Telscombe, Hayle Estuary and St.Gothian Sands

I started the day at Telscombe, in search of the recently reported Quail. A couple of singing Corn Buntings and Yellowhammers, along with a fair few Skylarks and a handful of House Martins and Swifts were among the birds noted. However, my quest was cut short by news of the American Royal Tern's reappearance, this time on the Hayle Estuary in Cornwall.

Things were quickly shifted around and I set off west. News on the bird was positive till late morning and by the time I arrived at the Hayle Estuary at 4pm it had not been seen for over five hours. I wasn't quite sure how to play it but scanned the estuary for a short while, with three Whimbrel, five Wigeon and seven Little Egrets the most noteworthy observations, before taking a punt on looking off St.Gothian Sands, despite the bad light.

At St.Gothian Sands, there was of course orange-billed tern offshore but a steady procession of Manx Shearwaters went by, along with smaller numbers of Fulmar, Gannet, Kittiwake, Shag, Guillemot and Razorbill. A Reed Warbler was singing in the reedbed and another was gathering nesting material nearby. The main pool hosted Little Grebe and 15 Sand Martins, while a Meadow Pipit was in song on the slopes.

Deciding I wasn't in a fit state to drive back home, I crashed out at the Penzance YHA, getting a dorm to myself for £15, perhaps the biggest win of the day.

Porthgwarra and Hayle Estuary

With news of a Black-browed Albatross off Lizard Point the previous evening, the first morning of my weekend in Cornwall at Liam's started at Porthgwarra. We felt pretty optimistic that it might well pass through, and a Sooty Shearwater (plus another seen by others) early in the morning further inspired us. I logged a surprising seven Manx Shearwaters - and this was only about half of the birds called - as well as a Great Northern Diver, a Bonxie, four Curlews, and of course Rock Pipits, good numbers of Fulmars, Gannets, Shags, Razorbills, Guillemots and Kittiwakes.

We felt safe enough to leave at about 3pm to look through the gulls at Hayle Estuary, picking out the regular 3CY Caspian Gull and three Yellow-legged Gulls (a displaying pair of adults and a near-adult). Also there was a Greenshank and 220 Curlew, plus Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Wigeon, etc.

Marazion, Hayle Estuary, Porthgwarra and Stithians Reservoir

An aspiration to find a rare wader or two was much of the motivation for the Cornish trip, and as such we started at Marazion beach shortly after dawn. Visibility was terrible but we marched up and down a decent stretch of the beach, though we only found four Sanderlings, 10 Ringed Plovers, 14 Turnstones, 11 Mediterranean Gulls, a Dunlin, a Rock Pipit and an Oystercatcher for our efforts.

Hayle Estuary was next up. A Water Rail showed for a long time right out in the open. The five juvenile Knot were still present, while an adult Spotted Redshank, two juvenile Ruff, a Common Sandpiper and 85 Dunlin were the most notable among the other waders. Teal numbered 140, a Rock Pipit flew over and a few Mediterranean Gulls were around.

Water Rail at Hayle Estuary

Ruff and Knot at Hayle Estuary

A seawatch at Porthgwarra for just over three hours around midday was worthwhile, not least for the 43 Great Shearwaters seen, almost all of which were in a spectacular single flock! I also noted 31 Balearic Shearwaters, eight Sooty Shearwaters, three Arctic Skuas, two Bonxies and 10 Common Scoters. The usual Gannets, Shags, Fulmars, Manx Shearwaters, Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills and Rock Pipits featured, as they did on each visit.

I enjoyed a visit to Stithians Reservoir later, although it was a bit gusty to view comfortably. A 1CY White Wagtail, Greenshank, 30 Curlews, 12 Dunlin and four Ringed Plovers were the highlights.

1CY White Wagtail at Stithians Reservoir

Hayle Estuary and Porthgwarra

With the weather looking promising for Cornwall and a few days with no real commitments, I seized the chance to head down to Falmouth to stay at Liam's new flat for a couple of nights. Arriving mid-afternoon, we headed first to the Hayle Estuary, enjoying five Knot and a Ruff - all juveniles - as well as a Kingfisher. A few Teal and Wigeon (the latter numbered 55)  were among the other birds logged. With some daylight to spare we thought it was worth a short evening seawatch off Porthgwarra, scoring 18 Balearic Shearwaters, five Sooty Shearwaters and a Bonxie. We also heard a Chough over the car park.

juvenile Ruff at Hayle Estuary

Porthpean, Newquay, St. Ives and Hayle Estuary

Liam and I started at Porthpean on a fine morning indeed, enjoying wonderful views of three Surf Scoters (two 2CY drakes and a female), a female Velvet Scoter and a Long-tailed Duck, as well as two fly-over Siskins and several Fulmars and Gannets. Next up was Trenance Pool in Newquay, where the long-staying 2CY Ring-billed Gull afforded close-up views. A seawatch from St. Ives Island produced three Great Skuas, 15 Red-throated Divers, a Razorbill and several Kittiwakes, Gannets and Shags. Finishing at Hayle, the five Goosanders showed well, three Greenshanks were noted and Dunlin numbers had increased to perhaps 150.

Surf and Velvet Scoters off Porthpean

2CY Ring-billed Gull at Trenance Pool

Hayle Estuary, Penzance and Mousehole

Much later than initially planned, I caught up with my good friend Liam L mid-afternoon and we headed to the Hayle Estuary, seeing five Goosanders and a scattering of waders including Grey Plovers, Bar-tailed Godwits and Curlews, before heading to Penzance. From Jubilee Pool we had five Purple Sandpipers, two Great Northern Divers, a Rock Pipit and a Great Skua, plus a few Guillemots, Shags, Kittiwakes and Gannets. We finished at Mousehole, where a 2CY Glaucous Gull roosted on St. Clement's Isle.

2CY Glaucous Gull at Mousehole

Norfolk and Cornwall

I've been away for the last few days. First of all I was in Norfolk, on Saturday and Sunday. I didn't really have time to do much birding as such but helped David Darrell-Lambert with a survey, where we found five Stone-curlews, a juvenile female Goshawk and a fair few Crossbills. There with family to see my unce and aunt, we spent Sunday afternoon on their boat on Hickling Broad - picked up a few marshland birds there including a couple of Marsh Harriers and a few Common Terns.

Stone-curlew, just into Suffolk

Early on Monday morning I set off for Cornwall where a couple of days of seawatching were planned with Liam. Arriving at Porthgwarra mid-morning we set up our scopes and began our vigil. It was obvious that things weren't going to kick off and we only managed to pull a couple of Balearics out of the bag. I took this opportunity to catch up on a little sleep and kipped for a while as Liam kept watch. A Chough was a welcome bit of extra interest. Also three Ravens. We checked the Hayle Estuary where there was a selection of common waders including a couple of Whimbrel, decent numbers of Sanderlings and an impressive gathering of 18 Common Sandpipers. Also a couple of Med Gulls.

Tuesday morning the conditions didn't look terribily great but we thought we'd give it a good go and set the alarm for 5.30am. There was slightly more variety with a Storm-petrel and a couple of Puffins alongside Balearic Shearwater, but we only recorded one of this species! I was starting to think this seawatching trip was going to be a disaster when Liam shouted that he had a large shearwater, praying it to be my main quarry I managed to get onto it fairly quickly and indeed it was a Cory's Shearwater! It was quite far, being noticably beyond the Runnelstone but it was enough to see what it was and we had it in view for about five minutes as it headed east; the bird's primaries on one wing were pretty bashed up. Mission accomplished then, Cory's being one of my biggest remaining 'tart's ticks', we packed it in late morning and headed to the Hayle Estuary where we found much of the same as the previous day. That was enough birding for the day for us and we chilled at Liam's flat for the rest of the day, in keen anticipation of what was perhaps to come in the morning, when the weather looked favourable for seabirds.

The alarm was set early once more yesterday morning and as soon as we stepped out of the flat we could tell that we were probably in for a decent watch. We started seawatching from the cove near the car park and Liam, being on fire with large shearwaters, picked up a Great Shearwater heading west - superb! A few minutes later and I located two birds headed past together... things were looking good. About an hour in and we were also into double figures of Balearic Shearwaters and had clocked a couple of Storm-petrels as well as a Bonxie. We moved up to Hella Point where a couple of birders we'd met on Monday had just arrived. It wasn't long before we started picking up the odd Great Shearwater again and the tally steadily increased. Eventually, one bird proved to be a Cory's Shearwater; it was surprising that the ratio of big shears favoured Greats to such an extent. After the other birders left we had another Bonxie, another Cory's and additional Great Shearwaters. The resident pair of Choughs showed well, doing their undulating flight right by us. Martin Elliott and a friend then arrived and after a lull the action resumed, with further Great Shears and another Cory's, this time giving the views that I was after as it lazily toured the waves within Runnelstone distance. This saw me satisfied, I needed to get back home at a reasonable time and Liam wanted to get back to see his friends at his flat to we called it a day shortly before 4.00pm, following a long and productive seawatching shift, perhaps the best seawatch I've ever had. We said goodbye to the other chaps and Liam told them they were bound to get something like a Fea's Petrel now that we were leaving... later that evening I heard less than two hours after we left they picked up nothing other than a bleeding Fea's Petrel... bloody gutting to come that close and I didn't realistically see that coming at the time (though I might have been keen to stay a little longer if I'd known about the three Fea's Petrels in Ireland before we left). That's birding, the high of seeing scarce birds followed by the sinking feeling when you realise what you'd have been treated to if you'd stayed just a little longer......

We finished our birding off with a call in at Hayle on the way back to Liam's flat. Quiet, but six Med Gulls were nice to see. Cheers Liam for the hospitality - most kind!