Falmouth Birding (1 Viewer)

Ilya Maclean said:

Not quite Falmouth, but two Yellow-browed Warblers at Gwennap Sewerage works this morning and another Siberian Chiffchaff. One of the Yellow-broweds was doing a pretty good impression of a Hume's Warbler appearance wise and I honestly thought it was going to turn into one. Then it called...

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Jon Turner said:

Festering Yellow-browed Warblers.......

3 Sessions at Swanpool, a visit to Gwennap yesterday and a brief visit to Carnon Downs this lunchtime, and I saw not even one.......

On the way home saw a lovely Glosy Ibis though....

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ruanite said:

Hi All,
Took this photo earlier today at Ruan. The bird I was aiming at moved so not in focus but on closer inspection there are two other birds in the photo. Are the other two Snipe?
So far this week, loads of Wigeon, 4 Redshanks, lots of Curlew, 2 Little Egret, 1 Greenshank, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Heron, 13 Mallards, loads of Lapwings, Black Headed Gulls and 4 Black Backed Gulls. Also nice photo today of a fox jumping the river.
C

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Ilya Maclean said:

Photos above show two snipe, a pochard and a blurry bird that I wouldn't like to bit a definite id to.

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lozzjazz said:

Down at swanpool yesterday enjoying the birds (water rail was the highlight, couldn't find the yellow-browed). Unfortunately one man using a remote controlled speed boat thought it was a good idea to drive it into the swans/moorhens etc. This was while others were trying to feed the birds and take photos. Most birds left the area apart from the agitated swans. When I politely confronted him, he told me it was none of my business, but seemed to get the idea and left soon after.

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Dave Parker said:

I think you will find your Pochard is a drake Wigeon.

Dave

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Ilya Maclean said:

I'm sure there's a lesson in there about not knowing one's clunis from one's cubitis, or more precisely one ar*e from another.....

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Dave Parker said:

Or your an*s from your aythya!

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ruanite said:

Hope you guys are ok with me asking these questions on here. I'm getting better with my local birds but still need a little help.
I have had a bullfinch coming to my garden this week which is only the second I've every seen around here. I took this photo this afternoon and my bird book has been much help in id. I'm sure you guys will know what it is!

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lozzjazz said:

OK, so it's not exactly Falmouth, and it's not rare, but a lovely kittiwake was chilling in St Mawes harbour today - quite unusual to see one so close (<4 metres) at this time of year!

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Dave Parker said:

What you have to remember Dan, is that Birdguides and other news services are primarily interested in rarities and good local birds like spot reds slip under their radar. As such they have minimal use for scientific or conservation services which is one of the reasons CBWPS set up the Daily Sightings page on their website.
We have 3 records for St Clements, 10 for Camel Estuary 1 of 3 birds for Kingsmill and 1 for Wacker Quay since early Oct.
Remember though these are reports, so we are probably only talking about 5 or 6 birds, compare this to just 10 years ago when 45 birds (90 in 1991) were reported for the same period and you see just how quickly they have declined.

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Ilya Maclean said:

Carnon Downs sewerage works and the surrounding area offered up a fairly spectacular, albeit rather bewildering array of various chiffchaff types this morning. I made the final score as follows:

two tristis (one quite vocal),
at least four sub-tristis intergrades displaying the full spectrum of characteristics from almost complete tristis to almost complete abietinus,
3 pure abientinus and
at least 50 collybitta.
Also 4 Firecrests

I also had what I can only imagine was a male hybrid Willow Warbler x Chiffchaff in full song uttering the descending song typical of Willow Warbler interspersed with chiff-chaff chiff-chaff, rather similar to two presumed hybrids I’ve come across previously. Appearance wise, it looked more like a bog-standard chiffchaff with black legs, plumage tones within the range of collybitta (albeit slightly more greeny/yellow than is typical), but with rather long primary projection.

Anybody keen to get their head around the various plumages and vocals of Chiffchaff races would do well to visit the site over the next few days, particularly as the mild weather seems to be encouraging the birds to be quite vocal.

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dantheman said:

Not Falmouth indeed, how dare you!!!

Any pics? Would say that maybe it was unwell, on the other hand, maybe it just thought it was on the Farnes or somewhere and got its dates wrong ...

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dantheman said:

Nice one! I so wanted to get there that day last week, it was pay a quick visit to the sewage farm or into Truro to find a 40th wedding anniversary present for the parents before the shops closed ... unfortunately!

Another week and I'll be back from France, so maybe get another go ...

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ruanite said:

Hi Guys,
Thanks Ilya thought it was a Dunnock.
Have just been out for my daily walk at Ruan. Saw the usual 100+ Wigeon, 20 odd Canada Geese, Curlew, Little Egret and various Gulls. Came home to find this bird of prey sitting on my doorstep. Would I be right in thinking that it is a female Kestrel. Size approx 10 to 12 inches. Got within two feet before it flew off to the nearest electric cable.
Carol

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