Pits moves to 131

Ruff digiscoped from F Peplow

Passage waders remain disappointing however Francis added a female Ruff to the yearlist taking us to 131.

Weekend counts conducted by JB included: 34 Little Grebe + 3 late broods, 19 Cormorant, 3 Grey Heron, 24 Mute Swan, 105 Greylags, 101 Canada Geese, 2 Gadwall, 37 Teal, 545 Mallard, 24 Shoveler 28 Tufted Duck, adult Hobby on field, Peregrine, 25 Moorhen, 63 Coot, 1 Lapwing, 1 Snipe, 1 Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Yellow-legged Gulls, 2 Kingfisher, the first southerly movement of Meadow Pipits - 205 in an hour, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Whinchat, 4 male Cetti's Warblers now singing, 1 Sedge Warbler, 3 Reed Warbler, 2 Lesser and 1 Common Whitethroats, a few Blackcaps, 20 Chiffchaff, 2 Jays and 6 Bullfinches. 

Green Warbler at Buckton

Green Warbler (David Carr)

 

 

When a Green Warbler (recent split from Greenish) was discovered in Buckton, east Yorkshire I was in deepest Cornwall so the chances to see the first twitchable bird of this species on British mainland was zero. It caused a mega twitch which looked to have turned rather messy with birders rushing the bird and getting very shirty with each other. I was glad I was out of the way to be honest. After getting home on Saturday afternoon, I checked social media and it seemed the crowds had reduced so I decided to get up as usual and if reported straight away I'd give it a go. 

With it being a Sunday the roads were pretty quiet and I had no hold ups, the car park was actually ok which was a pleasant surprise. The advertised 1km walk did seem much further but you can hardly complain when you have Gannets streaming past you. 

The ninth record for Britain was in a small copse around 500 metres in front of the costal path. It was a case of find a good view and be patient. There was an early shout of a sighting but I was at the wrong angle and it took over an hour for me to finally spot the bird well enough to see this small warbler that breeds in north Turkey & Iran. I did spend another hour there where I got one further decent view of the bird. The bird had very strong face markings, wing bar and quite bright compared to other autumn warblers. The bird moved very fast which probably was the reason it was so difficult to pin down.

Other birds in and around the copse included a female Redstart, Willow Warblers, Robin, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Wren and a Blackbird. 

This year continues to be an amazing one for rare birds. With Autumn now picking up who knows whats next around the corner.

Many thanks to David Carr who kindly sent me the above images of the bird.

Family Holiday birding in Cornwall

Osprey

Dunlin

Black-necked Grebe

Chough

Stunning coastline in all directions

Red Admiral influx

Southern Migrant Hawker

Wheatear

Stonechat

Dunlin

Little Stint

Little Stint

Ringed Plover

Curlew Sandpiper

Little Stint

Curlew Sandpiper

Just home from a fantastic week away with the family staying just outside St Just in West Cornwall. We spent lots of time enjoying some amazing scenery around the coastal paths and enjoying the most unbelivable house where we stayed.

I managed to get out and do some birding each day of which I'll summarise the sightings. Chough were seen on every costal walk in varying numbers, anyone will do well to miss them.

Hayle - 5 Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Whimbrel, 3 Greenshank, 150 Dunlin

Portgwarra - 5 Fulmar, plent of Gannet, Wheatear, Whinchat & Stonechat

Drift - Juvenile Osprey, 5 Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, Great Crested Grebe

Kelynack - 4 Pied FLycatcher, 10 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Tree Pipit, 15 Willow Warber, 6 Chiffchaff

St Gothian Sands - Black-necked Grebe, Yellow Wagtail, 2 Little Stint, Swift, Whimbrel & Greenshank.

Godrevy - 24 Grey Seal, 2 Wheatear

2 Sandwich Tern, 9 Wheatear