Falmouth Birding (9 Viewers)

[dantheman]

Stithians today -

Southern Hide -

Firecrest
Water Rail
2 Great Spotted Woodpecker
Coal Tit
Barn Owl
Little Egret
Kingfisher

2 Goldcrest, 4+ Long-tailed Tit, 6 Goldfinch etc etc

Stuart Hutchings Hide -

1 Pochard
12 Tufted Duck
20 Wigeon
40 Mallard
78 Teal
2 Shoveler
87 Lapwing
5 Snipe
2 Med Gulls (ad and 2nd winter)
140 BH Gull
60+ LBBGull
150+ Herring Gull
1 Peregrine

etc, female Pintail reported in the week

A nice haul in the end. A couple of year/season ticks in there too (eg caught up with Coal Tit eventually!)

 

[dantheman]

Up to Stithians again this morning (I realised I'd left my coat in the hide!)

Low cloud, but visibility ok -

Southern hide - Water rail, Coal Tit, 2 GSWoodpeckers and 10 Chaffinch

Stuart Hutchings Hide - 1 ad Med gull, 9 Snipe, c. 50 Fieldfare, c.50 Redwing, 2 Shoveler, female Pintail etc

 

[Samuel Perfect]

Cheers! B

Work Party at Stithians today, which was fun (ish, in the rain, although it cleared up mid morning) - futile attempts at a scrape and other stuff. Managed to keep the important news of the day (my new age) hidden from the massed volunteers though.

(Some nice birds as it turns out, will post up in a bit).

Saw you're still on North Ron from a blog post in the week, and presumably you now did catch up with Woodcock ... on the deck?

Don't know about passage Falmouth tbh, JLS has only had 1 diver, a Black-throated so far this season, but Tony Blunden reports juv Sabs, 3 Balearics and a Manx Shearwater from Lizard today. WeBS - report on the blog of course ...

Yep, finally caught up with Woodcock on the deck, horray (also in the hand)! :-O Now that you mention it I'm trying my best to scour the internet for resources on how to age them. Also going over old photos of a bird I picked up dead outside campus on the A394 two years ago.

Great to hear the scrape construction is underway, looking forward to helping out with that. Will also be nice to catch up with some of the megas that are gracing the feeders that I haven't encountered in months like Blue and Great Tit

I must admit I'm rather behind on blogposts myself so better do some catching up too.

 

[dantheman]

Updated the blog re last weekend.

Stithians this afternoon -

12 Coot at N end

59 Teal, c20 Mallard and 2 Moorhen in Golden Lion cutoff

SH hide - another 39 Teal (that makes 98 total), 2 Shoveler, 140+ Lapwing, 6 Cormorant etc.

Pintail and Firecrest also reported today.

 

[dantheman]

Black Redstart on Florence Place this morning at about 9am as I left for Stithians; 2 together later this afternoon as I returned (nice male and female/imm).

Stithians water levels up, but birds still about - biggest surprise -

3 Redshank
1 Dunlin

with other usual suspects including 15 Lapwing dropping in, Peregrine over and 2 male Shoveler still, Wigeon up to 34 or so.

 

[Trotsky1977]

Berkeley Cottages 1000hrs

Male Black Redstart...first of the year in town for me


Yesterday Coal Tit back of Swanpool where I bumped into JSL and ?Trispen

 

[dantheman]

Two Black Redstart and Firecrest again on Florence Place. Also c15 Redwing and Blackcap, 8 Greenfinch etc

 

[dantheman]

[

Yesterday Coal Tit back of Swanpool where I bumped into JSL and ?Trispen

Crispin (Benton).

Various birds reported around Swanvale and offshore the last week or two - YB Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat at Swanvale, single BT and GN Divers and 7(?) redhead RB Mergansers by CB, JSL and others. Roll on January, hopefully I'll get the chance to do proper birding again!

Exciting find at Stithians on sat was a Harvest Mouse, with 3 Redshank and a Dunlin. Although looking at my pics looks more like a Curlew Sandpiper tbh. Should check it out later.

 

[dantheman]

Two Black Redstart

Interesting to note 2 Black Redstarts reported from Castle Beach at 12:30 on Birdguides today; my two were c.1200 metres away at 11:45; odds on they were different birds.

 

[dantheman]

Two Firecrest up near Treverva today on farmland; quite probably going to be a good winter for them given the numbers on the coast earlier in the autumn.

 

[dantheman]

Managed to get a coastal birding session in after work today for a change!

Started at Swanvale c.3:20, back in the car at Pendennis car park c.5:00

Swanvale -

2 Firecrest (silent) in the sallows half way down the path.
1 Lesser Whitethroat in sallows next to the path at Swanpool end, with 4 vocal Goldcrest, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits feeding (opp side of path to cut leylandii.)
1 Green Woodpecker heard distantly
5 Redwing
1 additional Goldcrest at inland end

Swanpool -

Highlights 1 Grey Wagtail and 9 Long-tailed Tit

The coast was v. quiet - 4 Shag and 2 Cormorant, 4 Oystercatcher roosting Swanpool Point until

Castle Beach -

c200 BH Gull feeding
2 Med Gull (ad and 2nd w)

Castle Drive -

driving down the road away from the beach as an arresting silhouette on a rooftop caught my attention halfway down - Black Redstart indeed.

2 Black Redstart - appeared to be different to 'my' birds (one of which is a cracking male with white wing panel) - both dowdy and plainer with pale primary patches but it was already getting gloomy.

No birds worth reporting on the walk around Pendennis, but 2 Pipistrelle Bats (Buzzard heard). It was getting dark!




That's 5 Firecrest locally in 3 days, and I've only been birding once! The Lesser Whitethroat was only seen briefly in the treetops before a dogwalker came through underneath, and I headed on anyway, but gave a greyer back and head impression than would be perhaps expected for Siberian, so maybe nominate ... but bvd tbh? No Water Rails!! Perhaps early/still very mild upcountry in relative terms.

 

[Trotsky1977]

Yesterday at Stithians for volunteer work party 0945-1130hrs with Dan C, Beth and Dave Bray

Main hide
2 Common gull
4 LBB Gull
30 BH Gull
40 H Gull
2 Teal
4 Cormorant

Cut off hide
2 Snipe
2 Bullfinch flyover spotted by Dan
GS Woody

4 Common Frog ? disturbed by our willow digging...safely released a distance away

"That frog was THIS big..."

 

[Kernow Pete]

NEWS – Non-Estuarine Waterbird Survey.

This winter the BTO will be running the third Non-Estuarine Water bird Survey (NEWS). This periodic survey focuses on the non-estuarine shoreline, which is not so well covered by the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS). These rocky shores, along which extensive beds of seaweed may be exposed at low tide, or sandy beaches with extensive strandlines, can support substantial invertebrate populations. These are favoured habitats for a number of waders over-wintering in the UK. The Purple Sandpiper and the majority of overwintering Turnstone occur in this habitat, while substantial proportions (between 10% and 50%) of Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Curlew, Oystercatcher and Redshank also overwinter along the open coast.
If you are interested in contributing to this important survey all that is required is that you commit to visit one or more count stretches, each on a single occasion, over the low-tide period, on a day of your choice, between 1st December and 31st January. This will involve walking a stretch of coast and recording the birds you encounter as you go. Count stretches are typically 2km long, some a bit shorter, some a bit longer. It is essential that all waders and waterbirds using the intertidal zone are recorded, but we would hope that most volunteers would also count all waterbirds on the sea to a distance where they would be visible to the naked eye, and all those using landward habitat immediately adjacent to the shore. As well as recording birds, we also ask you to record mammals and information on the strandline. Additional visits are also welcomed. You can select a stretch for surveying online at http://www.bto.org/webs-news and find out more information about the survey.

 

[Trotsky1977]

Stithians Main hide
130 Lapwing
10 Snipe
4 Cormorant
Goldeneye

Mylor Churchtown
GN Diver
Razorbill
10 Shag
Oystercatcher
14 Turnstone
Rock Pipit
Grey Wagtail
Heron
Little Egret
Mistle Thrush
4 Greenfinch

 

[dantheman]

Out and about today too - WeBS count day so managed to make some birding happen.

5 Blackcap on Florence Terrace (Falmouth) as I was walking to the car.

The coast was very quiet in terms of birds tbh - no grebes, divers or gannets even. Highlights Maenporth to Rosemullion Head -

3 Fulmar on cliffs Maenporth (2 nest sites)
2 Stonechat, 6 Med Gull Rosemullion Head

Peregrine (near nesting site), Sparrowhawk, 2 Buzzard, Kestrel, LTTit flocks of 11, 6, 5 and additional unseen flock, 2 Goldcrest, Nuthatch heard etc

c90 Shag, 1 Kittiwake, 1 Curlew, 11 Oystercatcher, 1 Little Egret

c200 Redwing by Little Rame Farm (near Rame, Stithians)


Stithians Res 15:30 - 17:00

c.200 Lapwing
2 Firecrest outside the Southern Hide (only 8 feet or so away, would have been ideal photo opp if the camera hadn't been packed away in the rucksack)
c40 Canada Goose
1 Goldeneye
1 Slavonian Grebe out in the middle
14+ Little Grebe
17 Tufted Duck
6 Coot
2 Moorhen
40 Teal
100 Mallard
7 Curlew
60+ Meadow Pipit
etc

 

[dantheman]

Yesterday at Stithians for volunteer work party 0945-1130hrs with Dan C, Beth and Dave Bray

... and even joined briefly by Daniel Eva after you'd gone! (gave him a spade whilst he was talking away).

Other birds included 4 Common Gull total, GBBGull, Green Woodpecker (heard), 2 Fieldfare and Sparrowhawk over.

Stithians Res list on about 118 for the year ...

 

[dantheman]

Before I forget ... was at Penryn Asda yesterday (16th) around dusk ... all the crows/jackdaws flying over/through the car park to their roost at College reservoir as I was driving down the approach road. Always impressive. Parked the car to notice a few Pied Wagtail flying over and lots of calls from the roof, so stood against the side of the building to count them ... 218 flying into the hedgeline to roost. Don't know how many had already flown in before I started so may try and get down there for a proper count one day.

 

[fishybarry]

2 Gooseander on College this morning just down from the dam.

 

[dantheman]

2 Gooseander on College this morning just down from the dam.

Very nice! Hopefully will be able to catch up with them in the new year after returning from seasonal family duties.



A Merry Christmas to all!!!

:t: B

 

[dantheman]

Out and about on the patch today (mostly coastal), 58 species in mostly miserable conditions.

Notable highlights probably -

2 Chiffchaff, Water Rail - Swanpool

Whimbrel - Castle Beach

Common Sandpiper - Greenbank Hotel

Great Northern Diver - 2 Swanpool Point, 1 Pendennis Point, 2 Southern end of Carrick Roads

3 Greenshank - Gorrangorras, Penryn River

(+ 1 dead Razorbill Gyllyngvase Beach)