Thursday 18th February: Perranuthnoe

Today we were due to have a new sofa delivered. We've had an on-going struggle to find a sofa that's small enough to fit into the upstairs "tower room" and this was the latest in a long line of attempts to find something that worked and we were very much hoping finally to have a working solution. With this due to be delivered early afternoon we decided in the end to work all morning on our chores and then once we'd got the sofa installed, to take the rest of the day off and do something nice. We duly worked away at our painting and touching up and between tasks I managed to spot the usual two Ravens and the Kestrel as well as two Chough which flew past the cliffs. In due course the sofa delivery came though we hit a snag when it was too large to fit up the staircase. Eventually we managed to un-stick the upstairs window (which we'd not been able to open for a couple of years)  and were able to get it in through this way - hurrah! Relieved at having avoided the ignominy of having to send the sofa back, we then contemplated the rest of afternoon. I was keen on a return visit to Perranuthnoe to have another crack at the Hudsonian Whimbrel but the other two weren't that interested so they decided to stay local and to go for a walk down to Portheras Beach. So this is what we did.

I arrived at Perranuthnoe to find the car park heaving with visitors. Eventually I managed to park up and set of along the now-familiar path to where the bird was supposed to hang out. There I met up with M.E. who was there with his parents looking for the Whimbrel. Whilst he worked his way slowly along the cliffs checking every nook and cranny I searched a little faster though we soon caught up with each other at the start of Trenow Cove. There were a few divers on the sea with one Great Northern, 1 Red-throated and a couple of Black-throated to be seen as well as a few Oystercatchers, Redshank and a distant flock of Sanderling but no sign of the Whimbrel or any of the Curlew that it was supposed to be hanging out with. Eventually I spotted a flock of Curlew right on the far side of Trenow Cove as they flew into land on the rocks there. I told the other party and we all decided to head over there to take a look, a walk of a good ten minutes though we took longer as we kept stopping to have a scan of the birds to see if we could spot anything yet. 

It was nice to see the Mount from the other side of the bay for a change

Eventually we'd got as close as possible and then M's father spotted a Whimbrel in amongst the 12 Curlew and the two accompanying Grey Plover that we could see. In contrast to photos that I'd seen of the target bird, this one had rather muted head markings and both M and I were not overly excited, with our caution being found to be justified when it had a preen, revealing it's white rump. Defeated and by now somewhat deflated we were contemplating what to do when the whole flock took off. All the birds went south except for one Whimbrel-type bird which flew off to the north towards Marazion. I called it out and tried to get on it. M found it eventually and said that it didn't look like it had a white rump but it was by now too far to be sure. To add to this, M's father swore that he'd seen all 14 other birds head off south so it looked like there'd been a hidden 15th bird, probably without a white rump and therefore probably (but not certainly) out bird. Gah! Close but no cigar! 

One of the two Grey Plover with a roosting Curlew on the rocks

By now it was getting late so we headed back to the car park, stopping to enjoy a Chiffchaff that was flycatching down on the beach. I was running behind schedule so had to hurry off, stopping off at Tescos to pick up some more Stain Stop (which we'd ordered from Tescos Direct in the end) as well as a few other birds and pieces. Then it was back to the cottage to catch up with the others who'd had a lovely time watching the giant waves down on the beach. We had a nice meal and settled in for another quiet evening.

The Alexanders is now coming into flower all along the path at Perranuthnoe