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| The second of a new feature of quarterly (reduced from monthly!) articles on the birds and birding to be had in the area around Falmouth deals with Migration in the whole area and looks into places where you might just find a gem of a rarity. Lacking a mega you'd be well of in Falmouth finding birds like Wheatears, so let this guide help out. |
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| May 2007- Migration around Falmouth, Rarity round-up for feb-april and events in May, June + July. |
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| Migration around Falmouth - The area may not strike as being the best part of the South-west for migrants but because of their nature of pressing through to breed or accidental pring overshoots indeed from the med do arrive in the area. The downside is they dont often stay for long at this time of year, so it's a matter of getting yourself out there and enjoying the many changes now happening. The first group of migrants i'm going to deal with, which make their prescence known persistently, are the breeding warblers of woodland and scrub. College Reservoir is excellent habitat for Chiffchaff (high count of 21 recently on one walk), Willow Warbler (upwards of 10), Blackcap and possible breeding Garden Warbler. Argal's local speciality is Whitethroat which breeds in the dense brambles in profusion. Swallows, Martins have returned in decent numbers across the whole area by May and Swifts generally turn up soon after in their erruptive manner. Another group of migrants which pass through the area are the travellers which haven't completed their journeys on arriving in the area. Stopping to rest, refuel and then powering on up north to breeding grounds, perhaps the best of these are the wading birds. Pennance point near Swanpool gets small flocks of Whimbrel on passage to Iceland for example. The river penryn has several creeks on the northern shore which seem perfect for the odd Spot'shank and Greenshank (at least 2 usually present at this time of year). Back by Swanpool and Pennance look out for Sandwich Terns which hawk around the bay seomtimes in good numbers (10+). Wheatear and Ring Ouzel fall into this category, best being looked for on the golf course between Swanpool and Maenporth but no reports so far this spring. Sand Martin sometimes occur in huge numbers over College Reservoir with reports of c400 being present in the month of April, a local migration spectacle worth seeing! |
| Whitethroat - Argal Reservoir (27/04/2007) |
| Swallow - Argal Reservoir (05/05/2007) |
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| The last group are the rare migrants, rare because they dont occur in large numbers nationally or not meant to be present at all! There are many records of Spring rarities in the region including Red-rumped Swallow, Hoopoe, Wryneck, Yellow-browed Warbler, Gyr, Hobby, Honey Buzzard, Black Kite (x2), Purple Heron (College Res. last year x2), Laughing Gull (x3), Lesser Scaup, Little Bittern, Spoonbill - All these in the last few years in the Falmouth area, not a bad list! A couple of brilliant areas are Stithians Reservoir, N.W. of Falmouth (nationally renowned) and surely College Reservoir takes second place for the frequency of quality rarities. Swanpool and the walk south towards Maenporth along the coast path turn up plenty of birds and allow for a half decent seawatch at this time of year. Best bet is to get out and about as much as the turbulent weather of this season allows down the lakes and other areas mentioned in this article and you never know what you may see. |
Rarity round-up for February, March April in Falmouth - Gulls stole the show in the early part of the period with counts of 1 Ring-billed, 3+ Iceland and a Glaucous Gull at College Reservoir alone, surely more must have gone unseen. A report of the White-morph Gyr Falcon, previously around the Padstow area would have been much appreciated had it stayed for longer. A new Ring-necked Duck (fem) was found at College Res. being the 3rd bird seen at this site over the winter, one of the best spots in the country no less! Argal Reservoir - 4+ Whitethroat had returned to the banks of the res. by 27th Apr. Carrick Roads - A red-necked Grebe was seen from the St.Mawes side (23rd Feb.) but little else was seen of note, just 1 Kittiwake, and a wintering Whimbrel at St.Mawes, College Reservoir Glaucous Gull present on 17th Feb, a great patch record, if that wasn't enough my next visit produced a 1w Ring-billed Gull (probably the bird from Helston). Iceland Gulls were seen as late as 16th March with at least 1 present. No reports of large flocks of sand martins came from College this year but thats because of underwatching I expect. However, 10+ were seen on (25th Apr) with House Martins, Swallows and 2 Swifts. Flushing - Feb. saw 6+ Greenshank wintering between here and Pernyn, with Redshank and Curlew for company. Flushing village seemed to be the local stronghold for wintering Blackcaps with at least 8! Gerrans Bay - As well as a Gyr Falcon Gerrans had good counts of 8 Slavonian Grebe, 2 Red-necked grebe on several dates in mid Feb and Mar, and a staggering 48 Black-throated Divers (27th Mar). Swanpool - 2 Yellow-browed Warblers were elusive in the area only being seen intermittantly upto 12th Mar when a Firecrest was also present. A Black Redstart was reported in early Feb at Castle Beach near here. Sedge Warblers had returned to the reedbed fringe by late Apr. Other sightings - An extrordinary 7 Glossy Ibis were just out of the recording area down on the Lizard. 3 Avocets were still present at the Tresillian River towards Truro till mid March at least. |
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| Events around Falmouth - For more events outside the area of Falmouth please visit the CBWPS and CWT websites which can be found on the 'links' page. |
| Swanpool Lake - The reedbeds hold breeding Water Rail, Sedge Warblers (Possible Reed Warblers) and Little Grebes. |
| Chiffchaff - Argal Reservoir (03/05/2007) |
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