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| June 2008 Archive |
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| 3rd June 2008 I snatched a quick trip out this afternoon with friends to Prussia. Yep that's right, the little cove on the south coast of Cornwall! A dawdle along the coastal path was accompanied with stunning sunshine and a welcome breeze. The colours on display were amazing from the wildlife, the plants and unique hue of the cornish sea, actually the colour of the picture above. The wildlife caught my attention the most however and although numbers were low we had some suprising discoveries. A Sedge Warbler sang from an area of reeds as we went towards Praa Sands, Fulmars were nesting on the cliffs in small numbers, but the highlight wasn't a bird. It was a Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary Butterfly. A complex underwing analysis in the field revealed the identity of this tricky family but it was very fun, being my first fritillary and all that. On the walk back 2 Gannets came close to shore, with 2 Shags sat out on the rocks and Whitethroats were singing all over the place. |
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| 7th June 2008 "Honey Buzzard", I shouted, to get my fellow birder onto this scarce raptor. He came sprinting back and we were treated to amazing views as it caught a thermal over our heads and gained height before wandering off over the downs of Goonhilly (on the Lizard peninsula). This bird had been hanging around for a few days and so the trip down to the Lizard was decided upon. Also here we had Cuckoo, Goldcrest, Reed Bunting, Stonechat, Moorhen and Mallard. Windmill farm was quiet but a pair of Kestrels were nearly constantly in view as we grilled the whole reserve. A possible Marsh Fritillary butterfly grabbed my attention but it stayed fairly well hidden in the marsh grasses hopefully not on the lunch menu for 2 hungry Reed Warblers! Down at the Chough watch at Lizard Point, the adults showed occasionally bringing food back to 4 young, still tucked up in the cave but not for long now. I wandered off to Kynance Cove to search for a localised speciality. It was just 30 minutes before I heard a few scratchy calls and then saw a Dartford Warbler. Fantastic! The 4 mile walk produced 2 Grey Seals, a Wheatear, Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, 2 Oystercatchers, 100+ Manx Shearwaters, Gannets, and Fulmars. A cracking cornish day. |
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| 11th-21st June 2008 - S+N Wales. Apologies for lack of recent updates. I grabbed a bit of a holiday to wales with some friends and there was plenty of cambrian avifauna to be seen. Pembrokeshire was the first burst of birding with the highlight being many thousands of Manx Shearwaters returning to burrows as the sun set, with whole sqaudrons of Great Black-backed Gulls preying on weak incoming targets, a scene of epic proportions and numbers. 1 Puffin was picked out but thousands more are reported to inhabit Skomer in particular. Gorgeous weather made for fun walks throughout. Also about on the Marloes peninsula included 7 Chough, 2 Peregrines, 4 Ravens, 2 Wheatear, Rock Pipits, 6 Shoveler, 2 Sedge Warblers, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat and close to 1 million Common Whitethroats. Powering through the nation to North Wales provided us with decent views of 3 Red Kites just north of Aberystwyth, a much hoped for beauty of the welsh hill farms. As the landscape become intensely more dramatic again, we called into Porthmadog and the healthy Osprey family showed at a range of over a mile, but showed all the same. A physical test to climb Snowdon produced an impressive species list from the top of this, the tallest mountain in England and Wales: Raven, Herring Gull, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and Wheatear were all noted at the summit. North wales was brilliant and produced 2 Black Guillemots in Holyhead Harbour, very smart in full summer plumage at probably the most southerly breeding site in the country. Conwy RSPB was the final birding fill but a Wood Sandpiper had flown off overnight. Greylag Geese, 6 Gadwalls, c20 Tufted Ducks, 1 Redshank all topped off a relaxed week with a good mixture of classic welsh sights and scenes. |
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| 23rd June 2008 The combo of jungle-like forest with interspersed ruins at Kennal Vale always makes for a good trip out especially when the sun is shining and it's a quick hop on and off the bus later, from Falmouth. None of the specialties which the CWT make a big thing of were present in a few hours walk around the valley, but a few good birds were spied in amongst the mature beach forest foliage. 1 Kestrel, 2 Buzzards, 2 Song Thrushes, 1 Bullfinch, 4 Goldfinches and a family of Swallows back in Ponsanooth near the church. It's quite probable Spotted Flycatcher doesn't occur here any more but there was no excuse for dipping the Dipper! |
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| 24th June 2008 A final visit to Falmouth before the summer break and Swanpool had a few suprises. Loads of baby birds around with Coot, Moorhen and Mallard dominating but a pair of Little Grebes probably had young hidden in the reeds and a pair of Gadwall were probably failed breeders but unexpected all the same. The cemetary had plenty of warblers with Chiffchaff and Blackcaps both singing furiously. 3 Fulmars sat on cliff ledges still, just to the south of Swanpool (seen from the beach) and a feeding Little Egret capped things off along the coast to Gylllyngvase beach at low tide. It will probably be good bye from me to the Falmouth area now until september but please send me all your records for the area and I will keep the website updated. Local Bird News - Stithians Reservoir - 1 Wood Sandpiper |
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| 26th June 2008 Local Bird News - Penryn River - 1 Med Gull (2nd sum) |
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| 29th June 2008 Local Bird News - Stithians Reservoir - 1 Scaup (male) |
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