Cornwall & the Scillies

Between 19/09 & 26/09, Em and I travelled down to Cornwall and the Scillies for a chilled out holiday! 

On Saturday 19/09 we visited Padstow, bathed in glorious sunshine and the sound of typically vocal Herring Gulls. Wandering about the harbour, there were quite a few foraging Turnstones snapping up the smallest of scraps! A Kingfisher zipped past the quay while a walk along the Camel Estuary after lunch, I managed to see 2-3 adult Med Gulls and at least 10 Sandwich Terns (with several fairly advanced begging juveniles), as well as the odd Shag & Cormorant. 

We spent the following day in St. Ives where on the bird front, I saw pretty similar fare to Padstow, with the addition of a Wheatear, as well as a group of distant dolphin sp.

Monday was a super early start, before driving to Penzance in torrential rain to get the Scillonian over to the Scillies. As we set off, the rain cleared and we were in fact bathed in sunshine all the way over. Undoubted highlights were nice views of a couple of Sooty Shearwater and a Balearic Shearwater, both well overdue lifers for me! Other birds seen included fantastic views of an Arctic Skua, several Manxies, a Kittiwake and scores of Gannets.

We arrived on St. Mary's and after an awesome lunch overlooking the harbour, we began exploring, doing a circuit of the Garrison. The weather was stunning and there were lots of butterflies on the wing including tonnes of Speckled Wood, as well as several Holly Blue. Lots of Swallows were also zipping around everywhere and we saw several Black Rabbits which looked more than a bit weird!

Staying in the centre of the island meant a bit of walk from Hugh Town but did mean it was a pretty good central base to explore. Later on, before we went out for dinner, I took a walk down through Holyvale to Porth Hellick Pool to have a look at the Pectoral Sandpipers that had been present there recently, always a nice bird to see. Was a nice walk along the leafy Scilly lanes. I managed to find a Willow Warbler and continued to hear the constant chattering of migrant Swallows overhead. Porth Hellick Pool looked great, especially in the golden early evening light. From the two hides, the 3 Pectoral Sandpipers showed extremely well right in front, reminding me of the 3 at Pitsford Res several years ago. There were also several Greenshank, a Ringed Plover and a Whinchat on my walk back to the hotel.

The next morning I had another quick look before breakfast. The Pecs were again ridiculously close and there were more Greenshank and several Snipe present.

After breakfast, we walked down to Hugh Town to get the boat over to nearby Tresco. On the way down I found a Pied Flycatcher and also saw an unfortunate Wheatear wandering around Hugh Town High Street with an apparent broken wing.

Tresco was different from St. Mary's but just as stunning, particularly the several white, sandy beaches and the Abbey Gardens which we had a good wander around.

The gardens held a nice little population of Red squirrels, several of which showed fantastically well; always a treat!

Walking around the stunning gardens, I also saw a Pied Flycatcher and a beaut of of a Golden Pheasant wandering along the path. I'm always amazed how long their tails are...plastic magic!

The rest of our time on the island was spent around the Great Pool and the southern end, slowly making our way to the jetty where would catch our boat back to St. Mary's. In between gorging on the tonnes of blackberries on offer, birds seen included a Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Whinchat, several Stonechat, 2 Wheatear, a few Greenshank and a few Little Egret.
Small Copper butterflies were also in good supply, together with loads more Speckled Wood.

The next day was sadly our final day on the Scillies. Before breakfast, a scan from the hotel garden was productive with a Lesser Whitethroat and a Whinchat in a nearby hedge. We then set off to explore more of the southern end of the island, walking to Peninnis Head and past the airfield and back towards Hugh Town before getting our ferry back to the mainland. Popping into Porth Hellick Pool one more time, the 3 Pecs were still close, together with the usual Greenshanks & Snipe.

On what was a pretty cloudy day, our walk from here all the way to Peninnis Head produced 3 more Whinchat, several Wheatear, Stonechats, large numbers of Song Thrush (migrants?) and best of all, a distant juvenile Dotterel trotting around the grass by the airfield runway (too distant for any decent photos).

We got our ferry back to the mainland late afternoon. Highlights included a group of 2-3 Harbour Porpoise, a pod of Common Dolphin, a brief small Petrel sp. (presumed Storm), at least 4 Balearic Shearwater, 2 Manx Shearwater, 2 Arctic Skua, 2 Fulmar and 100s of Gannets!

My last little bit of birding of the trip was firstly a wander around Dawlish Warren (Devon) late afternoon on Friday (25/09). Saw very little to be honest other than a Grey Plover, 6 Brent Geese, a couple of Gannet and plenty of Oystercatchers. The next day I spent a bit of time at Bowling Green Marsh near Exeter on the way home. BGM is one of my most familiar and favourite sites, visiting there frequently as a keen young lad back in the day when my Gran used to live around the corner from there. Saturday (26/09) was a bright, sunny day making visibility difficult due to the glaring sun and heat haze. Amongst the commoner stuff, birds included a singing Cetti's Warbler, several Pintail, c.40 Black Tailed Godwit, a Common Sandpiper, a Raven & a few Chiffchaff.

So there was the end of a wonderful trip! A couple of lifers but sadly no oober-rares. Typically on leaving the Scillies the islands filled with some awesome rares including Blackpoll Warbler & Grey-Cheeked Thrush, but hey-ho, you can't win them all! Certainly will be heading back to the Scillies though, such an awesome place, with great opportunities to find your own birds.  

Passerines on the move!

The last few days have seen a real rise in migrant passerines, coinciding with a period of slightly more unsettled weather.

My birding has once again been largely confined to daily visits to Grimsbury Reservoir in Banbury, around my work commitments. Last week was hard work with nothing too new on the move, however from Saturday onwards, new migrants have arrived thick and fast!

On Saturday (12/09), a brief visit revealed a lovely juvenile Black Tern busily feeding over the reservoir in the stunning evening sunlight. I don't often find my Canon SX50 too limiting, however I did wish on this occasion to have a nice SLR in my hands as the views and light were fabulous!

Chats have been the theme within the last couple of days at Grimsbury with singles of Wheatear & Whinchat in the torrential rain yesterday, while today I was chuffed to find a nice male Redstart flicking around the hawthorns SW corner. Gareth Blockley also discovered a couple more Wheatears today too.

Yesterday saw quite a fall of Chiffchaff, with double figures present. Warblers are about but in pretty low numbers. Willow Warblers are trickling through in ones & twos, but certainly the majority appear to have gone. Blackcaps are about in small numbers, gorging on the abundance of berries available. Spotted Flycatchers are also still to be seen and have been present nearly daily in varying numbers for the past 3 weeks. Today there were two catching insects in the pines at the southern end of the wood at Grimsbury.

Siskins and Swallows have featured heavily too in the last few days. Nationally, Siskins are on the move in unusually big numbers, due to what appears to have been a particularly good breeding season on the continent. A group of three went over yesterday while 8-9 this morning. Swallows have had a real push southwards this evening with at least 50 birds dropping out of the sky this evening, followed later on by a minimum of 110 low, purposefully south too. House Martins have also been through in small numbers, with 3 lingering Sand Martins yesterday.

I'm off to Cornwall for a week at the weekend. With the remnants of Hurricane Henri heading in from the west, I've got my fingers crossed for something juicy!

Borough Hill in the rain

Typically, bank holiday Monday (31/08) was a complete washout weather-wise, but having the day to myself, I was determined to get out and do some birding.

I drove over to Borough Hill, Daventry in the hope of some migrants. The conditions, needless to say were f**kin shocking but thankfully I was rewarded for my efforts with an initial flyover Tree Pipit heading south. Towards the centre of the hill another Tree Pipit again went south calling however only heard and not seen this time. I soon got onto a Whinchat followed soon after by another 5 which was nice.

Further north is a hedgerow going from west to east across the hill. This, I've always found to be great for migrants. Despite the conditions, persistance produced a group of 4 Spotted Flycatcher, 2-3 Willow Warbler, a Blackcap, a possible very brief Redstart and another 2 Tree Pipit that landed in the hedge for a short while before continuing south.

No hoped for Wryneck, Pied Fly etc, and in hindsight, heading to one of the highest points in Northants on a day of torrential rain seems like madness but, I was happy despite the soaking wet feet I now had to endure! 

Migration in full swing

Autumn migration is now in full swing and locally, the past 2-3 weeks has been really great! With my last 3 weekends taken up by a couple of weddings and a weekend away with friends, most of my birding has been fitting patching Grimsbury Reservoir around work.

There's been quite a few highlights, but the best has probably been the sighting of a migrating Osprey cruising south on the sunny morning of 25/08 affording great views.

One of the other main highlights was the discovery initially of 3 adult Black Terns on 14/08, that later became an impressive 5! Having found them on my lunch break in rather gloomy and damp conditions, they stayed for much of the day before departing sometime during the evening. This appeared to be part of a decent passage UK-wide and a great record for Grimsbury! 

Waders notoriously don't tend to stick at Grimsbury and you just have to be lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time! Both Gareth Blockley and I are in fact on a bit of a roll, and paying the site a visit in the evenings has been rather productive. We've been heading down mainly to check the good numbers of gulls for scarcities, however this has led to late evening year ticks of 3 separate sightings of Greenshank, a Green Sandpiper, a Ringed Plover and both yesterday and tonight, a lovely Black Tailed Godwit. Long may this run continue!

Other recent wader sightings for me have been several Common Sandpiper, a juv LRP and a flyover Lapwing.

Migrant passerines have been in good supply too with a couple of Wheatear, quite a few Spotted Flycatcher and good numbers of common Warbler species including good recent numbers of Willow Warbler and several Lesser Whitethroat. Yellow Wagtails too, have been going over fairly regularly in small numbers, but 24/08 was a little more exceptional with flock of 10 and 5 through. Swallows, House & Sand Martins are still trickling through, while Swifts are still about with 8 seen yesterday evening (01/09) over the reservoir.

The nearby Borrow Pit appears to be a bit of a passerine migrant trap with a regular juvenile Wheatear for the last 2 weeks, as well as a long-staying trio of Whinchats (still there this evening). Gareth and I also found a lovely pair of grounded Tree Pipit there on 30/08, a nice record for the area.

Another recent highlight has been really good numbers of gulls gathering in the evenings before going to roost on the nearby warehouse roofs. This has included several adult & Juvenile Yellow-Legged Gull amongst the several hundred Lesser Black Backed, Black-Headed and the odd Herring & Common Gull.

Other notable sightings have included a couple of flyover Siskins, a couple of Peregrine sightings and sporadic appearances of a Ring-Necked Parakeet!

August has kicked off autumn migration in pretty impressive style. But what will September bring??

The last of this years butterflying

Early August saw pretty much the last of my searching for butterflies locally, with me being largely busy for the following few weeks. My last couple of outings were of course to Bucknell Wood, near Silverstone and were very enjoyable and memorable!

A visit on Saturday 08/08 in particular, was very memorable. In glorious sunshine, I managed to see one of the latest ever sightings of Purple Emperor in Northants. I presume it was a female due to it's large size and lack of purple flash. It was a fabulous sight as it effortlessly cruised over my head and slowly cruised round some nearby oaks. In the binoculars, you could make out a fair old chunk missing out of one of it's wings but overall, it was in pretty good nick. Sadly no photos but do you know what, sometimes it's just nice to enjoy the moment rather than worrying too much about getting a photo!

That day was also memorable for the numbers of Valezina Silver-Washed Fritillary with a total of FIVE seen! The one below was photographed a few days later on 12/08.

Silver-Washed numbers too were in good health however the majority were looking decidedly tatty!

Finally on the 10/08, several hairstreak were for once to be seen low down, nectaring and I managed to see 2 each of White-Letter Hairstreak and Purple Hairstreak.

I also managed to see my first ever second brood Wood Whites, with 1 on 06/08 & 2 on 12/08. These hopefully signify that the species is in relatively good health locally.

Finally, there have been awesome numbers of fresh Large White, Brimstones & Peacocks, together with fresh second brood Common Blue, Brown Argus (my first for the site) and a couple of nice Painted Lady too!

So now with the butterfly season drawing gradually to a close, on reflection it's been a great 2015 with a few nice discoveries and a handful of new species for me too. All I can say is bring on 2016!