Falmouth Birding (1 Viewer)

[dantheman]

Cheers Dan. Hopefully it'll be back this week: sunny anticyclonic conditions forecast will mean a bit of light to play with after work. A good trip out nonetheless.

I wonder what range these wintering Black Reds have? Beacon Rd - Berkers Cotts - Florrie Place - the beach??

Black Redstart from the bedroom window again today ...

I don't know how far they range, but I'm pretty (99%) sure we're talking about min of 3 birds at the moment - beach, mine and Samuel's.

There are probably other birds about too - don't think anyone's been looking along the docks, Penryn river or other suitable housing areas.


(from yours to Samuel's isn't that far as the blackred flies, ditto mine to WoodLane etc)

 

[Trotsky1977]

To Castle Beach after work in the sunshine 1630hrs:

3 Rock Pipit (first this year!)
2 Stonechat
Black Red male
Pied Wag
2 BH gull
4 Oysters
2 Carrion Crow
3 Shag
Robin
Wren

probable Sparrowhawk over Pendennis woods plus Buzzard

(Also 2 Black Reds in the snow at St Day Road cemetery, Redruth at lunchtime)

 

[Samuel Perfect]

Black Red still in back garden on Beacon Road today.

 

[Trotsky1977]

To Castle Beach after work in the sunshine 1630hrs:

3 Rock Pipit (first this year!)
2 Stonechat
Black Red male
Pied Wag
2 BH gull
4 Oysters
2 Carrion Crow
3 Shag
Robin
Wren

probable Sparrowhawk over Pendennis woods plus Buzzard

(Also 2 Black Reds in the snow at St Day Road cemetery, Redruth at lunchtime)

Went back to St Day cemetery this lunchtime...with my bins!! Turned out to be a pair of Stonechats! No snow today. Yesterday they looked dark against the snow and what with my eyesight.....oops :-O

 

[dantheman]

Went back to St Day cemetery this lunchtime...with my bins!! Turned out to be a pair of Stonechats! No snow today. Yesterday they looked dark against the snow and what with my eyesight....

Ah well ...

Real Black Redstart 9:30 this morning at east end of Marlborough Road.

 

[Trotsky1977]

Quick patrol out after work with Messrs Chaney and Perfect in cloudy conditions

Pendennis Point
2 Whimbrel
8 Oysters
Kestrel

Swanpool
2 Water Rail
Long-tailed Duck again
Little Grebe

 

[dantheman]

Collared Dove flying past the window just reminded me - coming back from Stithians area yesterday a bird on the wires very much resembled a Turtle Dove - unfortunately I was being driven by a non-birder and we didn't stop.

Some large arable/ploughed fields on the south side of the A394 between Manhay and Longdowns. More of a heads up than a claim (car currently broken down otherwise I'd go off for a look again myself). Probably just one of the other pigeon sp.s, but that wasn't my impression at the time.


Lovely day out there and stuck inside - oh well.

 

[dantheman]

The King is back!

Just had a call from Samuel - back where it was halfway between Maenporth and Rosemullion Head, and a couple of hundred yards offshore with a group of Shag. No sign of the female Eider.

 

[Samuel Perfect]

Thanks for relaying the news Dan! :t:

Had an early morning start at the res's checking 4 moth traps (all empty unfortunately) I suppose waiting for temperatures to rise a couple degrees above freezing would be handy.

Cycled straight out to Maenporth after mothing with the intention of double checking the reported absence of the local rarity. Fortunately, a brief walk along the cliff towards Bream Cove revealed my suspicions, the 1st win drake KING EIDER was still lingering offshore, loosely associated with a group of Shags!

Other birds of note include 1 Peregrine, 2 Ravens, 1 Stonechat, 2 Little Egrets, 1 Kitt, 2 Guilles, half a dozen distant auks flew west, 1 Redshank on the mud at the outlet stream behind Maenporth.

Next biked it round to Swanpool, heard a brief high pitched tsee tsee tsee but before I registered that it was probably a Firecrest I'd already shot past and couldn't be bothered to turn around and double check 8-P

Swanpool: LtDuck still feeding at the northern end.

 

[dantheman]

Thanks for relaying the news Dan! :t:

Had an early morning start at the res's checking 4 moth traps (all empty unfortunately) I suppose waiting for temperatures to rise a couple degrees above freezing would be handy.

Cycled straight out to Maenporth after mothing with the intention of double checking the reported absence of the local rarity. Fortunately, a brief walk along the cliff towards Bream Cove revealed my suspicions, the 1st win drake KING EIDER was still lingering offshore, loosely associated with a group of Shags!

Other birds of note include 1 Peregrine, 2 Ravens, 1 Stonechat, 2 Little Egrets, 1 Kitt, 2 Guilles, half a dozen distant auks flew west, 1 Redshank on the mud at the outlet stream behind Maenporth.

Next biked it round to Swanpool, heard a brief high pitched tsee tsee tsee but before I registered that it was probably a Firecrest I'd already shot past and couldn't be bothered to turn around and double check 8-P

Swanpool: LtDuck still feeding at the northern end.

Yes, nice one!

I can't really believe it had been there and missed for a week, the sea has been relatively calm and people had definitely been looking, perhaps it had shifted along the coast a bit, and then returned, but who knows? ...

Excellent, I'm sure there'll be some more happy people this weekend.

 

[dantheman]

Now have a working car, popped out to Castle Beach briefly whilst it was still definitely running (the car that is) - finally connected with the smart male Black Redstart there!

(Actually there were two). Perhaps because it was low tide and I'm usually out at high tide? So -

2 male Black Redstart
2 Stonechat mf
1 Grey Wagtail
4 Pied Wagtail

 

[dantheman]

The car registered a balmy 8.5C on the road above Castle Beach, despite us shivering our socks off back in town (even started lighting candles to supplement the heat output of the feeble plugin heaters).

1) Female Black Redstart from Wednesday
2) - 3) Male Black Redstart Castle Beach
4) First Violet?

 

[dantheman]

Out today with Greg Adams, Samuel P and Matt on the Roseland -

some highlights -

Turnaware Point

Redshank, Kingfisher, 2+ Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker (h), 2 Common Gull, c150 Lapwing in flight

St Just in Roseland

1 Whimbrel
3 Greenshank
1 Redshank
4 Curlew
2 Little Egret
and in the Carrick Roads -
27 Black-necked Grebes
3+ GN Diver
8 RB Merganser

Gerrans Bay from Pendower -

10 Black-throated Diver
3 GN Diver
1 grebe sp.

With 2 Kestrel and flock of 153 Skylark in the centre of the Roseland Peninsula

Probably timed it all wrong for Avocets at Malpas, but between Malpas and Truro 20+ Shelduck, 15+ BT Godwit, Med Gull etc

Red Admiral at St Just in Roseland, Small Tortoiseshell at Pendower.

Great Spots drumming and Sparrowhawks seemingly all over, the odd other bits like Raven etc. About 65 species for the day.

 

[dantheman]

Edit: As it were.

Just counted the Skylarks from a photo I managed to take at the time = 153. Pretty much my estimate at the time (150)

And a Chiffchaff at the bottom of Beacon Road in Falmouth - a drive by tick.

 

[Samuel Perfect]

Stithians Res with Dan this afternoon:

From the Stuart Hutchings Hide:

1 juv Peregrine on the mud in front of the hide before perching in a nearby shrub/small tree behind the scrape.
1 Slav Grebe, 80+Wigeon, 5 Mipits, 1 Buzzard, 2 Tufties, 11+ Little Grebes.

Southern cuttoff:

4 Snipe, 1 Water Rail, 2 Reed Buntings and usual selection of tits and finches around the feeders. Also occasional flyover Redwing.

Fields near Treverva:

Dan flushed a Woodcock before I joined him on our trip to Stithians but on our return we flushed a single Snipe and a Fox.

I'm sure there're a few minor additions that Dan will help add to the totals

 

[dantheman]

Stithians Res with Dan this afternoon:

From the Stuart Hutchings Hide:

1 juv Peregrine on the mud in front of the hide before perching in a nearby shrub/small tree behind the scrape.
1 Slav Grebe, 80+Wigeon, 5 Mipits, 1 Buzzard, 2 Tufties, 11+ Little Grebes.

Southern cuttoff:

4 Snipe, 1 Water Rail, 2 Reed Buntings and usual selection of tits and finches around the feeders. Also occasional flyover Redwing.

Fields near Treverva:

Dan flushed a Woodcock before I joined him on our trip to Stithians but on our return we flushed a single Snipe and a Fox.

I'm sure there're a few minor additions that Dan will help add to the totals

Dah!

Greg informs me he had the Trelawny/Marlborough Road Black Redstart yesterday on hs way back out of Falmouth, and the 153 Skylark were at Curgurrell on the Roseland peninsula.
I also omitted the 10 Turnstone at Turnaware Point.

Today ( ) -

Also at Stiths - SH hide - 10 Lapwing, 2 f Goldeneye, 8 Mallard, c8 Teal 2 Little Egret (one from each hide), 17+ Teal from Southern Hide

Earlier at Gorrangorras -

9 Mute Swan
20 Teal
5 Mallard
25 Redshank
20 Curlew
3 Greenshank
4 Snipe
6 Oystercatcher
1 Moorhen
200 BH Gulls (mostly adults; 2 with summer hoods)
2 Little Grebe

 

[dantheman]

Dan flushed a Woodcock before I joined him on our trip to Stithians but on our return we flushed a single Snipe and a Fox.

You still don't really believe it, do you? Typical disbelieving birder ...

I'm just gutted - it flew up from relatively open ground only 40 yards or so away - was only the other day that I was telling someone that I've never actually seen one on the ground, always in flight only. Oh well, it'll happen ...

 

[Samuel Perfect]

You still don't really believe it, do you? Typical disbelieving birder ...

Just exercising some healthy scepticism.

Don't worry, I have no choice but to take your word as the truth and nothing but the truth :-O

In all seriousness though, I was eagerly anticipating the time a live Woodcock turned up in the Falmouth area with an opportunity to see it on the deck but I can wait.

 

[dantheman]

Photographs of the Peregrine and a few other bits from yesterday on the blog.


Off out of area again today with Samuel -WeBS count on The Lizard and then an attempt at the Hayle Estuary stuff.

Loe Pool - highlights

9 Great Crested Grebe
44 Pochard
11 Goosander (4m7f)
3 Shoveler
1 Water Rail (h)
8 Med Gull
21 Common Gull
381 Black-headed Gull
(And H, LBB and GBB Gulls of course)
1 Firecrest

Helston Boating Lake -

1 Whooper Swan
10 Shoveler

Helston Sewage Works -

30+ Chiffchaff
3 Siberian Chiffchaff - all flycatching together at one point
1 Grey Wagtail

Unsuccessful with both the Snow Buntings and the Water Pipit - but then we met someone who'd been unsuccessful on 3 and 5 visits respectively, so didn't feel quite so bad. 6 Bottlenose Dolphin and the 1000+ Gannet in Carbis Bay were nice.

Various ducks and water related birds on Lelant and Hayle - probably nothing and no counts out of the ordinary (2 Pintail etc), but catching up with the recently found adult Kumlien's Gull was probably reward enough for making the trip.


Also heard a report of a Little Bunting at Rosudgeon that people were getting excited about??

 

[dantheman]

Cormorants and Pintail (record shot)