Purple Sandpiper (Calidris Maritima) (Paarse Strandloper)

I have photographed this species before and as the local birders will know they overwinter year on year in Mounts Bay and their principle roost is close to Battery Rocks and the swimming pool and they feed on the small beach.

The Purple Sandpiper Breeds in the high arctic tundra with one or two breeding pairs in Scotland and are classed as amber status, in other words under threat, the site is kept secret to deter egg thieves. The location of their overwintering area in Penzance is the area that the Isles of Scilly steam ship company along with the local authority want to reclaim from the sea, back filling the area and creating a new docking and loading area for the Scillonian. I also saw within 50 metres from the shore a Red Breasted Merganser, one Razorbill,numerous Turnstones on the shore, feeding shags, Oyster Catchers and Curlew. All within one hour. The question is do we destroy important habitat for commerce, or should they look for an alternative site preserving this historic area and habitat for a species under threat.

Garden birds

I took a couple of photographs in the garden. In a previous blog a mentioned how the cotoneaster feeds the birds in the winter and as you can see the black bird is gladly helping herself. They are ravenous with several coming in dailey to feed.

Kenidjack Valley

Here is a couple of images from yesterday Sunday 15th November. We went for a walk down through kenidjack valley our local area and we saw the big four of the Raptor family again. Lisa captured these images of a Common Buzzard taking off from a rock face near the coastal end of the valley. I think a Buzzard is always worth a shot and these two are amongst the best we have taken so far.

Great Northern Diver 2

I went back to Newlyn in the Afternoon of Saturday the 14th of November and how different the weather was from the morning. Here is a few more images of a immature 1st winter GN Diver that obliged me some close range photography. The yellow reflections are of the mooring ropes above the subject