Stithians Reservoir

My first visit to Stithians Reserve was to-day 31st of March , and I may have been an April fool to choose today to go to Stithians, as in my home town we had an Alpine Swift.Ah well it wasn't to be and as usual I always miss the migrants .
What an excellent place Stithians is, and all down to the valiant efforts of the CBWPS Warden. The following photo's are all from the Southern cut-off hide and are only of the regular sitings but intriguing to me as I haven't seen a Bullfinch in ages, and the snipe has been a target bird to photograph .Also the water rail even only fleetingly was great to see and photograph. Part two of this blog will be tomorrow (hopefully) as I took some photo's of a major disagreemant between three coots. A blow by blow account. Click on the images to enlarge

Water Rail

Reed Bunting Bull Finch

Snipe

Little Grebes, Herons and Black Tail Godwits

Today Sunday 30 March me and the Father in Law visited the Walmsley Sanctuary at Wadebridge. What a day! the site is owned and run by the Cornwall Birdwatching Preservation Society and what a brillant place it is.We left home at around 6.30 in the morning (that was hard as the clocks went forward an hour), We saw many species and some of the better photographs we took are below. Please click on the images to enlarge.

Little Egret

The five pictures of little Egrets were taken over the last few months. The most recent are the last two flight shots photographed at Marazion RSPB Reserve, the others at Hayle estuary. Please click on the picture to enlarge

Lands Ends and Chapel Carn Brea

Today we had a look around Lands End and Chapel Carn Brea.We didn,t find the Black Redstarts, (thirteen in all were reported), or the Cattle Egret. The interesting species to see at Lands end was the Black Tail Godwit, normally seen on estuaries. Click on the images to enlarge

Golden Plover at Trewey, Zennor

I came across these Goldies whilst out looking for the Short Eared Owl ,hoping to get a better photo. No Owl to be found.The photo below, I thought may have harboured an American Golden Plover (the darker bird at the front group). After contacting the Godfather, Steve Rogers and Paul Freestone of Cornwall Birding we concluded that it is probably a European in transition to its breeding colours. As for the Owl, Mark Harris photograph of it is about fifty times better than mine,so here is his Flickr link . http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark50d/sets/72157613518941322/
I wish I didn't show him the location ( Only joking Mark).Click on the image to enlarge

Short Eared Owl

My apologies for the quality of these images but the Owls were a fair way off in the distance, basically to far for a decent picture and heavily cropped.This location, gave us two Short Eared Owls, and one Hen Harrier, today the 14th of March 2009.Short Eared Owls are listed as amber status by the RSPB (another species struggling). I have been trying to photograph this owl for a couple of days and today I have had limited success. If I get better photographs I will edit this blog. Click on the picture for a larger image.

Sand Martins at St Gothian

Alright they are last years but we do have something to look forward to.

Little Gulls and Big Gulls at Newlyn Harbour on the 01/02/2009

Iceland Gull immature 1st winter (Larus Glaucoides)


Little Gull immature (Larus Minutus)

Kittwake (Rissa Trydactyla)

Little gull

Glaucous Gull immature (Larus hyperboreus)

Cattle Egret,Cormorant and Black Headed Gull At Hayle Estuary

On Saturday the 28th February 2009 I didn't start bird watching until mid afternoon. I suppose my aim was to have a go with my new Nikon Lens.I started by trying to photograph a black headed gull feeding in Ryan's field at Hayle, the shot I wanted was the moment the gull dipped its beak into the water whilst on the wing, as you will see below I was unsuccessful although not a bad flight shot.

Whilst scanning the reserve I found a Little Egret injured with a broken wing, that is when the wife got involved. On the phone to the RSPCA, I then spent the next three quarters of an hour assisting a reluctant RSPCA officer to capture the injured bird.

The following photograph is a Cormorant in its full breeding colours.I always thought of Cormorants as a dull coloured bird but this photo shows different and we should not take any bird for granted.