MONO MONDAY ( WATER PUMP KENIDJACK VALLEY )

This old water pump is located at Kenidjack Valley just to the north of St Just in West Cornwall, alhough now completely Rusted it was once used to either pump sea water to or from the mine workings in the valley. 

LAND'S END & BREW POOL

Things started off pretty dull this morning, as Mark and I headed down to Land's End looking for Spring migrants.
So we started off at Treve Common and walked across to Trinity Cottages at the Top of Sennen and back along the cycle track to Land's End, the most notable thing was the lack of scarce migrants when the rest of the country and the Scilly Isles seem to be getting quite an influx, the only birds in abundance were Whitethroats Swallows House and Sand Martins.
The best part of the morning was coming across two Fox Cubs at Trinity Pool which gave some decent photo opportunities.
So after a very pleasant walk we drove back to Brew Pool near Sennen to visit the water treatment works, this area is also good for turning up good rarities but all that we saw were plenty of Swallows and House Martins.
So below are a few images from this mornings outing.

WHITETHROAT.

SWALLOW.

SWALLOW.

FOX CUB.

FOX CUB

MONO MONDAY (WHEAL UNY MINE / HIND'S SHAFT).

 Awoke Saturday morning to brilliant sunny blue skies with crystal clear visibility, So decided to go out and look for an image for Mono Monday (best laid plans of mice and men) only one image huh!!
Decided I would go to the old Wheal Uny Mine on the South side of Redruth between Carn Brea and the Village of Carnkie.
There are two Engine Houses here the larger one was for pumping water from the shaft (As these were very wet conditions to work in as the mine was prone to flooding), The smaller House was used for brining up the ore.
The first image shows the proximity of the engine houses, and the subsequent plaques describe the images below.

For this final image I lay on the grating and looked down into the shaft with the Camera lens through the grid, and realised later I would need a heck of a Flashgun to light that orifice

BULLER DOWNS AND BEYOND.

Had a couple of fine days on Sunday and Tuesday, so took a walk along the Buller downs which is part of my local area.
I was looking for Spring migrants as this area is a good nesting place for Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and the notorious Cuckoo, managed to see about 6 Whitethroat a couple of Chiffchaff but no Willow Warblers or Cuckoo, although one of the residents of the old Count house said he heard one the previous week.
So below are a few images of the stroll,  I love this area because I was born and raised here about 400 m to the right of this first image.
We had a smallholding the fields of which bordered the hedge on the right of the photo.

BULLER DOWNS

Part of the tin mining trails that run around the Redruth - Camborne area.

The building on the left is an old Count House where the local mine Captain would have lived. This property housed 7 families until 1964 when they were rehoused in the Redruth Area and the building was left to run into disrepair. About 7 years ago two brothers bought it and restored it to its former glory. they turned it into two spacious properties in which they now live.

DUNNOCK.

MEADOW PIPIT.

MEADOW PIPIT.

The reddish sub soil you can see here are the waste deposits from the Tin and Copper mines.

WHITETHROAT.

ACROSS REDRUTH TOWARDS THE COAST.

In the foreground is a typical Cornish stone cottage. beyond Redruth the hill on the Right hand side is St Agnes Beacon and the coast line is part of the North Cliffs on the Atlantic Ocean.

MONO MONDAY ( THE SILVER SURFER ).

Took this image of a sufer during a visit to St Gothian Sands at Godrevy, this is a very popular surfing area with 3 miles of beach everyone has plenty of space.

MORE FROM THE LAST TRIPS.

This is a round up of images taken over the last couple of weeks from trips to, Marazion, Sennen, Gwithian and Porthgwarra.

BLACKBIRD.

CANADA GOOSE.

CHIFFCHAFF.

SEDGE WARBLER.

WHEATEAR.

WHIMBREL.

BLACKTHORN.

SWAN LAKE

Caught this Swan sequence at Marazion Marsh this morning and thought it was pretty impressive,its not often you get them coming straight at you.
Good job I had the camera in continuous shooting mode.

MONO MONDAY (SEA CAMPION)

I remembered  I did take a image on Saturday with a view to using it on a Mono Monday post. this Sea Campion was growing on top of a bank, and was very nicely isolated from the background.

SEA CAMPION.

FINALLY A SHORT LIVED WEATHER BREAK.

Finally had a break in the weather yesterday morning after Northerly winds and rain which seems to have lasted forever.
So got off nice and early to Marazion for a wander around the marsh and beach area to see what migrants had arrived, I was hoping to get Whimbrel, House Martin, Swift and Sedge Warbler.
Would you believe I had all four within 15 minutes, although images of the Swifts and House Martins were impossible with the speed they were flying around.
There were also a number of male species singing although they were still very edgy and not hanging around when approached.
Still managed to get a few pics which made a pleasant change.
On the way back home I called into St Gothian Sands at Gwithian and walked around the reserve but did not find any different arrivals, still it was good to get out once again.
So I have put up a few images from yesterday and have kept a few more for a later post as the weather is not looking good for the next few days with more Northerlies and heavy rain.
I do not have anything new for Mono Monday tomorrow so will troll the archives to see what I can come up with.  

CANADA GOOSE.

MUTE SWAN.

SEDGE WARBLER.

WHIMBREL.

WREN.

MONO MONDAY (THE LONG GRASS).

So here we are again back putting a long overdue post on the blog, the reason I have not been posting is because my Wife and myself have been away for a weeks break to East Yorkshire.
We stayed in Hull and visited the beautiful cities of York and Lincoln,also spent a day in Scarborough. We really enjoyed visiting all the historic places of interest even though the weather was not the best with wind and rain always a threat.
We arrived back late on Friday evening,then Saturday was spent at Bass Point on the Lizard working the Amateur Radio station for International Marconi Day. Sunday was spent doing catch up jobs.
So back to Mono Monday, and I took this image just before we went away, and I feel it portrays the Windy and Cold day it was at St Gothian Sands.

THE LONG GRASS.