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| This article contains the guided walk report from Stithians Reservoir on the 20th July 2008. A great day was had by all accounts and some exciting species seen for the site, just shows that more pairs of eyes help. |
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| Stithians Reservoir - Guided Walk report By Simon Taylor (Walk leader and Stithians CBWPS Warden) |
| Upon arrival at the Dam at 8.45am I was greeted by a totally empty car park. Thinking that becoming a walk leader may not have been such a good idea after all, I scanned the rocky foreshore. A Grey Wagtail bobbing about on the waters edge was a good start, followed by 6+ Swallows and a Buzzard overhead. People started to arrive and by the 9am start time numbers had swelled to 11. Among the participants was Simon Marquis making his first ever visit to Stithians. We set of from the Dam car park heading for the Golden Lion cut-off and the creeks further around the reservoir. It wasn't long before a couple of Cormorants flew in, with the Buzzard putting in an appearance for the group. Little Egret was seen on the shoreline before it was flushed by a dogwalker as sadly so often happens here. As the walk continued very quick views of 2 House Martins were had, with the white rump being the giveaway in this briefest of view. A few minutes later Simon located one of the Black Swans that have been present for a few weeks now and as people were observing the swan, two eagle-eyed birders saw something fly into the far bank. A quick scan with the scopes found 7 Common Sandpipers which just happened to be my first of that species at Stithians and a very good count at that. |
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| Sedge Warbler |
| Cormorant - Stithians Reservoir |
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| Sedge Warbler and Little Grebe were seen soon after. As the group stood and watched a flock of feeding Swallows I pointed out the first Swift of the day; a flying boomerang in the skies! As we were watching this fine bird Simon Marquis came up trumps again by not only finding the first Peregrine of the day, but the first reported sighting of one for the year here. It was high up, very high up, with sight being lost as it crossed the blazing sun. It was relocated shortly afterwards as it angled its wings back and plummeted down at a tremendous speed only as Peregrines can do. Once again it was lost to view this time behind trees as it possibly attempted to catch flying Swallows. It was finally relocated as it started to gain height and this time it passed overhead, giving fantastic views for everyone at the end of a great sequence of events and behaviour from this king of the skies. It was down the lane by the houses that we had our first Willow Warbler. Very little was seen on the Golden Lion cut-off after a thorough scan so it was off through the watersports centre and off to the western creeks. A very young Song Thrush came out of the scrub and crossed the path quickly and frightened. Totally unexpected it made me jump out of my skin and was nearly trod on by one lady who also nearly shared a heart-attack with me. As we were on the board-walk area it was not suprising that we found our first Whitethroat been seen singing on top of the gorse. A Bullfinch was a little more unexpected here though. The second creek gave us good birds with ad adult Great Crested Grebe with a chick along with the drake Scaup which has been present for a month now. In all it, was a very enjoyable walk with 42 species of birds being found. Unfortunately August the 9th walk has had to be cancelled due to work commitments but the September walk is likely to be a great full day out and full circuit around the reservoir subject to the weather. By then there should be even more birds as the autumn steams on with good chance of rare waders and returning winter ducks such as Teal and Wigeon back on the reservoir so do come along. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the participants for making the first CBWPS walk around the reservoir an enjoyable success Simon Taylor. |
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| Buzzard |
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| The next walk guided walk by Simon around the reservoir will be on the 21st September starting at 9.00am. To contact him either e-mail me (e-mail address on the contacts page) or ring 01209 614857. For info on how to get to the reservoir and more on the birds to be found check out the Summer 2007 article. Other guided walks around cornwall, all free to attend largely, can be found on the CBWPS website (link on links page) |
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