West Cornwall.

A nice sunny day at the end of October and a drive down for a little tour of West Cornwall. First stop was Marazion marsh and a search for the Red Backed Shrike which had been around for a few days, one or two birders were looking in its usual spot with no luck but after a wander around the marsh I found it sitting in the top of some bushes, showing quite well, a good year tick.

I then carried on to Drift resevoir but very quiet here so down to Sennen where I enjoyed watching the local Choughs, some visiting a garden bird table , never thought I would see this a few years ago!.

A short drive gown to Kenidjack valley to look for Yellow Browed Warbler and Firecrest but no joy, but happy to spend a bit of time standing in a stream watchig a Grey Heron approach me.

Finally on the way home, as the light was fading I stopped in at Ryans Field in Hayle, where a Spoonbill slept and a Kingfisher made a couple of flybys as well as some close ish Oystercatcher and Greenshank.

Great Grey Shrike.

Back in mid October I made two visits to Crowdy on Bodmin moor where a Great Grey Shrike had been found. Great Grey Shrikes used to be a fairly regular winter visitor, with one or two turning up not too far from home, nowadays it seems sightings are much more few and far between, so this one not being very far away was a must to try and see. A few birders were on the bird when I arrived but it was always fairly distant, so I only managed a few record photos, but good to catch up with another one as well as a few faces I had'nt seen for a while.

Snow Buntings.

A week after seeing the very confiding Lapland Bunting in Cornwall, I went with friends to see two equally confiding Snow Buntings at Budleigh Salterton in South Devon. The Buntings were spending most of their time scuttling around an area of pebble beach and feeding on the nearby vegitation, not at all seeming to mind the birders, photographers and passers by admiring them.

A good days birding

!4th October 2024. I had a day out down on the Lizard in Cornwall, mainly to look for the Red Flanked Blutail which had been around for a couple of days.( I had seen one before but that was twenty odd years ago). Finding this bird proved to be a bit of a slog, after parking at Kynance, a long walk along the steep coastpath and through very muddy fields to the cove where the Bluetail was meant to be , no other birders were around ( It was qiute early) I could'nt find the exact spot and ended up walking the long way back ,hot and sweaty and now getting wet in the heavy drizzle, with my feet covered in mud and cow s..t., should'av brought my wellies.But things started to look up as I headed into Lizard village where I easily found the juvenile Rosy Starling with a flock of Common Starlings on overhead wires.

From here ( after buying the obligatory pasty )I went to look for the Lapland Bunting which had been showing really well over at Goonhilly downs, I found this site fairly easily and enjoyed very close views of a bird I.d seen a few times ,but never this close and not photographed . I lay on the ground and it just walked around feeding in front of me, so very pleased.

Decided as I was here may as well have another go for the Red Flanked Bluetail, the rain had stopped and I had dried out , so another long walk where this time I met a few birders who put me onto the exact spot ( frustratingly only a very short distance to where I'd turned back this morning). The bird was showing only intermittently around the hedges of a farmhouse ,and every time it showed the local Robins would drive it off, but I had good views and managed to get a few record shots.

On the walk back to the car , it was nice to see some Choughs feeding close to the footpath. So a good day in the end.

Waders on Marazion beach.

We spent a few days down at Marazion in West Cornwall, staying in the van in a campsite pretty much adjacent to Marazion marsh annd beach. A couple of early mornings trying to beat the dog walkers on the beach where quite a few waders were at the waters edge.Good numbers of Sanderlings running back and forwards and a few Turnstone and Dunlin and one Knot. I managed to get quite close to the Knot, a species i,ve really not got too many decent photos of before, and lying down on the sand to try and get some low level photos of the Sanderling and Turnstone. What a nice place to be first thing in the morning.