March 2012 - Falmouth and St. Mawes

Friday 16th: I travelled down to Cornwall yesterday to spend some time with my Dad. While there, we got out and about to Falmouth, and the Maritime Museum at the harbour. Well worth a visit, it has all things to do with Cornwall's maritime history, present and past. While at the museum, it is possible to go down to the basement of the building and gaze out through toughened glass at the harbour-bed below the water-line.

Barnacle.

Above: A replica Ye Olde English Galleon.

Falmouth Maritime Museum.

Interestingly for me anyway was a barnacle attached to the water-side of the glass. Viewing from the inside, I could see the 'feelers' of the barnacle moving as it adjusted itself. Small fish, I suspect they are termed "fry" we also seen.

Above: Three photos of, a (suspected) Nightingale at Helston.

Above: One of many, many Herring Gulls that frequent Falmouth and most coastal locations around the country...not seen any in South Yorkshire!

Above: Second winter Herring Gull.

Walking through Falmouth, I snapped away with my camera at anything that moved especially the Gulls much to the amusement of Dad! Well, we don't get many, if any where I live.

More Herring Gulls!

Do not feed the Herring Gulls...or any other types of Gull!

A lone Robin

A visit out to the headland where Pendennis Castle and the Coastguard Station is sited. Here more Gulls to be photographed; A Great Black-backed Gull and three Cormorants, Robin, Pied Wagtail and Magpie were amongst the gulls. There was also a 1st Winter Herring Gull calling incessantley until the adult returned with food.

Above: An adult Great black-Backed Gull with a Starfish.

The following day Dad and I drove out to a local lake where, unsurprisingly, there were more gulls, this time Black-headed Gulls, a Little Grebe, Mute Swan and a few Tufted Ducks. That afternoon we had planned to visit St. Mawes, On the way, we called on my sister for a much needed cuppa and then all three of us drove on to St. Mawes. spent a rather wind-swept and rainy afternoon there. All the time, I had my camera at the ready (much to the amusement of Dad) as most of the time I was photographing Gulls! From the Quay Road I took the photo (below) of the twin castles of Pendennis, at Falmouth and St.Mawes castle....in St. Mawes. They were built by Henry VIII in 1539 - 1540 to protect the coast and guard the entrance to the River Fal from our naval rivals of the era.

St. Mawes castle.

Pendennis Castle at Falmouth. From St. Mawes.

Pendennis and St. Mawes Castles, guarding the approaches to the river Fal.

 Rock Pipit - usually only found on the coast... amongst the rocks!

 As you can see, it checks every crevice for tasty morsels.

 The weather in St. Mawes was cold with a fair breeze. This Cormorant caught the fish, climbed up on the rocks and swallowed it...whole!

 You can see the two bulges in the Cormorant's neck as the fish goes down!

 Possible Baltic Gull.

 Great Black-backed Gull - the largest Gull in the world.

Here, we see the Great Black-backed Gull (white legs) and the possible Baltic Gull (yellow legs). The back is black as well. Lesser Black-backed Gulls have yellow legs but a lighter coloured back.

On the way back to Truro, we called in to a little place called St Just in Roseland, had a brisk walk past the church and down to the shore. Then Dad drove us to King Harry Ferry which provides a local service across a narrow stretch of the River Fal. A 10 minute ferry crossing and we were on our way back to Truro.

St. Justin Roseland Church.

Song Thrush in Truro.

Long-tailed Tit at St. Justin Roseland Church yard.

A grand day out sight-seeing. There's plenty to do in Cornwall and lots to see. Great to see my Dad and Sister again, but all too soon it was time to make the train journey home to Yorkshire from Penzance.

January 2011 - Hatfield Moor

Saturday 15th: An overcast and very blustery day started with a stop on the road to Hatfield Moor, on the banks of the river Torne to join other Birders in looking for a Rough-legged Buzzard. Set up the scope and spent maybe 50 minutes scoping the farm fields and tree-line. In the scope saw got a good view of a Common Buzzard. Decided to come back later in the afternoon for another look.


Parking up at Boston car park, a first year Mute Swan stood forlornly at the fence and when Sandra went to feed it some bread, it was quickly joined by two Canada Geese and a Lesser Scaup (Aythya Duck). I say Lesser Scaup for want of another name. It seems that there is some discussion as to what the duck actually is, on the Hatfield Moor blog. But in the final analysis, it is likely to be an immature female Lesser Scaup.

The duck (whatever it is), seemed unconcerned with us and was more interested in the bread that Sandra was feeding the Swan. It was constantly on the move and it seemed that we were treated to the "Little 'n Large" show as the little duck ran around the much larger Swan!

Sandra wanted to visit the hide where we would be guaranteed to get a good sighting of various birds and we weren't to be disappointed! I have never seen so many Great Tits and Blue Tits gathered together in one group before! On and around the feeders, (note: when feeding birds fatballs, please remove the green plastic netting as they can easily get their feet tangled in this) there were at least 10 Great Tits with at least 9 Blue Tits! I suspect that nearby there were more! We even had a surprise visit by two Long-tailed Tits to the feeders. Reed Buntings, Chaffinches, a Robin and female Blackbird along with 2 Dunnocks picked at scraps that had fallen to the ground. Some good photos were captured from here as can be seen above and below.

We moved on towards what is named as The Prison Lakes. A short trek up a muddy trail to a couple of very large lakes. No waterfowl on these except for a solitary pair of Mallards. But we did get a good close view of a Kestrel as it glided at low-level above us. Three Bulfinches whistled overhead and perched for a few minutes in the bare branches of Alders, long enough for us to get stunning views of the rose-breasted male and the female. Wandering back to the car we came across a birder who was watching some Lesser Redpolls amongst the Silver Birch. We too studied them before they took to flight.

Back at Boston Park lake we made a check on the waterfowl. Plenty of Canada Geese, of which I counted 125 using my "counter-device",Coot; 140, Black-headed Gulls with some Tufted Duck, one male Wigeon (above) and some Pochard. A Good day out though very blustery at times but mildish!

March - Kirkmoor Plantation Wood

Saturday 27th: A lunchtime walk around my local wood and after an unusually long Winter, Spring is slowly starting to breakout. The buds on the trees are still wrapped tightly but given a few more days and some warm weather, they will flourish. It's been a while since I've been birding in this wood and though small and dilapidated in some parts, it supports a wide variety of wildlife. A couple of Chiffchaffs, presumably, recently arrived from their 3,500 mile flight from West Africa have already taken up residence, one at either end of the wood, their familiar calls ringing out in response to the other. It's incredible that those Chiffchaffs that migrate, (some tend to stay), make this journey across the Sahara, mountains and seas to get here. The two images here are of the same bird as it was very obliging for me. Below is a short movie with sound of the Chiffchaffs song.

Long-tailed Tits are in abundance. I've noticed that there seems to be one flock that works its way up and down the wood, moving from tree to tree.

No Bluebells yet, still too early but there are sporadic island of Daffodils that have bloomed. Blue Tits, Great Tits, Wood Pigeons Goldfinches, Wrens and Robins were seen around the wood. As I write this today (Sunday 28th), I can report that I also saw a Treecreeper, female Chaffinch and astoundingly two male Goldcrests resplendent with their red display skull caps quarreling with each other in an attempt to entice the attention of a female Goldcrest a short distance away. Unfortunately I could get a photo of these two birds. I must admit that I have never ever seen male Goldcrests with red display plumage.

Friday 26th: The female Blackbird that we have called "Nice Misses" has laid two eggs in the same nest she used to rear her 3rd brood last year. This is amongst the pyhracantha attached to the wall of the House. She still comes into the kitchen on a regular basis to feed on mealworms. There is another Blackbird pairing nesting in the conifers at the bottom of the garden. During the Winter, there were at least seven Blackbirds in the garden but the others have now dispersed to find their own territories.

Thursday 25th: The majority of Frogs that return each year to our pond, have now left after spawning, leaving only about half a dozen resident Frogs. Both male and female Frogs came back to the pond on or about the 20th, paired up and spawned before disappearing to wherever they stay for the remainder of the year. This year due to the harsh Winter they returned late, usually its been late February or early March. During the time they were here, Mel counted 100+ and the females have deposited approximately 50+ clumps of spawn. Now the majority of this spawn will not survive as the Goldfish are partial to it as are Blackbirds and maybe small pond beasties and some will just not mature to tadpoles. Some that do mature to tadpoles and froglets will succumb to any resident much larger frogs. Unfortunately the mature females that come back do not always survive the mating process as they get either drowned or suffocated by the competing males. This year we have found 4 dead females.