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| March 2009 Archive |
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| 2nd March 2009 15 Greenshanks roosted at the hide tide gathering along a blissfully sunny and calm Devoran Creek, which was a huge count for this species. It was a great sight as padding the numbers were 7 Knots, 5 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, 15 Dunlins and similar numbers of Curlews and Redshanks. 9 Teals, c30 Shelducks, 1 Cormorant and gulls made up the rest of birds on offer here. The target of the trip was to see Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which proved impossible to see but the woodlands just east of Carnon Downs offer the best potential with lots of evidence of the elusive nuicances in residence! Birds around the woodlands locally included 1 Sparrowhawk, 4 Buzzards, 1 Treecreeper 2 Nuthatches and a male Greenfinch doing a songflight, hovering around on stiff wings; a totally wierd piece of behaviour i've not witnessed before and initially led me into thinking it was a Swallow! Spring is in the air at last. Local Bird News - Feock - 2 Velvet Scoters, 10 Black-necked Grebes + 2 Red-breaster Mergs |
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| 1st March 2009 Local Bird News - Penryn River - 1 Green Woodpecker, 3 Greenshanks + 1 Turnstone Stithians Res.- 1 Water Rail, 2 GC Grebes + 1 Little Egret |
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| 3rd March 2009 Local Bird News - Penryn - 2 Blackcaps (male and female in gardens) |
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| 5th March 2009 Local Bird News - Stithians Res.- 4 Bullfinches + 5+ Reed Buntings (southern cut-off hide) |
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| 7th March 2009 No lesser peckers pecking pecked wood today near the village of Carnon Downs just a few miles to the north of Falmouth. These large stands of mixed woodland held a wide array of birds however including a wonderful Firecrest which lept out of a nearby laurel and played hide-and seek for quite a while. Not a bad second prize at all. 2 Stock Dovers, 2 Siskins, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 2 Nuthatches and 3 Blackcaps were in the vicinity, the latter singing away infrequently, a prelude to spring seeping from dense laurel and rhodo's. A brief scan of the Carrick Roads from Loe Beach finished off a relaxed early morning trip nicely with 8 distant Black-necked Grebes, 42 Red-breasted Mergansers, 2 Great Crested Grebes, 1 Raven, 1 Little Egret and 1 Pheasant clucking away. The first spring migrants for Falmouth have yet to be seen so now's a fun time to head outdoors and find them. Sand Martin at stithians anyone? |
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| 6th March 2009 Local Bird News - Tremough Campus - 1 Black Redstart (on main building roof) |
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| 8th March 2009 Local Bird News - Portscatho - 5 Slavonian Grebes from the harbour Stithians Res.- 2 Goldeneyes, 2 GC Grebes, 1 Marsh Tit + 7 Reed Buntings |
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| 10th March 2009 Local Bird News - Tremough Campus - 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Siskins, 5 Song Thrushes |
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| 11th March 2009 My work schedule has not recently allowed any outings and threatens to keep me inside a fair while yet. So a short submission on some of the best local spots for spring potential follows: Stithians Res - the best spot if water levels fall a bit, all sorts of waders may drop in. In the surrounding farmland Whinchat, Dartford Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Merlins might all be seen. The walk from Falmouth south to Maenporth along the coast offers chance of some great vagrants such as shrikes, rare warblers and a few years back a Red-rumped Swallow. The lake at Swanpool is not to be ignored either, along this walk, where Little Bitterns have been found in the past and a small return passage of Firecrests often takes place. The Med Gulls here will be looking at their finest just before moving off to breeding elsewhere. Waders down on the coastal rocks and sands here can include Whimbrel, Ringed Plover, and maybe something else altogether! Still no migrants spotted yet, come on folks! |
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| 14th March 2009 Local Bird News - Stithians Res.- 3 Sand Martins, 1 Green Woodpecker + 1 Marsh Tit Tremough Campus - 1 Green Woodpecker, 3 Blackcaps + 4 Ravens (over) |
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| 15th March 2009 Local Bird News - Sithians Res. - 1 Sparrowhawk + 1 Water Rail |
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| 16th March 2009 Sneakily snatching a couple of hours off this morning, I wandered down to College Res., sun blazing and no wind making for T-shirt weather already. It's officially hotter here than Turkey right now! So after some sightings of spring migrants back at Sithians over the weekend, these were my targets. Down at the water I was shocked to find that nearly all of the winter ducks had vanished leaving only 8 failthful Tufted Ducks, c20 Coots, 1 Little Grebe, 5 Wigeons and 3 Mallards to fill the rather empty void. No gulls around this early a.m. so I continued on the walk through the woodlands. Jays, Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a fresh in Chiffchaff, singing non-stop and putting his 3 scruffy wintering peers also seen to shame. But a spring migrant in the bag nontheless. A Water Rail Squeked near some Moorhens and a Grey Heron in the marsh whilst 4 Buzzards kettled around overhead. Time to head back and with a Water Rail as the best bird noted it was a decent return but just a pleasure to be out in this weather. Where the woodland peters out I bumped into a flock of crests with a couple of buzzy calls, yep, Firecrests and 2 of them showing really well for a change! This wasn't all. On my fourth scan of the lake the gull flock had increased with 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (signs of migration), c100 Herring Gulls and to my delight a juvenile Iceland Gull! A middling walk swiftly transformed into an excellent one in the space of a few minutes, where winter birds weren't willing to relinquish the season just gone just yet! |
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| 13th March 2009 Local Bird News - Stithians Res. - Sand Martins (first spring migrants in Falmouth area) |
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| 21st March 2009 In the last couple of days the spring really has taken hold, butterflies joined the skies with moths and bees but also birds. Activity really has picked up with loads of fresh in Chiffchaffs, some Blackcaps and if you're lucky Sand Martins passing through all too quickly for myself to catch up with. With the clear weather and work all cleared up, a chance came to catch up with a rare wintering bird yesterday which had made it's home at Young's Waterpark south of Paignton in Devon. This bird put on a great show near the seafront of the english riviera, easily located when present by the flotilla of reedmace fluff leaving a particular seed head. This Penduline Tit was a lovely bird with chestnut back and buff front making it blend in amazingly well with its specialized food source. Today, and with the high pressure persisting it was up to Dartmoor on a geography fieldtrip before the easter break where lunch on Bellever Tor produced a chance to scan for another special wintering species. A Great Grey Shrike was picked up almost immediately but distantly from the tor top as it fluttterd between tree top perches in search of food. The day was completed with that mid-summers evening feel about it and with the newly returned Wheatears aplenty, Green Woodpeckers, Ravens and Buzzards. Local Bird News - Stithians Res. - 3 Sand Martins, 1 Chiffchaff, 4 GC Grebes + 10 Goldeneyes |
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| 18th March 2009 Local Bird News - Falmouth - 2 White Wagtails (at Menehay Farm) Stithians Res.- 1 BITTERN (southern cut-off at 7pm only) |
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| 17th March 2009 Local Bird News - Stithians Res.- 1 (albino) Pheasant Swanpool - 1 GC Grebe + 1 Chiffchaff (singing) |
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| 19th March 2009 Local Bird News - Stithians Res.- 2 Chiffchaffs, 1 Blackcap, 1 Goldcrest, 8 Goldeneyes, 4 GC Grebes, 1 Gadwall, 2 Bullfinches, 5 Reed Buntings, 7 L.B.B.Gulls (passage) |
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| 22nd March 2009 Local Bird News - Pendennis Point - 1 Swallow (in off sea, flew north) Portscatho - 1 Long-tailed Duck, 2 Slavonian+1 Black-necked Grebes, 6 Black-throated+2 Great Northern Divers + 1 Sandwich Tern Stithians Res. - 8 Chiffchaffs, Sand Martin, Water Rail + Goldeneyes Swanpool - 1 GC Grebe + 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls |
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| 24th March 2009 Local Bird News - Devoran - 1 Spotted Redshank, 12 Black-tailed Godwits + 7 Greenshanks Stithians Res.- 1 Blackcap, 1 Little Egret, 1 Water Rail + 1 Snipe |
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| 25th March 2009 Local Bird News - Gyllyngvase - 5 Sandwich Terns (off the beach) |
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