GOLDEN TREASURE.

Got to Marazion early this morning hoping that maybe some Terns had arrived overnight,stepping out of the car there was a really cold wind coming in off the sea. So putting a warm coat on,(Really should be warming up by now) proceeded to have a look around. First birds of note were about 100 Swifts over the marshes and Longrock Pool area, a further 30 minutes produced very little so getting very cold I decided to head back to the Hayle Estuary on the Atlantic coast to get out of the wind. On arrival at the Estuary the tide was fairly high with very little of the mudflats exposed, quite a few Gulls, Curlews and Whimbrel's, also three Black Tailed Godwits, but to far out to Photograph. Then another local birder John turned up, he said that a male Garganey had been on the Ryan's Field area for about two weeks, so we decided to walk to the hide to try and find it. on the footpath to the hide a Little Egret was looking for breakfast in one of the pools so took the picture below as it looked very good.

Little Egret

On arrival at the hide another birder Peter was already there and said he had spotted a bird on one of the three small island,s but was not sure what it was. Looking at it through my Binoculars I was sure it was a Golden Plover in full breeding plumage which is quite rare in Cornwall, and as it was a solitary bird could even be an American or Pacific Golden Plover. The best place to get a good view would be back on the causeway from were we had just come. So to cut a long story short we went back spent a hour looking at it ,and was joined by my birding friend Mark and it was finally agreed it was an ordinary Golden Plover, but still great to see in full plumage. So below are three images of said bird, due to distance they are heavily cropped and are only Record Shots But I wound like to share them with you.

Golden Plover on Ryan's Field in full plumage.

On walking back along the pavement to the car someone spotted another Spring Migrant on the edge of the field, it was a Common Sandpiper and although common it was my first this year, so have included a photo below.

Common Sandpiper on Ryan's Field.