Porthgwarra, Drift Reservoir and Stithians Reservoir

Anticipation was high and the car park at Porthgwarra was rammed with optimistic seawatchers - up to 80 of them - almost all of whom went up to Hella Point. Liam, myself, Matt Doyle and a few others went for the thinking-man's option of the cove, where the level view and proximity to the cafe suit me fine. While it was monumentally quieter than we had hoped, highlights for me included a fairly close Cory's Shearwater, four Balearic Shearwaters, a Sooty Shearwater, a Storm-petrel, a couple of thousand Manx Shearwaters, four Whimbrel, two Curlew, 70 Fulmars and a Common Scoter.

We moved on to Drift Reservoir, where the adult SPOTTED SANDPIPER was picking along the opposite bank. Then we caught up with a juvenile Wood Sandpiper at Stithians Reservoir...

Trevescan, Drift Reservoir and West Worthing

An overnight drive with Ed and Gareth - who did a magnificent job of keeping me alert despite their own sleep deprivation - saw us arrive in the grassy car park field at Trevescan just after dawn. To our delight and huge relief the first-winter GREY CATBIRD (Britain's second) that we had travelled to see showed nicely on three occasions during our visit in the scrub just northwest of Treve Moor House. The surrounding area was busy with small numbers of Redwings, Song Thrushes, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Siskins flying over, as well as a heard-only Chough, a Snipe, a Grey Wagtail and a couple of Reed Buntings.

Grey Catbird at Trevescan

Unfortunately we didn't have a huge amount of time on our hands so we left after about three hours to fit in a pit-stop at Drift Reservoir, seeing the reported three Ring-necked Ducks distantly from the road.

Back home and after dark, four Redwings seeped their way over my West Worthing garden.