Falmouth Birding (3 Viewers)

[dantheman]

First thing this morning -

Whimbrel Pendennis and Med Gull Gyllyngvase beach

A little later -

Stithians, Stuart Hutchings Hide -

6 Ruff (Presumably 4m 2f)
1 Whimbrel
1 Black-tailed Godwit
16 Curlew
2 Common Sandpiper
1 Green Sandpiper
1 Ringed Plover
10 Dunlin
Kingfisher
15 House Martin
1 Sand Martin
5 Teal etc

Southern Hide -

Kingfisher
12+ Chaffinch
3 Goldfinch
6+ Great Tit
5 Blue Tit
Dunnock
Blackbird
2+ Chiffchaff (1 singing)
GSWoodpecker
Jay
Buzzard etc

Swung by Gorrangorras on way back -

30+ Curlew
c20 Redshank
6 Oystercatcher

 

[Trotsky1977]

Stithians Main hide 1030hrs with JSL and Trispin

6 Ruff
8 Dunlin
Kingfisher
Fem Peregrine attacking at pool in front of hide
Whimbrel
20 Curlew
Ringed Plover
10 Swallow
2 GC Grebe
Little Egret
10 Cormorant

 

[Trotsky1977]

Stithians after work again Main hide 1615-1735hrs with Shaun Martin and Steve K

Wood Sandpiper IDed by Steve in scope but came across in front of hide
2 Common Sandpiper
9 Ruff (most I've seen)
Whimbrel
1 Curlew
Ringed Plover
30 Swallow
2 GC Grebe
2 Little Egret
10 Cormorant
10 LBB Gull
Grey Heron

 

[Trotsky1977]

Stithians today 1745-1930hrs came up to check out the Yellow-Legged Gull reported on the EcoSoc FB page but could not locate it.

BLACK TERN (confirmed by Dan) swooping and feeding. Feeding mostly to the right of the Main hide (?west). Well chuffed at that one.
15 Teal
Male Gadwall
10 Curlew
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Whimbrel
Wheatear
3 Ringed Plover
8 Dunlin
10 Ruff
10 Cormorant
5 Snipe
6 Jay probably flying to roost to the east of the main hide

 

[dantheman]

Stithians today 1745-1930hrs came up to check out the Yellow-Legged Gull reported on the EcoSoc FB page but could not locate it.

BLACK TERN (confirmed by Dan) swooping and feeding. Feeding mostly to the right of the Main hide (?west). Well chuffed at that one.
15 Teal
Male Gadwall
10 Curlew
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Whimbrel
Wheatear
3 Ringed Plover
8 Dunlin
10 Ruff
10 Cormorant
5 Snipe
6 Jay probably flying to roost to the east of the main hide

Nice one indeed! Took a few pics, mostly quite blurry, but a few recognisable blurs at any rate, will post up in due course. Cheers.

Aside from your west being east and your east being west ( ), a few other bits I think we had, for the record;

3 Grey Heron
1 Grey Wagtail (flyover)
1 Common Sandpiper (or did you have more?)
c30 Curlew
(14) Cormorant
70 Mallard
and other exciting stuff like pigeons which we won't go into here.

Wood Sandpiper also reported today (Birdguides) - I put the Black Tern on, but they declined to include the Ruff, Whimbrel and YL Gull ...

 

[dantheman]

Stithians again this afternoon -

NE end -

3 White Wagtail on the shoreline
1 Lesser Whitethroat

Stuart Hutchings Hide - joined by Simon VH after work.

1 Lapwing (first of the autumn)
2 Ruff
2 Whimbrel
2 Ringed Plover
2 Common Sandpiper
1 Curlew
18 Teal
2 Wigeon
2 Tufted Duck
1 Canada Goose
2 Great Crested Grebe
5 Black-headed Gulls
3 Pied Wagtail
1 Chiffchaff
etc

The Black Tern was still present briefly this morning, but looks like it didn't hang about unfortunately. Siskin over am too and a Barn Owl yesterday (Crispin Benton and JSL). A lot of new stuff getting seen - time of year in terms of birds moving and observer coverage!

Swung by Penryn River around high tide on way back - Gorrangorras as viewed from beside Lidl's -

18 Curlew
30 Redshank
1 Greenshank
1 Oystercatcher
4 Little Egret

 

[dantheman]

Hopefully a few pics of the juv Black Tern ...

It flew over the road at one point - it's a fuzzy dot over one of the trees in the middle.

 

[dantheman]

Ringed Plovers

3 Ruff and a Ringed Plover

White Wagtail

 

[Trotsky1977]

Hopefully a few pics of the juv Black Tern ...

It flew over the road at one point - it's a fuzzy dot over one of the trees in the middle.

Nice piccies Dan...good effort :t:

 

[Trotsky1977]

Hopefully a few pics of the juv Black Tern ...

It flew over the road at one point - it's a fuzzy dot over one of the trees in the middle.

What features make it a juvenile rather than adult winter?

 

[dantheman]

What features make it a juvenile rather than adult winter?

In the field at the time the darker saddle (back) - dark greyish brown and striated. Also the dark outer tail sides and lack of extensive dark wingtips can be seen in the third pic above (as can the saddle, just about).

Roll on next May and a full summer adult would be nice (though unlikely!)



According to Birdguides this being the 5th record or so in the last 15 years at Stithians of Black Tern;
1 Aug 2001;
2 juvs Aug 2005;
1 for two days September 2010
1 Oct 2010

 

[dantheman]

Stithians again this morning for a change, WeBS count day, but first a quick look at the coast;

Castle Beach

3 Whimbrel
1 Med Gull
13 Oystercatcher
c30 BH Gull

Gyllyngvase Beach

1 Med Gull
2 Sandwich Tern
2 Ringed Plover

Stithians

3 Peregrine (1ad 2 imm) - 1 imm chasing a Ruff off and into the distance, another attacking 2 Raven for several minutes.

7 Ruff, 5 Ringed Plover, 33 Curlew, 1 Lapwing, 2 Dunlin, 5 Common Sandpiper, 1 Kingfisher, 2 Wigeon, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 26 Little Grebe etc

8 Wheatear (6 on east side shoreline, 2 on west side field)
2 Whitethroat
2 Whinchat (east side, south of dam)
1 Spotted Flycatcher
20+ Chiffchaff
1 Blackcap
50+ Swallow
1 House Martin
5 White Wagtail
13 Pied Wagtail
1 Grey Wagtail
etc

Lots of fly fishermen and windsurfers in addition to the regular walkers/dog walkers and joggers.

Holly Blue, Large White, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood butterflies and an Adder I nearly fell on top of.

 

[dantheman]

Quick look at College and Argal this evening - unexciting as expected, although the usual 100 - 200 Swallows + the odd martin over Argal and 2 Grey Wagtails below the dam.

 

[dantheman]

Bit of a brief amble around the coastal patch first thing this morning - mostly pretty quiet on the whole, but -

Pendennis - c.15 Chiffchaff around the Coastguards, with Blue and Great Tits, 15 Goldfinch and 10 Greenfinch also.

Castle Beach - 1 Whimbrel, with 2 Sandwich Tern offshore


Friday - imm. Herring Gull in Fish Strand Quay, Falmouth - colour ringed on it's left leg W 062 (in white on a blue ring), the other leg was missing.

Thurs - 1 Dunlin, 2 Little Egret and 3 Wigeon at Stithians

 

[dantheman]

Struggllng with too much work to get much birding in, and internet connection problems at other times not helping.

However, managed a good half hour or so College Res this afternoon -

c.100 Redwing and Fieldare mixed flock over as I drove in
1 Firecrest (S end near road).
1 Shoveler male
1 Bittern (just N of island on W side)
1 Water Rail heard

Also c.100 Herring Gulls, 15 Wigeon, 5 Mallard, 25 Coot, 15 Teal, 3+ Goldcrest, Coal Tit etc

Back on Friday 16th Firecrest in the garden in Falmouth (plus an interesting call, but hey); Thursday 15th saw 2 Fieldfare and 5 Redwing near Treverva.

Stithians on Monday 19th - first Golden Povers (10) of the season, with other interest including Goldeneye, Green Sandpiper and Dunlin etc. Both Short-eared Owl and Hen Harrier had been seen the preceding week!

 

[dantheman]

Penryn River this afternoon at high tide -

Gorrangorras -

76 Curlew in pony field
36 Mallard
3 Greenshank
7+ Redshank

Stithians yesterday (Monday 26th), poor weather -

Goldeneye again in front of SH Hide
75+ Teal
35+ Mallard
etc

 

[dantheman]

Stithians this morning -

3 Green Sandpiper together from the SH hide together were nice.

Treverva - c.300 Redwing over

Also note from birdguides two Black Redstarts in two locations today - always nice.

 

[dantheman]

2 Firecrests in the Falmouth garden this morning, flitting around in the apple tree, 2+ Blackcap also.

Treverva - Redwings, Fieldfares and c.30 Siskin over

 

[Samuel Perfect]

Hello! :hi:

Happy birthday Dan!! :-O

Hope all you Falmouth birders are well. I'm still up in Scotland but will be leaving around 20th November so looking forward to heading back to Falmouth shortly afterwards.

Sorry for my lack of online presence, been a bit hectic the last few weeks. Very keen to get on with some winter seawatchng when I get back, any signs of some passage?

WEBS on the go again I guess?

Birds flooding in from the north, they should reach you down in Cornwall shortly, winter is on the way!

 

[dantheman]

Cheers! B

Work Party at Stithians today, which was fun (ish, in the rain, although it cleared up mid morning) - futile attempts at a scrape and other stuff. Managed to keep the important news of the day (my new age) hidden from the massed volunteers though.

(Some nice birds as it turns out, will post up in a bit).

Saw you're still on North Ron from a blog post in the week, and presumably you now did catch up with Woodcock ... on the deck?

Don't know about passage Falmouth tbh, JLS has only had 1 diver, a Black-throated so far this season, but Tony Blunden reports juv Sabs, 3 Balearics and a Manx Shearwater from Lizard today. WeBS - report on the blog of course ...