The first bright day for a while so a walk around Siblyback Lake was in order. Below is a photograph of the Red-necked Grebe which has been around for a few days. Unfortunately the Lesser Scaup was chased out into mid lake by a pair of Great-crested Grebes and out of photographic range. Also seen was a female Merlin, a pair of Ravens , a large number of Chiffchaffs and some Goldcrests..

Par Beach Pool. Still quite overcast weather and after a few hundred more exposures this is the best of them. You should see the near misses though! These little critters move very fast and not in a straight line!

Is it really Spring? Par Beach Pool hosted about 50 Sand Martins and two Swallows late this afternoon. They were feeding quite close to he edge of the pool but that did not make them any easier to photograph.
It was really quite dim, exposure was 800 ISO, f5.6 at about 1/1000second.

 

A bit of a pot pourri of images from the last week.

Spring has sprung (or has it?)

 

A juvenile Whooper Swan at Helston boating Lake

 

The clay district seen from Rosenannon Downs on a miraculously fine day

I find these lichen covered trees on Bodmin Moor fascinating

A day spent photographing Cirl Buntings at the project in South Cornwall. The object was to try and get images that would help identify the unringed birds. But there was time to get a few more artistic images

A selection of photographs from the last month.

A Spotted Redshank on the Tresillian River 25th Feb. 2013

Two images from the RSPB cruise on the Exe 24th Feb 2013

 

Beautiful colours on the Gossander on St. Andrews Road Pool

A Teal at St. Andrews Road Pool, Par

Christmas is over and so is the inevitable festive season cold so it is time to get out and about again. A gloomy day curtailed much photographic activity but this fine drake Goosander was on St. Andrews Road Pool, Par.

A stroll today on the Roseland with staff and volunteers from the RSPB and the National Trust. Several sites were visited and 74 bird species seen plus one magnificent fox. Followed by a cup of tea and some tasty cake made by Emma from the National Trust.

The photographic highlight of the day was a first year female Long-tailed Duck at Portscatho which was first seen far out in the bay, but then it came really close in to the beach.

 

 

This magnificent rain cloud was seen from Towan Beach

 

 

A view of the Fal River from Ardevora Veor

 

 

And a better picture from yesterday of the Ring-necked Duck at Par Beach Pool

 



 

 

Back on the ground on the home patch today at Par Beach Pool. Things are definitely looking up with a Ring-necked Duck, 7 Shovelers, 10 Tufted Ducks, 2 Little Grebes and the possibly now resident Black Swan.
The Ring-necked Duck was giving distant views but perhaps he will be more cooperative tomorrow. Is this the same long staying duck from earlier in the yeat? Certainly the books suggest that they often reappear at the same location from year to year.

 

A quick aerial tour of some of the well known birding spots of west Cornwall. My thanks to John and Shaunne Shaw for supplying the aircraft and getting me back on the ground safely despite my best efforts at flying it,

A view of College Reservoir near Falmouth  with the Argal Resevoir dam in the lower left corner. Can you spot the Bittern on the island in the reservoir?

Stithians Reservoir looking north towards Camborne and St. Agnes Beacon. The southern cutoff is at the bottom of the picture  and there is one hide on this stretch of water and another just across the road on the main reservoir.

Windmill Farm on the Lizard is jointly owned by the Cornwall Bird Watching and Preservation Society and the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. Looking approximately north Predannack airfield can be seen on the western side. The windmill stump is just right and down from the centre of the picture.

And finally Lizard Village and Lizard Point where the Choughs live.

A beautiful and surprisingly mild day so it was off to College Reservoir near Falmouth with our Saturday 'Last of the Summer Wine' birding group. All five of us!
We were rewarded with distant glimpses of a Bittern, and  a Buzzard warning children that playgrounds are a dangerous place to play.
Back to Par Beach Pool for this shot of a rather snooty Mute Swan.

A fascinating morning with Mark Grantham and his bird ringing team at  a patch of farmland at St. Allen which is north of Truro. The meeting was organised as a field meeting for the Cornwal Bird Watching and Preservation Society.
It was an early start on a frosty morning but the opportunity to see birds close up and in the hand was irresistible.
A total of 43 birds were trapped in the 4 hours and the species caught were Robin, Greenfinch, Wren, Blackbird, Dunnock and Starling.

 

Ringing a Robin                                      Blowing on the breast

                                                                 to assess muscle and fat

 

Weighing                                                  Ready for release

 

Chaffinch                                                   and  Dunnock

 

 Song Thrush                                                 and Wren

 

Starling 

 

 

Tending the mist net