Cornwall - Day 2, Lantic Bay & Day 3, Lansallos. 10/11th August 2017

With it being a nice, sunny day for a change, we walked around our local coastline - Lantic Bay. With it being such an incredible year for seabirds, I was hopeful to add something to my woeful seabird list - this doesn't even include Guillemot or Gannet! When we left, there were Swallows overhead everywhere and a Corn bunting sat on a hedgerow beside the fields. There were a few fields especially good for butterflies, with Meadow Browns, Heaths, Ringlets, Gatekeepers, Blues, whites and a possible fritillary as well. Two buzzards circled, one juvenile which persistently hovered over the cliffs, which made me stop for a second as I knew Rough-legged Buzzards hover more.

Meadow Brown

Buzzard

Meadow Brown with an odd right hindwing. 

We walked on, past a group of cows when I heard a cracking sound which I had never heard before, but a sound all-too-easy to know. Finally! For the next half an hour 2 male, 2 juvenile and 1 female Stonechat were seen along the walk.

m Stonechat

m Stonechat

m + juv Stonechat

A Yellowhammer, 2 Whitethroat and a Lesser Whitethroat were also seen. On the coast were a group of Shag and Cormorant, lots of gulls and a diver sp. which flew along the coast, but I couldn't identify it. Eventually 2 Common Seal swam towards the rocks too. A male Sparrowhawk spooked nearly everything at one point. 

Cormorant/Shag

Yellowhammer

Common Seal

m Sparrowhawk

After going further on, my sister spotted a small bird which appeared to be 'flycatching' at the top of a tree. However, it does just look like a Chiffchaff. 

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

My sister was on a role, and then spotted this warbler from about a mile away but it also looks like a Chiffchaff.

Chiffchaff

There was also a moth which I got a rubbish picture of. 

?

Later on in the afternoon, we went to a beach at Polkerris where a Kestrel attended to a nest on the cliff, a few Buzzards hung around as did a few Raven.

Small White

Raven

(hovering) Buzzard

Kestrel

With Friday being a crap, rainy day, there were barely any highlights bar a 5 second return of the hawkmoth and a few Yellowhammer. 

Cornwall - Day 1, Looe and Arrival

Just got back from a brilliant trip to Cornwall, which I'll break down into about 5 posts. Firstly, on the 8th I was playing in a cricket tournament and managed to spot 2 Buzzard (moulting,) 2 Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel and a Green Sandpiper all over from the farmlands during that time. 

Common buzzard

Common Buzzard

After leaving at 5am on the 9th, we got to Looe - a town near our cottage - at around 10:30am. I was surprised to see around 20 Little Egrets all busily fishing on the river, and in the trees all around. Also there were 9 Oystercatcher, 2 Grey heron and lots of gulls. The egrets all showed well from very close, which was nice to see. 

Oystercatchers

Little Egret

  

Little Egret + fish

Little Egret

Little egret stare

Little Egret fishing

At about 2:30pm, we arrived at out cottage which had a nice little garden (and spiderless rooms!)

For a few hours we chilled in the garden, where I found a Wall Brown, Green-veined white and Ringlet in the flowers, as well as a moth which I've never seen before in a tree. 

Camourflaging Wall Brown

moth. (Carpet?)

Then I noticed a nice little surprise fly into the fuchsias in the garden. A fantastic little Hummingbird Hawkmoth! I got a few decent record shots, before it flew off towards the adjacent fields.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

A nice day to start, with the hawkmoth being a new creature for me. Still 6 days to come!

RHS Wisley, 5th August 2017

Although a place with not too many overly exciting birds, I can still post a few pictures from a little walk around Wisley yesterday morning with friends before the storm arrived. At the lake, there was a Little Grebe juvenile and two adults, and a few dragonfly and damselfly, including this damselfly. 

damselfly

Little Grebe juv

Also were around were 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Speckled Wood,  6 Meadow brown, 3 Gatekeeper, 2 Brimstone, c.10 Small White, 2 Large White, 3 Painted Lady, 2 Small Heath, 2 Peacock, c.8 Red Admiral and a few Common Darter dragonflies. On the River, there were lots of Banded Demoiselle and a single Beautiful Demoiselle. About 20 Swallow flew around from various places, 100+ Swifts came over (possibly heading back to Africa :(, which would be annoying,) and a Hobby darted over the site at one point. Lots of common species, as well as a few Nuthatches and Treecreepers, flew between the trees.  

Meadow Brown

Common Darter

Common Darter

Small White

Brimstone

Banded Demoiselle

(stylised picture) Red Admiral

On Wednesday, we are off to Cornwall. With it being an excellent time (and year) for sea-watching with Shearwaters and Petrels and the like in great abundance I will definitely add at least 1 bird to my life list, if not way more! A great few weeks to come - hopefully!

Titchfield Haven NNR, 1st August 2017

After spending most of the day shopping in Portsmouth - groan, groan - we had just under 2 hours at the reserve on the coast of Hampshire. I last visited it about 2 years ago, about a week after the long-staying Greater Yellowlegs buggered off to the Isle of wight. My memories are of slight frustration.
Anyhow, yesterday was definitely a day of complete quantity not quality - by that I refer to my photography!
When we arrived, there were Common Terns whirling around everywhere, so I tried to get a half decent picture of one in flight - it was not to be.

Common Tern stare

Common Tern and fish

As we reached the visitor centre, there were 7 Turnstone scuttling around. By the time we left there were a good 30-40 individuals. It was pleasing especially because it was my first Turnstones since 2011 - another bogey bird.

Turnstone

Turnstone

Turnstone - evening 

Turnstone

Also in the harbour was a big gull, which I couldn't identify from its single rapid fly-through.

?

After seeing a Jersey Tiger moth from the reception, we began the walk to the gate on the Scrape route - there had been 8 Grasshopper Warblers ringed in the morning, but they'd all gone so we didn't take the other route. From the road there was a Little Egret fishing.

Jersey Tiger moth

Little Egret

From the Meon Shore hide there lots of Oystercatcher on show, with terns, ducks, lapwings and Black-headed gulls filling most of the islands. A Cormorant flew over.

Oystercatchers and Lapwing

Cormorant

Near the Pumfrett hide there was a big fungus - an aspect of nature I know nothing about at the moment, a Speckled Wood butterfly and also a mystery small bird which my mum saw disappear into the reeds, with a long bill. Possible Water Rail?

Add caption

Speckled Wood

From the Pumfrett hide there were lots of Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Avocet, a Redshank, Lapwing and a flyover Common Sandpiper.

B-TGs

Black tailed Godwit

Avocets etc

Redshank

From the final hide on our short walk, the Spurgin Hide, there were two Green Sandpipers showing on a distant small island. 

Green Sandpiper 1

Green Sandpiper 2

After we got back to the beach, a Common tern youngster (though it didn't look like it) landed and pestered an adult for a fish and was fed within 3 seconds. 

Common Tern being fed

A nature reserve which I would like to spend more time at, as it is quite a nice place!

On the journey back there were 5 Common Buzzards, 1 Red kite, 2 Kestrel and 1 Hobby (New Alresford) being all the raptors.