Pectoral Sandpiper At Tregiffian

Have You Met Miss Jones

If not have a look at her blog, a new blogger on the block 

http://www.kathrynjonesphotography.blogspot.com/

Juvenile Long Tailed Skua At Pendeen

 Juv Long Tailed Skua

 Arctic Skua

These images are probably the most important shots I captured at yesterdays sea watch. Long Tailed Skuas are  known as the rarest species of Skua we see in Cornwall and at distance they can be difficult to differentiate from the juv Arctic Skua. You will note the barring on the rump and that is one identifying  feature, also the the wing primary quills show at the most two white stripes (on the Arctic this can be as much as five or six and gives the appearance of a white panel) and thirdly the overall appearance is one of a grey cold look. I am told that this could be the first image captured  of a Long Tailed Skua migrating through the Cornish Seas.

Sea Watch At Pendeen

 Sabine's Gull  Larus sabini,  above



 I did a sea watch today at Pendeen, the three hour morning session without the camera produced some superb views of seabirds, Sabine's were prominent with a couple of Leach's Petrel outside the rocks, I also had Sooty Shearwater, Balearic Shearwater Pomarine Skua, ArcticSkua, Great Skua, Grey Phalerope and a possible juv Longtail Skua.. The images were captured during the afternoon.

 Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus ( Pale Morph)

 Arctic Skua pale morph and dark morph

 Great Skua Stercorarius skua  ( Bonxie)

Lesser Yellow Legs Tringa flavipes

 The Wader fest go's on, thanks to the recent hurricane that must have caused massive disruption to the annual North American Wader migration, as loads of rare Americans have been dumped on our county. This evening I captured this Lesser Yellow Legs having dipped on the rarer Greater Yellow Legs the night before. These images were taken at Drift reservoir we also saw the Semi-palmated Sandpiper (another North American species.

Arctic Tern Portraits

Arctic Tern At Boscathnoe

Badgers

What a birding, week Baird's Sandpiper, Buff Breasted Sandpiper and Pectorals seen in West Cornwall and I missed it. The family, with the new addition, spent  four days in Centre Parks at Longleat. It was my first experience of Centre Parks and we had a great time. The site is located in Longleat Forest with Plenty of Grey Squirrels (  vermin to some)and the usual woodland birds such as Coal Tits, Great  Tits, Blue Tits, Woodpeckers and Tawny Owls. The highlight was a Badger family visiting our patio area in the late evening, with only the double glazing of the patio door between us and the Badgers we had really close views, at one point there were five together feeding on  peanuts,