SUN - SEA & BIRDING WEEKEND

SATURDAY 12/12/09

" Oh what a beautiful morning " Yes I felt like singing, Sun was bright, Sky was blue, and I had a lot of birding to do.

My wife was out for the day so it was off down to Carbis Bay near St Ives as this is a good spot for Divers. Grebes and Auks during the winter when the wind is offshore. Just standing in this beautiful spot was reward enough on such a morning, birds seen Gt Northern Divers 3, Shags around 50, Razorbills 7 and a possible Little Auk although this was a long way out even with the scope but I was about 70% certain, Also most of the Gull species common to these shores were in view, but all to far away for Photo's.

CARBIS BAY.

So next stop was Hayle Estuary viewing from the main causeway, and what a build up of wintering birds from my last visit. At a guess there must have been 2 or 3 thousand present, so below are a small selection of species seen.

The thing that caught my attention with the Mallards was the bill pattern on the left hand bird. It reminds me of some holy Gothic symbol, could it be that this is the Right Honorable Reverand Mallard with one of his flock.

I spent almost an hour watching this Grey Plover on the left making its way on the waters edge towards me, just a few metres more and it would have given me a good shot as I need one for my archive. Then it stopped and scurried back the way it came and left me with this cropped record shot. On the right are just a few of the species that lined the whole of the shoreline.

COPPERHOUSE CREEK.

So next it was off to the centre of Hayle to stop at Philp's Pasty Shop, where I bought one of their famous Steak Cornish Pasty's for lunch, and drove around the corner to the car park on Copperhouse where I enjoyed every bite. Then I went to the harbour area to see if  any divers were around, but all was quiet so thought I would move on to St Gothian Sands Reserve at Godrevy.

I walked around St Gothian Sands and must say the Bird life was very quiet except for a few Black Headed and Herring Gulls on the main pool with one Little Grebe. So I popped my head over the sand dunes seperating the Reserve from the  Bay and saw that there was plenty of Surfing activity even though the surf was very small.

So I spent a while watching the action and did a small set of this Guy doing his stuff but not always getting it right as the last pic shows. By now it was mid afternoon so decided to call it a day and head home as the temperature and light started to drop.

SUNDAY 13/12/09.

ST. MICHEALS MOUNT JUST BEFORE SUNRISE.

Sunday morning and my pal Mark and I arrived at Marazion just before daybreak,it was really a tranquil setting though very cold. A quick scan of the bay just revealed a couple of Gt Northern Divers far out on the water. It was then across the road to scan the edge of the reedbed as a Jack Snipe had been reported a few days earlier. There were plenty of Snipe on view but not the one we were looking for. Species seen were Teal , Moorhen. Song Thrush, Stonechat Little Egret and Mute Swans.

It was decided we would head for a place called Sandy Cove in Newlyn as a Velvet Scoter was reported the day before. On arrival we had a good scan but nothing was seen so I guess we dipped out on another species. We then decided to drop into Newlyn Harbour (Not literally) as often a Gt Northern Diver can be found in the inner harbour.

On arrival I took a couple of scenes to give an idea of our location, then it was a walk around the harbour where I took the shot of the Herring Gull above.

Just as we moved on Mark spotted our quarry swimming along although a bit to far away for good photos. So an hour later and after loads of shots some of which it gave us closer views we left one of our favourite wintering birds and popped around the corner to Tolcarne Beach, which is where we found 3 Med Gulls one of which is included below.

THE PICK OF THE DAY.

On arrival back home after lunch I went out to check my feeders and a bird quickly flipped away into the trees, but I saw enough to know I had a Coal Tit back this winter. These little birds can be very quick and difficult to photograph. So I set myself up a short distance away, and after a while it started to move through the branches towards the feeders. I was luckly enough to get some nice shots one of which I have included above. I noticed that most of the birds perched on the same branch while waiting to get onto the feeders, so I set the camera on my tripod quite close and fitted my wireless remote. I then retreated indoors and watched through the kitchen window about 30 ft away, and this is how I got the shots of the Blue Tit and the House Sparrows.

PATCHWORK (TRESAVEAN TO BELL LANE )

And now for something completely different, as stated in a previous post I hope to make my birding patch the area of hills overlooking the village of Lanner. Starting at Teasavean on the south east side and finishing at Carn Marth on the North side with the walk back into the village. This area covers 4-3/4 miles in distance, so needless to say I will not be covering all of it in one go as plenty of time has to be allowed for birding. So I have started 200m east of my home at the Trevarth crossroads.

Trevarth Crossroads with the Coppice Inn with the road leading to the village of Carharrack, at this point I will turn around and take the road behind me.

This is the main A393 road leading to Falmouth.

I will be taking this route up through the old Tresavean Mine area to the Mineral Tramway

The lane is now  begining to climb towards the top.

This is the ruins of the Tresavean Mine engine house all that remains of a very extensive mining area.

The lane still continues its upward journey with  open shrub land for a good varity of bird species. On the left in the overgrown area are the old Arsenic tunnels as this was one of the products of this mine. Though they are all sealed up these days when we were kids they were open and I think every kid in the area used to crawl through them on hands and knees, and every so often there were open shafts about 4 ft in diameter to the bottom of the mine many hundreds of feet down. we used to span these with planks of wood and crawl across. You could also see the dried Arsenic deposits on the walls. If our parents knew what we got up to we would have been skinned alive. I WONDER WHAT TODAYS HEALTH AND SAFETY WALLAS WOULD HAVE MADE OF IT.  Bah We were kids and these things had to be done.

As you climb higher the landscape behind you starts to unfold.

Getting near the top of the track the loose stones in the centre can make walking a little difficult.

This view is of the west side of Lanner, the road on the left side is Lanner Hill leading to the town of Redruth 2 miles away. On the right is the rise leadin up to Carn Marth.

At the top this plaque is the start of the old mineral Railway (We call them Tramways or Trams) which used to carry the Tin and Copper and other by products from the mine to ports on the Atlantic coast where they were shipped to processing plants in other parts.

The walking becomes much better along the Tram, and on the Right hand side and in the picture below are the Granite Setts and a section of Track that shows how it would have looked.

Granite Setts with section of track.

Very quiet this morning normally there are Dog Walkers exercising their dogs and during the summer months its a very popular place to take strolls.

This is a  view looking down onto the centre of the Village, The large building in the centre is the Village  Hall and on either side you can see the rows of miners cottages the grew up around the mine. I can remember this area when it was still free from development, the newer buildings did not start to appear until the late 1960's and early 70's. Yes it used to be an open beautiful place to live.

This is the end of the Tram section of this walk as it crosses a small road, I will turn right and make my way back into the Village.

Chapel Hill leading to Bell Lane

At this point I have already walked down the hill 200mtrs but I have condensed the I mages just to give a flavour of the area.All together  I took about 70 Images covering all of this part the walk, I must say at this point that conditions were very Hazy and not the best for clear Photography but its what I got on the day.

Chapel Hill is now leading to Bell Lane around the far corner.

The junction of Bell Lane with the main A393 showing some of the old mining cottages.

View from the junction Westwards towards Redruth, there are many more interesting places around the Village and I hope to include them in later posts.

Looking East down the village.

This is one of the older establisments in the Village and when it was owned by the Morrish family was one of the best Fish and Chip shops for miles around. As a youngster I used to Bash Spuds (Potatoes) here three times a week for a bit of pocket money. Up until about fifteen years ago there were about seven general stores, a Post Office, a Butchers  a Filling Station and Two Pubs.

Sadly only the Post office, 1 Store, the Filling Station with quite a large Self Service Store, the two Pubs and a Bakery are all that remains.

This is one of the larger properties in the village and  possibly belonged to one of the mine owners or a mine Captain.

The Village Bakery.

Back Home, at the bottom of the road is the junction where I started the walk, and are the far left you can just see the front of my car at the entrance of my home.

So I hope you have enjoyed a walk around a small part of my Village and will join me again for Part Two in the near future, and I know the conditions will be much better as its already in the bag.
The photo's for this post were taken on Wednesday 9th December 2009. Equipment used Canon EOS 20D and Tokina 28-70mm f2.8 ATX Pro lens Aperture Priority f8-f16.

WEEKEND ROUNDUP 06/12/09

Normally I like the winter months, for the clarity of light and the low sun creating long shadows which brings an extra dimension to photography. But this year its been a total washout so far with the wettest November on record, and so far December is not much better. At least we have had a relativly dry day today with just the odd heavy shower, so took the chance to go onto Stithians Res this morning. I was hoping a short cold spell in the north of the UK may have driven some wintering wildfowl, :ie Goosander or Goldeneye southwards,but nothing was seen although the Warden Simon Taylor said he had three female Goldeneye on the res yesterday morning. So it was back to photographing normal species. The Meadow Pipit was in the scrub in front of the main hide, and the Rook was taken through the window at home which is why the image is slightly soft.
The others were taken on the Res at Sththians.