WOW WHAT A DAY!

Well it's Sunday Morning and this should have been Saturday's Post so here's the rundown.

The morning was bright and sunny with no sign of the predicted southerly storm, so drove down to Carbis Bay near St Ives (Pics above) and joined two friends for a mornings birding.Not many birds in the bay so we decided to head for Marazion on the south coast in the hope that with the coming storm a certain bird may come inshore.

Arriving after a short drive and about one hour before high tide, there was a good surf running. It was down onto the beach with camera's at the ready. So did we find one of the birds we were looking for NO! to our surprise we found SIX, along the beach a group of birders were looking at one in particular that was really close in.

Joining them this one was really obliging and coming to within 1 metre and flying around our legs.

So after 1 1/2 hours of great watching and being thrilled by its ability and 400+ shots later we called it a day as the wind was picking up and storm clouds gathering.

Well your all asking what was this bird, well it's all in the next item and I have given it a name in brackets I thought of whilst watching it.

So folks may I please introduce you to................

GREY PHALAROPE (THE SURF DANCER)

END OF A GREAT MORNING.

So that's the end of a great morning,finishing at about 10.45 am with the wind increasing up to 35mph. Here is one final pic of St Micheals Mount just to show that the sun's not shining here all the time.

PS Welcome to Mark50d, I looked at your thumbnail Mark and saw XH558 Serial No of the AVRO VULCAN so jumped onto your Flickr site and must say some great photo's there. Used to do the airshow circuit's a few years ago myself,aircraft folder is around 1,00o.

So anyone wanting to look at a varied selection of great images,log onto Marks site.

PPS So Saturday was spent trying to edit 400+pics, then had a problem with my internet connection,and finally on saturday night about to update the blog with 70-80 mph winds outside had a big thunderstorm

so shut everything down and went to bed. (End of a pretty eventfull day).

ALE & HEARTY

Well its the weekend and this is the time for a lot of people to forget the daily toil, and enjoy a couple of days relaxation.

So tonight I thought it would be nice to show a couple of typical Cornish Ale houses, or Pubs as their known. The first pic is of the Wheel Inn at Tresillian on the main road between the City of Truro and St Austell. It was very difficult to photograph because of the busy main road, but made up for it with a nice Pint and Pub Lunch.

Picture two shows the Fox & Hounds at Comford on the main road between Redruth & Falmouth and about 1/2 km from my home.

Again very good ale with an excellent Restaurant voted Cornish pub of the year 2008.

RESKAJEAGE & KENNAL VALE

Well midway through another week, and time seems to fly by.So after a hurried update on Monday, and yes we had a great meal will try to get back to normal,and no bird shots for the rest of the week.

First image tonight was taken at Reskejeage Downs on the North cliffs, walking across a field and saw this scene and guessed it would make a great black & white shot. I do love B&W images.

Image on the right was taken at Kennal Vale Nature Reserve near Ponsanooth, and shows one of the water shoots that drove a waterwheel.

Up until the 1950,s Kennal Vale used to be a gunpowder works, and the whole valley is full of derelict buildings and water shoots and is a magical place, so will get back to take some more pics for the blog.

P.S Hello to OZ and thanks for the nice remarks , will talk soon.

BIRD OF THE DAY AGAIN!!! BARN OWL

So have just got in from work, quick cuppa and check on the Blog, as My wife and myself are going out for a friends birthday meal tonight. As you can imagine when I saw that I had 55 visitors to the site yesterday I felt I had to upload something special in the way of saying THANK YOU to Everyone who has taken the time to visit my Blog. These photo,s are special to me, because if there is a more enchanting face in the bird world than that of a Barn Owl someone please tell me. This little guy spent a few weeks on the Stithians Reservoir last Autumn and turned out to be a right little poser as you can see. So please enjoy and again thanks for looking.

BIRD OF THE DAY .THE BUZZARD

After a couple of mornings out birding, I did not get any new images worth putting on the blog.Everything was to far away and mostly dull weather, so I have reverted to a couple of pics from my photo bank.

this is The Common Buzzard and its the largest native Bird of Prey in our county,and can be found in most environments. The Left Picture was taken two weeks ago at a place called Towednack near St Ives.

The right picture was taken at Goonhilly Downs last summer when we went to see a rare visitor the Honey Buzzard.

I spent this morning in the Towednack area doing a 2km walk up over a muddy Moor looking for a rare Snowy Owl which has been there for about three weeks as I wanted to add it to my year list. but due to very high winds it was probably keeping low or had decided to move on.

But I saw it twice before Christmas and as it was the first one in the county since 1948 I consider myself very lucky.

FALMOUTH

This is the port of Falmouth on the south coast , about 6 miles from my home. I make regular visits here as there are always plenty of photo opportunities . Falmouth is the third largest natural harbour in the world. The first shot shows a view accross the harbour towards the Carrick Roads, to the right of the large Green cargo ship is Falmouth Ship Repair, where repairs and refits are carried out in the three dry docks.

Picture two shows the cargo ship Safmarine Europe about to leave No 3 dry dock after her refit.

The final picture is of Coombe Creek on the river Fal at 5am one summers morning. Believe me there is nothing more peaceful or beautiful than to be here in the early morning and see the sun come up.

BIRDS OF THE DAY

Here are my two latest offerings for birds of the day,Both were taken early in 2008 at St Gothian Sands Reserve at Godrevy. The left shot is of a Black Headed Gull which is very common. The Right shot is of a Little Gull which stayed at the reserve for a short time, and is the smallest Gull to be found in the uk.

BEAUTIFUL NATURE

Well thats the first day back at work over, and they say its going to be pretty cold tonight maybe -6c. whatever happened to Globel Warming,

So just had to do something to give me a warm glow and show the beauty thats all around us on warmer days.

The Spiders web was taken last summer when I was out birding at Godrevy. The photo of the Beautiful Demoiselle was taken at the local Nature Reserve at Kennel Vale.