Birding Cornwall

After getting off the Isles of Scilly, we stayed overnight in Penzance on the southwest tip of Cornwall. We had planned to gradually bird our way home, but although the previous day had been a beautiful blue sky and sunshine day, this day dawned cold and grey and drizzly. In spite of this, we managed to get a couple of hours birding in before having to call it a day and head home. The photo below shows St Michael's mount which is a small island just off Penzance. At low tide there is a causeway across to the island.Our first birding stop was at Nanquidno Valley. The scenery here is wonderful even on a drizzly day!We were hoping to see Firecrest and Yellow-browed Warbler down this valley, but the weather conditions just weren't right. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful walk along the Cornish cliffs here.You wouldn't have liked standing so close to the cliff edge as my friends did Evie! (-:

On the way back up from Nanquidno valley, we stopped briefly near St Just airport to see this Snow Bunting. As you can see, this photo is heavily cropped and taken in bad light, so not a brilliant capture, but a nice record shot.We couldn't leave Cornwall without having a famous Phipps Cornish pastie, so as it was nearly lunchtime by now and the weather was worsening, we stopped at Copperhouse Creek to have our pastie lunch. The photo below shows the estuary.At least here, there were some bird photo opportunities. This Little Egret was feeding just below us. You can just about see it's bright yellow feet in the water.

I think the birds have got to know that many people come here to eat their pastie, so as we munched away, we became aware of many beady eyes watching. Rooks are generally found out in the countryside around agricultural fields, but this one has discovered an easy meal can be had at Copperhouse Creek!

They differ from Carrion Crows with their more shaggy look and bare parts around the bill.This is easily my most favourite corvid, the Jackdaw. They have the most wonderful 'chacking' call and that white eye and pale neck are distinctive. They are quite a bit smaller than Carrion Crows or Rooks.These two look like right Jack the Lads! Ready for a bust-up! (-: All they were doing though, was waiting for me to share my pastie with them!Which I eventually did, and then it was a free for all!After lunch, the weather deteriorated even more, so it was time to head home back to Chris after my week away.

Scilly odds and ends and farewell

First of all, I apologise for the length of this last post from the Isles of Scilly. The following photos are some odds and ends that didn't really fit into a whole posting but that I wanted to share with you, so I've stuffed them all in here along with photos of my journey back to the mainland.
This photo below was taken on the island of St Agnes. The plants here thrive in a mild almost semi tropical climate. It would be wonderful to visit these islands in May or June to experience the flora at its best. The succulent below seems enormous compared with the ones that grow back at home on the mainland.Here is a heavily cropped photo of a juvenile Rose coloured Starling on St Agnes. This bird is an annual vagrant to Britain from eastern Europe and beyond. It is a much more sandy coloured bird than our juvenile European starling with a striking yellow bill. In flight it was a very obvious bird. I think the shrub it is hiding in here is a type of Pittesporum, but please feel free anyone to correct me on that.Another bird on St Agnes was this Northern Wheatear posing nicely on a rock on the Wingletang area of the island.Again, a heavily cropped photo of this beautiful bird.The boat trip back from St Agnes was reasonably bumpy, but I did manage to stand up briefly and take this photo of a fishing Northern Gannet. Like the Oystercatcher, another bird that is ubiquitous to the beaches on these islands is the Ruddy Turnstone. I spent an hour on Thomas Porth beach on St Mary's trying to get close enough for some shots of these characterful birds.They're always on the move, turning over stones and seaweed looking for tasty morsels.

Also on Thomas Porth beach I was entertained by this White Wagtail flycatching.I'm not sure it was as successful as the Stonechat in my previous post!And so, as must always happen, my last day on the Scillies came around. It was a beautiful sunny blue sky day and the helicopter waited to whisk us back to the mainland and reality.I managed to get a good window seat right at the front and so got a look at all the mind numbing array of controls needed to fly this thing! Our lady pilot gave us a great trip.We had a pleasant surprise when we got on the helicopter. We were told that we would be taking a small detour to the island of Tresco to pick up some passengers from there. Here we are approaching Tresco to make the landing.Here you can see the Abbey pool on Tresco where earlier in the week I tried to photograph a Long-billed Dowitcher. I wish I'd had time to spend on some of those soft sandy beaches!Having picked up our passengers, we set off away from the islands, heading for Cornwall. The views of the islands from the helicopter were a real treat. I think this was the uninhabited island of St Helens or Tean, I'm not sure which.

The last island I saw from the helicopter was St Martins. I didn't get to visit it on this occasion, but will hope to maybe on my next trip over.After about a 10 to 15 minute flight we were approaching Lands End on the tip of Cornwall. The cliffs in the late afternoon sunshine were lovely. I should say that the window on the helicopter was filthy otherwise all these photos might have come out a bit clearer.Passing over Lands End.A Cornish village with the church at its centre.Our destination, the Cornish town of Penzance.The harbour at Penzance from where the Scillonian ship sails. My helicopter lands a little to the right of this picture a short way out of town.Well, thank you all for coming along with me on my first proper holiday for three years! I had an amazing time and I've really enjoyed sharing it with you all. I hope this has encouraged some of you to visit these amazing islands.

St Mary's, Holy Vale and the Airport

One thing that the Isles of Scilly lacks is much extensive woodland. However, towards the centre of St Mary's, there is a valley of tall deciduous trees called Holy Vale. This can be a magnet for tired passerines during migration.It is also wonderfully atmospheric with an almost Tolkeinesque feel to it. If you click on the photo of the sign above, the last paragraph warns the walker to beware of slippery roots and the uneven path.I visited this area twice during my week, firstly with my friends. This was on a bright day and the light for photography was quite harsh.So I went back a second time on my own when it was a bit more overcast to try and get some better shots. I wanted to convey how you have to wend your way inbetween the tree trunks and over the worn tree roots, so I got down closer to the ground to try and get a better perspective to show this. If you want to bird while walking through this place, you really have to take your time and watch your step. It's hard to be looking up and around for the birds while making sure you don't go arse over tip! When I went this second time, it was pretty quiet birdwise. It has been known in the past to hold some stonking rarities though.

I did get to see some birds in this area. This Chiffchaff was sitting in the sunshine at Higher Moors which is an area of reeds just before entering Holy Vale.

I think this Goldfinch was actually at Lower Moors having a quick preen in the sunshine.

This Dotterel (first seen here on the golf course) is in it's more drab winter plumage. In summer they have a wonderful chestnut red belly, the female being brighter than the male.

This second photo is taken from the airport of the same individual. This is only my second ever Dotterel sighting. One day, I'd love to see one in it's summer plumage!To give perspective on how far away this bird was, the photo below was again taken from the airport with a wonderful view of some of the other islands in the background. If you click to enlarge, you should see the Dotterel a bit better! (-: We didn't want to get too close to this bird as it seemed quite alert and we didn't want to flush it. Dotterels are mountain birds. It breeds in small numbers up in Scotland and further north in Scandinavia.While we were up on the airport (Sundays only as there are no flights on that day), I managed to get a couple of shots of this Stonechat on gorse.I love this shot (the background is the sea by the way). If you click on this photo to enlarge, you will see the tiny dot of a fly that this bird was after.There were some lovely skies while I was on the Scillies, but I think this is my favourite, taken from the airport, looking south out over the Atlantic Ocean.

Porthcressa beach and The Garrison, St Mary's

Our house that we had rented for this holiday was pretty near to this Ancient burial chamber up on a hill overlooking Hugh Town (the main town on St Mary's). On a couple of occasions during my week on the Islands, I did a circular walk which involved walking down past the burial chamber and onto Porthcressa beach below, then walk along the beach and up onto the hill in the distance on the left there which leads to The Garrison and then on down into Hugh Town.Here is another view of Porthcressa beach and Hugh Town from the Peninnis headland.The view is fabulous on the way down to the beach. In the distance on the right is the twin peaks of Samson island. Samson is the largest of the uninhabited islands. It used to be inhabited, but was abandoned back in 1855, leaving its cottages empty and wildlife reigning over its gorse covered slopes.From this photo of Porthcressa beach, you might almost imagine you were in the Caribbean!Here is the path down to the beach on a less clement day! I guess the view wasn't quite as magnificent this day! (-:

Those benches would be lovely to sit on when the weather was a bit clearer!On the path along the bay there was this Herring Gull quite happily standing in a puddle (probably admiring the view) (-: His reflection was too good for me to miss too, and I managed to get off a few shots of him taking a drink.

A juvenile Herring Gull wasn't quite so much of a poser. This was the best view he would give me.The ubiquitous Oystercatchers (Oiks for short) were dodging the waves on the beach.One got caught out and flitted a little way along to dodge this little wavelet!I don't think it's going to have much luck landing there either! (-:On up past the beach and you have to walk through the outer wall of The Garrison to get up on top. Here's one of my friends Dave having to duck down to get through. I only had to duck a little bit! (-:Up on top and the old canons are still in place, ready to fight off all comers.On this particular day, it was misty and drizzly with the promise of heavier rain to come. My three birding buddies are up ahead of me deciding whether to walk the whole way around The Garrison in the rain or not. They did. I on the other hand, decided to return to the house for a cuppa tea instead! Wimp or what! (-:The walk around the garrison starts here with a lovely tree covered walkway. This is a good area for passerines to take shelter when going through on migration.You can't see it in this photo, but Porthcressa beach is now down below on the left.Eventually you walk out of the tree covered area onto an area of gorse and bracken with stunning views over to other islands. This I think is St Agnes in the distance.

I've done this photos slightly out of sequence (again)! Below are a couple of photos taken of a Yellow-browed Warbler along the leafy pathway. This small and very flitty warbler is a vagrant to Britain from Siberia. It winters down in south east Asia so is well of course I'm afraid. These aren't brilliant photos as it was quite dark under the leaf canopy and the bird was staying in a patch of trees with the sun behind and I would had to have been standing in mid air over Porthcressa beach to get the sun behind me, so I guess that wasn't going to happen! (-:

This Collared Dove on the other hand was more than obliging by perching on a bare branch with the sun behind me. I love the lichen hanging down on that branch.We had an amazing influx of migrant Painted Ladies in Britain this year and they were still being seen here on the Isles of Scilly in mid October. As with alot of insects, this one was taking advantage of the late nectar from Ivy flowers.Having walked all the way round The Garrison, you end up in Hugh Town and the harbour area.I thought I'd stick this one in last with our Union Jack flying high over The Garrison on St Mary's with the island of Tresco in the background. There will be one more post from the Isles of Scilly before my journey back to the mainland and Cornwall.

Old Town churchyard, St Mary's

Old Town church sits just above and overlooks Old Town Bay. It is a very small and old church with a delightfully rambling churchyard. In the past it has been a good area of St Mary's for birding. It's old Sycamore trees attracting amongst other things, Firecrests and Yellow-browed Warblers. I didn't find either of those birds (despite ALOT of looking). I did find opportunities for some photography though..... This church notice was funny, click to enlarge and read the last paragraph. (-:

It was lovely to sit in the sun on these steps for a while and take in the peace and quiet.

Wandering amongst the gravestones, there were many showing the harsh difficult times from living on these islands in the past. There were many lives lost at sea, both very young and old. Below is one that was still quite legible.This deep red succulent was thriving in the churchyard. I know this plant begins with the letter O, but can't recall its name. Any ideas?Beautiful with the sun shining through it.Where I live in the relatively mild south west of England, this plant would still be unlikely to survive the winter without protection. Here, it grows like a weed.One plant the churchyard had in abundance was ivy and the flowers were humming with life. Bees, flies and butterflies were taking advantage of this late nectar source. This Small Copper was taking a break and basking in the sunshine.A Speckled Wood trying to blend in with the leaf litter.And a Red Admiral from various angles. It covered this flower pretty comprehensively.

One bird that is in big trouble on the mainland, but that seems to be doing very well on the Scillies, it the Song Thrush. Apart from doing well here, they also tend to be quite tame, allowing the photographer some close ups.Still a bit more to come from the Isle of Scilly in my next post.

SWF - Scilly skies.

I recently took a birding holiday to the Isles of Scilly which lies 28 miles off the south west coast of England. Here are some Scilly (pronounced 'silly') skies that I experienced during the week. Many thanks to the SWF bunch of people who make sharing these skies possible. For more skies from around the world, click on the SWF icon on the right hand side of my blog. To enjoy these photos at their best, please click on them to enlarge.
A dramatic sky taken from the airport on the island of St Mary's.Hell Bay on the islands of Bryher.Looking towards Cromwell's Castle on the island of Tresco from Bryher on a beautiful blue sky day.Getting of the boat at the quay on the island of St Agnes with rain threatening.Taken from the boat on the way to the island of Tresco from St Mary's.A view of the islands of Bryher and Samson from Tresco.Thomas Porth beach on a beautiful day on St Mary's.Early morning sky looking across Old Town Bay towards Giant's Castle headland and the airport on St Mary's.Early morning sunshine on the granite rocks at Peninnis head with the island of St Agnes in the distance.Peninnis lighthouse one crisp morning.Looking out onto the Atlantic ocean from Peninnis head on St Mary's.Another view of the island of St Agnes from St Mary's at dusk.Days end on Peninnis head, St Mary's.

Old Town Bay - St Mary's

I thought I'd include the map of the Isles of Scilly again so that you get a sense of where I've been and where this next post is about. Old Town bay is the southern most bay on St Mary's, just along from Peninnis. Click to enlarge any of the scenery shots to get a better picture.You walk everywhere on the islands, unless you're either lazy or you're unable to. I think if you walk around the coast of St Mary's it would be something like 11 miles! This beautiful little bay has a quiet and confiding feel to it. The only boats that I saw moored here were small rowing boats.This is at low tide on a brooding grey cloud day.And here, again at low tide on a slightly brighter day. Those houses have a fabulous view!This is at high tide one evening, I think we were on our way to the Old Town Inn for one of our dinners out. The sky was beautiful with an almost luminous look to the sky and various shades of grey in the clouds from soft silver to an almost slate grey.This is a view from Old Town bay towards the Peninnis headland on a bit of a misty morning. The colours of the stone here echoed the colour of the brownish bracken on the headland.A bit further round the bay and some people had been having fun with the round granite stones on the beach! (-:This amazing Fushia tree was growing in the garden of one of the house along the bay. I think it was about 6 feet high (taller than me anyway)! One day, I was sitting on the Old Town bay wall, watching the world go by. This Oystercatcher started to have a very energetic bath in the bay and I was able to capture some shots.

More to come from the Isles shortly.