I hurried back to the shelter and relative warmth of the car. We then gave the other party a quick call to say that we were done and a short time later we rendezvous’d with them over by Jubilee Pool.

The last task of the day was to head back to Sainsbury’s for some food shopping and then it was back to the cottage. I managed to blag a brief detour to Drift Reservoir car park to see if the Mandarin Duck was about (I’d been assured by Tony Mills that the car park area was indeed its usual haunt) but the strong wind was barrelling down the length of the reservoir and there was understandably no sign of any birds in this exposed area. There was no point in hanging around and I got straight back into the car and we hurried home to the warmth of the cottage where we enjoyed a good meal and then settled down for the evening.

Tuesday 17th - Pendeen

The weather forecast for today was for sunny weather with little wind so we decided that today I would finish off the exterior paint work that I’d started. Thus it was that I was soon back outside working away at the black masonry paint. Once again I managed to see the pair of Chough flying about and making their distinctive calls. In addition for the Pendeen day list I saw: 1 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 1 Sparrowhawk (unusual for around here) and a handful of finches in the horse paddock next to our house.

Daughter B found this baby Palmate Newt under a rock

I soon finished my painting task and moved inside to warm up (to be honest I was feeling a bit under the weather and being outside in what was still quite nippy conditions in February wasn’t helping). We pottered about doing various tasks, trying to get the place ship-shape for the coming season. At around midday we had a chaise longe delivered: our upstairs lounge is very small and we keep trying to come up with a furniture configuration that works there, this being our latest attempt.

Singing Pendeen Dunnock

At around 3pm we’d all had enough and decided that we should go out. With a plumber due to come round at around 5:30 we couldn’t go far so we opted for a local walk. I was just hanging around outside waiting for the others to get ready when I heard a bird call. Interesting I thought, that sounds a bit like a Wren though definitely not one. I did some exploratory pishing (not expecting it to work) and a small brown bird popped up, worked it’s way past me at no more than 2m distance and was gone again in an instant. I tried to put together what I’d seen – I could have sworn that it was a small brown phyllosc but I’d only actually seen it for a moment. The call was intriguing though. Hurriedly I navigated to Xeno Canto on my phone and played through some Radde’s Warbler calls. There was one which sounded pretty close and when I played it I even heard a single call in reponse from deep within the undergrowth. Could it really be one at this time of year? I gave Dave Parker a call telling him what I’d seen and heard though he was off up at the Roseland Peninsula so wasn’t going to be able to come over and check it out. Meanwhile my family was finally ready and I told them that I would catch them up. I wandered around the garden the best I could (it’s very overgrown) but the only birds I could find were two Goldfinches and a Wren. In the end I settled down to stake out the spot where I’d last seen it and waited. Time passed and my family returned from the walk and I’d still not seen anything further. Eventually I spotted something skulking in the undergrowth and it even passed right by me in the same spot as before. This time I could see it clearly and it was of course a Wren after all. Doh! A classic schoolboy error though I could have sworn that the call was different and that I’d seen a phyllosc the first time. It just goes to show how careful you have to be on a brief view of a skulking bird. One to chalk up to experience! I sent Dave Parker a “false alarm” text and went inside for a cup of tea. The plumber came round, he was very good and we hired him on the spot to sort out our rather strange plumbing that we have in the cottage.

Wednesday 18th - Maenporth & Swanpool

Having looked at the forecast I knew that the weather was going to get very windy from tomorrow onwards and that today was going to be the last good day. Readers may have noticed a distinct lack of me chasing after my target bird list for this week and I felt that it was time that I made amends. In particular I wanted to see the King Eider over at Maenporth – a really rare species for Cornwall that I would really like to have on my county list. So the previous evening I’d floated the idea of dropping the rest of the family off at Lelant Saltings so they could catch the train to St. Ives for a spot of shopping whilst I headed over to Falmouth to try and catch up with the Eider.

Things didn’t start very well: I woke up at just after 3 a.m. feeling a bit strange and I couldn’t really get back to sleep again after that despite a generous glass of whisky for medicinal purposes. I was still feeling rather unwell the next morning and almost threw up in the kitchen sink ten minutes before an electrician was due to come around to chat about the work that we needed done. I managed to pull it together for the interview and they seemed to know what they were talking about so we’ll probably give them the job as long as the quote comes back OK.

My VLW asked me if I felt well enough to carry on with our plan for today - I knew that this was going to be my last chance for the week so I steeled myself for what might be a day of endurance birding and answered in the affirmative. Thus it was that around 10:30 a.m. I dropped the rest of the family off at Lelant Saltings and then pointed the Gnome Mobile west towards Falmouth. I didn’t really feel up to eating at all so I bought a couple of bottles of Lucozade to keep me going and took it nice and slow. Thanks to the trusty Sat Nav I arrived about an hour later at the pretty sandy beach at Maenporth and tooled up. Slowly I wandered up the coast path to the south of the beach and prepared to work my way along the coast. According to reports, the bird was usually hanging out with a female Eider often at Bream Cove which was over towards Rosemullion Head though it had been seen just south of the beach on the last couple of days. I therefore gave the area a good grilling when I got up to the first vantage point though the only birds that I could see were Shags. Conditions were great for viewing though: whilst the forecast was for a bit more wind, it was in a south westerly direction and over here on the east coast the sea was lovely and flat and the light was good with a bit of cloud preventing too much glare.

Having had no luck at the first viewing point I made my way (rather slowly given my lack of energy) southwards along the coast, stopping to scan at every vantage point. The scenery was quite pretty though with none of the wild beauty that you get down in the far south west. Eventually I arrived at Bream Cove where I found a couple of Slavonian Grebes and then joy of joys I spotted a duck on a rock! A quick look through the scope and there was the female Eider. However, there was no sign of it’s rare companion. At this point another birder turned up: MB from Devon down for the day with a son and large dog in tow. We got chatting and it turned out that he and three other Devon birders had been scouring the area for about an hour and a half with no luck at all. Things were starting to look rather bleak and my heart sank: I’d made all this effort to get out there when I really should be tucked up in bed and I wasn’t even going to see the bird after all. It had done a bunk a couple of weeks ago, disappearing for a while before it came back to the same area again but it was most unlucky for this to have happened on the one day that I’d been free. That is birding though. The others were ready to give up: they’d had a rather disappointing day so far having dipped the American Wigeon at Plymouth and now the King Eider as well. The other three were going to go on to the Little Bunting at Penzance and MB was going to go to Swanpool for the Ring-billed Gull. I’d mentally pencilled in a stop-off at Swanpool myself so I quizzed him about where to go: half way down the east side by the benches apparently. We all made our way back along the coast, stopping off for a scan where possible though in my weakened state I soon lagged behind.

At the last viewing point I caught up with MB having a final scan with the other three having already headed off back to the car. As this was the spot where it had been seen most often over the last couple of days I resolved to give it a final go before admitting defeat. MB found a pair of adult Med Gulls on the sea and there were a few Shags about. We started looking over the far side of the bay to the north of the beach but it was all deserted and it seemed hopeless. A quick final scan out over the sea itself with my bins and I spotted something bobbing up and down at some distance – thank heavens the sea was so flat you could see for a long way. I got my scope on it and low and behold there it was, the King Eider in all its loveliness. I told MB that I had it and he manged to get on it as well. He then made a frantic phone call to his friends to come back. Apparently they were just about to turn the ignition key to head off when the call came through and they raced back. They were all very grateful to me for having found the bird and I reflected that there’s nothing quite so gratifying as a last gasp success – one really feels that one’s earned the tick. I spent a while trying to video the bird but it was so far away that it was little more than a “record vid”. Still one could see all the salient features including the prominent yellow bill and forehead patch that the males of the species have. With time marching on I headed back towards the car, saying good bye to my grateful birding companions though MB soon followed behind me. On the way back I spotted a pair of Stonechats working their way over the grassy field next to the coastal path.

By far the best photo of the Maenporth King Eider that I've seen, "borrowed" from the CBWPS web-site and originally taken by John St. Ledger (c), presumably at much closer range than I saw it!

Back at the car I set the Sat Nav for Swanpool and headed off, noting MB’s car following behind me – he was still keen on checking out the Ring-billed Gull himself. It was only a few minutes away and I duly parked up on the east side of the 500m long pool near some other cars. I could seen MB park up ahead of me by the benches and by the time I’d got my gear together he was already on the bird! In fact it was so ridiculously close that you could literally tick it without getting out of the car if you were parked by the bench. Someone had been feeding bread to the gulls and it was the closest gull there, swimming up and down no more than 10 or 15 yards away. What a complete contrast from the King Eider!

I sat on the bench and busied myself with some photos and video using my trusty superzoom camera. The birds were all very tame here: a couple of coots were foraging in the reeds not more than two metres from where I was sitting. MB managed to find an adult Med Gull up near the north end. After a while he headed off to the top to see if he could find the Long-tailed Duck whereas I stayed put in order to admire the RBG. I’m always keen to see this species as it’s one that I’d love to find on my home patch at Port Meadow. The trouble is, as a relatively inexperienced birder, I only have limited experience with them so I like to take every opportunity to see them when I can. I’d seen the annual adult Gosport bird a couple of times and now here was a chance to see a first winter bird. The classic confusion species is supposed to be Common Gull though there was no way that this bird could be confused with one: it was a big hulking brute by comparison to a dainty Common with much thicker bill more curved on the upper bill than the lower (Common Gull of course have the thin more symmetrically curved bill) and pale grey mantle and coverts complete with brown flecks on the scaps. To my mind the main confusion species was going to be with a 2w Herring Gull though it was of course noticeably smaller and it’s plain tertials and less chequered coverts told it was for what it was.

The confiding 1w Ring-billed Gull

Having had my fill of the bird, I sent a text to the St. Ives party saying that I was going to head back to rendezvous with them. They replied that they were more or less done anyway and would meet me back at the Leisure Centre car park in about three quarters of an hour. I got back into the Gnome Mobile and decided to follow the Sat Nav which wanted to take me cross country back to the A30. This turned out to be a bad idea as there were road works in Falmouth itself and then I got stuck behind two oil tankers so I ended up arriving about fifteen minutes late.

The Swanpool Ring-billed Gull

The others had had a good time: L had bought some trinkets, they’d had pasties for lunch though B was feeling distinctly under the weather. She’d come down with my VLW’s cold and probably should have stayed in bed. What a bunch of invalids we were – only L was his usual self! Anyway, we headed back to PZ where we nipped into Sainsbury’s for some shopping before heading back to the cottage. There I had a bowl of soup (my first meal of the day) and I retired to my bed to recuperate. Whilst resting I reflected on my successful day out birding: I’d managed to get two Cornish ticks (I’d needed the RGB as well for the county), one of which had been very hard won and one had been ridiculously easy. Birding - it's a funny old game!

Thursday 18th- Drift

Thankfully I managed to get a good night's sleep last night and woke up feeling much more my usual self. According to the weather forecast it was going to be strong winds and rain for the next few days and this indeed was how it started out. Therefore we decided to spend the day doing some interior work. My first task was to try and get our internet connection sorted. Daily readers will have noticed the lack of updates here over the last few days: this is because we've had not proper internet connection at all. I'd made a couple of calls to the technical support team to be told that I needed a new "filter" that splits the signal between the phone and the ADSL and that they would post one out to me. That was on Monday and it was now Thursday with still no filter so I gave them another call. They assured me that the filter had been dispatched but that it could take up to five working days. What I came to realise however was that whenever I was on the phone talking to them the internet suddenly started working but as soon as the call was finished it stopped again. Could this be a clue? I tried calling up our home phone number and playing music down the line to our answer phone in order to keep the line open. Bingo - the internet started working again! That did indeed sound like something that a new filter might sort out but in the mean time I could at least finally post some photos to my blog, albeit in a rather expensive way that reminded me of the bad old dial-up days. Amazingly enough, at that moment the postman appeared with a parcel containing our new filter and when we tried it the internet was back again without having to make a phone call at the same time.

After that triumph it was on to more mundane matters with some cleaning and painting work to be done. Mid afternoon and the weather was certainly looking brighter: in fact the forecast was now for much calmer conditions over the next couple of days with the strong winds now not arriving until Saturday. We decided to venture forth. I proposed a trip to Penzance so my VLW could pick up a few items that we needed for the cottage whilst I nipped over to Drift Reservoir to have another crack at my arch nemesis the Drift Mandarin. I therefore dropped the rest of the family off at the top of Market Jew Street and I headed off towards the reservoir as the sky started to darken and the rain came down again. I'd been thinking of walking all the way down to the north bank in the western arm to see if I could find it hiding under the trees on that bank but with it now raining rather heavily I wasn't exactly relishing the prospect. The things we do for birding!

I pulled up in the car park to see a gaggle of Mallards standing in the driveway of the house by the reservoir. Apparently the owner there normally feeds the ducks which is why they usually hang out on the water next to his house. From where I was sitting in the car I could see his garage door was open and several ducks were in there gobbling down duck food from some large sacks that were lying on the floor there - what cheeky so and so's! Could the Mandarin be in amongst them? I had a scan and sure enough there he was. In fact he seemed to be the ring leader: the ducks were like naughty children who knew that they should be in there but couldn't resist. They'd get scared and waddle away but then would waddle back for another go. The Mandarin was always the last to leave and the first to head back in there. It was all very comical!

The ring leader Mandarin

Having achieved my target so quickly from the shelter of the car without having had to get wet at all I decided to quit whilst I was ahead and called up the rest of the family. We arranged to rendezvous at at a café there and some ten minutes later we were enjoying a nice cup of tea and some cake before heading back to the cottage. It had been a productive day with yet another Cornish tick achieved.

Friday 20th- Hayle & Marazion

Today the forecast was actually not too bad. The original one for a very stormy finish to the week had changed and it was now only on Saturday that the strong winds were due to arrive. The plan today was to finish off the outstanding DIY tasks and then to have our usual outing in the afternoon. I pointed out that we had some stuff to take to the dump at St Erth and suggested that I combine this trip with a spot of birding at Hayle as it was so close. I busied myself finishing some painting work that I had outstanding and then late morning I set off with a car full of stuff (mostly a huge piece of cardboard that the chaise longue came in. It didn't take long to dump all this stuff at St Erth and the next stop was the bridge by the Hayle estuary where it was almost at low tide. Before I came down this week I'd envisioned that after quickly mopping up the local goodies (namely Little Bunting, King Eider and Mandarin Duck) that I would spend much of my birding time down at Hayle looking for the elusive 1w Hayle Ring-billed Gull (that was before the Swanpool one turned up) as well as the possible American Herring Gull that was knocking about. As it had transpired however, it wasn't until my last day that I finally was getting to go to this site which was a shame as I always enjoy looking through the large numbers of birds that are to be found here.

The light was good and the wind wasn't too bad as I had a good scan through all the birds. On the wader front it was the usual Redshanks with a few Curlew, a single Oystercatcher and in the distance Greenshank and two Bar-tailed Godwits. As far as ducks went, it was just the usual Wigeon and Teal with a few Shelduck. But it was Gulls that I was really here for and there were plenty of those: more than a thousand LBBG's (counted by ME who's been doing the estuary frequently this week) and a good number of HG's. Looking through the latter I couldn't find anything that would suggest AHG though there was a darker winged bird that I grilled for possible YLG though there was too much white on the apical spots, the primary projections was too short and the wing colour didn't look right either (though it was hard to judge in the bright sun light). Probably an argentatus I presumed and ME later reported one there that day. I must admit that I find it rather weird that argentatus is such a rarity down here - back in Oxon we get loads of them as well as daily sightings of YLG and a good number Caspians each winter.

Flowering Winter Heliotrope by the road side at the bridge

After that I moved on to Copperhouse Creek where there was supposed to be a Water Pipit in residence. I wasn't particularly bothered about seeing it though it would be a nice if I happened to come across it. I curb crawled along the King George V Memorial Walk and was rewarded with a Grey Plover, two Greenshanks and two Black-tailed Godwits for my troubles plus the usual Redshanks and Gulls. Then it was time to head back home, stopping in at M&S en route to pick up a few provisions.

Copperhouse Creek Greenshank

Back home the rest of the family were rather hungry so we had lunch and then discussed what to do. They seemed to want to get out right away as they'd been working away whilst I'd been on my extended dump run. So a plan was hatched to head over to Marazion to go over to the Mount for a cream tea and we duly set off. We parked up by the charity car park and ambled along the beach to the causeway. I love wandering along here especially when the tide is in as all the Pipits and Wagtails hang out along the high tide line and it's always fun to rummage through them for something good. Today it was just the usual Pied Wagtails, Meadow and Rock Pipits but it was nice to see them all.

Rock Pipit

We arrived to find that we'd just missed the last boat over so instead decided to head up to Delicious, the café further up the hill which we'd only discovered last October. Thankfully it was still open and a splendid cream tea was enjoyed by all.

On the way back my VLW and B wanted to browse the galleries so L and I explored the alleyways that lead down to the sea from that side of town. Here you could get a nice view of Little London where you often get some divers hanging out though I couldn't see any today. I did manage to find a couple of Med Gulls though - an adult and a 1w hanging out with a dozen or so Black-headeds just east of the causeway. There's something very appealing about Med Gulls and I always like seeing them.

Marazion Med Gull

The light was fading as we ambled back along the beach and I spent an enjoyable time scanning the bay with my bins whilst L frolicked in the sand, turning up a close-in Great Northern Diver for my troubles. Then it was time to head back to the cottage to finish off our final chores and to start thinking about our departure tomorrow.

Wrapping Up

I'm back home now after an uneventful last day. The weather on Saturday was properly stormy with a great looking sea on view at Pendeen. We however had to soldier on with shutting down the cottage. The only bird news of note was that I saw the pair of Choughs again down by the cliffs as I was packing the car.

Looking back on the week it was quite a hard one from the point of view of the DIY work that we had to do and also from the fact that most of us got ill. However the birding was good and I came away with four shiny new Cornish ticks for my troubles which was probably as good as I could have hoped for. Apart from the elusive possible AHG's the only birds that I never got a chance to try for were the American Wigeon either at Kingsmill or the Gannel Estuary. I'm going to have to come back again in a few weeks to check on the work that our various tradesmen have done and to finish off the touching up of the decorating work so with any luck there will be more to report in the next few weeks.

This moth flew out of our boot at Sainsbury's car park - I think it's Agonopterix heracliana