Cornish Capers (Part 5) - Chough & pasties

Chough

Raven

One for the collection

All set for journey back

Shadow shot

Botallack

Bar the returning journey on the pelagic sailing & the following morning we were really blessed with some fantastic weather throughout our three days in Cornwall. With the weather looking glorious we visited at Botallack. Botallack was once a busy industrial landscape but now entertains tourists as part of the Cornish Mining World heritage site and was also featured in Poldark.

Botallack is home to breeding Chough who made us wait a short while for an appearance. Their arrival was dramatic as always, flying in high over us from the north before diving deep into a cliff top crevice. 

We headed back to the M5 and our homeward bound journey to the Midlands. Three superb days, great company and fantastic birds. 

Upton Warren delights (as normal)

Straight on for the Flashes

 Little Egret

 Common Snipe

Pied Avocet 

Opted for a few hours at Upton Warren on Saturday afternoon, as normal the reserve looked fantastic and ready for an influx of migrants.

Starting at the Moors, a Kestrel hovered above the car park as I headed to the east hide. From the hide it was good to see 4 Little Egrets (a bird I've not seen at the gravel pits yet) had moved in whilst a Common Snipe was on the waters edge giving me the chance to get a digiscoped image. A pair of Oystercatchers were displaying on the near island. Other note worthy sightings included 37 Shoveller, three Lapwing, eight Teal, two Gadwall, four Shelduck and 60 Tufted Duck.

I thought I might see a Sand Martin on the Sailing Pool but had to settle for three Great Crested Grebe. As I headed towards the Flashes I picked up five different singing Chiffchaffs.

As always the Avocet were great to observe. One bird fed very close to the hide. Other sightings included 2 Raven (preparing to nest), 25 Teal, four Shelduck, three Oystercatcher, three Lapwing and a pair of Linnets. I did scan the fields a number of times for a Wheatear but they seem very slow in coming through the Midlands at the moment.

RSPB walk at Throckmorton

I saw on the local RSPB website a morning walk led by Worcestershire birder Andy Warr so I thought I'd try it for a change. The hope was to find a few of the rarer Gulls however with all the local flooding the winter population of gulls had been reduced to just 500-600 gulls from the normal thousands. The only gulls located were Black Heads and Herring Gulls.

Around 20 people took part and enjoyed the walk through some very wet terrain. A family of Raven honked noisily as we headed through an orchard which also held Great Spotted Woodpecker, Redwing, Stock Dove, Long Tailed Tits, Mistle Thrush,Goldfinch and Fieldfare.

The lagoons were quiet other than Greylag, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Pochard, Shelduck, Canadian Geese and nine Little Grebe. A couple of Skylark, Buzzard, Snipe and a single Lapwing flew over head.

The far side of the tip saw thousands of Starlings present. Andy estimated that around 10,000 roosted there and it was certainly the biggest roost in Worcestershire. A raptor, most probably a Sparrowhawk put the flock up to give great views. 

The stench and huge amount of plastic bags swirling around the hedgerows wasn't the best of experiences but was pretty much as expected. I certainly couldn't walk round there every week !