Wilson's Petrel & Hoopoe

Wilson's Petrel - Thor Veen

After a quiet Spring, it was great to get Autumn off to an excellent start. First off, yesterterday (1st August) saw Thor Veen & Arjen Van t'Hof and myself set off at the ludicrously early hour of 3:00 am to St Ives to join several other local birders on a fishing boat pelagic organised by Paul Freestone from Cornwall birding. About seven miles out, after stirling work by Roysten on the chum and fishing (I never knew Mackerel were attracted to chum), the shout went up - Wilson's Petrel! A lifer for me! After getting on the first, I happened to notice there were two and reckon I just got in there with the shout, so I suppose I can even have it self-found, although in all honesty credit goes to Paul for organising the trip and the albatross crew & Thor for shouting the first. Final haul for the morning also included stonking views of Bal Shear, about 30 stormies, two Arctic Skuas, 3 Common Terns, an Arctic Tern, 3 Puffins, a large shearwater spp, a Med Gull, an Ocean Sunfish & two Risso's Dolphins.

Second off - today saw myself down at Windmill Farm on the Lizard. Walking back to the van after a fruitless visit to Ruan Pool, I heard what sounded very much like a Hoopoe. It being early August, not April and Cornwall, not Spain, I didn't really believe my ears, but after about a 10 minute search of the adjacent fields, sure enough, up flew a Hoopoe heading towards the goat willow. Seem to have developed a habit of getting out of season migrants. In true fashion, after reaching for my camera in an attempt to digibin it, it buggered off towards Predannack Airfield and I couldn't relocate it, despite searching for about an hour. I gave up on it and headed for a seawatch, which produced Bonxie and common tern, which were notable only insofar as both were, rather embarrassingly, patch ticks.

Other Lizard Wildlife

Summer can be fairly slow for birds, so here's a sample of some other Lizard wildlife snapped with the phone cam (hence the poor quality). Not too great on non-birdy IDs, think I've got them all right now, but any comments welcome. Cheers Tony & James for putting me right

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Bog Asphodel
















Four-spotted Chaser















Slender Club-Rush






























Green-winged Orchid

July sightings

July is generally a quiet month, but as proved quite good at least insofar as I've seen a noteworthy bird almost evertime I've been out. It started with a Storm Petrel fluttering past Lizard Point on the 7th, with a Balearic Shearwater past there on the 12th offering nice comparisons with the Manxie it was with. There also seems to be quite a few Med Gulls around, with two 1st winters at Swanpool on the 9th and a near-adult on the Penryn River on the 18th and loads reported elsewhere in Cornwall. Apparently a very good breeding season on the continent. Wader numbers picking-up too, with a Green Sandpiper on Ruan Pool on the 17th and a Greenshank on the Penryn River on the 15th and 18th. Curlew and Redshank increasing in numbers there, with about 20 of each, but no other wader species bar a Common Sand

Seawatching

I've never been the biggest fan of sea-watching in the past. I've done, my bit and scored stuff like Cory’s in Norfolk, but I don’t really have the patience to sit there for hours on end waiting for the unlikely to happen. Somehow in Cornwall, sea-watching takes on a more appealing dimension. I suppose the main reason is that you're far more likely to actually find a decent bird. 710 Cory’s flew past Lizard Point in 6 hours last year and you’ve actually got an outside chance of scoring a Fea’s. I think another reason its appealing at the moment, is that there's Scottish Football Association else around at tis time of year, but July is actually the peak month Cory’s. To be honest though, thus far, my struck rate with rare passerines has been nil (hence the lack of updates) and so far and virtually everything noteworthy I’ve found has been at sea: Sab Gull in April (the 1st British spring record for several years) and more recently Bal Shear & Storm Petrel – common birds here, but novel enough for me to keep me interested. Anyway – as a guide to what to go for when and how likely you are to score have a look at the charts above (click on it for a legible version). Numbers are mean number of records per day in Cornwall based on submissions to Birdguides.

A week in Menorca

Balearic Woodchat Shrike - note the absence of white primary patch and more extensive black on the crown (photo courtesy of Dave Appleton - www.gobirding.eu)

One of the perks of being a professional ecologist is that you occasionally swan off to international conferences. I've just come back from a week in Menorca, and although it wasn't a birding trip I did manage a few of the resident highlights including, Audoin's Gull, Gypo Vulture (x3), Bee-eaters (x5), Black Kite (x8), Hoopoe, loads of Calandra & Thekla Larks and Zitting Cists, a Stone Curlew and a Balearic Woodchat Shrike. Some of these are exactly the kind of thing I'd hope to find on The Lizard this Spring, but almost certainly won't. Speaking of vagrancy - it was interesting to see that a Bal Woodchat turned-up in Ireland shortly after I returned. This got me thinking. These badius boys regularly fly over the range of senator in North Africa and goodness knows how many make it to Spain? Why don't they interbreed? Surely a good candidate for a full species under the BSC if ever there was one....

The Lizard in Spring

Digiscoped at Hayle Kimbro Pool 24/4/2009 I wish!

Having successfully modified my research work to (a) ensure that it involves lots of fieldwork on the Lizard and (b) involves fieldwork this spring, I'm spending quite a bit of time down there. However, much as I'd like to say that the photo (left) was taken on the Lizard recently, and that I'm a fully paid-up member of the suppression gang, it wasn't and I'm not. The reason I haven't updated the blog much recently, is simply that I haven't actually seen anything worthwhile. Today was a little better. Plenty of hirundines and mipits moving through ahead of a thunderstorm, at least 4 groppers, 1 singing Cuckoo, a Tree Pipit and a Redstart, suggested a few migrants were around as well as the resident Dartford Warblers and Choughs.

P.S. A pint to anybody who can guess where the photo was taken. Clue: I did take it last week.

1st winter Sabine's Gull

1st winter Sabine's Gull west past Lizard Point, 9:05am, 9th April 2009

It is well known fact that most serious birders, whether they admit it or not care about their reputation. It is also a well known fact that a sure-fire way to destroy your reputation is to claim outrageous single-observer records on a sea-watch, particularly if it's the first bird you've found in your newly adopted county. Imagine therefore, the rather curious mixed feelings of trepidation and elation I felt when I watched a 1st winter Sabine's Gull fly past Lizard Point last Thursday. Exceptionally rare in Spring and a bloody good record even if I say so myself. However, not only quite common in Autumn, but also exactly the kind of bird that raises a few eyebrows and causes even the most genial to cast aspersions. Why couldn't it have been something nice and shiny and enjoyed by the masses, like a Great Spotted Cuckoo or a Snowy Owl? Anyway - after watching it for about a minute and a half as it flew past, I was able to take a few fieldnotes. Make of them what you will. The fact it was almost entirely in 1st winter plumage and only just beginning moult into 1st summer struck me as odd. I know Sabs have a reverse moult strategy compared to most gulls, but would have expected the bird to have moulted on wintering grounds. Any thoughts?