It was another huge surprise when the same, or another, Booted Eagle was seen at the end of January at the Penzance end of the Lands End peninsula, about ten miles away from the previous sightings. Local birders soon determined however, that this time, the Eagle was staying faithful to a small block of conifer trees by the Marazion bypass, where it could be seen going to roost in the evening, and leaving in the morning. People began connecting virtually every day, especially in the late afternoon, with viewing from a lay-by on the main A30 road seemingly the best place to look from. The bird was also seen from a railway bridge on the bypass road, from where closer views were possible although it involved a walk along a busy stretch of road to reach. For a few days I watched the reports, noticed that some decent photos of the bird emerged online, and then got somewhat twitchy. Eagle mania had taken hold!
Friends of ours travelled down and connected with the Eagle, some got really good photos of the bird as it very obligingly flew straight over their heads. I just couldn't miss out on this bird so I hastily arranged a two-nighter away, staying just a mile away from the A30 lay-by so that I'd maximise our chances of seeing the rarity.
Friday 7th February
We began the trip by dropping into Burnham-on-Sea on the way. We were hoping to catch up with the wintering Kentish Plover which favours the muddy beach along the town's esplanade. Sadly the bird wasn't anywhere that could we see on a chilly morning although we did get fine, but distant, views of Grey Plover and Sanderling, which were both welcome additions to our year list.
We moved on and headed south-westwards aiming to spend the last hour or so of the day installed in the aforementioned lay-by ready to watch the Booted Eagle go to roost. That gave us ample time to divert off the main route and visit Trenance Boating Lake on the outskirts of Newquay. The purpose of the detour was to see a female Long-tailed Duck which had spent a fair few weeks on the small man-made pool, although it hadn't been reported via the bird news services for a couple of days. However, I thought it was worth looking into, since it was sure to be just a small body of water and I fancied that views would be extremely good. When we pulled up and looked through the surrounding fence at the boating lake, I couldn't imagine why a sea-duck like a Long-tailed Duck would frequent such a place. The lake was barely fifty metres across and there was constant disturbance from folk walking around it. Not the most likely place to see a bird that usually favours the open sea. Despite my scepticism, we decided to have a look anyway, and there was a cafe where we could grab a coffee if there was nothing doing on the lake.
We walked towards the cafe but could only see Mallards and Black-headed Gulls on the water. So a coffee it was then. Except it wasn't because the owner was just locking the door. It was only two o'clock! Don't they realise that some of us need coffee. The day wasn't quite going to plan but we'd have time for a coffee break further down the road provided we didn't linger any longer. I was about to go back through the gate when I noticed a small duck dive under the water at the far end of the lake. My initial thought was that it'd be one of the Tufted Ducks that I'd spotted from the road as I drove in but my interest had been piqued so I waited for the duck to resurface. Of course it had disappeared and didn't pop back up anywhere that I could see. But there was something that gnawed away at a tiny part of my brain that prevented me from walking away. so instead of returning to the car I walked towards the opposite end of the lake. As I passed a small island, I saw the duck again but this time I was looking straight at the female Long-tailed Duck. Maybe I do possess some of that fabled birders premonition after all!
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| Long-tailed Duck |
For the next half hour as we watched it dive and move around the lake, we followed it and I took as many photos as I wanted to of the Long-tailed Duck, sometimes from just a few metres away. By pre-empting its next move I was able to get into position for superb views. This was easily the closest encounter we'd ever had with the species, and in the afternoon sunshine the duck looked absolutely splendid!
But if we wanted to see the Booted Eagle then the photo session had to be necessarily cut short so it wasn't long before we were heading back down the A30, thankfully now devoid of the roadwork chaos of the last few years, again.
I was surprised to see the lay-by near Penzance almost full with cars belonging to the birders who were lined up along the adjacent hedge. Their scopes were all trained towards the pine woodland in the distance. We joined them, and I asked if the Booted Eagle had been seen. It had just fifteen minutes before but had flown, not into the pine trees, but into a neighbouring field where sight of it had been lost. There was probably an hour of daylight left and the weather had closed in again so we were hopeful that the Eagle would reappear quickly. Of course, once again, that plan didn't quite come to fruition, and most of the other birders had left. I stuck it out though, our rented apartment was only a few minutes away so there was no rush, and I'm glad I did. I noticed a pale bird of prey fly in from our left. I realised it wasn't one of the Common Buzzards that were flying around before, and a quick view through the scope was sufficient to establish that I had the Booted Eagle. It was clearly on its way to its roost within the pine trees. Mrs Caley got her view just before it flew over the trees and out of sight.
Thinking that was that, we began making plans to return early in the morning for hopefully better views. However, before we turned away, the Booted Eagle reappeared above the trees again. This time it circled round for a few minutes. As if by magic, the sea mist thinned out and the sunshine reappeared as well. Even though the bird was probably a quarter of a mile away, there was now sufficient light for me to take a few recognisable record shots of what was essentially a UK life tick for us. I say essentially because even though I had the species on my list, the view I had of a bird seen in 2009 was extremely poor and I was never convinced that I'd recorded the correct bird. There was however, no issues with this bird. It was clearly a pale-morph Booted Eagle!
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| Booted Eagle |
As we packed the scope back into the car, a familiar call alerted me to a Green Sandpiper flying low past for a surprise and bonus year tick. A nice way to end a pretty good start to our mini-break!
Saturday 8th February
Even though we made it to the A30 lay-by by first light in the morning, we were too late to claim a parking space. The pull-in was rammed with other birders cars (and a forty-foot articulated lorry). All of the limited parking spots nearby were taken as well. This was one very popular bird. Devoid of options I drove around for a few minutes looking for an alternative place to park, finally settling on a gateway to a field that overlooked the pine plantation. This viewpoint was much closer to the pines than the lay-by so I was confident that if (when) the Booted Eagle left its roost then we'd have a good view of it.
What I didn't account for was the misty start to the day which at times became quite thick and obscured the entire plantation. That could have been a big concern but to my knowledge, birds such as eagles, particularly those from the Mediterranean region, don't like adverse weather conditions so I was reasonably confident that this Booted Eagle would remain put until the conditions improved. After half an hour or so, as the day warmed slightly, the veil of mist dissipated a little and we could see the closest trees again. I noticed a raptor spring up from the ground. It had its back to us and it was still foggy enough to cloud any definite ID pointers to be sure of what it was, other than it was a medium sized raptor. I watched the bird for half an hour or more but it remained unmoved but I was pretty sure it wasn't the Eagle. It just didn't seem to fit. At least the dank start to the day would mean that no raptors would be up and flying.
With little to see, I studied some of the birds in the nearer hedgerows, while keeping one eye on the bird I could see in the pine trees of course. Amongst the more common birds that were flitting around the hedge included a singing Song Thrush, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a small party of Redwings, one of which posed nicely and got its photo duly taken.
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| Redwing |
The bird of prey finally left its perch, almost forty-five minutes after it first appeared, and revealed itself to be the Common Buzzard that I suspected it would be. It even came and landed in a much closer tree as if to say to me, 'Do you get me now?' The mist was finally lifting and it appeared as if the birds were slowly waking up.
At almost the same time my phone sprang into life. One of the WhatsApp groups that I follow contained a video from one of the country's top twitchers showing the Booted Eagle perched in a tree. No other details, just the video. Confirmation soon followed though, that having become bored of watching from the lay-by, the chap had walked to the railway bridge and found the Booted Eagle perched up in the tree in full view!
Cue a mad rush to get in the car, drive to one of the two lay-bys along the Marazion relief road, and then walk along the increasingly busy route to join the swelling crowd of birders at the bridge. We arrived about twenty minutes after receiving the news and quickly ascertained the position of the Booted Eagle. It was maybe fifty metres away, resting on a thick lichen covered branch on an ivy covered tree. It had clearly left its roosting spot now the fog had lifted and was warming up ready for the day. I was so pleased that we'd made it to the railway bridge in time to see it. And what a fabulous looking specimen the Booted Eagle was too. Although only about Buzzard sized, there is no doubt that the bird staring back at me was an Eagle. The huge shaggy head, heavily feathered legs and heavy build proved it. I never thought that I'd be treated to a view as good. A special moment indeed!
Along with the rest of the ever burgeoning crowd, I was on tenterhooks, expecting the Eagle to take flight at any moment. However, it appeared unruffled, except to preen its feathers, which it did meticulously for the next twenty minutes. People began to leave which I found astonishing, but I guess they had better things to do, although at that exact moment, I couldn't believe there was much better than watching a Booted Eagle which would fly off sooner or later.
Another twenty minutes passed, during which I shifted my own position so that I'd have a clearer view of the Eagle once it took flight. The bird transferred its attention to preparing its wing feathers, a sure sign that it'd be going soon. Then it did what all birds of prey do before flying, it offloaded! I just missed out on that crap shot, others were luckier. Once lighter, it was seconds before the Booted Eagle was airborne. Unfortunately for us all, it flew through the trees away from us, and when it cleared the foliage, it was still going away from us. Sadly birds often dash the hopes of the birders watching them and do the exact opposite of what we'd want. At least we were able to appreciate the distinctive pattern to the back and upper wings.
But the birding gods were on our side, and the Booted Eagle turned back and wheeled around a couple of times. It was further away than it had been but we were getting some decent views of it. The so called "landing lights" on the leading edge of the bird's wings almost shone through the gloom. For a bird comparable in size to a Buzzard, the Eagle looked a much more formidable bird in flight, and exuded power. The flight was direct, and it gained height easily and it barely required a wing-beat to do so.
My photography skills were sadly lacking and I failed to select the correct settings for the dingy conditions. This was a very exciting encounter however, and on occasions like this, there's no time to mess around with the camera otherwise you'd miss the shots. I think it's better to get any photos than no photos so pushed my post-editing disappointment to the back of my mind and just vowed to do better next time, should there be one. The photos I have are my own, and serve as reminders and memories of one of the best birds I've seen. Another circuit over the trees while drifting further away and the Eagle was gone from view. The show was over but what a show it had been!
With time to relax and savour, we found a tea-room that we'd been wanting to visit for a few years now and treated ourselves to an early afternoon tea by way of celebration. Island Cupcakes in Goldsithney is well worth a visit if you're bored of pubs and beer. Yeah, right.
Now the Booted Eagle (tick) had been secured, we had time to visit a couple of places that we knew would offer up some good birds that we'll probably never see in Oxfordshire or ones that are very irregular visitors to our home county. First up we drove to Sennen Cove where I knew a sizeable Chough flock spends the winter. Choughs are a frequent sight these days around the Cornish coasts, breeding in many places and their population is increasing steadily. In the autumn and winter many Choughs are prone to visit gardens and bird feeders. One of my best encounters with Choughs was on a sunny October evening when I watched a couple visiting a bird-feeder at the head of the Kenidjack Valley, and I still treasure the sunlit photo that I took of a Chough stood on the roof of the house. I parked the car in the small harbour carpark and looked at the roof of the last house on the Lands End side. There as expected was the flock of Choughs. Sometimes birding is easy.
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| Chough |
When the whole flock took to flight and flew along the clifftop, we counted thirty-two in all which is likely the biggest single flock (oxymoron, yay!) that I've seen of the symbolistic and important birds. The noise of a gang of Choughs is great to hear too, with all seemingly shouting their own names as they hurtle and play in the breeze. They are true acrobats of the air.
We scanned the bay and the offshore rocks for more year ticks. The expected Gannets and Shags were easy to find as were the local Rock Pipits. Most of those birds will spend the entire in the area just as the Choughs do. There was no sign of the Red-throated Divers or the Black Redstart that friends of ours had seen a couple of days before.
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Shag |
A stop was made at Mousehole where we scanned Mounts Bay from the old lifeboat station. Intrepid eagle watchers had found a Pacific Diver amongst the Black-throated and Great Northern Divers during the preceding week. We have seen the Pacific version here before but today we had to settle for the others. The sea was almost flat calm and the divers were miles out so viewing was far from ideal.
On our way back to our digs, we stopped off at the seafront at Penzance and inspected the rocks around the outdoor swimming pool. Battery Rocks is a good place to find wintering wading birds which use them at high tide both as a roost and as a feeding ground. At the time of our annual visit to the area in October, the waders are only just returning from their summer endeavours further north so we don't always get to see them. The main quarry is Purple Sandpiper, in my eyes one of the very best wading bird species. These rotund little birds are well adapted for life on rocky foreshores and play chicken with the waves as they break on the rocks. They use their bills like a pair of tweezers to prise titbits out of the rock crevices. Purple Sandpipers are very confiding too so are a photographers dream. If they're around, which they were in good numbers on this visit, then they're impossible to miss.
The Purple Sandpipers share the rocks with the more numerous Turnstones, although on this visit there were just a handful of the latter. Turnstones are found in many coastal spots throughout the country and can be very bold, and are happy to take free handouts provided by the public. Both species occur on passage occasionally at Farmoor reservoir in Oxon.
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| Turnstone |
Sunday 9th February
We began the final day of our short break in Cornwall by visiting Hayle Estuary, one of the best and most varied birding sites in the region. To drop in there also served as a good excuse to nip into Philps and grab one of their famous pasties for a breakfast treat afterwards. We were the first birders on site and we began the day with a look at Ryan's Field. It was low tide on the estuary itself so there wasn't too much there but we still found a few year ticks. On a drab, grey morning, so typical of this part of the world, it was a drab, grey, although still handsome, bird that came walking stealthily towards us as we sat in the rudimentary concrete hide. The Greenshank was our first of the year and showed nicely at close range.
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| Greenshank |
With little else to see close to the hide, we walked along the track towards the road and the estuary itself. Part way there, I noticed a Black-tailed Godwit preening at the edge of the channel that runs through the field. We watched it for a while particularly when it went into full rhynchokinesis mode, that extraordinary ability to bend the upper mandible upwards. It appeared as if it was laughing at one of my worst (they're all bad to be fair) dad jokes. "Here mate, have you heard the one about the Godwit who could…You'd laugh!'.
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| Black-tailed Godwit |
From the road bridge we could see acres and acres of muddy sand with just a trickle of water running through it, it really was a very low tide that day. Despite that there were some birds to see and we logged our first Bar-tailed Godwits of the year. Better still, viewing from the old Lelant Railway Station brought us a fine Ring-billed Gull that was keeping company with a couple of dozen Common Gulls. Sadly though, the flock had moved far out onto the estuary, denying us the close views that our friend Adam had had just an hour before.
On the walk back to Ryan's Field a Great Egret played hide and seek around the small island in the creek near the road before finally giving itself up once we'd passed and moved far enough away. A flock of around thirty Dunlin arrived and set about feeding frenetically on the exposed mud.
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| Great Egret |
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| Dunlin |
With the Cornish Pasties devoured our next destination was new to us, and I had little idea of where it was. Trevellas Cove was apparently just north of St Agnes on the north coast but on viewing Google maps I couldn't see a way to access it. So I resorted to grabbing a postcode off the internet and putting that into the cars SatNav. The route bypassed St Agnes and directed us in from the northern side. After leaving the "main" road, I became slightly concerned when I passed a road sign at the head of the valley announcing that there was a, 'Narrow road ahead'. I wasn't unduly worried though since there are lots of restricted width carriageways in Cornwall.
It wasn't long before I became a bit more anxious though. After passing a couple of folk on horseback who seemed to want to say something, which I ignored, the road did indeed get tighter; and tighter. Another sign proclaimed, 'Access to properties only, no turning'. Stupidly I kept going, I kind of half-knew (I was having major doubts by then) that the road would continue on to Trevellas Cove, but I was putting my trust in Google maps and they are generally a few years out of date so access may have changed, but I thought, 'that there's always somewhere to turn around isn't there?'. When I saw the road seemingly shrink to nothing wider than a cycle track, I did began to panic! I stopped in a driveway of a house just short of where the road narrowed between another house and a ten foot high wall. Obviously I was viewing in perspective from I was standing but the way ahead didn't look wide enough for a car, even a small one like mine. The gap looked even smaller because a metal pole had been erected on each side, presumably to protect the property and the wall from damage. A chap was working in the garden of the house of the drive I had stopped in. I asked him if it was possible to get to Trevellas Cove that way, and would he mind if I used his drive to turn around in if I couldn't. The ladies on horseback passed and I heard one mutter, 'we did try to warn you'. I watched them ride down through the gap; in single file. I don't fret easily but I was sweating a bit!
The man in his garden said assuredly that, 'there's no need to panic, you'll get through there in that (car)'. He added, 'if it's any help, I drive through there every day in my van when I take my dogs for a walk in the cove'. I looked at the van. It was a years old Bedford Rascal, which are tiny. It had no wing mirrors and was battered to hell. I gulped as I answered, 'really?', the replied, 'Yeah, no problem, you'll fit through, just wind the wing mirrors in'. So it was time to take the plunge. I very, very gingerly edged the car toward the opening. The road sloped quite steeply down hill so it was easier than it would have been had I had to drive up. To compound the awkwardness, each of the metal poles had been set in rounded plinths of concrete. I turned the wing mirrors in and nudged the car forward. Fortunately the concrete plinths were aligned so both front wheels went over at the same time meaning that the car remained level. The clearance on each side was roughly about two fingers, a little over an inch. I thought two fingers of whisky would go down well once I'd cleared through!
However, the chap had been correct, we made it through the gap and another one just as narrow a bit further down the hill. The road opened up again past the last house and I could see ahead a perfectly good road twisting up the opposite hillside and towards St Agnes. Of course I could! Never trust a SatNav to find the right way to a place, not by postcode anyway. At the lowest point of the road, a very rough track led down on the right to the cove. This was National Trust land and led to a carpark at the bottom. Extreme caution was required to avoid the worst of the potholes, some of which were more akin to craters. All the effort had to be worth it, otherwise I'd be really annoyed. It had taken half an hour to travel a mile!
We parked up in the completely empty parking area, incredibly it was free as well, which in Cornwall, and especially on National Trust land, is very rare. The sun was shining and the cove looked fabulous. This was the site of an old slate mine, and the cliffs and rocks were made of rough-hewn slate of many colours and looked almost rainbow like. The bird(s) we'd come to see were Black Redstarts with two reported at the cove the day before. We didn't have to look for them since one flew across the small cliff in front of us as we kitted up. It did take a while to actually pin down but we found it perched on the slate face of the cliff after scrambling down a rough path to reach the beach.
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| Black Redstart |
The other Black Redstart was hunting around the old mine building and was more showy. We sat on a large rock and just watched as this bird chased flies and other insects in the short grass and weeds. The sun was beaming and that helped to secure some nice photos of the birds, both first-winters, and the lovely slate formation of the cliffs.
There was time for us to nip into Labrador Bay for a quick Cirl Bunting fix on the way home, in pretty grim weather. The proximity of Dartmoor can alter the conditions in an instant on the Devon riviera.
The hastily arranged short-break had worked out well. We got the main target, the Booted Eagle, and saw loads more including eighteen year ticks. Taking a few days away to coincide with gaining a lifer is definitely the way to go!
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