The HUDSONIAN WHIMBREL & Co in Cornwall

The dramatic Mount's Bay from Trenow Cove.

I never need much of excuse to head down to Cornwall, even if it may be due to work commitments. With a quick job to carry out on Monday morning, I decided to head southwest a day early and get a spot of winter, seaside birding under my belt. While it is not to everyone's taste, I just love hiking along the deserted coastal footpaths and doing battle against the elements at this time of year.

Following a 1.00am departure from Warwickshire and a quick kip at the birder's traditional stop-over site of Exeter Services, my initial port of call was a blustery Stithians Reservoir. Here I enjoyed great views of a mobile Slavonian Grebe, a long overdue 'Cornish tick'. Other sightings included a female Pintail, four Goldeneye and a mixed flock of Redwing and Fieldfare. 

I then continued my journey west, stopping off at Helston along the way. It was here where I could not resist paying the boating lake on the outskirts of town a quick visit to check on a particularly obliging adult Whooper Swan. It is pretty unusual to get so close to this 'wild' species of swan and it will be interesting to see how long this bird lingers at this unusual location. Whilst it did pay a bit of interest in the Sunday morning 'crust-chuckers', it did keep a respectable distance and there was no sign of any rings to suggest captive origin. I am willing to give it the benefit of doubt, like the drake Wood Duck I saw at the same site a fair few years ago whilst twitching a Ring-billed Gull...... only joking folks!

Whooper Swan (adult) - Helston, Cornwall.

Following a quick circuit of the lake I then headed across the road to check out the local sewage works. Up to three Common Chiffchaff were found fly-catching around the pans along with a couple of Grey Wagtail and several Pied Wagtail. Along the perimeter fence, several Goldcrests were spotted and a Firecrest was heard calling several times, but unfortunately not seen. There was also a small flock of Siskin feeding in the birch and alder. 

Boat Cove looking eastwards.

It was then onward to the quiet village of Perranuthnoe on the south coast. From here I took the coastal footpath west towards Marazion to search for a Cornish mega-rarity. A thorough search of Boat Cove produced just a Little Egret, a few Curlew and a number of Oystercatcher. Undeterred, I then continued my way further along to the more substantial Trenow Cove. Searching this location was a daunting prospect with the vast rocky shoreline easily able to swallow up and conceal a small, American wading bird.

Further searches produced the same species already mentioned, in addition to several pair of Rock Pipit. There was hope though. The tide was coming in pretty quickly and this would in theory make my task slightly easier. As I waited, I decided to check the sea where a couple of Black-throated Diver showed particularly well on the choppy water. As much as I tried, I could not string either of them into the much rarer PACIFIC DIVER that has spent a number of winters in Mount's Bay since 2007. Other species of note included a pair of Red-throated Diver and several small groups of Guillemot.

It was while tracking yet another Curlew in flight that my luck suddenly changed. As the bird landed, I noticed that it had sought out a small flock of the same species to snuggle up with. At the edge of this group there was a smaller, duskier looking bird with a stonking eye stripe. This was the bird I had been eager to see, Cornwall's first and only HUDSONIAN WHIMBREL. a first-winter individual. The bird initially spent the majority of time sleeping until it was eventually disturbed by the incoming tide. At this stage, fantastic scope views were enjoyed as it poked around the rocks for a while and preened in the open for about thirty minutes. It then took flight in an easterly direction and was lost to view.

Hudsonian Whimbrel (digiscoped)

As I happily skipped back to the car for lunch, I stumbled upon the bird once again, this time in Boat Cove. The tide had also brought in larger quantities of both Oystercatcher and Curlew along with much smaller numbers of Turnstone and the odd Common Redshank. As the water encroached further, the HUDSONIAN WHIMBREL became agitated once again and flew high east. This was another opportunity to view its all dark back and rear end, features that distinguish it from our familiar Eurasian whimbrel species.

After devouring my packed lunch, I continued onward through Marazion and Penzance until I reached Newlyn harbour. It was time for marathon session of Laridae appreciation. Observing gulls at a location like this sure beats a gloomy West Midlands reservoir roost in the middle of winter. You are able to sit back, relax and study the intricacies involved with aging the different species without straining your eyes and developing hypothermia. Having said that, Caspian Gulls and Yellow-legged Gulls are pretty hard to come by all the way down here in the extreme southwest.

Initially the number of large gulls around the fish market was disappointingly low, however I soon picked up the head of a curious juvenile Glaucous Gull at it peered down at me from the edge of the roof. All gulls then took flight and spread out around the town, calling noisily as they went. These consisted mainly of argenteus race Herring Gulls along with small numbers of Great Black-backed Gulls and the odd Black-headed Gull. 

Glaucous Gull (juvenile female) - Newlyn.

Whilst waiting for the flock to settle down I decided to turn my attention to a bit a sea-watching again. In the relatively calm waters off Tolcarne Beach there were two Great Northern Diver as well as the odd Guillemot, Cormorant and Shag. Along the shoreline itself there were also plenty of Rock Pipit and a few Pied Wagtail.

Glaucous Gull (juvenile female) - Newlyn.

With the gulls refusing to settle down, I then made my way over to the Penlee Lifeboat Station to check the general area. Almost immediately I picked up the same juvenile Glaucous Gull as before as it loafed among the moorings. Whilst trying to secure a few photographs, an extremely friendly, salty old seadog advised me that another bird was perched up on the harbour wall. No sooner had the fisherman chugged off in his little boat than the second bird appeared and almost landed on top of the first. This new bird was an absolute brute, similar in size to a Great Black-backed Gull, a large male bird no doubt. What a treat it was to enjoy not one, but two of these scarce visitors from the Arctic at such very close range.

Glaucous Gull (juvenile male) - Newlyn.

With a fabulous day drawing to an end, I travelled the short distance around the coast to the beautiful village of Mousehole (pronounced mow-zel in Cornish). It was here I positioned myself at the excellent Rock Pool Cafe, grabbed a brew and started my quest to find a troublesome first-winter AMERICAN HERRING GULL. A bird had been present in the roost at St Clement's Isle the previous night so my fingers were crossed that it would reappear this evening. I have seen this recently split species up in Scotland before, but it would have been a bonus to add it to both my English and Cornish lists.

Mousehole - from the Rock Pool Cafe.

After over a hour of scanning, I finally picked up a possible candidate. This young herring gull type was extremely dark below, with a distinct cut off above the chest, a pale head and a pink-based bill with a dark tip. Unfortunately before I could study it further it dropped down into one of the ravines on the island. I was pretty gutted not to get a view of the wing pattern or the tail. It was all pretty frustrating, but that is 'gulling' I suppose.

  

American Herring Gull by K Mullarney

With the cafe about to close, I joined a small group of local birders up in the car park where most of us hung around until dark without any further sign of the bird. Despite this disappointment it had been another truly memorable 'dawn til dusk' birding extravaganza in my favorite of all the English Counties. It was then time to make my weary way back up the A30 to Launceston to spend the night at my dad's place in Egloskerry.

St Michael's Mount selfie!

Harriers, Gulls & Eagles on North Uist

A old style crofter's cottage at Malacleit, North Uist.

After the rigours of the previous day it was great to enjoy a satisfying night of snoozing at our comfortable Bed and Breakfast at Middlequarter. As a perk of organising the trip I secured an exclusive room of my own whereas the trio of reprobates upstairs all had to share the honeymoon suite. I did not envy Jules and Steve at all having to put up with the incessant snoring of Mike all night. When he's fast asleep he sounds like a bronchitic boar. On a bad night his porcine like exhalations can register a 6.5 on the Richter scale.

An early morning scan of the area from my bedroom window produced a distant Short-eared Owl hunting over the machair as well as many Rock Dove and Oystercatcher going about their business. After a hearty breakfast it was time to find some more birds. A few days before the trip we had challenged our friends from the West Midlands to a 'Hebridean 48 Hour Bird Race'. We had no idea what total they had reached during their day on Skye yesterday but no doubt it would have been higher than our day spent on North Uist looking for the elusive HARLEQUIN DUCK.

A view north from Committee Road, North Uist.

Our first destination was Committee Road, named in honour of a committee that was formed in the 1840's to bring famine relief to starving islanders. The road runs north to south through an area of moorland and traditional peat cutting land and is a great place for Hen Harriers and Short-eared Owls. Within a few minutes we had found our first two ring-tail Hen Harriers followed a short while later by a glorious adult male. To see this magnificent raptor in such a wonderful setting was an immense privilege and something that is sadly a rare sight south of the border in England. A Common Buzzard and a few Raven were also spotted over the nearby conifer plantation.  

A view of Lagan Arnal, North Uist.

We then made our over to the west coast to see what gulls and shorebirds we could find at Rubh Arnal. Around the cattle fields just inland of the dune system it was nice to hear an orchestra of a dozen of so Skylark, the quintessential sound of a British spring. This was interspersed with the odd fly over Meadow Pipit, the sound of displaying Lapwing and the call of a Curlew, aural paradise for anyone never mind birders like ourselves.  Out on the water, the winds were slightly stronger than the day before adding a touch of the untamed to an already dramatic landscape. Almost immediately I picked out a brutish looking juvenile Glaucous Gull down on the beach, it completely dwarfing the accompanying Common Gulls and Black-headed Gulls. 

Glaucous Gull (juvenile) at Lagan Arnal, North Uist.
Photo by Steve Dunn taken on Jules Allen's iPhone

Down near the point at Rubh Arnal there were a nice selection of waders including 12 Oystercatcher, 2 Curlew, 10 Ringed Plover, 8 Common Redshank, 2 Knot, 34 Sanderling, 6 Purple Sandpiper and 80 Turnstone. Out at sea there were over 20 Common Shelduck, a single Red-breasted Merganser and the odd Great Northern Diver. Around the corner at Sgeir a Chotain there was another group of gulls feeding along the shoreline. This time the flock consisted mainly of Herring Gulls but it was apparent there was the odd 'white-winger' lurking amongst them. We walked along the beach for a closer luck and Steve's initial suspicions were confirmed. There was both a juvenile Kumlien's Gull and a 2nd winter Iceland Gull. Despite the distance, the Kumlien's Gull could be clinched in flight by the differences in the darker outer primaries in comparison to the paler inner primaries.

As we headed back inland a Common Buzzard passed overhead and a male Sparrowhawk made a raid on a flock of 60 Starling. Another pleasing sighting was a group of 5 Corn Bunting perched along a nearby fence line.  As we drove around to the visitor centre at Balranald RSPB we received news that our pals had finally connected with the HARLEQUIN DUCK after four long hours of searching. The bird had moved over a mile south of it's usual haunt to an area near Hanglam and the channel into Loch Paible.

A scan of Loch Grogarry failed to produce the female Ring-necked Duck today but a flock of 50 Eurasian Wigeon became a new trip tick. Around the centre itself there were a couple of Grey Heron and Pied Wagtail feeding around the corner of a flooded field and 72 Barnacle Geese passed overhead. Unfortunately there were no additional sightings in the log book for us to follow up but I did notice a couple of entries from the odd fellow West Midlander birding associate.  

West Midlands birders are a well travelled bunch!

With time to kill before our ferry back home we decided to turn our attention to finding some eagles. As we made our way north another pair of Hen Harrier showed well along Committee Road before we continued our journey to the extreme north-east section of North Uist past Loch Portain. Several Hooded Crows and Common Stonechats were spotted in this area but there was a distinct lack of large raptors despite a thorough scanning of all the likely looking habitat.

A view looking west from Cnoc Mor an t-Sagairt.

Our final destination of the whole trip was Lochmaddy.  With the success that we had with eagles there during the previous day it seemed the sensible option to concentrate on this area whilst waiting for the ferry to arrive. The bay itself was relatively quiet with just a few Common Eider, Shag and Black Guillemot. There was however a flighty Black-throated Diver and a very showy summer plumaged Red-throated Diver to keep us all entertained. Jules Allen also found his third Eurasian Otter of the trip as it scampered around on the small islet of Fathoire just offshore. This time we all managed to connect with his sighting before it disappeared from view. Mike then picked up a large raptor soaring distantly over the mountain of Li a Deas to the south of the town. As it approached closer we all enjoyed decent scoped views of an adult Golden Eagle. Over a hour later and as the ferry approached the bay we were joined by Tony, Tom, Rob and Jase. At this stage an immature White-tailed Eagle was found by Steve as it flew low over the sea heading north, a fantastic end to a pretty remarkable trip.
  

From Left to Right: Tom Cattell, Jules Allen, Tony Barter,
Rob Gilbert, Mike Feely, Jase Oliver, Adam Archer & Steve Dunn.

The final result of the 'Hebridean 48 Hour Bird Race' was as follows:

CLAM Birders (West Mids & Staffs) - 73 species

ASBO Birders (Staffs, Warks & Notts) - 77 species