Winter Cornish Capers (Day 2) - Peaky Divers

Sea-watching at Penzanze

 Pacific Diver (File Photo)

Top sea watching stop

Eider

Rock Pipit

Eastern Black Redstart

Eastern Black Redstart

Eastern Black Redstart

Drift Reservoir

Pendeen

With the wind having dropped on our second day in Cornwall we were hopeful for much improved views of the Pacific Diver. We headed straight to Jubilee Pools and set up ready for a what could be a lengthy session. There was no need to worry as we found the Diver inside fifteen minutes and it was 100% the same bird we had seen the previous day.  The bird was generally in a line from the right edge of the Mount back to Jubilee Pools. All very satisfied we watched the waders below us including a superb count of 84 Sanderling, 20 Purple Sandpipers, 47 Ringed Plover, 12 Dunlin and we also added Shag, Common Scoter, Mediterranean Gull & Eider to the trip list. 

The Eastern Black Redstart round the bay at Mousehole was our next stop which was a place I'd not been to previously. As we arrived we saw the bird fly into the garden above the steps but it only took a couple of minutes before it returned. The bird had been reported as very confiding however he did keep his distance clearly he wasn't happy we hadn't brought the meal worms which he seems to have grown accustomed to. A Rock Pipit and a Grey Wagtail were both recorded in the vicinity.

The drive to Nanjizal valley left Paul rocking with travel sickness leaving him looking whiter than the Eider duck and he did well to keep up as we tried our luck to find a rare Bunting. No buntings but we picked up a hunting Merlin & a short tailed Peregrine. A rain shower caught us just before we reached the car but we did pick up a Brambling on the edge of the farm. 

Drift Reservoir held a surprise when we found two Cattle Egrets in the field behind. Other scoped views we obtained were a Wigeon flock , two Mandarin (inc an albino) & two Great Crested Grebes.

Before wrapping up our morning we had a quick look at Pendeen before heading back to Hayle where our final trip bird was a Bar-tailed Godwit. 

Moray Firth - Day 2

Chanonry Point

Dunlin

Dunlin

Turnstones

Pink-feet fly pass

Wheatear and Rock Pipit

Common Gull

Udale Bay Nature Reserve

Red-breasted Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

Shag

Flock of Scaup

End of a great days birding

After an over indulgent breakfast, quite a common theme, we headed north to the Black Isle. The Black Isle is not an island, but a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water – the Cromarty Firth to the north, the Beauly Firth to the south and the Moray Firth to the east.

Our first stop was Chanonry Point a beautiful setting by a light house. A Wheatear could be seen in the same scope view as a Rock Pipit giving us a great start whilst the jetty held Shags and Turnstones. A nice flock of Dunlin treated us to some super views before landing close by on the beach whilst out in the bay there was Red-throated Divers, Razorbill, Guillemots, Black Guillemots and a selection of gulls.

After crossing the bridge to Udale Bay Nature Reserve the tide come in pushing large numbers of waterfowl and wading birds. A small spit of land was simply covered with Oystercatchers, Knot, Wigeon, Lapwing, Bar-Tailed Godwits, Golden Plover, Grey Heron and three Pink-footed Geese. Out on the water there were no less than 7 Slavonian Grebes and a small flock of Red-breasted Merganser. In the stubble field behind our first Hooded Crow was on display. This was the first of many throughout the rest of the trip.

Heading round the coast we came across a flock of 200+ Scaup, an awesome sight whilst there were good numbers of Long-tailed Ducks. The male birds looked awesome in flight along the coast.

A pub lunch on the harbour allowed us to see a large flock of Kittiwakes fly past and 400+ Eider whilst two Rock Pipits flew around the parked cars. With the rest of the party tucking into lunch I located Harbour Porpoises just out of the harbour which were then past by a Great Northern Diver. We did try a late afternoon twitch for a Hoopee but it had moved on hours before but there was a Pale-bellied Brent Goose off shore.

On the evening Alan gave us and the other hotel guests a talk about their tour of Finland and Norway. Most definitely a place to visit in the future !