tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68417876241035389012024-02-19T02:05:39.761+00:00Pendeen BirdingAdam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.comBlogger310125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-89369441095687299752021-06-15T11:01:00.001+01:002021-06-15T11:01:25.821+01:00Early June Visit<p style="text-align: justify;">Over half term we had a family trip down to Cornwall again. With two out of three children in tow we headed off on Tuesday for the rest of the week. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The birding down there seemed to have peaked on the Sunday before we
arrived with loads of goodies (Golden Oriel, Woodchat Shrike, Red-backed Shrike and Black Stork) all being seen on the same day. However,
since then it was more like a typical June with not much at all on
offer. The first couple of days I spent some time failing to track down the lingering but elusive Black Stork that was being seen occasionally at Rosewall Hill (Buttermilk Hill as the locals know it). Despite putting in a quite a few hours in the end, I never got to see it.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiBgjVaCcNEH9dYp_i4zOurw_tlVXp-402r-ut-3JDVyQYsZsvGxvm7a0y3AmAIcrFFgtqc0ApqRO0Bc4SaqUqfRsY4a_Qaq20vUoTXqBKAMOJ91gYlGFcZ1MK07FC0LNOlfTzdl02q9s/s600/_Cuckoo1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiBgjVaCcNEH9dYp_i4zOurw_tlVXp-402r-ut-3JDVyQYsZsvGxvm7a0y3AmAIcrFFgtqc0ApqRO0Bc4SaqUqfRsY4a_Qaq20vUoTXqBKAMOJ91gYlGFcZ1MK07FC0LNOlfTzdl02q9s/s16000/_Cuckoo1.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A distant Cuckoo on Rosewall Hill was scant compensation for not seeing the Black Stork</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlfk1kKrSpPcd-FUoCixUZg1hqfQrFxw9Q20erb2CsXdq6ynmIzxPK2noZJMCWDaCA1748qsfzdN0l2wPFtDCL63a9ixzH4NdNQgg1c3e5PQjnUD0VEK8osNYBYE7WgVcxHRXJlKQGGdI/s600/_PL1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlfk1kKrSpPcd-FUoCixUZg1hqfQrFxw9Q20erb2CsXdq6ynmIzxPK2noZJMCWDaCA1748qsfzdN0l2wPFtDCL63a9ixzH4NdNQgg1c3e5PQjnUD0VEK8osNYBYE7WgVcxHRXJlKQGGdI/s16000/_PL1.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Hill top Painted Lady</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLbAVW4JLIUiYTu21gfFpomqnoQliVDvfmPAtF7Vfc-f0OGFfW1sALj3Hl5zuIa47tXdoK-6HCARj3HjI8ZWe-LG2xvdW-pBU1QydcAnmDjHu-xyvEK7oPubutnQn3qjx4rYGuwkvqZzM/s600/_GreyGorsePiercer.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLbAVW4JLIUiYTu21gfFpomqnoQliVDvfmPAtF7Vfc-f0OGFfW1sALj3Hl5zuIa47tXdoK-6HCARj3HjI8ZWe-LG2xvdW-pBU1QydcAnmDjHu-xyvEK7oPubutnQn3qjx4rYGuwkvqZzM/s16000/_GreyGorsePiercer.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>This Grey Gorse Piercer (Cydia ulicetana) was actually a moth lifer. It was plentiful on the gorse flowers on the summit.</i> <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Our stay at Pendeen followed the usual pattern of DIY in the morning and then doing something in the afternoon. We had a family trip to Trewidden gardens and a walk down Kenidjack, around Cape Cornwall and back via Carn Gloose which was nice but offered nothing out of the ordinary in terms of sightings. Still, May and early June are beautiful times of the year down in Cornwall and it was enough just to enjoy the wonderful scenery and what had turned out to be a great week of weather.</p><p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_fv940JHXhyCRqVg5gJO9uNL_vPTBcnAgYY22e2PfsGeRggqr8AMLABsoRNIdNQyarmwnjE_XyVW1y4I_sWPldJcDdSqnysbiCe9dHMoN5ahVAJyIkV062OccApAqHZyPr7x8cjQCdgU/s600/_WT1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_fv940JHXhyCRqVg5gJO9uNL_vPTBcnAgYY22e2PfsGeRggqr8AMLABsoRNIdNQyarmwnjE_XyVW1y4I_sWPldJcDdSqnysbiCe9dHMoN5ahVAJyIkV062OccApAqHZyPr7x8cjQCdgU/s16000/_WT1.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pendeen Whitethroat</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidtIwgQlu5840R-1SRiGI92QB0mpwzErRDB52hi_7dykOva7n65E3hn3wToIqHdWxLDUoLCCIBVe9el4cELsHMgMpX2pYf5zrl6WCMio9wWr5Jm6wz07LshnAvmi6tzYwqILgQoMIOa_U/s600/_GF1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidtIwgQlu5840R-1SRiGI92QB0mpwzErRDB52hi_7dykOva7n65E3hn3wToIqHdWxLDUoLCCIBVe9el4cELsHMgMpX2pYf5zrl6WCMio9wWr5Jm6wz07LshnAvmi6tzYwqILgQoMIOa_U/s16000/_GF1.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Garden Goldfinch</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_13K532MEq__x2FIVKTqQAfLlXfdWRPYqM-UorNLgCu1Xqjsby_B9WRiiGwHIKe8KaP9kYU6HG0JiWnsZipEXQ8Q-yxNvePmpy2krzuIXdjyQZKJxzhmi4wyxdVKrWwzV5mnaJEdsO2A/s600/_BD1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_13K532MEq__x2FIVKTqQAfLlXfdWRPYqM-UorNLgCu1Xqjsby_B9WRiiGwHIKe8KaP9kYU6HG0JiWnsZipEXQ8Q-yxNvePmpy2krzuIXdjyQZKJxzhmi4wyxdVKrWwzV5mnaJEdsO2A/s16000/_BD1.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Beautiful Demoiselle at Kenidjack</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Towards the end of the week it turned very foggy at Pendeen and putting the outside porch ("moth light") on brought in quite a few species.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwU7KtxCwAQ0pBEcboSOSOenssuvvDbVbNS2hFLdYzZbQNrlkAqlKB6-PCMDPpysXypaIouj03PfZD_a8t6Un2GmiRbi1JlBZnK0r2am1UAqoT6addZdBWJzl2rTy0m62FtPISl3mOgdI/s600/_CST.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwU7KtxCwAQ0pBEcboSOSOenssuvvDbVbNS2hFLdYzZbQNrlkAqlKB6-PCMDPpysXypaIouj03PfZD_a8t6Un2GmiRbi1JlBZnK0r2am1UAqoT6addZdBWJzl2rTy0m62FtPISl3mOgdI/s16000/_CST.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Cream Spot Tiger</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgrf7XM-WAzh_HKifk6d6W_LdF5XZglokYYWIp_Zk_9Wv9ZoQAbC6545xTyx6GkfipnrLCGY2F5NAqSNIu_0shMkLSYLpV2r3Wpz0wfbiT6JF8g4netK20_R6HDPixoJTUw5cX0B6AzKU/s619/_OakEggar.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgrf7XM-WAzh_HKifk6d6W_LdF5XZglokYYWIp_Zk_9Wv9ZoQAbC6545xTyx6GkfipnrLCGY2F5NAqSNIu_0shMkLSYLpV2r3Wpz0wfbiT6JF8g4netK20_R6HDPixoJTUw5cX0B6AzKU/s16000/_OakEggar.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Fox Moth</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZUAVZm_5-ho0plHeDMMhSOKp3BjRvhSmZ4SE97g7GOQYVcAmfZTv006nSTtQWCO0x-5iVKg13NCRG6nmePRzlU44PUHXyB74eXF9Ao9s2MYHrmMjTPbFW2uqQ47vSu8zUjaYtwhjX6D0/s600/_Spec.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZUAVZm_5-ho0plHeDMMhSOKp3BjRvhSmZ4SE97g7GOQYVcAmfZTv006nSTtQWCO0x-5iVKg13NCRG6nmePRzlU44PUHXyB74eXF9Ao9s2MYHrmMjTPbFW2uqQ47vSu8zUjaYtwhjX6D0/s16000/_Spec.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Spectacle</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">On Saturday some of the family wanted to head into Mousehole for a while to explore the shops and have some tea. After dropping them off I elected instead first to head to Newlyn to see if the long-staying American Herring Gull was around. However despite searching all the usual spots I could not find it at all. At this point I got confirmation from P&H that a Rose-coloured Starling was still present at St Buryan after having first been reported the previous night so I cut short my gull search and sped over there instead. It was very misty at St Buryan when I arrived and parked up in the side road where it had been seen. Still after less than ten minutes of wandering around it turned up, stting first on a telegraph pole and then on a roof-top - classic views! Despite the mist I managed some photos.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisy6ZD-rkWhwHbEocyDrjSWMxFX4dEz4n22pdxDSBlyPIUuftyuOUwrOpSukHSSf9uVkqoGzdb55p8XzpEi-Qmx2R4TbXMg1YYbztoCxTVyIacTtJzGWTJFw_7eXLGV1mE5oqQITqa-4s/s600/_RCStarling1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisy6ZD-rkWhwHbEocyDrjSWMxFX4dEz4n22pdxDSBlyPIUuftyuOUwrOpSukHSSf9uVkqoGzdb55p8XzpEi-Qmx2R4TbXMg1YYbztoCxTVyIacTtJzGWTJFw_7eXLGV1mE5oqQITqa-4s/s16000/_RCStarling1.jpg" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvKN7suVi2jOUgdX7RP4P_D-47siun1tMEXSW17O-Ua1-tO48L3UQumSxmRsie_TUiNEi0x-wpXNunm00_oXLy3UettFTE7jF11qUZ-DGi03iw9l2VQYolwt70_YRCAuIvHL6dTuM3uGg/s618/_RCStarling2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvKN7suVi2jOUgdX7RP4P_D-47siun1tMEXSW17O-Ua1-tO48L3UQumSxmRsie_TUiNEi0x-wpXNunm00_oXLy3UettFTE7jF11qUZ-DGi03iw9l2VQYolwt70_YRCAuIvHL6dTuM3uGg/s16000/_RCStarling2.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Rose-coloured Starling at St Buryan</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table> <p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">That afternoon we were due to visit my VLW's niece up county a bit but the weather turned rather bad and I started to feel unwell (I was fighting off a nasty cold that our son has had all week) so we headed back to the cottage to start packing up instead.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">On Sunday we decided to head back home via Glastonbury (which we'd been meaning to visit for many years) which just happened to be close to Ham Wall RSPB where a certain River Warbler was by coincidence currently on territory. The traffic was heavy all the way up on the A30 and also on the M5 up to our turn off. With a sign warning of hour long delays up ahead we were grateful finally to turn off and head for Glastonbury. I dropped the others off in the city centre and then hurried back to Ham Wall. I was very much aware that I had limited amount of time and as it was now afternoon and getting rather hot, it was possible that the bird (which is known to sing in the night) might well take a siesta. So I hurried along the familiar track towards the twitch spot. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Ham Wall is one of my favourite reserves. This was my fifth visit but each previous time it had delivered in the form of a new personal UK tick. I had this site to thank for Pied-billed Grebe, Hudsonian Godwit, Little Bittern and Collard Pratincole - could I add River Warbler to this list? After a brisk 10 minute walk I crossed the first footbridge over the drain and hurried to join about a dozen or so other birders. The twitch arena turned out to be a length of about 30 yards long, facing towards a reedbed across an area of srub and reeds. I asked about when it was last seen and was told about half an hour ago. I set up my gear and settled down to wait.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO4q66Om9lsGS3c5bbBYmeS9cuWv-zw30P5fRkerU_WrO828uXMFLMPNovu_hPFpE97FxBqeU6AMgfuz8zfwlqo0mSiUIb4JfpdpZnMUviRtiZz_tun8oLf_LBsjYc2RCXu2k-7wqrxRE/s2048/IMG_0067.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO4q66Om9lsGS3c5bbBYmeS9cuWv-zw30P5fRkerU_WrO828uXMFLMPNovu_hPFpE97FxBqeU6AMgfuz8zfwlqo0mSiUIb4JfpdpZnMUviRtiZz_tun8oLf_LBsjYc2RCXu2k-7wqrxRE/w640-h480/IMG_0067.HEIC" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Fellow Twitchers waiting for the bird to show</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsnknzDU-vI82Mm-bctwOjEpmqrQtG7YZmi32SEP567gaEoMrimKLsGZPMBDu3H-D0IxhFOoZPO4t6HbcH6i4QpYsmAyeibEzaVl7fOvqKsfOO7BhWQC1WjQlX7IqvqABhIEdYl_7RS08/s2048/IMG_0069.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsnknzDU-vI82Mm-bctwOjEpmqrQtG7YZmi32SEP567gaEoMrimKLsGZPMBDu3H-D0IxhFOoZPO4t6HbcH6i4QpYsmAyeibEzaVl7fOvqKsfOO7BhWQC1WjQlX7IqvqABhIEdYl_7RS08/w640-h480/IMG_0069.HEIC" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The reedbed in which the River Warbler was hiding</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />There was plenty of other birds to see and hear. With several Cetti's Warblers singing within earshot, a hawking Hobby and regular sightings of Marsh Harriers and Great White Egrets it was a lovely place to be waiting. The only issue was that I knew I was on a tight schedule. After three quarters of waiting with no sighting I was starting to get worried. I knew that the patience of the rest of the family was distinctly finite and I started to contemplate the nightmare scenario of getting "that phone call" from them saying they were fed up and wanted to be picked up, before I'd seen the bird. I had just started to think about when I could come back again when the shout went up that it was flying low down in front of us. I managed to see a large dark brown blob fly towards a clump of reeds with some bare twigs in and a short time later it popped up briefly and started to sing it's weird pulsating whirring song. Just at that moment I got the phone call enquiring how I was getting on. I explained that the bird had just started to show and I would be another three quarters of an hour if that was OK. They agreed and I set about trying to get some photos. The bird was more or less on show constantly at this point, preening in a Hawthorn bush for a while before having another burst of song. The trouble was my auto-focus was really struggling to pick it out in amonst all the reeds and I got shot after shot of blurriness. After a while it moved even closer and sat on an exposed stem, in fact so close the autofocus was registering the reeds behind it. Eventually I zoomed all the way in and managed to fluke a couple of shots that turned out OK.<br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUpKx8ljr4DTn2AjLtLgU1bq5eMn5Aw2UMXmJY8ob5LfbpwbwUXBEE3Z2RpMiNAwrrd6J307Ef3GuBtwa83n3IY7lM17HlVTFDzsjBA2bFZjtB-_ZYQZFxJfWth4BVgpLzYBfNYeBL078/s722/_RvrWblr1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="722" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUpKx8ljr4DTn2AjLtLgU1bq5eMn5Aw2UMXmJY8ob5LfbpwbwUXBEE3Z2RpMiNAwrrd6J307Ef3GuBtwa83n3IY7lM17HlVTFDzsjBA2bFZjtB-_ZYQZFxJfWth4BVgpLzYBfNYeBL078/s16000/_RvrWblr1.jpg" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaBpzNpoeSQXCYDfsGqQ-YCezQa369e5Hjr-DgXMeUL09iCgVB1_dhA22c63PB6PBXted6fQfVp2-0aw6e-zJGTMz_cPXioP9rhmO0lhgj4FBfi1w6dI434mADozunXrVmS13DMWSqSRQ/s601/_RW2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaBpzNpoeSQXCYDfsGqQ-YCezQa369e5Hjr-DgXMeUL09iCgVB1_dhA22c63PB6PBXted6fQfVp2-0aw6e-zJGTMz_cPXioP9rhmO0lhgj4FBfi1w6dI434mADozunXrVmS13DMWSqSRQ/s16000/_RW2.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Showing well at last</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="text-align: justify;">When it disappeared again I decided to head off back to the family. Having snatched victory from the jaws of defeat it was in an elated mood that I retraced my steps back to the car and then drove back for the rendezvous. The others had very much felt that they'd "done" Glastonbury which turned out to be very alternative with all the shops being New Agey of some description. All very well as far as it goes but after wandering around for a bit the others felt that it was rather samey.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">With a couple of hours on the road still ahead of us, we chose a scenic route back home that avoided the rest of the M5 and the rest of the journey passed uneventfully. It has been a nice change of scenery down in Cornwall and whilst the birding had been quiet I'd managed to get a nice bird on the way back home which more than made up for it.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-35887441730648239592021-04-30T10:08:00.014+01:002021-05-31T10:17:42.022+01:00April Visit<div><div style="text-align: justify;">Because of Covid restrictions we had not been able to get down to Cornwall at all since last summer. We were presently in two minds about whether to let it out again for what would no doubt be a summer of high demand or in fact to sell the place given the extremely buoyant property market in the South West. In either case I needed to get down to sort the place out from its winter storm battering. There just so happened to be some good birds down in the South West, namely the Norther Mockingbird at Exmouth and the American Herring Gull as Newlyn. So it was, after rather a restless night in anticipation of finally getting out and seeing some birds again, that I was on the road shortly after 8 a.m. along the familiar route to the South West. News of the Mockingbird had already dropped on RBA so I was in a relaxed frame of mind as I steered the Gnome-mobile on her course. The traffic was light and I made excellent time down to the Exmouth turn-off when some ten minutes later I was parking up in Iona Avenue and getting tooled up. I had done a fair bit of pre trip research in order fully to acquaint myself with the location - for this particular site, knowing all the viewing angles from the different sides was more important than usual due to social distancing considerations and also due to rather strained relationship with some of the neighbours who had got fed up with birders climbing their walls and breaking their fences. So I had carefully read up all the gen on the BirdForum <a href="https://www.birdforum.net/threads/mockingbird-in-devon.404748/">thread</a> on the bird. </div><p style="text-align: justify;">To start with I went to the main road where I found a couple of birders peering through a gap in someone's fence into the neighbouring gardens where the favoured Holly bush and Palm trees could be seen. A quick enquiry revealed that they had not yet seen the bird in the twenty minutes that they had been there. I decided to do a quick tour and found the infamous alleyway which was very narrow indeed and no place for any social distancing so I decided to steer clear of there. Down Cauleston Close there was a narrow gap between the houses where the Holly tree could be viewed but it was hardly ideal and felt rather intrusive on the locals. Back on the main road the two birders told me that the neighbour whose fence gap they were looking through was getting very cross and kept putting up barriers to try to block the view. In the end it was obvious to me that the best viewing point was on the opposite side of the road where you had perfectly good scope views of relevant trees without having to intrude on any of the neighbours' privacy. Having duly set up it wasn't long before the Mockingbird appeared in it's favoured tree again. In colouring it very much reminded me of a Thrush sized Barred Warbler though with it's long tail and bill that was as far as the comparison went. It would sit still for long periods of time so there was no issue with tracking it or taking photos. It seemed relaxed and content and indeed during the entire time I was there I only saw it fly into the neighbouring Palm trees in order to feed on two occasions so I guess that it had already done much of its feeding for the day. I spent some time digiscoping it and some of them came out OK.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZn00NWdwWLbzeY5yey-53SWkhQ6JdaDUp4i2SE8XEo88arFp7gLgZmEyjukSsQ1qBjMqw6YKgvMOvbMwsg7fAY8BqjWYRW1q6oQPIQh_NxCSe153kAVfuJOxCjY292HTa0u3DXz8M_KU/s600/_NMB3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZn00NWdwWLbzeY5yey-53SWkhQ6JdaDUp4i2SE8XEo88arFp7gLgZmEyjukSsQ1qBjMqw6YKgvMOvbMwsg7fAY8BqjWYRW1q6oQPIQh_NxCSe153kAVfuJOxCjY292HTa0u3DXz8M_KU/s16000/_NMB3.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwG0EXIuQa0K8cT-pnrJ63co3BQ_rYAj_eBcL5srytPRbvayfeb4EpDP-AfXNq6VsbAUZFMVxvZK-SlfDfnZ86-_MiAppLocF20fwAK_exgdsnLe6cFoVFhtQrb9zQIMml-gmHBYmzBI/s600/_NMB4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwG0EXIuQa0K8cT-pnrJ63co3BQ_rYAj_eBcL5srytPRbvayfeb4EpDP-AfXNq6VsbAUZFMVxvZK-SlfDfnZ86-_MiAppLocF20fwAK_exgdsnLe6cFoVFhtQrb9zQIMml-gmHBYmzBI/s16000/_NMB4.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: justify;">There were not many birders on site: during my time there I saw a total of six others. With the "stay local" restrictions having been eased at the end of last month most people who were going to come to see this bird had already done so. Most of the time the bird was on view, sitting in the tree and doing not very much. The original pair had gone down the alleyway to try their luck but the rest of us stuck to the far side of the road. After about an hour I decided that I had had my fill and headed back to the car. Having now got my head around the geography of the place I realised that, near where I'd parked, there was a narrow gap between the houses on Iona Avenue where one of the Palms could be seen. Just as I took a look the Mockingbird flew up into it and gave me what were the closest views of the entire time while it fed briefly before heading back to the Holly Tree (which was hidden from this vantage point).</p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyPB-m9wG5d-qGZxbE0cOw1R-srg2jiCUi3SW6meDoppu9fvr3JJYbka0vMkC1JRkwgsEQZox8sN4MvL-mYoWjnugVM1ToU2NMIWUSmhjFvrAvu9URjowjUQqLfuFDbo2hR72HsAat82M/s600/_NMB1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyPB-m9wG5d-qGZxbE0cOw1R-srg2jiCUi3SW6meDoppu9fvr3JJYbka0vMkC1JRkwgsEQZox8sN4MvL-mYoWjnugVM1ToU2NMIWUSmhjFvrAvu9URjowjUQqLfuFDbo2hR72HsAat82M/s16000/_NMB1.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIJboQuqF138vSiP7UUcu9_bMMMjyGf_yLpcm-1vQa0ItpPzntY2ifxxtW6wXBwuCnBd-LDAnpZGmkM_VjUpegdjggiw_ytf1mfyiQSheLm16m3hrAcvJ8tzi2bhc6h2fjl81tEZMx6Ko/s600/_NMB2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIJboQuqF138vSiP7UUcu9_bMMMjyGf_yLpcm-1vQa0ItpPzntY2ifxxtW6wXBwuCnBd-LDAnpZGmkM_VjUpegdjggiw_ytf1mfyiQSheLm16m3hrAcvJ8tzi2bhc6h2fjl81tEZMx6Ko/s16000/_NMB2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;">This was a great finale for my visit and well satisfied but with much still to do ahead of my I fired up the Gnome Mobile and headed back onto the road. There had been no news on the American Herring Gull so far that day but an hour from Penzance the reassurring "still present" message came on my RBA app and I
could relax for the rest of the trip. Arriving in Penzance I navigated my way straight around to Newlyn Harbour. I had intended to park at Sandy Cove, an area of hard-standing near the shore just as you leave Newlyn but there were loads of "Private Land" message showing everywhere so I guess that this was no longer possible. As I headed back I noticed a parked car on a single yellow line just above the beach where the gull was located. Remembering that it was a bank holiday I realised that I could park right on site and duly did so.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I got out of the car, to be greeted by a stiff northerly breeze. From my vantage point I could look right down on the beach which I recognised from various on-line photos of the bird and which I knew well from many past visits. There were only half a dozen gulls loafing on the beach and none was the bird I was after. Somewhat deflated I suddenly realised how tired I was. Was I going to have to come back later to see it? I stared disconsolately out at the harbour. A few gulls had noticed me lingering and flew closer to investigate - on the off-chance that I might feed them, I guess. One of them immediately stood out in flight as having very dark tail coverts. Even in flight I could also pick out the paler head and the "Glauc" like pink bill with a dark tip. Bingo - I had my bird! Rejuvenated by my success I decided to take my packed lunch and flask of tea down to the beach and to enjoy the company of the bird.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblXpZmMhTvnj-KzAYvNFOUyAjw1OIWgpwuXd5JthQ6J_JuzgrEagEfKeWqe-BUC_72fu7VQ85TZUrQkXSRD3bWzmv-uqdpIK_skcnpYWE4f1C1IIL3faYkfj1qkh3KlGrhfB9fwYiiFg/s600/AHG1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblXpZmMhTvnj-KzAYvNFOUyAjw1OIWgpwuXd5JthQ6J_JuzgrEagEfKeWqe-BUC_72fu7VQ85TZUrQkXSRD3bWzmv-uqdpIK_skcnpYWE4f1C1IIL3faYkfj1qkh3KlGrhfB9fwYiiFg/s16000/AHG1.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>My first view of the American Herring Gull, looking down from where I had parked the car</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table> <p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Down on the beach near the tiny memorial chapel there were a couple walking their dog and throwing sticks for the dog all along the beach. I went over towards the gulls and decided to chuck in a few pieces of bread, as much to try and disuade the dog walkers from encroaching in this area as attracting the gulls. Fortunately, the dog people got the message and kept their activities to the far end and with my bread throwing I had got the attention of all the local gulls, numbering some three dozen or so gulls in total. Most were first winter birds, mostly Herring with a few Great Black-backed in amongst them and of course our Neartic interloper as well. From the numerous photos on the internet of this bird, I already knew how striking it was but it did really stand out from the crowd. To my mind it had almost a Glauc feel to it, with it's pale coffee wash to it, it's chunky size and of course the pink bill with the dark tip. The head was pale and it had a nice milky-coffee wash to the breast. The upper and lower tail coverts were strikingly dark and it had the pale bases to the greater coverts, at least on the outer edge of the wing. One thing that really struck me what the head shape which was noticeably
different from the other Herring gulls, with a more rounded shape to
it. All in all a pretty classic "smithy". I say all this with all the assurance of someone with only text book knowledge of them and who'd never actually seen one in the field before. It was great though that my first should be such a classic bird and one that was showing so well. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4hDkFRfBEfWZ7RcUhJ7zOkazLCsIrGYWaQJL9YQuAobkZT1xkxuOWGy6Dtee-JbW9H0sl5HoKlgmm4tszo1yFeciYVKFeLqieFxfEFjuys1AmnWVvhc7lBjsLSiu8tidjH-YpJI5pI5U/s600/_AHG2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4hDkFRfBEfWZ7RcUhJ7zOkazLCsIrGYWaQJL9YQuAobkZT1xkxuOWGy6Dtee-JbW9H0sl5HoKlgmm4tszo1yFeciYVKFeLqieFxfEFjuys1AmnWVvhc7lBjsLSiu8tidjH-YpJI5pI5U/s16000/_AHG2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9lwoMXwvlZBiOoGSVANtq6LAM0Eq1IECW7WU2Z6T_b7HC3jLQJ5a8kF-6bpc7Cd0bVIGOG_TFdYafKzoPZTxiNYV5h6O4_ahSmo2aHssioX1IQlCYqRo_x2uZ7OB0rPTi_t6bHD8Y3Ko/s600/_AHG3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9lwoMXwvlZBiOoGSVANtq6LAM0Eq1IECW7WU2Z6T_b7HC3jLQJ5a8kF-6bpc7Cd0bVIGOG_TFdYafKzoPZTxiNYV5h6O4_ahSmo2aHssioX1IQlCYqRo_x2uZ7OB0rPTi_t6bHD8Y3Ko/s16000/_AHG3.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I particularly like this photo which nicely shows just how <br />stand-out the AHG was compared to the local birds</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6U3_7deM6RGBdnO0JnNQM5IzYsZaeqmguP1auH_OrxrV8D84kvlZm5GXS_GIhfgkGwOs7BlS3_paA2rI8HH8YjU008BEoY1SGaX9rRo4rYbq2E_-OfI_mfQsP-OZAEvZ8OW2bw1R2mlc/s600/_AHG4.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6U3_7deM6RGBdnO0JnNQM5IzYsZaeqmguP1auH_OrxrV8D84kvlZm5GXS_GIhfgkGwOs7BlS3_paA2rI8HH8YjU008BEoY1SGaX9rRo4rYbq2E_-OfI_mfQsP-OZAEvZ8OW2bw1R2mlc/s16000/_AHG4.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The obligatory UTC shot</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvBNWWXn3PfYxIdrTeqySpIkN1mdb0D46Fml7entE1HHJWCZIC_qs0Ma94AqkVXY1XQ-kdJ35VzvyYd6MOJ9I7yR38ZyklnN6LlFMi15cPiDMMR200WkgHPYa9gwfNMuvcuA3foNkBSE4/s600/_AHG5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvBNWWXn3PfYxIdrTeqySpIkN1mdb0D46Fml7entE1HHJWCZIC_qs0Ma94AqkVXY1XQ-kdJ35VzvyYd6MOJ9I7yR38ZyklnN6LlFMi15cPiDMMR200WkgHPYa9gwfNMuvcuA3foNkBSE4/s16000/_AHG5.jpg" /></a></div> <p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I sat and munched my lunch, sharing bits of it with the assembled throng. The AHG actually hung back from trying to fight for scraps and merely watched from a distance. Still it was close enough that I could shoot some video by balancing my superzoom camera on my knees.<br /></p><br /></div>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pIW90lpDmcY" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
</div><p>
<br />
</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Between myself and the gulls we soon managed to polish off my lunch and after a couple of reviving cups of tea from my flask it was time to get on. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">My first stop was just down the road a Jubilee Pool in order to see if there were any roosting Purple Sandpipers. Sadly the tide was too far out but I did manage to see a few on the small rocky island opposite the monument next to the pool. Then it was on to Sainsbury's in order to pick up some food for my stay before heading over to open up the cottage. With lots to do in a short space of time I cracked on with making a start on the preparations until I was too tired to work any more and so I turned in, dreaming of Mockingbirds and Gulls.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I woke up early the next day with much to do. I won't bore readers with a blow by blow account of all my DIY preparatations - after all this is a birding blog rather than anything else. I did manage to get out briefly in the morning with one of the Pendeen locals who showed me an aberrant Chiffchaff singing in a nearby plantation. So most chiffchaffs go: "jit ja ja jit..." etc. Iberian chiffies go: "jit ja ja jit, weet weet, cha cha cha cha" (as we all learnt to our cost in Oxon with a weird aberrant bird a few years ago). Well, this bird was going "weet, weet, jit ja ja jit" - a sort of backward half Iberian. It also never once dipped its tail which was most unusual. Not sure exactly what it was then but it seemed to have some Iberian influences. You can listen to a recording <a href="https://www.xeno-canto.org/637160">here</a>.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Later that afternoon I went up the carn behind Pendeen village to look for a female Ring Ouzel that had been seen there but in the strong wind I could not find it. Once again I worked until I was too tired before turning in for the night.<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYpAZ1q13YN0n0Bx6sBgih5DUn2_rku3YWHQ79pOUBj1jTDrR08K7DLdzGcERUVQtcSyMPlZuYVPJvtZhkdpqFKZO8_ghuGaU4pkfEWOiyb_2xBBco2a9H5UHT-SKCTg-p38ZkVGgnH0/s600/_SChat.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="517" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYpAZ1q13YN0n0Bx6sBgih5DUn2_rku3YWHQ79pOUBj1jTDrR08K7DLdzGcERUVQtcSyMPlZuYVPJvtZhkdpqFKZO8_ghuGaU4pkfEWOiyb_2xBBco2a9H5UHT-SKCTg-p38ZkVGgnH0/s16000/_SChat.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pendeen Stonechat</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVxep5b1kiqrtSA-CtqjvdOD2e9pZhi0UXUXOHn7wC_8_Xf_lHAfdfvx7FSSPirUfmR0aTLVBKQQJabzZg-j_QdlfBDm7vnCzy7a3iZSU1VEnMzQc8isBmLuUMY8wki4WFzeDiZHEjCUI/s600/_Chough.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVxep5b1kiqrtSA-CtqjvdOD2e9pZhi0UXUXOHn7wC_8_Xf_lHAfdfvx7FSSPirUfmR0aTLVBKQQJabzZg-j_QdlfBDm7vnCzy7a3iZSU1VEnMzQc8isBmLuUMY8wki4WFzeDiZHEjCUI/s16000/_Chough.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The obligatory Chough photo</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I had intended to leave promptly the next morning but in the end I had things to finish off so it wasn't until midday that I finally left. I decided that after such an intense DIY-filled visit I would take a rather leisurely approach to the return journey as a reward for all my efforts. My first stop was at Drozmary Pool near Bolventor on Bodmin Moor where I soon had distant views of the long-staying female Ring-necked Duck and the adult male Scaup. The only other birds there were a female Tufted Duck and a Gadwall.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I also stopped at a service station to eat my lunch and to have a cup of tea before heading on for my third stop at Frampton-upon-Severn Sailing Lake for the long-staying 1w Bonaparte's Gull. This turned out to be a lovely site. After the harshness of the Cornish landscape everything was "soft" and more spring-like. There were hirundines everywhere hawking over the lake with singing Willow Warblers in the bushes. Unfortunately the gulls were all right in the far corner and despite grilling them all very carefully a number of times there was no sign of the Bonaparte's. In the end I gave up and headed on for home, arriving back feeling very tired after an intense few days away. Still I'd managed to see a couple of new birds and things were ready to move ahead with the cottage. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p><b>Addendum</b><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The Mockingbird did its credentials no harm by leaving a few days after I saw it. Amazingly, it was picked up in Pulborough, Sussex where it spent one day before moving on. My sketchy understanding is that the eastern subspecies is largely resident whereas the western ones do undergo a migration of some sorts so this could be one of those that has somehow (perhaps with the aid of a ship) made it to our shores. In any event it was a great bird to see.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-78776796581531602582020-08-30T18:06:00.000+01:002020-09-07T14:21:17.302+01:00Sea-watching<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Part I</b><br />The last three days we've had proper stormy weather and raging southerly winds. As a birder of course this should be music to my ears in August but as I mentioned previously I've been feeling rather unwell. All this meant that I didn't feel up to getting up at the crack of dawn in order to spend all day on a windswept headland. In any event, I've never been a great fan of Porthgwarra - the light and the lack of shelter and the fact that I can't hear what people are calling out half the time all makes for a rather unenjoyable experience. Also, I'm on a family rather than birding holiday and to take off for the whole day with the car would be very much frowned upon. <span style="text-align: left;">So instead, for the last three days I've gone down to Pendeen lighthouse at whatever time I've happened to wake up to try my luck there instead. Of course the wind direction was completely wrong for Pendeen and indeed the first two days were completely useless and I was reduced to picking out the few Mediterranean Gulls that were passing the Watch. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">On the third day, I was down at the Watch at 9 am to find one other person there. He'd been down at PG earlier but it had been such rubbish that he'd decided to try Pendeen instead. He was in two minds about whether to have a go but after seeing all the benefits of the shelter and the great light he was persuaded. He and I enjoyed a nice chat whilst we tried to winkle out some birds of interested and we even managed a couple of Sooties for our troubles. <span style="text-align: left;">A third PG refugee turned up who turned out to be a birder all the way down from Aviemore in Scotland. He was younger and frankly more sharp-eyed than either myself or my original companion and things started to pick up with his arrival. We added quite a few more Sooties and a couple of Stormies to the tally and even an Ocean Sun Fish. The pick of morning though was an adult summer plumage Sabine's Gull that he managed to pick out well past the left hand rock. Somehow I too managed to get on it with my bins before it passed the lighthouse wall of oblivion though sadly my original companion never managed to connect.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">As time passed and word seemed to spread of the comparative better pickings on offer at Pendeen more people arrived from PG and the session turned from our enjoyable trio who were able to chat amongst ourselves, instead to a large scale watch with more than a dozen hardcore sea-watchers. I tend to enjoy such sessions less, finding them rather intimidating for calling stuff out and I was getting tired anyway so called it a day at that point. Still I couldn't complain: Sabine's Gull was a personal Cornish tick.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9vSoEWNnaYtTglLOBvg1LLdatOqnAUGKBI_nMkaI3wppFM71kf1BB-fTvtVt9IAU5XOHJOdROpxH4Gkw9YcDVIOabKYd0LA6xZBreiaKGkdHaPPgss0i4QdzdLlZE0PjGmPOXehj8tj4/s1632/IMG_9063.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1632" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9vSoEWNnaYtTglLOBvg1LLdatOqnAUGKBI_nMkaI3wppFM71kf1BB-fTvtVt9IAU5XOHJOdROpxH4Gkw9YcDVIOabKYd0LA6xZBreiaKGkdHaPPgss0i4QdzdLlZE0PjGmPOXehj8tj4/s640/IMG_9063.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sea-watchers</i></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Part II</b><br />I woke before the rest of the family to find the wind was as forecast, namely a moderate south-westerly averaging about 17 mph according to the BBC weather app. So, OK but not exactly classic sea-watching weather. Certainly in theory this should be another Porthgwarra day and as I got tooled up and wandered down to the lighthouse for a brief spell of sea-watching I expected to find myself pretty much on my own. I turned the corner to find thirty or so birders occupying the area below the lighthouse. Indeed there were so many people that I couldn't see anywhere to sit down and so had to retrace my steps back to the cottage to get my chair to sit on - I don't normally bother with it as I can sit on the concrete ledge. It seems that the recent poor PG performance had been enough to relegate it to below Pendeen for a south westerly.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As I've said previously, I'm not a great fan of the large watch but I managed to find a spot tucked right in the corner out of the wind and I was reasonably close to a couple of people who were helpful in passing on calls and all in all it was actually quite enjoyable. Looking around I recognised quite a few of the faces including my Aviemore companion from yesterday. I'd asked how things had been so far and the answer was pretty great! A Wilson's had gone past pretty early and they'd also had a couple of Great Shears and 6 (!) adult Sabine's Gulls. Pretty good stuff! Of course I could have been kicking myself over having missed the Wilson's but I have come to realise that sea-watching is such a brutal game that if you start going down that "if only..." route it can quickly "do your head in" completely. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">It's always interesting to look around at the assembled birders. It's funny how you can tell the serious battle-hardened watchers from the tentative beginners who won't call anything and rely on others to find and identify things. Myself, I suppose I fall somewhere in between the two camps. Compared to many I'm still relatively inexperienced and also I have issues with my eyesight which mean that I can't seem to see the same detail as some people. I also find that my eyes get tired easily and quickly glaze over staring at a blank seascape so I have to rest them regularly and I get tired after a couple of hours of watching. I'm a real light weight I guess! There weren't any locals on show and I've since leaned that they tend to
prefer watching together from the lower car park away from the hoards.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I settled down and even managed to find and call a couple of Stormies myself. A couple more Sabs were picked up which I managed to get onto and with a couple of Bonxies and a couple of Sooties it was a pretty good sea-watch, especially for the wrong wind direction at Pendeen. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLjQaTQDCINhSfwc605JYefhPVNiC60Md3PWyVh1ZjoPqND58LusVdpKMxU_A1ZNuJofOK8fh2aFfLIFLWW2fHMA7qwDhBX3o7RSCXoNzOyvkHoC-Ijn-METrecBJburUXIQ_d_QH8Ig8/s1632/IMG_9077.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1632" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLjQaTQDCINhSfwc605JYefhPVNiC60Md3PWyVh1ZjoPqND58LusVdpKMxU_A1ZNuJofOK8fh2aFfLIFLWW2fHMA7qwDhBX3o7RSCXoNzOyvkHoC-Ijn-METrecBJburUXIQ_d_QH8Ig8/w640-h480/IMG_9077.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A Rainbow over the Pendeen sea-watch</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">After a good couple of hours things started to go a bit quiet and as a fair portion of the other watchers started to leave, I too followed suit. With another couple of Sabine's under my belt it had been another good session.</p>
<p><b>Part III</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">With conditions looking good for another Pendeen session I mentally pencilled in heading down to the lighthouse once more. However, still feeling poorly and having to do some DIY tasks meant that it wasn't until late morning that I was finally able to get down there. I elected for the lower car park this time where I soon met up with my local friends P&H who informed me that there had been a number of Wilson's sightings that morning - Gah! Still, there was nothing to be done and in lovely sunny conditions and being pretty sheltered from the wind I had a good chat and managed to see some good birds as well. It was mostly Skuas with Arctic and Bonxies seen as well as some Sooties and Stormies but no large Shears and sadly no more Wilson's. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">After heading back to the house for lunch I elected to come back mid afternoon. Things had gone quieter but later on SR who was sitting next to me, managed to pick out a Wilson's! This was what I'd been waiting for but sadly it kept going down on the sea and he lost it before anyone else could get on it. So frustrating, but it's pretty hard picking out someone else'e Petrel at the best of times and there was nothing I could do. I eventually headed for home and tried to be philosphical about it, though it wasn't easy.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p><b>Part IV</b><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The day before we were due to leave I had one more go on the sea. Once again from the lower car park though this time the wind was more northerly (perhaps too much so) which meant that it was much colder. It was a very difficult watch - I was feeling cold and ill, all the birds were very distant and I just couldn't seem to get on most of them though I did add a Sootie and a few more Skuas to my tally. In the end I gave it up as a bad job and headed back to the cottage<br /></p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy8vRqEcJNTA86Dclh9rxilF846PBuuSlywwY_BvSSAhQIKkwLGxX8491os1B_xuFqJtGiG5qRhswcJsUuCB2QWROa32CS5JzwRO3baVPtPNPdLqa2WrJIdve1m-Hasr-6W8kbmaCJyxk/s600/_Gannet.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy8vRqEcJNTA86Dclh9rxilF846PBuuSlywwY_BvSSAhQIKkwLGxX8491os1B_xuFqJtGiG5qRhswcJsUuCB2QWROa32CS5JzwRO3baVPtPNPdLqa2WrJIdve1m-Hasr-6W8kbmaCJyxk/s16000/_Gannet.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pendeen Gannet</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p>Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-62206822710726868452020-08-29T11:19:00.000+01:002020-09-07T12:59:09.477+01:00Marazion<p style="text-align: justify;">One of our favourite family past times when then weather is stormy is to head down to Marazion to sit on the sea front, sipping coffee from a flask and watching the waves crash on the shore. One time we also walked from there to Little London to have our tea and look for sea glass on the beach. There's not been anything particularly interesting on the shore but it's always fun to rummage through the waders and gulls in the hope of finding something interesting.</p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxhiTOj6ka2Xy-DaQmh2eE1xAjSJOKH3jVTAYxQZD9rE3YyLHIpyhYb5-LK4QNHnhNExl3crFL_jZJdsHItZmAurs66xqiVUE0L7I_1D_07ZOKLUjzPjVEjb2tyYaKneqkSf18qFYEl0/s600/_Med1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="559" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxhiTOj6ka2Xy-DaQmh2eE1xAjSJOKH3jVTAYxQZD9rE3YyLHIpyhYb5-LK4QNHnhNExl3crFL_jZJdsHItZmAurs66xqiVUE0L7I_1D_07ZOKLUjzPjVEjb2tyYaKneqkSf18qFYEl0/s0/_Med1.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I always enjoy picking out the Med Gulls from the flock</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg564BoofUfPZnnIqr5y9NqKz3rYyURN5YaE__6NnPGjSSFgMdcf387ShRtSKRxPSrbStbhJOg4m-trDdmF4uU2idPNjqlSeuveXUzeDlS9I2XBRX5GD3oSgQW80DbUKpCf46uj8L9W2Hg/s600/_RP.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg564BoofUfPZnnIqr5y9NqKz3rYyURN5YaE__6NnPGjSSFgMdcf387ShRtSKRxPSrbStbhJOg4m-trDdmF4uU2idPNjqlSeuveXUzeDlS9I2XBRX5GD3oSgQW80DbUKpCf46uj8L9W2Hg/s0/_RP.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ringed Plover</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4c-ah6D4crZ3Jg9n1m57mZkenmk8UUhEQcQLLeZO4E_VypoH_oVNWqQi40VOPKfBDz4yfykP8cTmYjjFFZTIvIA4aLtXVYy5gbbkskyTBXHw5qm7R8HRPM52ml-FSCwktyyTcz3ZS_cs/s600/_Sanderling.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4c-ah6D4crZ3Jg9n1m57mZkenmk8UUhEQcQLLeZO4E_VypoH_oVNWqQi40VOPKfBDz4yfykP8cTmYjjFFZTIvIA4aLtXVYy5gbbkskyTBXHw5qm7R8HRPM52ml-FSCwktyyTcz3ZS_cs/s0/_Sanderling.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sanderling</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6p-n-S2OmR0PVR_Tk_12x0UNe8sAORXyMrqFYdNym1uzubFDNzXIUEYKc4ekNYglVIiJXkme_zq831eryxRDioFnN5qXVrAHOCQDu3htqbd1Hh5EwaVOTE0UIJMPo5tDJ1WpxPRK1aVc/s600/_gulls.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6p-n-S2OmR0PVR_Tk_12x0UNe8sAORXyMrqFYdNym1uzubFDNzXIUEYKc4ekNYglVIiJXkme_zq831eryxRDioFnN5qXVrAHOCQDu3htqbd1Hh5EwaVOTE0UIJMPo5tDJ1WpxPRK1aVc/s0/_gulls.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Med Gull in amongst the Black-headeds</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p>Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-50890362915741159362020-08-28T08:53:00.000+01:002020-09-07T12:58:17.256+01:00Pendeen<p style="text-align: justify;">I have not been so diligent in my surveying of Pendeen each morning as I have in the past. The truth is that it's a little too early in August and to be honest I've just not been feeling it. Still in passing I've managed to see a few things. The highlight was a lovely female Common Hawker that settled right next to me and allowed some photography at point blank range. This species is pretty rare on the Penwith peninsula and in all my years of coming down it's only the second time that I've seen it. In discussion with local resident JS he says that he's only seen three during his time here.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_0gzCL2n_eJBdXMjQP1Mp4RrtBhTFn8E4InVeeMR7iH5WQRU2cs_1tMO6CDIrcyl6eKfjYYkSBD9nynxswDt8L9aRmutEkJaQ72BrUAefE5DlM1oJvOylkDxJC87K_xZrcBjsaG3B2Q/s600/_CmnHwkr.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_0gzCL2n_eJBdXMjQP1Mp4RrtBhTFn8E4InVeeMR7iH5WQRU2cs_1tMO6CDIrcyl6eKfjYYkSBD9nynxswDt8L9aRmutEkJaQ72BrUAefE5DlM1oJvOylkDxJC87K_xZrcBjsaG3B2Q/s0/_CmnHwkr.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Female Common Hawker</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">A few Pied Flycatchers were being reported passing through the county and one day I managed to find one in the Old Count House garden. The trouble is that there is so much cover there that it's very hard to see anything and after about 30 seconds it had disappeared.<br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx1AVNT-hnsviAUgSbNTmBwl1NrqxaT8CBDLIaLLrkSXzos9b71z1IBKIklofQHJzw8Kc7s16ruTUtaH9jI16kbr7bZ0g5P33pJlM7HuWSRSzpRZ2UZD5Djr_1mcsqRKQHPDCpax88Cx8/s600/_PFly.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx1AVNT-hnsviAUgSbNTmBwl1NrqxaT8CBDLIaLLrkSXzos9b71z1IBKIklofQHJzw8Kc7s16ruTUtaH9jI16kbr7bZ0g5P33pJlM7HuWSRSzpRZ2UZD5Djr_1mcsqRKQHPDCpax88Cx8/s0/_PFly.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pied Flycatcher</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3i4RariQDjDJJSEY0s6sMtMzUTdIse6qgbyMrNpTv6xdYVnmNgrWy8Ss98o5xpIaKOD-6F0kAwzTC8PfqoLV5DIXA9G02ONxUi_nqQvV4GAUFI6TaGFmL45NoHGnG_YDsae3zyEPbuM/s600/_SmCpr.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3i4RariQDjDJJSEY0s6sMtMzUTdIse6qgbyMrNpTv6xdYVnmNgrWy8Ss98o5xpIaKOD-6F0kAwzTC8PfqoLV5DIXA9G02ONxUi_nqQvV4GAUFI6TaGFmL45NoHGnG_YDsae3zyEPbuM/s0/_SmCpr.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Small Copper</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>On my regular strolls down to the lighthouse I'd often spot a Wheatear in the fields or posing on a wall.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAaDXhh7_G05SGRUoSL91msV6RLuN_YcCBvseknudWCv1GoOlvXl1bHSeX21xi_ulzQXkWi465h6KKjxbfk-IE89z-aS7B1nAi6plk4PL27YLAP71MfnoDUtXgqmTffrbU6ZN7WVkLAlM/s600/_Whtr2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAaDXhh7_G05SGRUoSL91msV6RLuN_YcCBvseknudWCv1GoOlvXl1bHSeX21xi_ulzQXkWi465h6KKjxbfk-IE89z-aS7B1nAi6plk4PL27YLAP71MfnoDUtXgqmTffrbU6ZN7WVkLAlM/s0/_Whtr2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6y4rveejKKRggQS8lR25mMIzqVkVbyEED_o2AGYtGfUccJnbbA9LhMlDn1bGIvYMAOIaaHk4XMw4vKP7BdpYQwHicfW-4kbm0pNaLOWc1jD6Q5qWz4JXQtK3dRZ_q74_w-X0h_XHopU/s600/_Whtr.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6y4rveejKKRggQS8lR25mMIzqVkVbyEED_o2AGYtGfUccJnbbA9LhMlDn1bGIvYMAOIaaHk4XMw4vKP7BdpYQwHicfW-4kbm0pNaLOWc1jD6Q5qWz4JXQtK3dRZ_q74_w-X0h_XHopU/s0/_Whtr.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Wheatears</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"> Apart from that it was the usual species doing their usual thing. The two Ravens were still around and a pair of Chough have taken up residence in the area.<br /></p><p><br /></p>Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-56038894931951331332020-08-17T19:28:00.000+01:002020-09-07T12:56:54.178+01:0017th August: Drift Reservoir<p style="text-align: justify;">With the rest of the family choosing to have a lie-in on our first day in the cottage I decided to head off reasonably early to see if I could see the Drift Spotted Sandpiper - the one rare bird that was around on the Penwith peninsula at the moment. I was about half way from Pendeen to Drift when the heavens opened so I decided to head first to Sainsbury's to do a spot of shopping. This worked out quite nicely and I'd just finished as it started to ease. I duly arrived at the reservoir car park, tooled up and headed off. I soon realised that I'd made a mistake in not wearing my waterproof trousers: whilst it was no longer raining, there was a lot of vegetation to walk through and my trousers were soon soaking. I worked my way around the west shore, hoping that I would strike lucky at the first corner by the boardwalk which certainly used to be it's favourite corner but sadly it was empty. Having failed here I was pinning my hopes on finding it in the north west arm past the hide where waders usually like to hang out. Here I found three Green Sandpipers, a Wood Sand, 2 Common Sand, a Greenshank, a Snipe as well as a few ducks, a Little Egret and a couple of Grey Herons but sadly not the bird I was looking for. Eventually I had to give up and head back home to dry out.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">After lunch, we decided to do something that we'd been meaning to do for years, namely climb the hill behind Pendeen itself. It didn't take too long but once we'd left the village the scenery changed and there was a wonderful tapestry of heather and gorse which looked stunning in the afternoon sunshine. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYuG53waCFztF7aEPbTNrr03u8zJWys1GotkkdMvoDlYezYR10wLzyPjSloJRGQ2aQfm-FNZZmgAkOeI2kpSpNSmfBJqdzDCQhRj6q6Rn2mj-aqb4xjUh356L7frKkn90x0650jkXn7h0/s2048/IMG_9023.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYuG53waCFztF7aEPbTNrr03u8zJWys1GotkkdMvoDlYezYR10wLzyPjSloJRGQ2aQfm-FNZZmgAkOeI2kpSpNSmfBJqdzDCQhRj6q6Rn2mj-aqb4xjUh356L7frKkn90x0650jkXn7h0/w400-h400/IMG_9023.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Heather & Gorse</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">The view at the top of the hill was definitely worth it and we all wished that we'd done it years ago. After a while we headed down to the churchyard where after a wander around the churchyard we sat down with our flask of tea and our snacks. We'd just finished when news came through on RBA of the Spotted Sandpiper still present at Drift. As we about to head home anyway I quickly dropped the others off at the cottage and headed off to Drift with my younger daughter along for the ride.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">I arrived about the same time as two other birders who were also keen to catch up with the Spotted Sand. The news had said that it was along the east shore 100 yards from the dam wall. This was pretty precise information but despite the three off us searching we couldn't see it. With nothing else to do the three of us worked our way back along the west shore just as I'd done in the morning. Sadly the outcome was the same as in the morning with no sign of the target bird though the number of Wood Sandpipers had now grown to three. One of the party decided to head on whereas myself and the third person both had to head back due to limited time. My daughter and I lingered a bit as the other person yomped on ahead. Back near the dam I thought I'd just take one last look on the far shore just in case. "Was that movement I saw in my bins?" I pondered. I got my scope out again and checked and wouldn't you know it, there was the bird! Had it been there all along but skulking on the shoreline? Certainly as it worked its way in amongst the stone blocks near the dam it was easy enough to lose sight of it. I whipped out my digiscoping gear and took a bit of video footage.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vUvFzCo-7oU" width="560"></iframe></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Some video footage of the Spotted Sandpiper on the far side of the reservoir</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Having snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and with a shiny new personal Cornish tick now in the bag, it was with a feeling of achievement that we headed back to the car and drove back to the cottage for dinner.</div>Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-43897221950288038082020-08-16T08:33:00.000+01:002020-09-07T12:27:37.695+01:00Coming Down<p style="text-align: justify;">It was time to come back down to Cornwall for our summer holiday. This year, because of the exceptional conditions and with so much uncertainty regarding overseas travel we decided just to go to Cornwall and to take two weeks ourselves.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The big news locally was the horrible pop-up camp site that had appeared right by the Coastguard cottages at Pendeen. So many of the village locals are up in arms about it as of course are we and all our neighbours. However due to the exceptional covid situation the Council are encouraging camping in the area and there seems to be no chance of stopping it this year. Instead people are trying to make sure that it doesn't happen again next year. Anyway, we did our best to ignore it and to be honest, given the unstettled weather there weren't that many people there most of the time so it wasn't too bad for most of our stay. Let's hope that this is a one-off event.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">On a personal level, myself, my wife and eldest daughter are still recovering from a long-term albeit rather low level virus
that had been plaguing us for some months now. In discussion with two different doctors, they both said that our symptoms sounded exactly like "post Covid" symptoms where, after getting Covid itself, some people seem to have a very long recovery time. Indeed my wife did play tennis with someone who definitely came down with Covid a few days later and I'd been commuting to work in London so it's very likely that we both got it. Thankfully in both cases our symptoms were so mild that we didn't even know we had it. However the low level "post viral" symptoms that come and go have been dragging on for months now and we both are finding that if we over do it then we start to feel under the weather again. Whilst we've been lucky to have been so lightly affected in the first place, the length of time for the recovery is becoming very frustrating.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, that's the backdrop to our trip down to Cornwall. Despite starting off doing day by day postings, I soon got fed up doing that and since coming home I've amalgamated my news into a few summary posts instead.<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfg_OyZ_EE0wXmLF7KDA1FJrjQEzGruA304s-3hvgYkE41rY7dV62INc9-j1VsiDNi_C4tprNNL-mZkMtoki6NJhEt-TmMfSgBX7QyQjLtB9m0r_n66Aq0aDn1iUmD9bZfwuPDWKdLtXs/s600/_OrngSwift.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfg_OyZ_EE0wXmLF7KDA1FJrjQEzGruA304s-3hvgYkE41rY7dV62INc9-j1VsiDNi_C4tprNNL-mZkMtoki6NJhEt-TmMfSgBX7QyQjLtB9m0r_n66Aq0aDn1iUmD9bZfwuPDWKdLtXs/s16000/_OrngSwift.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>An Orange Swift that came to the "moth light"</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-54927978785566990862020-07-19T12:50:00.000+01:002020-07-19T12:50:10.798+01:005th July<div style="text-align: justify;">
It's been nearly a year since I was last down in Cornwall. The terrible Corona virus put the kibosh on our usual Easter visit down and indeed we weren't sure if we were going to be open for the summer at all. In the end restrictions were eased just in time for us to get down to do some blitzkrieg decorating and repairs before our first visitors were due to arrive. As I am presently working full-time (originally in London though now thankfully from home) it had to be a weekend visit so it was a case of coming down, spending a day decorating and then heading off again. Given that the far south west has mercifully been free from Covid so far we made the deliberate decision not to go to any shops whilst down so as to make sure that we didn't in advertently import it ourselves. Accordingly we came with all the provisions that we needed for the weekend so we could hunker down and get on with things.</div>
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Given the full-on DIY workload this left very little time to apprectiate any of the nature that keeps me coming back year after year to this wonderful part of the country but I was able to do a bit of sea watching from the house where I was able to add the usual sea birds to my modest year list including a Balearic Shearwater. I don't really "do" year listing but I like to keep a tally all the same and this was my first opportunity in the year for sea watching of any kind. Given that it was blowing a gale all weekend we didn't do much in the way of a family walk so it was all very low key. Pendeen valley was full of young birds all blundering around in the undergrowth and it was all looking as lovely as ever. Below are a few photos that I was able to take during snatched moments in between sorting out the damp and redecorating.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijORigm6hC2CLQTZ03NsbA1FvwTE24X3AUQZTz6jBkhUczMlpIwa8nQhCE4UF0nzepOna_E04V6TSV2X3TEflAXBfx7t2x3bSER7WeJcEmhEFIlc6X-Fc8TvbAE5T-hx_y0x-vE9qpZR4/s1600/_Gnt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijORigm6hC2CLQTZ03NsbA1FvwTE24X3AUQZTz6jBkhUczMlpIwa8nQhCE4UF0nzepOna_E04V6TSV2X3TEflAXBfx7t2x3bSER7WeJcEmhEFIlc6X-Fc8TvbAE5T-hx_y0x-vE9qpZR4/s1600/_Gnt.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gannet off Pendeen Watch</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_801EZFxG4-iiyt9dfU7Clns5IISo8N0Qlr-46hUGGMwdpeqwJ7HtrPPHvgXu0m8MhQcqoL2jft4-8Rqovzjw2h4Or_2ueABinqIyx4H_jymS-tVpx4xR-EM30hr5YXYGEsfY7EWt0oM/s1600/_jWT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_801EZFxG4-iiyt9dfU7Clns5IISo8N0Qlr-46hUGGMwdpeqwJ7HtrPPHvgXu0m8MhQcqoL2jft4-8Rqovzjw2h4Or_2ueABinqIyx4H_jymS-tVpx4xR-EM30hr5YXYGEsfY7EWt0oM/s1600/_jWT.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of several young Whitethroats</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0mVssRxnqZOL1Teqwn00xgsZAPz9WKIXPvKdAEMZzG4XHqVyoOFr97KsUb2ijV70ZKgvE97cQFEIV5A7GyiLh4rVZjMSnZ4cMKSmVfx0SI2TlBEKAGMAbpZ8UFitx9R508S8q25GzTP4/s1600/_Kes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0mVssRxnqZOL1Teqwn00xgsZAPz9WKIXPvKdAEMZzG4XHqVyoOFr97KsUb2ijV70ZKgvE97cQFEIV5A7GyiLh4rVZjMSnZ4cMKSmVfx0SI2TlBEKAGMAbpZ8UFitx9R508S8q25GzTP4/s1600/_Kes.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hunting Kestrel</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxYC5bGwvPbqBF2cNHds-BHbV2kyz4UUH1VoWueOi4knoJ3JqXm9pWwJWOn3ZGBuKTjkZYegvp3mwz3NbYF9_2L6JEJaB7N5GcGXbm2g9ObSh8Ei6zRJG-Y_kGnHUZ8vRoqtXIn-v3Sds/s1600/_Rook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxYC5bGwvPbqBF2cNHds-BHbV2kyz4UUH1VoWueOi4knoJ3JqXm9pWwJWOn3ZGBuKTjkZYegvp3mwz3NbYF9_2L6JEJaB7N5GcGXbm2g9ObSh8Ei6zRJG-Y_kGnHUZ8vRoqtXIn-v3Sds/s1600/_Rook.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't usually see Rooks down at the far end - they're usually up by Manor Farm</td></tr>
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<br />Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-88438523485711870502019-08-11T22:56:00.000+01:002019-08-18T10:57:34.584+01:00Back Home via Illogan and Clevedon<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sunday it was time to pack up and go. With more guests arriving later on that day we were packed and out the door by 9:30 am. We stopped off first at Jordans to
get some journey snacks. Then I persuaded the rest of the family to
make a detour to Illogan where a Ring-necked Parakeet had been reported
from the churchyard several mornings recently. The churchyard turned out
to be a wonderful wilderness with signs saying that it was a "Living
Churchyard" designed to promote wildlife. It was fabulous and full of
insects and flowers of all kinds. All the family really enjoyed
exploring it and seeing Thomas Merrit's grave (the composer who wrote
'Hark the Herald Angels' Christmas carol). Unfortunately there was
neither sight nor sound of any Parakeets - let's hope that this bird takes up residence here and sticks around. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiit0Cr3FbVcRCeMmIkg2ZAsYBpKLM6MFJxqv9yrrCLZeDpSqjpyEeczptJHJ8G1UpTWLnDW5mpWK5PGo1pOSkeE9czNlQjk4XEnDLHxN3LQfBEu0bJwPMbTP5-OSDs9KhAilcOEWjUJHM/s1600/_PLdy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiit0Cr3FbVcRCeMmIkg2ZAsYBpKLM6MFJxqv9yrrCLZeDpSqjpyEeczptJHJ8G1UpTWLnDW5mpWK5PGo1pOSkeE9czNlQjk4XEnDLHxN3LQfBEu0bJwPMbTP5-OSDs9KhAilcOEWjUJHM/s1600/_PLdy.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anyone with any interest in wildlife must be aware that this year is a Painted Lady year we saw loads of them all week</td></tr>
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We headed on homewards, stopping off for a break at Clevedon in north Somerset. Being only just off the motorway it apparently had a nice Victorian pier that we wanted to take a look at. Clevedon turned out to be a nice little town and the pier was pretty but expensive to go on so in the end we amused ourselves looking for more sea glass on the beach. This turned out to be a particularly productive site and we all founds loads. Then it was back to the car and on homewards to catch up with our cats who we're sure must have been missing us very much. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWH8Thuf97oj7eMzCM-l9xl0ApeMAWdsIEUiD2z6JHgdcO-rcPHWWl79EmzBUma_HMyTtCATG11pDrfrbqFPSbCeDCvBt7Wf6l_vUA9diay0rlbcqgaHe3tFRIEDpw18i1mMac2pvBP7o/s1600/_pr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWH8Thuf97oj7eMzCM-l9xl0ApeMAWdsIEUiD2z6JHgdcO-rcPHWWl79EmzBUma_HMyTtCATG11pDrfrbqFPSbCeDCvBt7Wf6l_vUA9diay0rlbcqgaHe3tFRIEDpw18i1mMac2pvBP7o/s1600/_pr.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clevedon pier</td></tr>
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Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-87791059132506432892019-08-10T10:44:00.000+01:002019-08-18T10:46:48.124+01:00Thursday 8th to Saturday 10th, Mousehole, Porthgwarra & Pendeen<div style="text-align: justify;">
This one post is actually covering several days as there's not so much to report. Thursday was spent with my VLW's niece who lives up county a little way. She and her two daughters came down for a visit and we spent the day catching up and chatting.</div>
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As I mentioned in the introduction, a storm was forecast for Friday and Saturday so on Friday I negotiated with the rest of the family that they would go to St Ives whilst I went to PG. The wind direction was straight south and I'd been told by DP that perhaps Saturday where it was more SW might be better, especially after it had been blowing for a longer time but I thought that I'd chance my arm on the Friday. I arrived at PG car park at around 8 am on Friday morning to find it completely full. I met up with P&H there and also Oxon birder AL who'd driven down overnight to try his luck. However, I also met a number of birders coming back from the sea-watch already, saying that it was terrible up there with very little going through. Various locals there all had theories about why the sea-watching has been so poor so far this year, including why the fish were further south this year than they normally are and how the birds are following the fish. After having weighed all this up in the end I thought that I'd postpone my session until tomorrow instead so turned around and headed back towards Pendeen. The others had only just got up anyway so we arranged to do some DIY tasks in the cottage first of all and then to head over to Mousehole to visit the Rock Pool Café. Whilst the others then went on to look around the town I stayed at the café and did some sea watching but apart from a few Kitiwakes and a single Ocean Sun Fish there was nothing of note.</div>
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So on Saturday morning I tried again. Once again the PG car park was completely full by the time I arrived but once again there were people coming back off already saying it was no good. Still, this time I had no choice as this was the last stormy day so I headed up to the cliff top. There were loads of people up there, so many that a second camp had been established further east of the main one at Hella Point in the lee of some smaller rocks. I headed to Hella Point itself where I endeavoured to find a spot where I could hear the calls but wasn't too exposed. On enquiring it turned out that things had been dreadfully slow but shortly after I arrived the first Sooty of the morning went through. As things dragged on people started leaving and I got a better spot. A couple more Sooties passed through as well as a few Balearics and one Stormy but that was it. As numbers continued to dwindle people started chatting amongst themselves and I too took the opportunity to catch up with GW an Oxon birder who is almost always guaranteed to be at PG in any kind of stormy weather at this time of year. Eventually at around 1:45 pm I threw in the towel and headed back to the car. In a text exchange with the rest of the family it turned out that they'd finished at St Ives so we agreed to rendezvous at Zennor to check out the Arts and Crafts fair there. There we had our obligatory tea and a chance to check around the exhibits before heading back to the cottage. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzFTUDvKK9gWDMedsUeQYM1DgUR1y6zoNm2hN2DKeChjJ6N8eIN8C6lfM9Z9Tg6KCvLKL1f5TMa-OL_t4_CJYh646SV6CrlNP_xh7n5EDAEio_gRcf-rq4jnVAgQuHJLQkYKRSc92EV5U/s1600/_SCht.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzFTUDvKK9gWDMedsUeQYM1DgUR1y6zoNm2hN2DKeChjJ6N8eIN8C6lfM9Z9Tg6KCvLKL1f5TMa-OL_t4_CJYh646SV6CrlNP_xh7n5EDAEio_gRcf-rq4jnVAgQuHJLQkYKRSc92EV5U/s1600/_SCht.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stonechat</td></tr>
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The truth is that all week Pendeen had actually been performing as well if not better than PG. I'd occasionally done a spot of sea-watching from the downstairs cottage window and had been pleasantly surprised at how effective it was. It seemed that despite the increased range, the fact that your scope wasn't shaking in the wind meant that you could get a clearer view all the same and it was still possible to ID things. So having arrived back and with a quick glance out the window showing that plenty of birds were passing the Pendeen headland I decided to have a go at viewing from the upstairs window instead where I could sit on a comfortable chair and have a more panoramic view. This turned out to work very well and I soon had Arctic Skua and Storm Petrel on my house list. I was occasionally called away to do things by the others but I put in about a couple of hours all told during which I added Bonxie and couple more Stormies to the list as well as seeing a number of Whimbrel and Arctic Terns go past. To be honest I don't know why I'd not thought of doing this before but I shall certainly try this again - it makes the whole experience much more enjoyable.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiES3eaE6oxYrImybYOo_X0YSqDXGl3-h8ZnFca9zlISD0NwbapNWJPhkWnwm-AVCeZ9-y2nvO3h0iTRZa_px_7iqSjPrTT0jBYiVDWnVJF8rglGAC5rVvNH3qRpw1e5EmoGkQlmDL94BU/s1600/_sw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiES3eaE6oxYrImybYOo_X0YSqDXGl3-h8ZnFca9zlISD0NwbapNWJPhkWnwm-AVCeZ9-y2nvO3h0iTRZa_px_7iqSjPrTT0jBYiVDWnVJF8rglGAC5rVvNH3qRpw1e5EmoGkQlmDL94BU/s1600/_sw.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sea-watching from the upstairs window</td></tr>
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<br />Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-33930307485135748002019-08-07T21:28:00.000+01:002019-08-18T09:28:48.006+01:00Wednesday 7th April: St. Just to Pendeen<br />
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Another one of our regular
walks is to take the bus to St Just and then to walk back along the
coast to Pendeen. As the weather was reasonable today we decided to do this. We were able to start earlier than usual and after making a packed lunch we drove up and parked in Pendeen in time to catch the bus into St. Just.</div>
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As usual we spent some time in St Just first of all,
visiting the St Just Arts and Crafts Fair and also the Kurt Jackson
gallery. Both my VLW and I really like the work of the latter and if it
hadn't been for the very hefty price tag we both said that we'd have
contemplated buying one. After having done the art and having bought our usual journey ice creams from the Co-op we headed down past Boscean
and down to Kenidjack to say hello to the donkeys as usual. Along the
stream we managed to see a number of Golden Ringed Dragonflies as well
as the numerous Banded Demoiselles. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBKuStnC4QVV91v1TFC56LL2yNY_JH64d6O0FSgFuGyfTAbDAeMfodueCH1Q8TrxTiHwRhoKmVxJJmyv6zWsAzi0iUPqj1rLNlZMoMfWUeGgGvwi3QWevLM9rrsUnBhzQSrZwB2qVa36Y/s1600/_GRD2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBKuStnC4QVV91v1TFC56LL2yNY_JH64d6O0FSgFuGyfTAbDAeMfodueCH1Q8TrxTiHwRhoKmVxJJmyv6zWsAzi0iUPqj1rLNlZMoMfWUeGgGvwi3QWevLM9rrsUnBhzQSrZwB2qVa36Y/s1600/_GRD2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kenidjack Golden-ringed Dragonfly</td></tr>
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In a break from tradition and as it
was rather hot we had our packed lunch down in the valley in the shade
of a large Sallow. Then it was up the track to the coastal path and back towards Botallack and Geevor. There was remarkably little to see on the bird front on the journey with just the odd Stonechat, Raven and Kestrel to be seen.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCotEOZXO7SkEQfAcJ5e-F7vwgDlBwDNYCaCkE5iJMx4LCV1FtE-q16WeJn5Q-1sGUzl_A8fiYrgoT4o7LkVsF8IX1zfQfcPHXloyydzE8l5IOR-BVAs9Nk8McqfyqMZIooSIA8eHk6Hk/s1600/_Grlng.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCotEOZXO7SkEQfAcJ5e-F7vwgDlBwDNYCaCkE5iJMx4LCV1FtE-q16WeJn5Q-1sGUzl_A8fiYrgoT4o7LkVsF8IX1zfQfcPHXloyydzE8l5IOR-BVAs9Nk8McqfyqMZIooSIA8eHk6Hk/s1600/_Grlng.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cryptic Grayling showing how well camouflaged it is</td></tr>
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At Geevor whilst the others headed towards the café I lingered amongst the ruins to see what I could find. One is almost always guaranteed a Wheatear here and sure enough I soon found a juvenile bird in amongst the Linnets.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIMPwrTjVndm3IJMG0kLtCs70UmvEBJiOSzogVueoI6ipdzEVurgbHL_c3thhdnTLWA1iHBFCBvGYK77OP-CPmIIJHUfzp4RZ1BfcyJRbU2e45f0HgFAOFYm1BNwKH66WozKLmEPDY8ZM/s1600/_Whtr2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIMPwrTjVndm3IJMG0kLtCs70UmvEBJiOSzogVueoI6ipdzEVurgbHL_c3thhdnTLWA1iHBFCBvGYK77OP-CPmIIJHUfzp4RZ1BfcyJRbU2e45f0HgFAOFYm1BNwKH66WozKLmEPDY8ZM/s1600/_Whtr2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Geevor juvenile Wheatear</td></tr>
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After our tea we headed back into Pendeen to pick up the car and head back to the cottage for the evening.<br />
Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-59797026449079425562019-08-06T22:36:00.000+01:002019-08-17T18:55:01.818+01:006th August: Drift Reservoir & Nanjizal<div style="text-align: justify;">
The weather forecast was a bit iffy today in the morning so once the family was finally up and ready to get on we decided that the rest of them would spend the morning wandering around PZ whilst I would do my own thing. Whilst the others were still getting ready I went for a quick wander down to the lighthouse to see what was about. There were quite a few juvenile birds bumbling about on the more sheltered side of the headland with a young Whitethroat, several young Goldfinches, a young Meadow Pipit and a juvenile Wheatear all seen. I met a semi-local birder there - like me he had a place down here and came down regularly though hadn't yet made the move permanent. He said that he far preferred sea-watching at Pendeen to PG (as do I) and he reported a Cory's that morning which wasn't too bad given the SW wind direction. As a matter of interest the two PC's reported a dozen or so Balearics and a couple of Sooties from the car park that morning as well.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzg2ZYs_fOvOD8Bf9cxjYj8sdmf85Jf1XyZcvFgM_9OOxr9XtHw8PZ4FCTg8rmLSRUImYvmFE_sSv_mu1RyCQsXTfM0Z0uV2WtKYxFrWry8iMQPqZ8T1BGy0IDAywjU29vHv1yrwmRVI/s1600/_juvWhtear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzg2ZYs_fOvOD8Bf9cxjYj8sdmf85Jf1XyZcvFgM_9OOxr9XtHw8PZ4FCTg8rmLSRUImYvmFE_sSv_mu1RyCQsXTfM0Z0uV2WtKYxFrWry8iMQPqZ8T1BGy0IDAywjU29vHv1yrwmRVI/s1600/_juvWhtear.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Juvenile Wheatear at Pendeen lighthouse</td></tr>
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Once the rest of the family were finally ready we headed off. I dropped them all off in the centre of town and then headed off to Drift. I had the place entirely to myself as I wandered around over to the hide. I was looking out for Odonata as there were supposed to be Red-veined Darters at this location though it was too overcast and nothing was on the wing. At the hide I soon found the resident Wood Sandpiper and the two juvenile Garganey as well as a Common Sandpiper and several Green Sandpipers. There were a couple of Little Grebes, a few Great Crested Grebes and a smattering of the usual loafing gulls and geese. A Green Sandpiper right in front of the hide made for a decent photographic subject though it was partially obscured by vegetation.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLbKmYRmkzLnBVvLygxa59u5uoGzcAvJve0b-JOuR16Zy1yq9kzBcUNEFz0U2Ts9CJ1hvh2UUluaqkUJCyQ21vsUrDP2AulOfU-Re9O6dOK5_ub7woqCTsI1YmS75MtYuM96YN0Vtwy78/s1600/_GrnSnd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLbKmYRmkzLnBVvLygxa59u5uoGzcAvJve0b-JOuR16Zy1yq9kzBcUNEFz0U2Ts9CJ1hvh2UUluaqkUJCyQ21vsUrDP2AulOfU-Re9O6dOK5_ub7woqCTsI1YmS75MtYuM96YN0Vtwy78/s1600/_GrnSnd.jpg" /></a></div>
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After a while the sun came out and with it the first Dragonfly in the form of a marauding Emperor in front of the hide. I decided to explore beyond the hide a bit but all I could find was a single Black-tailed Skimmer. At that point I got a call from the family that they were ready to be picked up so I started to head back to the car. I walked back along the shoreline and in the now bright sun it was suddenly full of Dragonflies. There were quite a few Emperors and loads of Black-tailed Skimmers but sadly no Darters. Part the bend and on the home straight towards the car park it was more windy and there were far fewer Dragons on the wing. I'd all but given up when I put up a Darter right under my feet. Fortunately it eventually settled and proved to be my sought-after Red-veined Darter at last. I only had time for a quick snap or two before I had to hurry back to the car for my rendezvous.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcsInRjX20vat90zUxXOmbmNO4WhOyyWDn0_04uWvd6XHQ2weB_TB3eIdCGHuV-lJ-IByNsjccymhktAw320nfUHWrsINJtf0YrG13ZRF3ghPqtrDcCr02QinlcjVxDD2qPZMT63d11J8/s1600/_RVDrtr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcsInRjX20vat90zUxXOmbmNO4WhOyyWDn0_04uWvd6XHQ2weB_TB3eIdCGHuV-lJ-IByNsjccymhktAw320nfUHWrsINJtf0YrG13ZRF3ghPqtrDcCr02QinlcjVxDD2qPZMT63d11J8/s1600/_RVDrtr.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red-veined Darter</td></tr>
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After I picked up the family we headed over to Trevilley where we parked up and had a quick walk over to Nanjizal beach. The tide was in and we didn't linger before retracing our steps. The only birds of note was a Stonechat family down near the beach. Back at the car we headed the short distance to Trevescan where we wanted to try out the Apple Tree Café. There we enjoyed a well-earned tea and cake before heading back to the cottage for the evening.</div>
Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-59665524129460524272019-08-05T23:59:00.000+01:002019-08-18T09:29:34.866+01:00Monday 5th August, Marazion to Perranuthnoe<br />
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As the weather was good we decided to kick off our first full day with one of our favourite walks: from Marazion over to the Perranuthnoe café and back. As usual we parked up in the overflow car park at Marazion and fought our way through the vast crowds into the town centre. There we checked out a few galleries and shops before finally working our way down onto the beach at Little London where at last we were able to enjoy some peace and quiet. There were loads of Sand Martins hawking their way over the beach as we spent some time scouring the sands for sea glass to take back home. Then with the tide right out it was the usual wander along the beach towards Perranuthnoe. There were a few Whimbrel, Curlew and Med Gulls scattered along the beach as well as quite a lot of noisy Oystercatchers and a couple of Little Egrets. Every time I walk along the beach I am reminded of the numerous attempts I made to see the long-staying Hudsonian Whimbrel that graced this area a few years ago. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3lq00FNecSKwpQj-f1Jl015ZBqfR1Yfy6oZR030t-bnhaQqbLgK86E6aqvay1sIJd2kf0c9SfdgQ3sTwUUqkwXFFKsJ4vE6SAEk25yGFX2i9-YSwGni10Em0DvPN-0H56BThaVFeIClE/s1600/_Oycs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3lq00FNecSKwpQj-f1Jl015ZBqfR1Yfy6oZR030t-bnhaQqbLgK86E6aqvay1sIJd2kf0c9SfdgQ3sTwUUqkwXFFKsJ4vE6SAEk25yGFX2i9-YSwGni10Em0DvPN-0H56BThaVFeIClE/s1600/_Oycs.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oystercatcher</td></tr>
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The café was relatively empty and we all enjoyed our mid-walk treat before heading back again the same way. On the way back I found a flock of five Common Sandpipers, resting up on the shoreline before making their big push out across the sea.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzECljzBce07y24ZNiQApDUAMvwehP0lOjtbA1mCNAUbz0HjFzLwMKMs5go8P1FEUT2eAoj_ODEgrgP89X6XsvWjq2yhh5Bz7GGosD4-fCukfV6kj199hhDx74J0kz9NxY27PG-vwmD9A/s1600/_CmnSnd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzECljzBce07y24ZNiQApDUAMvwehP0lOjtbA1mCNAUbz0HjFzLwMKMs5go8P1FEUT2eAoj_ODEgrgP89X6XsvWjq2yhh5Bz7GGosD4-fCukfV6kj199hhDx74J0kz9NxY27PG-vwmD9A/s1600/_CmnSnd.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Common Sandpipers</td></tr>
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We spent more time looking for sea glass at Little London - we all managed to find some. Then it was back through the Marazion to the car then then home.<br />
<br />Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-49611965274560437122019-08-04T18:47:00.000+01:002019-08-17T18:52:21.111+01:00Coming Down, Ilfracombe and the Lost Gardens of Heligan<b>Introduction</b> <br />
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It was time to come down once again to our beloved Cornwall for the annual summer family holiday. This year it was just for one week and looking at the weather forecast before coming down it didn't look that promising with showers and winds most of the week but crucially no really stormy weather that might be good for sea-watching. As is so often the case, the forecast turned out to be wrong and the weather was actually much better than anticipated, at least for the first half of the week. What's more, Friday and Saturday turned out to have a proper storm so there was sea-watching to be had after all. </div>
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<b>Coming Down</b><br />
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These days we tend to come down on the Sunday to avoid the Saturday change-over gridlock on the M5 but this time we'd agreed to visit my VLW's sister in Ilfracombe on the way down which meant travelling on the dreaded Saturday after all. It was as stop-start as predicted but eventually we were off the M5 and wending our way along the painfully slow roads to Ilfracombe. After some tea and a catch-up with our host we went for a walk down first along the cliffs by the shore and then to the harbour which was a hive of activity because of the annual Birdman event that was on. This involves people throwing themselves off the pier in order to see who can "fly" the furthest though whilst we watched there was little actual flight and more just falling into the water.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOtnh_c4vk7NJqImt1ZBcD8dBJeNsMHrsO3w7vuGdgcYUaCQN4PZF8WTKQyRdFUUeHcfTOrz2KdUFbmThRtJjqekBgl1IkMgyXgszxAYeGEw1Xv5CQRNQmqLERMb3FsQSjJWj3v2DWY6Q/s1600/_RockSpurrey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOtnh_c4vk7NJqImt1ZBcD8dBJeNsMHrsO3w7vuGdgcYUaCQN4PZF8WTKQyRdFUUeHcfTOrz2KdUFbmThRtJjqekBgl1IkMgyXgszxAYeGEw1Xv5CQRNQmqLERMb3FsQSjJWj3v2DWY6Q/s1600/_RockSpurrey.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rock Sea-spurrey</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first contestant getting ready to launch</td></tr>
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The next day after a leisurely start we said goodbye to our host and headed on down into Cornwall itself. As we couldn't get into our cottage until late afternoon since we had some guests staying there, we decided to stop off <i>en route</i> somewhere "up county" and elected on the Lost Gardens of Heligan which some of our party had not previously visited. I'd last been there for the <a href="http://pendeenbirding.blogspot.com/2010/10/heligan-sennen.html" target="_blank">Green Heron</a> that took up residence there a few years ago but sadly there was no such rarity there presently. Still it's a lovely garden to explore and we all had fun crossing the swinging rope bridge in the Jungle and we enjoyed a nice tea there (always an important part of any visit). I always feel that given the great habitat there it ought to have some good birds but I guess it's just not fundamentally situated in a very good location.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDvQfRfYOmWNqHJKitf3GwXyQy2R7nDU0hNNxntdfkHiezujJINlkV-xMv8-XiiiD3NxkSPAedj8gxrtt7ylRSO-MfeIncW05c0b9CnZm_3oYlb22DBq_aBJsXWhqylMgpZtgIr3KQCCY/s1600/_Swlw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDvQfRfYOmWNqHJKitf3GwXyQy2R7nDU0hNNxntdfkHiezujJINlkV-xMv8-XiiiD3NxkSPAedj8gxrtt7ylRSO-MfeIncW05c0b9CnZm_3oYlb22DBq_aBJsXWhqylMgpZtgIr3KQCCY/s1600/_Swlw.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Swallow in the potting shed at Heligan</td></tr>
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After our visit, it was back into the car and on down to Pendeen itself to open up the cottage and to get settled in for the evening.Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-89475920281362802192019-04-25T21:45:00.000+01:002019-04-25T21:45:34.889+01:00April 7th to 14th April 2019<div style="text-align: justify;">
It was time for another Easter break visit to the Far South West. We were due to come down on Sunday 14th but a minor medical eye emergency on my part which needed to be checked out (which fortunately turned out to be nothing serious) meant that in the end we didn't come down until the Monday. My VLW's sister was with us on the way down: she had been staying with us in Oxford while she was convalescing (it's a long story) so we'd agreed to take her back to her home at Ilfracombe <i>en route</i>. Fortunately, in the end we arranged to rendezvous with some friends of hers at some services on the M5 to avoid having to make too long a detour and they took her the rest of the way. Still it broke up the journey nicely though by the time we finally arrived in Penzance it was far later than we were normally used to. Arriving at the cottage we first had to deal with our neighbour who'd been "over enthusiastic" with pruning our garden Tamarisk trees (without our permission). This took several days finally to resolve to our satisfaction but we eventually got an undertaking from him that he'd not do this again. Still it rather soured the start of our stay.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg91lYVD85WKWUO1dDJFUzxMUspKqluy6aObuUiPadT5hbpokAjnsXoqgtnnoMxaIL_7geQR0ANy5XoxdLeJ70cq3EDfhWr5NiovsByabca3qg_fWXuLF5JnUxlwbUE8zNr9TJQhyphenhyphenqKmo/s1600/_Raven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg91lYVD85WKWUO1dDJFUzxMUspKqluy6aObuUiPadT5hbpokAjnsXoqgtnnoMxaIL_7geQR0ANy5XoxdLeJ70cq3EDfhWr5NiovsByabca3qg_fWXuLF5JnUxlwbUE8zNr9TJQhyphenhyphenqKmo/s1600/_Raven.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pendeen Raven...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp-cJELlNZnnsDDmc2XjW5BV6jdQjxNt_rEHoByYNKf4NlswGj9Axg1aFQI-4oB3yjJXZUosXr4jO3W4aYegfDsf6RSrIdDEadhPQa4UNRbRYCFdXbUOPB8Yfb0lAwxBZKLVm2sdLHXQs/s1600/_SCHt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp-cJELlNZnnsDDmc2XjW5BV6jdQjxNt_rEHoByYNKf4NlswGj9Axg1aFQI-4oB3yjJXZUosXr4jO3W4aYegfDsf6RSrIdDEadhPQa4UNRbRYCFdXbUOPB8Yfb0lAwxBZKLVm2sdLHXQs/s1600/_SCHt.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...and a Pendeen Stonechat</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spring Squill</td></tr>
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As usual our day was broken up into the pattern of doing DIY in the morning and then going on an outing in the afternoon to get tea somewhere. Both my VLW and I are getting to the point of being thoroughly fed up with the endless DIY that has to be done on every visit down here. The trouble is that the cottage is just in such an exposed spot that the weather always finds a way of causing one problem or another. Does it mean the end of our trips down here? It's too early to say but there's a limit to how many DIY "holidays" we want to have.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A pair of Wheatears at Geevor seen on our usual walk over to the mine tea shop</td></tr>
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As you can tell by the fact that this is a single blog entry to cover the enitre trip, this was a very low key trip with precious little to report on the birding front. I re-acquainted myself with all the usual local suspects and I enjoyed seeing the first migrants coming in with Willow Warblers seen working their way north through Pendeen most days. The main highlights of the week were the Pied Crow which turned up at Land's End during the week, the Marazion Glossy Ibis which was around all week and some nasty dippage of a Red-rumped Swallow, again at Marazion. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some sightings from a trip to our favourite café, the Rock Pool Café at Mousehole</td></tr>
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The Pied Crow turned up one afternoon whilst we were out visiting the Trewidden gardens for the first time. Because of various family commitments I didn't finally get down to the Land's End complex until it was getting quite late. I arrived to find SR and PW watching it fly off towards Sennen. I got good enough views to be able to pick it out in flight quite easily but it was less than satisfactory. I did try visiting the complex a few more times on subsequent days to look for it but it was never around when I was there.</div>
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During one of our usual family trips over to Marazion to sip tea from Jordan's whilst overlooking the sea I popped over the road to see the Glossy Ibis which was nice to catch up with. I've seen a few down in Cornwall so it's not a county tick but nevertheless, given how quiet it was I was pleased to see something, anything even, of interest and this bird was pretty cooperative.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Marazion Glossy Ibis</td></tr>
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On the day before we were due to depart news came up of Red-rumped Swallow at Marazion that DP had found. It was really windy that day with a stormy south easterly raging away, making conditions down at Pendeen pretty impossible. Unfortunately I did have some weather proofing DIY that I'd promised to do first thing so I could leave until about 30 minutes after I first got the news. Sadly those 30 minutes proved critical as when I arrived at Marazion I was told that it had last been seen about 20 minutes ago. Grrrr! I spent a bit of time in the eastern corner of the reserve where it was more sheltered, in the company of MM watching the House Martins, Sand Martins and Swallows hawking over the marsh but their continental cousin never re-appeared. LL turned up to take a look - I know him from his student days when he and I birded my patch at Port Meadow together so it was nice to catch up. However, it was scant compensation for dipping what would have been a county tick and the dip somehow encapsulated what had been a somewhat frustrating week all round.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We left the "moth light" on when the weather was calm enough. Pick of the bunch were this Oak Beauty...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglfU5gONbDvil8RYoi303UzelNTDKDKVUo5kg7RYkUpXmSXIJ-qBD8SMMDFJPet0ur9a-erPy0ejazBzAt4Px_SMvahjcltNO4dpj3PL3YRlb8s5mRgXMswm_vDhDTpVZWYqNkQlkNwKY/s1600/_RdChstnt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglfU5gONbDvil8RYoi303UzelNTDKDKVUo5kg7RYkUpXmSXIJ-qBD8SMMDFJPet0ur9a-erPy0ejazBzAt4Px_SMvahjcltNO4dpj3PL3YRlb8s5mRgXMswm_vDhDTpVZWYqNkQlkNwKY/s1600/_RdChstnt.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...and this Red Chestnut</td></tr>
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<br /><br />Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-90669229521045108412018-10-27T12:06:00.000+01:002018-10-27T12:06:27.118+01:0026th October, Pendeen Sea-watch & a Troubled Journey Home<div style="text-align: justify;">
With the weather forecast to deteriorate over the weekend, we decided to head back on the Friday. However, with a strong north westerly wind forecast it seemed rude not to pop down to the Watch first thing to try out the sea for a bit. I wasn't in a particular hurry and didn't arrive until 8:40 a.m. where to my surprise I found that I had the place to myself. Too late in the season I guess for the hardcore locals but as a visitor, I had to take my chances when I could get them. The wind turned out to be a bit more northerly than expected and it was hard to find somewhere sheltered and in the end, instead of the usual spot in the corner where everyone sits I opted for a corner further east where a small "step" in the wall offered a bit of a corner to hide behind. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVdClLJSkTL1tjVqvdtFfRkiKSfFigDLqL0pdvOFITQnclS_21QCNQgbbmh7LAAp79EU7o86eLyYKLOmgtIAD0ZFwgMxgOD-w26sNUcqHAFavLyIiwxq-uxfMK_VwdJK6GLnkfpumB5A/s1600/PendeenSea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVdClLJSkTL1tjVqvdtFfRkiKSfFigDLqL0pdvOFITQnclS_21QCNQgbbmh7LAAp79EU7o86eLyYKLOmgtIAD0ZFwgMxgOD-w26sNUcqHAFavLyIiwxq-uxfMK_VwdJK6GLnkfpumB5A/s1600/PendeenSea.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White horses on a stormy Pendeen sea</td></tr>
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Having got myself set up, I was no more than five minutes in, noting a constant passage of Auks and Kittiwakes, when the big lumbering shape of a Bonxie hove into view. It's always nice to get the first notable bird of the session under ones belt and I watched with satisfaction as it passed by fairly close in. Some fifteen minutes later I spotted something else: it seemed to be shearing away and in the first instance I was therefore thinking Shearwater but on closer inspection turned out to be an adult pale-phase Skua. It's jizz was clearly too light for a Pom and I just managed to make out a breast band and the extended tail and concluded that it was an Arctic.</div>
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DB and her family arrived and went to settle in the more traditional viewing spot. I went over to say hello and to check out the wind there but decided that it was still winder than where I was so I returned to my spot. A little while later I picked up a dark-phase Sku. With it's wide "arm" and powerful purposeful flight it could only be a Pom. I watched it as it flew west only to discover that it was with a couple of pale-phased birds as well. Very nice! After they passed I went over to the other party who'd also seen them and we all agreed on Pom as the ID. After that it went rather quiet and I left some time after 10:15 a.m. All in all, not a bad way to end the holiday's birding.</div>
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Back at the cottage there was much to do in preparation for our departure which, as always, took far longer than you'd think so it wasn't until after midday that we were on our way. We'd just stopped off at Hayle for our sandwiches and were settling down for the long slog up the A30 when there was a loud bang under the bonnet and a warning message came on the display. After that, the car had little power and no acceleration - it had clearly gone into "lock-down" power limiter mode which it "helpfully" does when something goes wrong. We limped on in this way so that I might assess how easy it would be to get home in this state but it clearly was going to be too much so we pulled in at the services by the St. Agnes turn-off and I called our roadside rescue service. After an hour we were picked up and relayed to a Volvo dealership in Truro. After having described the problem, they reckoned that it might be the turbo charge pipe. Given that the workshop had nothing else to do that afternoon they said that they could take a look to see if they could patch it up. After a lot of waiting around (thank heavens I had my book with me) we were told that they'd manage to sort it out enough to get home. So it was that some time after 5 pm were were finally back on the road and working our way through the Truro rush hour. Fortunately once finally back on the A30 the traffic was fairly light and eventually at around 9:30 in the evening we were back home again. Not exactly the end to our holiday that we were hoping for but at least we were back safely in one piece.</div>
Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-43440509928110014172018-10-25T17:48:00.003+01:002018-10-25T17:48:45.577+01:0024th & 25th October, Pendeen<div style="text-align: justify;">
A very quiet day today. I did my rounds as usual with virtually nothing to show for my efforts apart from a few fly-over Skylarks. There was nothing else of note at all - my Pendeen rounds are proving depressingly unproductive. After that it was time to start some DIY activities which occupied the rest of the morning. </div>
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In the afternoon we went out to buy a few things that we decided we needed on the back of our morning efforts and then we went off to the Tremenheere sculpture park for tea. On the way back we stopped off at Gulval church yard for a look around. It was a lovely piece of habitat with all sorts of interesting plants and trees there. I wonder if anyone checks it out regularly. Then it was shopping at Sainsbury's and back home. Whilst out, news had come out on the pager of a Black Redstart at Pendeen lighthouse so I went for a stroll down there to see if I could find it. It turned out to be right on the cliffs on the north west corner where it was feeding away on what was a nice sun trap in the company of a Wheatear.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2q-pZdV1EMQUjhjiOHwkc7jA_Vk2ohPA5jpJZbXnm138JEd_s5CgxUDTbyAhc-V_cQUaMpu0FcsdU48OFdV6vqjNKwvFPVmCuulOYrZ0iJ365Ku7f49JUjaxM15og8c_OYO8m-316S4/s1600/_BlkRed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2q-pZdV1EMQUjhjiOHwkc7jA_Vk2ohPA5jpJZbXnm138JEd_s5CgxUDTbyAhc-V_cQUaMpu0FcsdU48OFdV6vqjNKwvFPVmCuulOYrZ0iJ365Ku7f49JUjaxM15og8c_OYO8m-316S4/s1600/_BlkRed.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Black Redstart on the cliff</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_61NcuCV1aSw2d2zBwfPZh9kSILqIbS7iZ7KwpMy535i_NcEkJK5Z1qKT_rvBFvAjEovi2aPVRJdjmp7xkJQpEjJ_wVK67PUXMEpdxa3uAKstaESRXgsbjS7nAhxqFnemPxNrfsGDM-M/s1600/_WEr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_61NcuCV1aSw2d2zBwfPZh9kSILqIbS7iZ7KwpMy535i_NcEkJK5Z1qKT_rvBFvAjEovi2aPVRJdjmp7xkJQpEjJ_wVK67PUXMEpdxa3uAKstaESRXgsbjS7nAhxqFnemPxNrfsGDM-M/s1600/_WEr.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Wheatear at the top of the cliff</td></tr>
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Pleased finally to have seen something of note at Pendeen I headed back to the cottage for the evening.</div>
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The next day in view of the poor local birding I treated myself to a bit of a lie in before venturing out at around 9 a.m. Down at the lighthouse I found the Black Redstart was this time in the complex itself and that it had picked up a companion, also a female/first-winter bird. The Wheatear was also still about within the complex but that was about it. I met PC on my rounds again who'd also seen very little.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxCFrxpdw5e2pVx_PtpTxA1lE9_gbUGPckxzLOgeKPn0_PuduhERyjKJqY6o9ypILjB75RHw81PLRMIX7i4njP_XpFpr_vjNHQIJLMnjt7GYtdrjJQxNuaiYofiXKbamUnyd-GUeTTNy8/s1600/_BlkRed1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxCFrxpdw5e2pVx_PtpTxA1lE9_gbUGPckxzLOgeKPn0_PuduhERyjKJqY6o9ypILjB75RHw81PLRMIX7i4njP_XpFpr_vjNHQIJLMnjt7GYtdrjJQxNuaiYofiXKbamUnyd-GUeTTNy8/s1600/_BlkRed1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of two Black Redstarts this morning</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg3sr__x4GhqZ8o0620ssIhyphenhyphenGnWJDkKlFklwg4kiWAByHGzQowr-Ie0SYJHNp9oYLQYAtBH3g5m2Z4RZyK17FpfxfjFbDZW8il9Qyq1M6JhlXUAYv5x79HPyXeSvyu1s2qtv5hXcvwFfI/s1600/_SCht1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="505" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg3sr__x4GhqZ8o0620ssIhyphenhyphenGnWJDkKlFklwg4kiWAByHGzQowr-Ie0SYJHNp9oYLQYAtBH3g5m2Z4RZyK17FpfxfjFbDZW8il9Qyq1M6JhlXUAYv5x79HPyXeSvyu1s2qtv5hXcvwFfI/s1600/_SCht1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNmOwR626bGDAUGJoDkmq2e_A7PtK8SqfJlBXh0oX3YD5CwHKoJ7VPgf5kuWWQBuqHQmIyou2L7xE0xGdzvw20a6jxdX6xjNp6kr0sOIGEqucnbojf4QomLfC-TF7cMUA0xz4oQJQ5aBI/s1600/_SCht2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNmOwR626bGDAUGJoDkmq2e_A7PtK8SqfJlBXh0oX3YD5CwHKoJ7VPgf5kuWWQBuqHQmIyou2L7xE0xGdzvw20a6jxdX6xjNp6kr0sOIGEqucnbojf4QomLfC-TF7cMUA0xz4oQJQ5aBI/s1600/_SCht2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">..and a pair of Stonechats offered some photographic interest</td></tr>
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After that it was more DIY in the cottage. In the afternoon a sudden work emergency had me stuck to the computer whilst the others went to Geevor for tea. Apart from a brief birdless walk down to Boat Cove that was it.</div>
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Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-9503299651694731552018-10-23T19:22:00.002+01:002018-10-23T19:22:25.469+01:0023rd October, Pendeen & Kenidjack<div style="text-align: justify;">
Toward we were back to relatively calm conditions again though what wind there was was still from the north, thereby knocking a few degrees off the temperature. Still it was full of optimism that I went out on my rounds today. However, that turned out to be unjustified as Pendeen was remarkably birdless. I searched quite hard in the usual places but to no avail. I even tried the Manor Farm loop where in the Sallows I had an exciting encounter with a Sparrowhawk that crashed into the the Sallow I was standing in front of, knocking out a few of the birds, before chasing one of them hell for leather around the back and out of sight - I never got to see the outcome of this chase. Up at Calartha I met with local birder PC. I'd know for a while that he'd moved to Pendeen but had not actually had a chance to meet with him until now. He'd seen nothing either so we went our separate ways, me back to the cottage to get on with the day. We spent the rest of the morning in the cottage, taking an inventory of what DIY tasks needed doing (fighting the relentless onslaught of damp, as always). Then we had an early lunch before setting out for the afternoon. Our plan was to head over to Kenidjack, walk around to Cape Cornwall then back to St Just for tea and then back to the car. </div>
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As we walked down the valley I couldn't help but marvel at the contrast between all the fantastic cover here compared to the sparse habitat down at Pendeen. Whilst the other two yomped on ahead I lingered, grilling all the likely spots for sprites. Sadly, it seemed as empty here as at Pendeen. </div>
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We ended up walking right down to the end of the valley, thinking that we could walk across the beach to the Cape but the tide was in so we had to retrace our steps. Back at the last house we met JS & E and stopped for a chat. As we talked a mixed flock was moving through the Sallows and I spotted a Yellow-browed in amongst them - my first of the trip down here. We watched it flitting through the Sallows for a while but then as we were running late we bade the others farewell and hurried across the stream and up the hill. I could hear the Yellow-browed calling from across the valley as I climbed the far side. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkd_3HA1FVWAdFNunCWh6Hn5M1R1vMJA_xdUAwF-qr_RHInBV0eXqszunuzUCj-clPaS3G3LwvFhFy-O00yoknawane-dK71RLymmWNhJx8wqCZ3WayX4PxFpop0lFwsHNqYuhJaaUiA0/s1600/_PinkSorrel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkd_3HA1FVWAdFNunCWh6Hn5M1R1vMJA_xdUAwF-qr_RHInBV0eXqszunuzUCj-clPaS3G3LwvFhFy-O00yoknawane-dK71RLymmWNhJx8wqCZ3WayX4PxFpop0lFwsHNqYuhJaaUiA0/s1600/_PinkSorrel.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pink Sorrel</td></tr>
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As time was marching on we decided to turn left at the top and head back towards Boscean and then down to the car where we then drove the short distance to St Just for our tea. We tried out a new café today which we all rather liked. Then it was back to the cottage for the evening.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdSYPnzHKVMbXNUEmA5XKK1Cqb-U8BJC_eiqajkZ64gl1lF55EFShMMe5pz3oGsDHoRxyHJezotIMf3erFjvdw6ZjrOrGlJ8orKn53re28aK9ZqYoldpG3NRLx4PVMxLvYOl74dh0N3Jc/s1600/_RDP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdSYPnzHKVMbXNUEmA5XKK1Cqb-U8BJC_eiqajkZ64gl1lF55EFShMMe5pz3oGsDHoRxyHJezotIMf3erFjvdw6ZjrOrGlJ8orKn53re28aK9ZqYoldpG3NRLx4PVMxLvYOl74dh0N3Jc/s1600/_RDP.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rusty-dot Pearl - a migrant moth</td></tr>
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Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-2843548438025154382018-10-23T17:29:00.000+01:002018-10-23T17:29:21.417+01:0022nd October, Hayle<div style="text-align: justify;">
It was forecast to be windy today and indeed I woke up to a strong north easterly blow. In fact outside it felt stronger than forecast and I hurried around the lower part of my rounds to no avail at all with just a few Mipits being blow hither and thither for my troubles. </div>
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Actually I was feeling a bit under the weather myself so decided to take it easy today. Also, in this wind there was little point in bashing the bushes - it would be impossible to see anything anyway. So whilst L stayed at the cottage and amused himself I decided to head over to Hayle where I could sit in the hide out of the wind, hopefully watching the Great White Egret and Spoonbill that had been frequenting Ryan's Field the last few days. I arrived to find that this pair were obligingly indeed doing just that and in fact they posed together quite nicely on one of the islands.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2_lADJcStlTMXFFcJyj3cjAfjy-BmbrE6uu-jIUer-GNBuLUsnUhyphenhyphenzaUUvPCrM0w6uMwHgrjwHVSagz3E7QRntINBmFagckqtevqDORESmqIB-CQobfMHyOwM-WZuMh4p_PS3rqg2T0w/s1600/_GWE_SpBl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2_lADJcStlTMXFFcJyj3cjAfjy-BmbrE6uu-jIUer-GNBuLUsnUhyphenhyphenzaUUvPCrM0w6uMwHgrjwHVSagz3E7QRntINBmFagckqtevqDORESmqIB-CQobfMHyOwM-WZuMh4p_PS3rqg2T0w/s1600/_GWE_SpBl.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great White Egret and Spoonbill posing together</td></tr>
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Having so easily seen my target birds I decided to pop over to the causeway to see what was about. I always like the Hayle estuary as there are so many birds to sift through: it's the perfect antidote to staring at birdless Sallows for hours at a time, as is so often the case with Cornish birding. There were reasonable numbers of Teal and Wigeon, a few dozen Redshank, good numbers of Lapwing, the usual Curlew and a few Golden Plover. I looked through the smaller gulls for Meds but they were all Black-headed. I was starting to think about heading back when I spotted a familiar face a few yards away. It was a fellow Oxon birder who, like me, comes down to Cornwall regularly. We chatted away as we scanned the flocks. Suddenly I spotted a relatively small white Egret fly in and land. However, rather than it being the Little I was expecting it turned out to be a Cattle Egret instead. Very nice! </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjqOUoR2wa8CioZTvyNM7-cTfZRA2iV8WUeHw6IR565CxrZbUcbjBjOCenvVcz_jVvtT0Jv19bFun2eDFHmMBg3ly-22Rpbmf4dXouZE2ANhhh0cmZYHhmVPTkEqX7Bvki5XAHd6TP_B0/s1600/_CtlEgrt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjqOUoR2wa8CioZTvyNM7-cTfZRA2iV8WUeHw6IR565CxrZbUcbjBjOCenvVcz_jVvtT0Jv19bFun2eDFHmMBg3ly-22Rpbmf4dXouZE2ANhhh0cmZYHhmVPTkEqX7Bvki5XAHd6TP_B0/s1600/_CtlEgrt.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bonus Cattle Egret</td></tr>
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However, after a quick wash and rush up, it stayed no more than a couple of minutes before flying up again and heading off low towards St Erth. I expect that it's in the same cattle fields over there where they over-wintered last year. Very pleased with my bonus find, I put the word out on RBA (not that anyone would be able to twitch it), said goodbye to my companion and then headed back to the car and then to Pendeen. A very successful trip with all three of the rarer "big white birds" in one go!</div>
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After that we had a rather quiet day pootling around at Pendeen before heading over the hill to PZ late afternoon to rendezvous with my VLW who was coming down today on the train having been away for the weekend with friends. After her arrival we headed over to Sainsbury's for a cup of tea and then some shopping before heading back to the cottage for the evening.</div>
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<br />Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-10621223199317674332018-10-23T13:02:00.000+01:002018-10-23T13:02:27.120+01:0021st October: Pendeen, Land's End, Carn Gloose & Marazion<div style="text-align: justify;">
I woke up far too early this morning, no doubt excited at the prospect of doing my Pendeen rounds once more. I was out shortly after first light where despite the lack of wind there was mercifully not too much of the dreaded Pendeen fog. Indeed it had been a very clear night last night and I did wonder about whether this might lead to a bit of a clear-out. As I started my rounds it did certainly seem to be very quiet. One of the Wheatears was still about first thing though it too soon departed. There was quite a bit of movement overhead with a steady passage of Chaffinch all morning interspersed with the odd Skylark. Apart from that it was pretty much just the usual stuff. There was no sign of the Black Redstart down by the lighthouse nor of the Yellow-browed Warbler up at Calartha. The only point of note was an interesting pale warbler half way up the valley by the S-bend Sallows that I never managed to get a proper look at. Perhaps one that got away. Up at Calartha I met up with a couple of birders, DH and SH who turned out to be friends of TM. We got chatting as you do and walked down the road again together. They went off to look for cetaceans for a while and later reported a couple of Blue-finned Tuna from the cliff top by the cottages.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFr8H1tqpJZmrZdcUEYvHyjfXYsUmgh8zh91XyKO6yGKZdF-8GeAPWX7226RQTS1u2vYLSPa1M1V6ibBAkrupcNpqChbZ_kSmVTP3CWhDSoAfvrwevoF3AW3n_yDNRX098O1h3hc7YHSc/s1600/_wheatear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFr8H1tqpJZmrZdcUEYvHyjfXYsUmgh8zh91XyKO6yGKZdF-8GeAPWX7226RQTS1u2vYLSPa1M1V6ibBAkrupcNpqChbZ_kSmVTP3CWhDSoAfvrwevoF3AW3n_yDNRX098O1h3hc7YHSc/s1600/_wheatear.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early morning Wheatear</td></tr>
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Back at the cottage I had breakfast and waited to see what news came in. A Dusky Warbler found by MW at PG at the Coastguard lookout was too far and given the all the Cat Birders who'd be out and about, would probably be too crowded. Instead I opted for a report of a Rosefinch at Land's End car park though it was probably going to be a hiding to nothing. I have a rule of thumb that at least half of all initial Cornish reports turn out never to be seen again and the Land's End Sallows are very hard to bird. Still, L was happy to be left alone for a couple of hours and it wasn't too far away so off I set. There I found, as predicted. that there had been no news so I had a little wander around though apart from quite a few Siskins flyin over there was little of note. I bumped into P&H who reported a Black Redstart at the complex so I went for a look but couldn't find it. Soon it was time to head back to the cottage, stopping off at St Just to pick up provisions for lunch.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGXgdEHz1RsqbSiYT0CChMpB6uHHyflSAQLDLpUBhkS0wQFNrLoguRvU388yossE3AKS8Nk4CtkPK2gXQbJ77rJsulfCLK-HLAOlQB8ZEZT3m7OBGHl8fPeMdg7sQb1RSA0Md1l8AX9o4/s1600/_Dunnock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGXgdEHz1RsqbSiYT0CChMpB6uHHyflSAQLDLpUBhkS0wQFNrLoguRvU388yossE3AKS8Nk4CtkPK2gXQbJ77rJsulfCLK-HLAOlQB8ZEZT3m7OBGHl8fPeMdg7sQb1RSA0Md1l8AX9o4/s1600/_Dunnock.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dunnock</td></tr>
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After lunch I'd promised L that we could do something that he wanted and he'd opted for the classic tea at Jordans café at Marazion. As this would involve very little exercise on his part at all I suggested that we first went for a little explore along the Carn Gloose road to look for Vagrant Emperors though when we got there it was rather overcast and breezy. Another birder who'd been there over an hour had reported no Emperors so we just did a quick zip round (3 Stonechats and a Kestrel) and headed off to Marazion.</div>
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After the usual tea in the car looking out at the sea (you can get more British than that!) we went for a walk along the beach towards the Red River mouth and back along the road. I had a quick scan over the Marsh as we went though there was little to report apart from a singing Cetti's Warbler. Then it was back to the car and off home to the cottage.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkvTI9kni_z_r6MzmuQss-HeM9y6pzF2n_eFRB9G6CfKXdOTf3A3KB7dLWZNNUCAr6dhOfXnwjr5tU9sSVd9IE5OvmAxriKmKdJNYkXpMOugp1x27yY6neoHbMPMRGuwenQSMZL4j9cx8/s1600/_Bzd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkvTI9kni_z_r6MzmuQss-HeM9y6pzF2n_eFRB9G6CfKXdOTf3A3KB7dLWZNNUCAr6dhOfXnwjr5tU9sSVd9IE5OvmAxriKmKdJNYkXpMOugp1x27yY6neoHbMPMRGuwenQSMZL4j9cx8/s1600/_Bzd.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marazion Buzzard</td></tr>
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<br />Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-88993144044088748222018-10-20T20:42:00.004+01:002018-10-20T20:42:55.488+01:0020th October, Back Down & Treeve Moor<div style="text-align: justify;">
This autumn, I've been very much keeping a keen eye on goings on down in my beloved Cornwall. From afar it looked like it was quite a reasonable autumn with lots of good second tier rarities, certainly a lot better than last year, but somehow lacking the Killer Rare that would tempt me down. My plan was that without something special to force me down, I would come for the Half Term holiday with my VLW and our son L (with our two grown-up daughters now doing their own thing these days). Of course earlier this week we got the Mother of All Rares, in the form of the Grey Catbird, found at Treeve Moor and only the second for the country. What to do? It seemed a bit excessive to come down on Wednesday for it and return only to come down again at the weekend for the holiday so I decided to tough it out and hope that it stuck around until the weekend. Fortunately, it duly obliged, no doubt in no hurry after its epic Atlantic journey to venture forth over the sea again. So it was that this morning at around 9 a.m. myself and L (with my VLW away for the weekend and due to come down separately on Monday) set off from Oxford on a gloriously sunny and calm day for the long slog down to the South West. Fortunately the reassuring "still present" message had already come out and so it was with some optimism that I navigated the miles with Radio Four for company to help while away the time. Finally at around 1 pm we arrived at Penzance and some twenty minutes later or so we were pulling up in the car park field next to Treeve Moor where I hurriedly tooled up.</div>
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Over the last few days RBA messages for the bird all but dried up in the afternoon so I was expecting that it might well become more skulking at that time and was prepared for a bit of a wait but when I asked some departing birders they reassured me that they'd seen it about half a dozen times in an hour and a half - most encouraging! They also explained that there were two options for viewing: from the car park field side where you had the strong sunlight in your favour behind you, or the Moor side where you were looking into the sun. They said that it had moved about a bit and often perched up quite nicely so I shouldn't have any trouble. Armed with this information in view of the light I decided to try the car park field side where the majority of other birders were. I went over to join them with L reluctantly in tow and settled down to wait. This waiting went on for some time and after about an hour I started to get rather restless. There were a couple of Stonechat flitting about, a soaring Buzzard, a fly-over calling Chough and a few Mipits but that was about it. Finally there seemed to be some movement to one end of the hedge over which we were viewing. It turned out that someone had heard it call and shortly after that I got a brief glimpse of its tail as it ducked back down into a ditch. A technical tick but not very satisfactory. Back to waiting. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjypwHMHw8wMU2tak0qM-k5dOlKmgti2-3UzKhxTkHrQonoVovV6O91EUv_OM2O7EglGdbPz2yW8pw1_-XhyIezlponK2BzzLYgmimKLVyWCQTSMAVpzELX9SGmYlCu5VbweUCKz9dYgh0/s1600/_twitch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjypwHMHw8wMU2tak0qM-k5dOlKmgti2-3UzKhxTkHrQonoVovV6O91EUv_OM2O7EglGdbPz2yW8pw1_-XhyIezlponK2BzzLYgmimKLVyWCQTSMAVpzELX9SGmYlCu5VbweUCKz9dYgh0/s1600/_twitch.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birders on the car park field side</td></tr>
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After a while the half a dozen birders on the far side (compared to about four times that number on our side) starting staring intently at something close by them - they were clearly on the bird which seemed to be deep in cover though. This went on for some time until eventually myself and one or two other (but still surprisingly few) birders decided to make the few minutes walk back to the road and down to the other side. Here I got the tail end of what they were watching as the bird flew out of a nearby bush and back down into the ditch. At least on this side it was much closer, being only 20 yards or so away compared to much further on the far side. So now that was two brief glimpses but still nothing better. L was starting to get restless so I had to appease him with the promise of take-away for dinner that evening. A red Darter species flew by with seemingly a lot of red on its wings though in flight it was impossible to be sure that it was a Red-veined rather than a Common. The birder next to me, who turned out to be a fellow insect enthusiast and I then got talking about odonata, butterflies and all sorts of other diversions from birding during the lean summer months. He told me that he was now into bees and wasps though I told him that I'd taken a look but when it gets to the stage where you need a microscope or a dissecting knife to ID something, then that was a step too far for me.</div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">After another fifteen minutes or so I heard the Catbird "meow" again and suddenly there it was, out in the open on top of the scrub and calling away. At last! I whipped out the trusty super zoom and rattled off some shots - into the light of course but nice and close. After about a minute or so it dropped back down into the ditch again. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYGhuup9M0LH4e5_iV0rjp5Ddl6Sg_on5GEQKHrdxhM-hVgSxxrzyG13VhV6WG4k9raa_HGgx_0OouIl3AXOH6lfG2MLjFXnrOyr5oOkRojoZW_5d42sqmO6oHiPHXMGDatrpw76l7jFI/s1600/_GCatbird1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYGhuup9M0LH4e5_iV0rjp5Ddl6Sg_on5GEQKHrdxhM-hVgSxxrzyG13VhV6WG4k9raa_HGgx_0OouIl3AXOH6lfG2MLjFXnrOyr5oOkRojoZW_5d42sqmO6oHiPHXMGDatrpw76l7jFI/s1600/_GCatbird1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCOytoN89w0beTTyTwIioAzhn-StzdFmFuEnK4m6xWz0gcKkX-zZK6ZnW_jmW26Dbt4M8k1R2b1_Ivt-I-ulc9LRk-CU0nLutl9_uCEFdVgGt8NA05lypenxlC8DMEav83EBG4tov9SSE/s1600/_GCatbird2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="517" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCOytoN89w0beTTyTwIioAzhn-StzdFmFuEnK4m6xWz0gcKkX-zZK6ZnW_jmW26Dbt4M8k1R2b1_Ivt-I-ulc9LRk-CU0nLutl9_uCEFdVgGt8NA05lypenxlC8DMEav83EBG4tov9SSE/s1600/_GCatbird2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg222wnS2plseC53L6__7ivpqxm8EA8HPna2LkStqFDkio3EUd-rjm0JVQSvfwUWM2uMFxNW2cjSgD_x9FnZCMIraRJuMTc9LmeyX_V592RZrtYCEM5LjMZOA2bAWzxi3MDpL9l6SSnOLM/s1600/_GCatbird3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg222wnS2plseC53L6__7ivpqxm8EA8HPna2LkStqFDkio3EUd-rjm0JVQSvfwUWM2uMFxNW2cjSgD_x9FnZCMIraRJuMTc9LmeyX_V592RZrtYCEM5LjMZOA2bAWzxi3MDpL9l6SSnOLM/s1600/_GCatbird3.jpg" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvoAtB9mG2JJrRMU_eya1qHp7jMGDcZj0pbLnwdlW8-OyhRTs5sSquRXijmrU_QkrLwW-ltYOl6K8fCUoucB47xr_Gw2hdN_21wQL0hzV5fpnyVM3zeJ470BwzzcCHGTjnrCCl0i7WxPo/s1600/_GCatbird4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvoAtB9mG2JJrRMU_eya1qHp7jMGDcZj0pbLnwdlW8-OyhRTs5sSquRXijmrU_QkrLwW-ltYOl6K8fCUoucB47xr_Gw2hdN_21wQL0hzV5fpnyVM3zeJ470BwzzcCHGTjnrCCl0i7WxPo/s1600/_GCatbird4.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Catbird porn</td></tr>
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That was good enough for me and much to L's relief we finally headed back to the car. Then it was time to set off for the cottage, stopping off at St. Just first for some provisions. Then it was time to open up the cottage and for me to catch up on some well-earned tea drinking whilst admiring the scenery which was looking absolutely stunning in the amazing light. Three Wheatears were in the horse paddock field, always a pleasure to watch. There were also a dozen or so butterflies all nectaring away on some Michaelmas Daisies in the same field. As well as lots of Red Admirals there were several Peacocks, a Small Tortoiseshell and a Small Copper that came to sun itself on the wall.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJq-O5OLwKp0bh9Wjb75eoK3CmZb9eA_CPSKbcJSUlMwNE_0Qkn_wMb6hXU8M1aUnYhErEc4Z48V9oxwCV3KnNUZTZ1czjnuNiN5hatAOZMOBJDErLOZSZS_ujQAhG8GUnU9RXCEwUYv8/s1600/_SmCpr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJq-O5OLwKp0bh9Wjb75eoK3CmZb9eA_CPSKbcJSUlMwNE_0Qkn_wMb6hXU8M1aUnYhErEc4Z48V9oxwCV3KnNUZTZ1czjnuNiN5hatAOZMOBJDErLOZSZS_ujQAhG8GUnU9RXCEwUYv8/s1600/_SmCpr.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Small Copper</td></tr>
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After a while of chilling out in this way it was time to go and get the take-away. We headed back up the road to St. Just where in the end we just got some chips before driving down to Cape Cornwall to eat them whilst watching the sun set. All very nice! Then it was back to the cottage to settle in for the evening. I put on the moth light but in the clear conditions it had got rather cold now and I didn't hold out much hope. After a long day it was soon time to turn in for the evening.</div>
Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-7802255362338627092018-10-01T16:01:00.000+01:002018-10-01T16:01:42.916+01:00Dalmation Pelican Gets Official!<div style="text-align: justify;">
So the BOURC have finally made an honest bird of the Dalmation Pelican that made Cornwall its home in 2016. Not before time and a very welcome addition to my Cornish (and UK) list that can now be inked in at last!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL4QNnIaLKNJuC8FlTu6l5Lc87QJiUarK47JzUwDIlX86YbjMGLIvThYr-hv-6SuTVFCCn9_bs3e1FiyKXW-Lk_uUJ3V-OdmHx06wLpd-E-m3b-7Yb-HK6eQUEGD8mN_K7zV8vYBu4Nq4/s1600/_Pelican.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="560" height="508" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL4QNnIaLKNJuC8FlTu6l5Lc87QJiUarK47JzUwDIlX86YbjMGLIvThYr-hv-6SuTVFCCn9_bs3e1FiyKXW-Lk_uUJ3V-OdmHx06wLpd-E-m3b-7Yb-HK6eQUEGD8mN_K7zV8vYBu4Nq4/s640/_Pelican.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Dalmation Pelican courtesy of Mike Tout</td></tr>
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<br />Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-52020495100630759802018-09-02T18:50:00.000+01:002018-09-02T18:50:12.361+01:00Rounding Up<div style="text-align: justify;">
I've been going through my photos and found a few that I'd not posted which I wanted to share so I thought that I would do a round-up post on my stay. As is typical for August, it's a quiet time of year on the birding front apart from sea watching and sadly I managed to miss the two classic watches of the season so far which occurred either side of my visit. So Trindade and Fea's Petrel are both firmly not on my list! Still I enjoyed the sea watching that I did do and I like to feel that I'm crawling my way towards being a bit better at what is a difficult and dark art as far as I'm concerned.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmHwAfSFe4_D5uJ3xXGGeDoAE9qzXpm0Qa-oTpZb1fOvxsyxoNPG2Y5OyGOLqpu9ziZgf96aT_qCguZoUYXR2nL0zdHFvSAI7d39TohlHTzYbkJe5k0ai0dVmXO8EJrlPSCygQfZBiW_8/s1600/%2523_Kes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="485" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmHwAfSFe4_D5uJ3xXGGeDoAE9qzXpm0Qa-oTpZb1fOvxsyxoNPG2Y5OyGOLqpu9ziZgf96aT_qCguZoUYXR2nL0zdHFvSAI7d39TohlHTzYbkJe5k0ai0dVmXO8EJrlPSCygQfZBiW_8/s1600/%2523_Kes.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pendeen Buzzard</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiODfYSew66tGKaIzKylnBVrlPTajw_2_KZu3JpyBdyZ6WQr_zY5Wk6NpWb8oYm6iD745asxJZNK8hlZbDfMI6mkRcVjBKp0FcjoqD17leaYcCjegl494EbBtsg_zWvHlGHBydzRb3QsvU/s1600/%2523_RAd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiODfYSew66tGKaIzKylnBVrlPTajw_2_KZu3JpyBdyZ6WQr_zY5Wk6NpWb8oYm6iD745asxJZNK8hlZbDfMI6mkRcVjBKp0FcjoqD17leaYcCjegl494EbBtsg_zWvHlGHBydzRb3QsvU/s1600/%2523_RAd.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Admiral</td></tr>
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The only other bird action was at Drift Reservoir which hosted a Pec
Sand, a Wood Sand and a Lesser Scaup and it was pleasing enough to catch
up with these species. Apart from that it was pootling around the
cottage and going to numerous cafés as usual. The only
fly in the otherwise clean holiday ointment was the fact that I
managed to miss a stonkingly rare Roseate Tern back in Oxon during my
stay down in Kernow. That one is going to take many years to get back
and will sting for some time to come. Still I enjoyed my trip and am already looking forward to the next time that I'm down.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6RIN_YFKeGGCBMrSoJ1qWhBnYeUhH_G_jF_k47la6VRxt6OVuDJu1N_wk3z3a3hawpXZgm8DyLetczNv2ZQbPJ_z0ygbmsxrA0i37rkA_8J17PDd_BdDJyroPYoeTttgD8k99Y6l-IYk/s1600/%2523_Rpt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6RIN_YFKeGGCBMrSoJ1qWhBnYeUhH_G_jF_k47la6VRxt6OVuDJu1N_wk3z3a3hawpXZgm8DyLetczNv2ZQbPJ_z0ygbmsxrA0i37rkA_8J17PDd_BdDJyroPYoeTttgD8k99Y6l-IYk/s1600/%2523_Rpt.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mousehole Rock Pipit</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExjd-gSw6eLREpXoQX0aFWopwFWpPp260fWoOn3f76qTr1omObzEcHTU2ZEy2qtsFHNvVViDxCleHePam6-KgKJcUdfal4-gxEJcX6EawZFOsad1H66oS_VLKiKTfjD_2mEsLhx6D0uE/s1600/%2523_HSprw.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExjd-gSw6eLREpXoQX0aFWopwFWpPp260fWoOn3f76qTr1omObzEcHTU2ZEy2qtsFHNvVViDxCleHePam6-KgKJcUdfal4-gxEJcX6EawZFOsad1H66oS_VLKiKTfjD_2mEsLhx6D0uE/s1600/%2523_HSprw.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mousehole House Sparrow </td></tr>
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Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-91885322409032103032018-08-14T12:16:00.001+01:002018-08-14T12:16:59.840+01:0010th August: Sea Watching<div style="text-align: justify;">
A family holiday in August down in Cornwall isn't likely to produce much in the way of tasty rarities down in the famous valleys of Cornwall. Instead it's all about the sea watching and during our time down here I'm always on the look out for a decent wind. In the absence of such weather I still like to do a bit of watching, especially at Pendeen given it's so close and I've been putting in some hours down by the lighthouse this last couple of weeks. Of course, given the poor conditions I've generally been on my own though on one or two occasions I've seen people watching from the lower car park when I've been leaving.</div>
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There's not generally been much to report from my Pendeen sessions with a few Balearic Shearwaters, a surprising number of immature Med. Gulls, one flock of Common Scoter and a few Sandwich Terns the highlights of some otherwise very quiet watches. Not that I've minded, I've been enjoying just being down there in the sun, listening to the waves and watching the occasional Pipits, Choughs and Wheatears on the slopes below me. For someone from a landlocked county such as Oxon, just being there is very pleasant. On one occasion I met NH, the legendary "Gull Whisperer" from Oxon. I'd known that he'd been down here as I'd seen his reports and photos on the CBWPS web page and we enjoyed a good catch-up chat.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYaUQ4e5DfxWVU5zHZCrVTC-App6AA9hSRhOYqDX7KVSut3YZ7FZNE_aZLbE-LnnBCq0JLyd9nX8nbik0yNd01EsS0ouySxt9z4DTvjOrukPqeLf0dRPsew24DPHAkJXqNC_yOgAy8pLc/s1600/_juvWheatear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="583" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYaUQ4e5DfxWVU5zHZCrVTC-App6AA9hSRhOYqDX7KVSut3YZ7FZNE_aZLbE-LnnBCq0JLyd9nX8nbik0yNd01EsS0ouySxt9z4DTvjOrukPqeLf0dRPsew24DPHAkJXqNC_yOgAy8pLc/s1600/_juvWheatear.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pendeen juvenile Wheatear</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT880cqq7zdQ67Cc_ApNOCNPp_KwHDVD43Qpa7ooYFaqhwJ-v3oCPjOrlYIfGxzssQ5fsY1s69ASOHDCuAUjIJr3Ba7UsiyOjvKZuUjLM6dw8iKstiWfgUbO73cJuBVDxG0LtZUpv8SR0/s1600/_Mipit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT880cqq7zdQ67Cc_ApNOCNPp_KwHDVD43Qpa7ooYFaqhwJ-v3oCPjOrlYIfGxzssQ5fsY1s69ASOHDCuAUjIJr3Ba7UsiyOjvKZuUjLM6dw8iKstiWfgUbO73cJuBVDxG0LtZUpv8SR0/s1600/_Mipit.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pendeen juvenile Meadow Pipit</td></tr>
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I'm starting to find that sea-watching is "getting under my skin". I'm not quite sure what it is about it but somehow it's become a bit addictive. It's certainly not because I'm particularly good at it, in fact I'm a bit rubbish, certainly compared to many of the expert locals and seasoned visitors that I watch with. It's partially down to my eyesight: over the last few years I've got anterior vitreous deterioration, a common complaint of ageing where the jelly in my eye starts to break down leading to lots of "floaters" in my field of view. Normally this isn't too much of an issue and one's brain tends mentally to filter them out but with sea watching where you're looking at tiny specks in often tricky light conditions, it makes it all the harder to make out those difficult diagnostic details. It's also down to experience and the number of hours put in. I like to feel that I'm no longer a complete noob on the sea-watching front yet I'm only realistically getting a dozen or two hours a year in of actual watching which is very little and there's so much time in between to forget what you've learnt from the previous year. No wonder it's slow progress on my part!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj07ogFy2XiAiavW293dQKqlivSLX10RKqr9gCG24_RoIGYtj2ZITXjste57frczKWvrYjLtACkMtqCbXmD3Kz9MX4GzN9oWPCpkZh9VonBcUpKpJmo0CdMSrSZuSDahnLySG6_CEiEd1U/s1600/_boat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="485" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj07ogFy2XiAiavW293dQKqlivSLX10RKqr9gCG24_RoIGYtj2ZITXjste57frczKWvrYjLtACkMtqCbXmD3Kz9MX4GzN9oWPCpkZh9VonBcUpKpJmo0CdMSrSZuSDahnLySG6_CEiEd1U/s1600/_boat.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This wonderful boat has been working its way around the Penwith peninsular over the last week or so</td></tr>
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Apart from my numerous short sessions down at Pendeen I did get one decent session during this holiday at Porthgwarra. It was our last full day of the holiday and with a decent weather front coming in over the weekend the weather was forecast to start to deteriorate on this day. Accordingly the others decided to go to St Ives for some shopping and I headed off to PG for the day. As the wind wasn't going to be that strong I did wonder if anyone else was going to be there at all but in the event I arrived at Hella Point to find GW from Oxon and one other person there. I was most pleased about this as having a bit of company can make a huge difference to a sea-watch, especially someone as experienced as GW. I've realised that what I look for in a good sea-watch is a modest number of experienced and friendly fellow watchers where I can feel comfortable making a fool of myself by calling out stuff incorrectly and where they are good enough to pick things out for me. It also has to be easy for me to be able to hear what other people are calling. As well as my eyes, my hearing is also not what it used to be and I often find, especially on a windy headland, that I simply can't hear what's being called which can be very frustrating. But on this occasion it was ideal. The three of us chatted away about this and that: the other two had done a lot of international birding so there was plenty of talk about the various places they'd been to. It was all very pleasant!</div>
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In terms of the actual birds, the others had had a couple of Cory's go by before I'd arrived. During my time there my list was:<br />
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1 Great Shearwater<br />
10+ Sooty Shearwaters<br />
10+ Storm Petrels,<br />
30+ Balearic Shearwaters<br />
1 Great Skua<br />
2 Arctic Skua<br />
1 Puffin<br />
1 Common Scoter <br />
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All good stuff! One thing I noticed was how different it was watching from PG compared to Pendeen. I think that it's to do with the light: at Pendeen you've always got the light behind you so the birds are often lit up against a relatively dark background. There, the Balearics for example were very easy to pick out, just on jizz alone and you could easily make out the differences in the colour of the underside. At PG on the other hand, you're looking into the light so everything looks more silhouetted and you had to look really carefully to tell the Ballies from the Manx. During the middle of the day, everything is nothing more than a silhouette and you might as well not bother! </div>
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By the afternoon things got very slow with very little to show for our efforts so it was time to head off to St Ives to rendezvous with the others for an evening meal. Of course the next day was an epic sea watch with a Fea's going through late morning - once again I'd managed to miss this iconic species. Indeed looking back our holiday was bookended by a couple of amazing sea-watches that I wasn't at with the Trindade Petrel just before I arrived and the Fea's on the day we were leaving. As DP said to me "sea-watching can be brutal". Still, I can't wait to do some more.</div>
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Some video of the Fea's Petrel at PG the next day taken by Gary Taylor. </div>
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Be warned, the audio contains some strong language!</div>
Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841787624103538901.post-47112191801837979642018-08-08T20:54:00.002+01:002018-08-08T20:54:39.548+01:008th August: Coastal Walks<div style="text-align: justify;">
We've done a couple of coastal walks during our visit down here. The first was our classic one from St. Just back along the coast to Pendeen. After an early lunch we walked up the hill to Pendeen village centre and then took the open-top bus to St Just. There we got our traditional ice creams from the Coop and then walked down to the school where we had a good wander around the arts and craft fair (with several purchases being made). Then we headed off towards Kenidjack via Boscean. We said hello to the two resident donkeys and had our usual snack stop up at the top of Kenidjack by the castle. The weather was perfect for walking though there wasn't much to report along the way: a few Chough, some Stonechats, a few Ravens and today just one Wheatear (a juvenile) at Geevor. We arrived back at the cottage at around 6 pm, gasping for a cup of tea.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9a9eXwLkEcJbFwh5cQnyWX5GEtFsW0O8uzfq-cMHiDjyqv_vS3e6aPKOuMeyH0q1rg0rP4YTeNhgcjllsuDaiiBGsJOMC7_hui01lUSN5EvpZvOSLif4tevndq_aLsHjlaRJq6TCrafg/s1600/_Chough.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9a9eXwLkEcJbFwh5cQnyWX5GEtFsW0O8uzfq-cMHiDjyqv_vS3e6aPKOuMeyH0q1rg0rP4YTeNhgcjllsuDaiiBGsJOMC7_hui01lUSN5EvpZvOSLif4tevndq_aLsHjlaRJq6TCrafg/s1600/_Chough.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chough</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQr7SG_B-SMMTG678bapvb2rToH6jcl182-_jIYUyZFcUSstAt5II9yOzn6KBsRJEXpmxP8PzyLHoaZphJKFK7H0mabeJFIpp1fFvyVo6dSBpdQipDBjVDo32gvXn_FqumirB6leQLwPU/s1600/_Ravn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQr7SG_B-SMMTG678bapvb2rToH6jcl182-_jIYUyZFcUSstAt5II9yOzn6KBsRJEXpmxP8PzyLHoaZphJKFK7H0mabeJFIpp1fFvyVo6dSBpdQipDBjVDo32gvXn_FqumirB6leQLwPU/s1600/_Ravn.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Botallack Ravens</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXbIUxGIxKBOIKst1o5On-oGSGbwDLymSDEZx1BEDC7nauhDfH9UrUju1vT9RynKjKxcH0wUql6Toimvu8vJo4QjNIU__N0M2eGF0UtNPfRfVrBFrjI96PES9kc95fMH74jtWX91ltnhY/s1600/_trout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXbIUxGIxKBOIKst1o5On-oGSGbwDLymSDEZx1BEDC7nauhDfH9UrUju1vT9RynKjKxcH0wUql6Toimvu8vJo4QjNIU__N0M2eGF0UtNPfRfVrBFrjI96PES9kc95fMH74jtWX91ltnhY/s1600/_trout.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kenidjack Brown Trout</td></tr>
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The second walk was from Marazion over to Perranuthnoe to the café and back. We parked as usual in the centre of Marazion and worked our way doggedly through the crowds until we got to the relative peace and quite of Little London. The tide was right in as we worked our way along the shore and at one point we had to clamber over some slippery seaweed-covered rocks. There were quite a few birds taking shelter from the heaving masses though apart from a few Med Gulls there was nothing of particular note.</div>
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At Perranuthnoe we put the world to rights over a cup of tea and some cake before heading back again along the now exposed shorline, looking for sea glass along the shore as we went. This time there were a lot more birds including a splendid summer plumage Knot that PSP had first found a few days ago, as well as a couple of Whimbrel. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMcMSCka7kP-Hf4vtGYk-k4tt7ieBNBYVCJ8eBWgrO5JcRdBLFz3NTgA-Jmr37ZMlZcX-nic2YX5yPXzvjIR0oGJZ7h0z6VPI9v5pOkV7IzHI5sYAAuuNMOuSL3sAH6H8uHGq_Mhx7YdM/s1600/_Knot2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMcMSCka7kP-Hf4vtGYk-k4tt7ieBNBYVCJ8eBWgrO5JcRdBLFz3NTgA-Jmr37ZMlZcX-nic2YX5yPXzvjIR0oGJZ7h0z6VPI9v5pOkV7IzHI5sYAAuuNMOuSL3sAH6H8uHGq_Mhx7YdM/s1600/_Knot2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Summer plumaged Knot</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A gorgeous Med Gull</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wader trio</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whimbrel</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
We were all quite tired by the time that we got back to the car so after quickly stopping off at Longrock Industrial Estate to pick up some DIY provisions, it was back to the cottage for the evening.</div>
Adam Hartley (Gnome)http://www.blogger.com/profile/04367677984805807645noreply@blogger.com0