Sunday 9th April - Pendeen

I'm back down in my beloved Cornwall for a family Easter holiday. We don't often get a chance to come down at this time of year because it's often booked up by holiday makers. However, this year as the cottage needs a fair bit of renovation we've decided not to let it out to the public but just to let friends and family have use of it instead. So this new regime meant that we were able to come down for the Easter period for the first time in years and with both girls back from University we were going to have the full complement of family members for this trip.

Our departure from Oxford was somewhat delayed by a last minute work crisis but finally at around midday we were on the road. Apart from heavy traffic at the start of the M5 the journey was uneventful and we arrived in Penzance mid afternoon for our customary tea and shop at Sainsbury's before heading over towards the cottage. Whilst we'd left Oxford in glorious sunshine and scorching temperatures (for spring at least) the forecast for the far South West was some ten degrees less than Oxford so we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually quite warm and sunny though with a bit of a breeze that was keeping the edge off the temperatures.

As we turned into the cottage drive a large moth flew across the road - I'm guessing that it was a Hummingbird Hawkmoth though I couldn't be certain. We unpacked the car and booted up the cottage before heading out for a walk down to the lighthouse to stretch our legs. A small Chat was sitting on the wall as we walked down towards the lighthouse gate which flicked over the wall as we approached revealing the striking red tail of a Black Redstart. Whilst the others soon headed back to the cottage I lingered a bit and managed some better views (and a photo) for my troubles.

The Black Redstart eventually obliged me with a post-top photo

I also scored a bonus singing Stonechat

We had a quiet evening in at the cottage with just a quick bonus excursion down to the lighthouse again at dusk though it had got rather cold by then so we didn't linger.