Northern Wheatear

Orcombe Point, Exmouth, Devon
I finished work early today as I had an appointment and popped to site for an hour afterwards. On arrival at Gore Lane I was treated to a Female Common Kesterl hunting the dung field. In the last field along the permissive path from Gore Lane to the coastal paths were 2 Northern Wheatear hopping around and catching insects. I never tire of watching these guys. Apart from that the only other noteworthy species were a lonely European Stonechat and a few flyover Meadow Pipit.

I’m off tomorrow to hopefully have a successful twitch of the Grey Catbird. I have everything crossed but if I dip I may give up on this twitching business. In all honesty I bet I would get tempted again. Let’s hope it’s more productive than my last Cornwall twitch for the Brown Shrike, which apparently may still be in the area further up the coast from Kynance at Prendannack but it was only reported as a possible on the Cornwall site. Interestingly, someone reported 3 Frigatebirds at Porthleven. A wholly unconfirmed report though.

Northern Wheatear 

Northern Wheatear 

One Hell Of A Dip

Soapy Cove, Kynance, Cornwall 
So the day had finally come to have a go at the Brown Shrike. Me and my mate Pete made the journey in good time and even got from Kynance National Trust car park to the birds prefered site in good time. So we found a good vantage point and started the waiting game. We were soon joined by Steph and Rob Murphy and it was a pleasure to chat and swap stories. A few species kept us entertained, Common Kestrel, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Eurasian Skylark, Meadow Pipit and European Stonechat. After what seemed an eternity we all decided to call it a day having not seen the bird which would have been lifer for all involved apart from Pete. Nevertheless I had an enjoyable time on site.

View of valley that leads to Soapy Cove

The Lizard, Cornwall
Me and Pete popped here for a rather late lunch in the lighthouse car park in the hope of salvaging the day with a Red-billed Chough but even they didn’t want to play ball.

Helston Boating Lake, Helston, Cornwall 
On the way home, with a deflated feeling I felt I needed to see something decent. So we popped along to the boating lake to see the questionable Male Ferruginous Duck. On arrival we noted the pool was virtually drained for repairs. However, the bird showed and it was nice to appreciate the bird at close range as normally these birds are shy and distant.

Ferruginous Duck (Male)

Mudbank Lane, Exmouth, Devon

When nearly home I received a text from Matt Knott about a Red-crested Pochard at Mudbank Lane. I decided to have a super quick look but there was no sign. Apparently someone had fired a shot at them and everything had gone up. So by the time I got there the numbers of Eurasian Wigeon (which the bird was associating with) had dropped as they had understandably moved on.