I've been back home in Oxford for a few days now and have a had a chance to go through my various photos and to work out a few ID's for some fungi and inverts. I've also had time to reflect on my trip and it's various highs and low.
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| Bolbitius titubans - Yellow Fieldcap Mushroom |
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| Black Sexton Beetle - found in my moth trap |
Like the "part one" trip this was a rather low key affair though
thankfully there was at least more bird action this time around: it
seems as though autumn came very late to the far south west. Indeed if a
few things had worked out it would have been an excellent trip: had the
Yellow-billed Cuckoo lasted just one more day and had the Radde's
Warbler been more showy then I'd have been a very happy bunny. As it was
I had to content myself with the usual long stayers, namely the Lesser
Yellowlegs, the Rose-colour Starling, a poorly seen Red-breasted
Flycatcher and a nice Yellow-browed Warbler. Of course the star of the week
has to be my self-found Pendeen Barred Warbler, seen on a week when
(according to the RBA review of the week) there was a resurgence of this
species, mostly in the west of the country. It's a great shame that it
didn't linger at all but I'm just pleased to have got what is a
relatively difficult Cornish species under my belt and especially to
have got it on my local Cornish patch of Pendeen.
Talking
of Pendeen, I couldn't help but notice that my Pendeen birding chum Ian
Kendall, managed to find Britain's third Eastern Crowned Warbler up
north in Cleveland within the last week. Knowing just what a top birder
Ian is, I'm not altogether surprised but he certainly deserves what must
be the find of a lifetime. Well done Ian!
So a list of the highlights, first the Scarce+ birds:
Rose-coloured Starling
Lesser Yellowlegs
Barred Warbler
Yellow-browed Warbler
Red-breasted Flycatcher
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| The Lesser Yellowlegs was the only rarer bird that I actually photographed |
There was also a supporting cast of:
Dartford Warbler
Black Redstart
Merlin
Peregrine
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| The Pendeen Black Redstart |
On the moth front the star attraction has to be the Brindled Ochre, I hadn't realised just how hard they are to get but even Penwith mothing stalwart John Swann has never trapped one so I must have been rather lucky.
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| Brindled Ochre |
There were also a few new plants to add to my fledgling plant list with the Musk Storksbill and the Scurvygrass the main ones.
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| Musk Storksbill |
So in conclusion, a low key end of October visit but with a few new sightings on my various lists to keep things ticking over so I can't complain.
