My old mate Dunc Poyser was doing a Big Year, attempting to see over 300 species in the UK in a year. He suggested a trip down to Cornwall to clean-up some longstaying rarities - how could I resist? To add to the fun, our other halves, Ange and Vicky agreed to come along for the ride.
...
An overnight trip down to Cornwall from Bedfordshire seemed essential in light of several American ducks hanging out. The first birds we saw were two Barn Owls by the roadide, near Hayle.
At first light, the Ring-billed Gull did not seem to be present at Copperhouse Creek car park, so we drove down to the Old Quay Inn. Here there was large numbers of roosting waders and gulls. I picked up an adult Mediterranean Gull among these, followed by a first-winter bird picked up by Dunc. The first-winter Spoonbill was still present, having last been seen in October. Also present were three Little Egrets exhibiting long back plumes. At Carnsew Pool we quickly found two Great Northern Divers, the cose bird aged as an immature due to its heavily chequered upperparts.
Back at Copperhouse Creek, the Ring-billed Gull, a cracking winter-plumaged adult appeared on the water. This is the first I have seen since another bird here back in 1989! Among the loafing Herring Gulls we picked out a Yellow-legged Gull of the western Michaellis subspecies (Caspian hadn't been split at this point). This bird had the characteristic head and bill profile and dark grey upperparts and yellow legs of course!
Having had our fill of gulls, we headed next to Stithians Reservoir. The fine adult drake Ring-necked Duck performed well on our arrival among a small flock of Tufted Ducks. After half an hour, the drake Black Duck flew in with a couple of Mallards, appearing noticeably larger in flight, very dark with a whitish belly and flashing white underwing coverts. Unfortunately, after circling a few times around the end of the reservoir, the Black Duck flew off. A wintering Chiffchaff was the only other bird of note here.
A short drive east towards Falmouth and we arrived at Argal Reservoir, where after a couple of miles walk we found the two female Lesser Scaup, in the company of a Red-necked Grebe and a few (Greater) Scaup, which provided a useful comparison. Having watched these American visitors for a while and memorised the key features, we moved on again.
Our next stop was in Devon, at Roadford Reservoir. After a bit of searching we picked up the male Bufflehead, an absolute cracker, bobbing around with some Goldeneye and Scaup. Apparently one observer has noted a metal ring on the leg of this bird, but a combination of location and the presence of several other American wildfowl nearby and the fact that thousands of Bufflehead are ringed in the USA every year, all give support to a wild origin.
We headed to Portland in Dorset, our last stop on this epic day. The immature drake Surf Scoter was nowhere to be seen despite having been reported earlier in the day, although many Red-breasted Mergansers were present along with a couple of Great Northern Divers. Not too bad a day!
No comments:
Post a Comment