SUNRISE SCAUP AND SQUIRRELS

One of the big drawbacks of living in a valley is that we dont get the sunrise or sunsets that others get living in more elevated areas, but just occasionaly Mother Nature rewards us with a real jewel.
Yesterday morning was one of those times, looking out of the window I saw the sky was turning pink really early so grabbing the compact I went into the back garden and waited. Soon the colours started to gain intensity as it illuminated a band of cloud just overhead, Judging it at its peak I took a few images and after a few moments it started to fade, so the image below is of................

MY RARE MORNING JEWEL.

SUNRISE OVER LANNER.

So back to this morning leaving the house at around 09.00am I took a drive to a place called Tehidy Country Park between Camborne and Redruth, this is a large wooded park with a main pool and a few smaller ones a stream and a few miles of woodland walks. The main reason for going was that a Female Scaup had been on the main Pool for a few days, this is another wintering Duck that visits in small numbers with maybe just Two or Three over a winter. On arriving at the main pool I located it almost straight away, and spent the short time I had this morning Taking the images I have posted below.

FEMALE SCAUP.

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Finally on walking back to the carpark I took the image below of one of the many Grey Squirrels that live in the grounds, this park is a very beautiful area but very popular with people from the local area and gets very crowded later in the day and at weekends. Today was very overcast so I did not take any views, but I will go back when the weather improves and take some more photos.

GREY SQUIRREL.

SWAN SONG ON A BITTER-N DAY WITH NO R-EGRETS.

What a great weekend I was up early on Saturday morning, the plan was to go to Marazion, then Drift Res and onto Sennen near Lands End. Stepping out of the house I realized that Jack Frost had been up and about before me as the car windscreen was frozen over. Arriving at Marazion The morn was crisp and clear with the sun peeking over the horizon giving a light of intense clarity, Winter days dont get much better than this. This weekend I was chasing year ticks of winter visitors for my bird log, so firstly below I will list these for the weekend and follow it with some of the images.

MARAZION MARSH. Saturday 23/01/10
Bittern = 3
Water Pipit
Chiffchaff
Sunday 24/01/10
Dark Bellied Brent Goose = 6
Black Redstart

LONGROCK BEACH
Slavonian Grebe = 2
Red Throated diver

DRIFT RES
Whooper Swan.

SENNEN
Golden Plover = 50
Cattle Egret = 2
Sunday 24/01/10
Long Tailed Duck
Little Gull.
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First up is the Whooper Swan at Drift Res, This has to be one of the most elegant of the Swan family. This bird was very confiding allowing close views as it mixed with the resident Mute Swans, The last image is of a Mute Swan for comparison.

WHOOPER SWAN

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Next we have the Bitterns at Marazion which is one of the rarest breeding birds in the UK with  only around 50 -60 pairs. At the moment there are at least 3 at Marizion which shows how the recent cold weather has moved them from their normal areas.

BITTERN

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Finally we have the Cattle Egrets a pair of which are at Brew Farm Sennen near Lands End. This pair appear to have over wintered here. Last year this species bred in the County of Somerset so maybe a breeding population will become established as with the Little Egrets 3 or 4 decades ago.

CATTLE EGRETS

So that's the weekends birding activity, with a good count of scarce winter visitors added to the log. My friend Mark and I refer to days like these as Purple Patches, which sort of mean they dont get much better.

ARGAL RES AND LOE BEACH

Up before the Lark this morning As the forcast promised a fine day,so I was out of the house just before daybreak. The plan was to catch up on some wintering visitors for the year list. First port of call was to a reservoir that I ment to have included in my last post, this is Argal Reservoir near Falmouth and is located about 4 miles East of Stithians. I think this is the most beautiful Res in our area and is not visited enough, although there is a path around the perimeter. So on arrival I took the record shot below for the Blog, and then it was down to business and I soon located what I had come to see, which was a pair of Goosanders, This was quickly followed by another year tick a Great Crested Grebe. Sorry to say these were all to far away for Photographs.

ARGAL RESERVOIR

After this I carried on to my next port of call which I will come to later, but first I will post some of the birds from today and over last weekend.

Above is a Bar Tailed Godwit taken at Hayle Estuary on the left, and on the right is a Coot taken at Stithians.

The two frames above we taken this morning at Loe Beach, on the left is a male Blackbird, and on the right a beautiful little Goldcrest which is one of our smallest birds.

The Little Grebe above left was taken at Stithians, and the Meadow Pipit at Loe Beach this morning.

Next two above were both taken a Loe Beach, on the left is a Rock Pipit and on the right is the almost obligatory Robin.


Finally lets get to my last port of call Loe Beach on the River Fal, The beauty of this place never fails to impress me, and I am sure many others alike. The reason coming here was to catch up with some wintering coastal birds, namely Black Necked Grebes, Red Breasted Mergansers and Common Scoter which spend the winter on the river area known as Carrack Roads, so was I lucky? Yes indeed I saw all three species and had the added bonus of 2 Black Throated Divers and the Goldcrest as well as 2 Common Sandpipers. Sadly these were all to far for Photos except the Goldcrest, as I needed the scope to pick out all the birds on the river. So after a glorious mornings birding I leave you with the final image LOE BEACH on the river Fal.

LOE BEACH.

WELL I BE DAMMED

Thought I would take a break from the nature pics for this post, and bring you some photo's of local birding hotspots and apologies for the title it is only intended as a pun. I have been out birding over the weekend and added some enjoyable birds to the year list, namely Bittern, Shoveler, Slavonian Grebe, and Barnacle Goose to name a few. So without further ado here are todays images.

STITHIANS DAM.

This is the nearest reservior to my home and was constructed in the mid to late 1960's to provide water for Camborne / Redruth and the surrounding area. A shallow valley complete with farm was flooded and in dry Summers when the water level drops you can still see the hedges and some of the buildings.

STITHIANS DAM AREA.

The walk around the reservior is over 4 miles and over the years a number of rarities have turned up here. So this place is well worth a visit.

DRIFT DAM.

Drift Reservior is located approx 4 miles South West of Penzance just off the main A30 Trunk Road, to reach it drive to the top of the village and turn right to Sancreed the Res is about 200 yrds on the right hand side. This is a beautiful location giving great views across the West Cornwall landscape.

DRIFT RESERVIOR.

Drift is a birding hotspot having turned up many rarities over the years, a lot of rare waders and wildfowl have been located here. Drift is a small reservior by local standards, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in great birding and beauty.

Apoligies for my shadow in the bottom shot but I could not avoid it, I will say it is elongated I am not that tall in reality.

GUARDIAN OF THE ICE

Took a tour around Stithians Res again yesterday morning looking for Sawbills :ie Goosander, and although there were plenty of birds out on the water and one has been reported over the last few days I failed to locate it. The cutoffs were still frozen over, and the only bird seen from the main hide was this Gt Black Back Gull which seemed to be standing guard over the area.

GT BLACK BACK GULL

FIELDFARE AND WOODPECKER.

Took a very slippery drive up to StithianS Res yesterday morning, although the road out of the village was fine as I got onto the backroads I encountered a lot of black ice. Anyway I made it without incident, Although most of the cutoffs were frozen over and not a lot of birdlife around on the water. So spent a time observing the feeders in the Southern hide, mostly it was common stuff but I did get the first Gt Spotted Woodpecker of the year. Then it was back to a small electricity sub station near the res, as the fields here normally contain my favourite wintering Thrush the Fieldfare. I still needed some decent shots of this bird, and they are normally very weary,so having set up the tripod close to the fence I was soon rewarded with a couple of these beautiful birds reasonably close. So spent the next 30 minutes taking a lot of photos , and have included a few below.

FIELDFARE.

FIELDFARE.

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER.

A SUPRISE VISITOR

Had quite a suprise this afternoon I looked out into the front garden, and saw two Pied Wagtails, a second glance revealed that one of them was a Grey Wagtail and this was totally unexpected. Normally this is a bird of fast flowing rivers and streams, and as the nearest stream is about 1 mile away I can only assume it was foraging for food away from its normal habitat during these hard times. I think this is an elegant bird with lovely sleek clean lines, although at this time of year a bit dowdy out of its breeding plumage. So below are a couple of images of my welcome visitor, I have also included two of the Pied Wagtail and a Song Thrush that was foraging in the borders.

GREY WAGTAIL

GREY WAGTAIL

PIED WAGTAIL

PIED WAGTAIL

SONG THRUSH

SONG THRUSH

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF BIRDS

For the last two days I have taken a walk through through the lane at the back of the house, as this seem to be where most of the local bird activity is taking place. One field at the top of the lane seems to be the most popular, I suppose this contains a good source of food,as Blackbirds and Redwings forage  in the snow and smaller birds move through the trees around the hedges.
So below are a selection of images taken over the two days.

BLACKBIRD

There were about 15 of these in this one field.

I SAW IT FIRST

Territorial squabbles took place on more than one occasion.

WOODPIGEON.

Some just could not be bothered to watch the goings on.

REDWING.

Others watched with interest.

ROBIN

Some were luckly and had grandstand views.

COMMON BUZZARD.

Maybe there will be a meal at the end of this.

COAL TIT.

Silly birds let them get on with it " Now where is that grub "