Winter Cornish Capers (Day 1) - Dawn to dusk

We are off to Cornwall

First stop

Squire bagging Lesser Scaup

Spot the hidden beauty

Grey Plover

Wigeon army 

Dunlin flock

Purple Sandpiper

St Micheal's Mount

Hudsonian Whimbrel

You-tube video

Can't beat a bit of gulling

Closer views

When the eldest lads basketball fixtures were announced with a game at Plymouth in January I thought I'd double it up with a birding trip in Cornwall. These plans went astray when he suffered a grade b ligament tear which ruled him out from the trip however the Squire was keen to step in for a two day birding jolly. A four a.m alarm call got us well ahead of the traffic but it was quite a shock when we got out of the warm car on Bodmin Moor for our first stop at Dozmary Pool. Our target bird was a drake Lesser Scaup which took us around fifteen minutes to locate in the near arctic conditions. Other sightings in the notebook were eight Tufted Duck, nine Pochard, Little Egret, a Snipe & Stonechat. The Lesser Scaup was a lifer for Paul so the frozen fingers & running nose were worth it.

Next stop was Hayle where we found another two of our target birds, a juvenile Spoonbill & a Green-winged Teal that did take a bit of finding. The waders were very close to our causeway viewing spot. Other species included Grey Plover, Dunlin, Curlew, Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Redshank, Teal, Wigeon & a good selection of gulls but not the Iceland we were really after. 

Now for the big target the Pacific Diver, first reported in St Austell 2007, it was a species I'd been wanting to catch up with for a long time. By bizarre coincidence a juvenile was reported up in Northumberland as we were in Cornwall. Conditions were far from ideal but on the plus side there were only two divers to be seen, a Great Northern & the Pacific. The problem was the sea was so rough the views were very limited. A return visit in the morning beckoned. Purple Sandpipers & Turnstones fed on the rocks below us. I'd never seen Purple Sandpipers so close & active.

We then headed round to Hope Cove where the Hudsonian Whimbrel past us calling to land on the beach with four little Egrets. Out at sea a flock of Black-necked Grebes were sheltering in the shadow of the mount. 

Our final stop was back at Hayle where we were staying. With the Squire starting to think Iceland Gulls didn't actually exist he then shouted "I've got one" and for sure as I looked through his scope and it was a spanking juvenile. We got a few other birders on to the bird before walking around for a closer view where I took a few shots as best as I could in the fading light.

After a quick battery re-charge we headed up the road to local pub where we met up with top local birder Paul Freestone who maintains the websites Cornwall & the Scillies as well producing the rare/scarce bird reports. Paul had agreed to show us a few of the local sites the following morning.

Cornish Capers (Part 3) - Hudsonian Whimbrel

After some shocking views when I saw my first Hudsonian Whimbrel in Pagham Harbour last year I was keen to try and get some views of the Cornish Whimbrel that had been frequenting Boat Cove. Before starting our short walk we called in for a refreshing lunch (tuna mayo roll) at the beach cafe. Quickly located thanks to some other birders, we didn't have to wait long until the bird took flight from the island and past us to the other side of the beach. Sadly I couldn't get close enough to get any photos however there are some super images on this blog. A absolutely stunning location and well worth a return visit when time allows.

Church Norton Hudsonian Whimbrel

On any distance twitches I like to ensure I get a full days birding in so when a rare Hudsonian Whimbrel was reported in Church Norton, West Sussex close to where the Greater Yellowlegs had been reported in recent months the opportunity was to much to resist.

I was joined by Warwickshire birders Roland and Paul on the journey south which took around 2 ½ hours. Rolands local knowledge proved invaluable thoughout the day.

A very short walk took us to the coast line where the tide was coming in to reach it’s highest point. The Whimbrel had just taken flight to the bottom end of the harbour and it took us some time to relocate the bird. Thankfully we all got two flight views of the bird clearly showing the coloured rump which is different from a Whimbrel which have a white v on their rump and back.  It’s just the ninth record for Britain (and the fifth away from Shetland).

Like most twitches there was the normal quality knober to bore everyone senseless with their tales from the 80’s. The endless drap stories of the good old days proved to much for us so we headed out of the reserve having to be satisfied with our flight views.

Other birds recorded were 2 Little Tern, Common Tern, Curlew, Oystercatchers and a Cuckoo. Given the distance no photos were possible however I did find this great snippet of video by Sean Foote.