Cornwall; October 2023

A brief summary of our (almost) annual escape to Cornwall for a weeks birding.

Friday 13th October; Wet & Windy

As we like to do we spent a day, stopping at a couple of places in an attempt to pick up some new birds for our year list. The day was hampered firstly by strong winds at Slimbridge which put paid to any chance of seeing a Barred Warbler which at other times had shown well, and then by torrential rain which meant that I had to get soaked to the skin in order to add a Squacco Heron to that year list when we stopped off in the Somerset Levels. Mrs Caley wisely stayed in the car but didn't see the Heron. In a flooded field nearby I counted over two hundred Cattle Egrets and more than ten Great Egrets. The camera didn't get an airing. It would have shorted out in the rain.

Year List addition;

301) Squacco Heron

Saturday 14th October; More Dipping!

After resting at Newton Abbot, instead of making our way to Labrador Bay to see the resident Cirl Buntings since we'd already seen some way back in January on the day we twitched a Laughing Gull in Devon, we headed into Dartmoor where several Ring Ouzel had been present for a week or more. We saw one, and only briefly as the male bird flew rapidly away and into deep cover.

There was a much bigger prize on offer at Carn Brea near Lands End airfield so we headed down there to make it before the light started fading. Hopes were high amongst the dozen or so birders present, that we would all get excellent views of the Pallid Harrier, which had shown really well the evening before. We shouldn't have been surprised though when there was a no-show from the bird. This trip hadn't started well. Two dips, and two awful views of the four target birds so far.

It was cold and breezy on Carn Brea despite the fine sunny conditions. As well as dipping out on the Pallid Harrier, we also managed to miss out on seeing two Snow Buntings which were performing for everybody who ventured to the top of the hill because nobody bothered to tell us at the time plus our attention was largely devoted to staring across at the opposite hillside where we expected the Harrier to appear. The only magic around in that mystical place produced a flock of six Choughs which even we couldn't miss. Mainly because they frequently dive-bombed us, passing within metres at times, and of course they were noisy as Choughs always are.

Chough

Sunday 15th October; Warmer by the Fire!

Our holiday cottage was chosen because of its proximity to the Kenidjack Valley, a mile or so out of St Just. We both fell in love with the rather unkempt valley over twenty years ago when we first started coming to the West of Cornwall. It is the place that gave us first real looks at the little gems that are Yellow-browed Warblers, a bird that still ranks highly in my list of favourites. Over the years since we've stayed in the area many times and have always enjoyed our walks into and through the valley, even though the birding hasn't always been easy or that rewarding. I live in hope that one day I'll find a really rare bird in Kenidjack but for now, a humbleWryneck is my best self-found bird in the valley.

On a beautiful sunny and warm(ish) morning we strolled from our base out onto the Botallack cliffs before traversing down into Kenidjack itself. The walk down to the Donkey Paddocks and the last house in the valley yielded little more than a couple of Goldcrests. This is the place where we've spent many an hour watching Yellow-browed Warblers in the past and, once a fabulous Red-breasted Flycatcher. It was eerily quiet on this day though.

Most birds were further up the valley. A trio of Ring Ouzels were spotted on the hawthorns above the woodshed but again they were off before I could raise the camera. Blackcaps and Siskins were also seen in the woodshed area. We found our first Redwing of the autumn in the berry bushes by the (stinky) sewage works and a Sparrowhawk buzzed through.

Redwing

It was at the engine shed where we found the birds of the morning, in the shape of half a dozen Firecrests. We had amazing close views of the sprites as they chased insects around the thorny bushes and bracken. The Firecrests with their fierce expressions, were often just feet away from us. I filled my boots for half an hour or so until the birds moved away into the adjacent woodland.

Firecrest

We hung around for a bit, braving a quick fire rain shower that hit unexpectedly, and were rewarded when a couple of the Firecrests returned and spent time preening and brushing up.

One of the Firecrests then treated me to an outstanding little photo session and gave me possibly my best results ever at photographing the little birds. We headed back to the cottage for lunch, buoyed by the upturn in our birding fortunes.

In the afternoon a report of a Yellow-browed warbler had us driving over to St Buryan. I should have known better though, because I'd looked for birds in the village before with no luck. That luck didn't change this time either. However, we did get some good fortune on the drive back when a Short-eared flew across the road in front of us. We pulled up and watched it continue on its way towards a field where a farmer was ploughing. We didn't see it again after it dived into the field beyond a Cornish hedge.

Monday 16th October; Back to Wind, Rain, and almost Dipping

We were on The Lizard, at Chynalls Point which houses a select group of des-res's. It was very windy as we walked down the lane towards the headland. We were on the hunt for a Hoopoe, that peculiar looking pink and black striped bird with a weird headdress and curved bill. It had been present for a few weeks and at times had shown really well, feeding on the tidy mown lawns and verges of the buildings. We saw it but only when it flew overhead pursued by a couple of Herring Gulls. Despite spending another couple of hours looking for it, we never found the Hoopoe again. It was of course, back and showing well again the next day.

The Northern Harrier that we saw a fortnight before was still in the area, it had shown well from the lookout, an old windmill that has been converted into a wildlife hide, at Windmill Farm Nature Reserve just a couple of days before. In the strong winds the lookout was a slightly unnerving place. The steel staircase was groaning and wobbling as the wind howled through the open windows. Mrs Caley hated the place so we didn't stay for long, not that there was much to see anyway barring the dead aircraft on the nearby Preddanack Downs airfield.

Kestrel

We went for a drive around the Goonhilly Downs instead where we'd seen the Northern Harrier a fortnight before. No sign of it on the desolate mist and drizzle soaked moors either on what had turned into a miserable weather day. It often does on The Lizard. We did find a nice flock of Golden Plover but scrutiny of my photos later back in front of the fire at the cottage didn't reveal an American version that had been seen in the area the week before.

Golden Plover

Tuesday 17th October; A Change of Valley

The wind was howling around the cottage so we chose to forsake the walk into Kenidjack and drove down instead. We parked halfway down next to where we watched a Wryneck once and headed out into the stiff breeze. The direction of the wind was bringing it straight up the valley so we quickly changed tack and went back to the engine shed where there would be a bit of shelter for both us and the birds. We didn't find much other than another Firecrest which was far less showy than those on Sunday.

Firecrest

Thinking Cot Valley would offer more protection from the wind, since it is orientated in a different direction, we drove there. In truth it wasn't much better but a short walk revealed more (elusive) Firecrests, and Chiffchaffs, amongst the Tit flocks.

Chiffchaff

We braved the teeth of the near gale at Porth Nanven, the cove at the bottom of Cot Valley, and looked for birds amongst the odd egg-shaped oolith rocks. Apart from a couple of Robins and a Grey Wagtail there was nothing happening on the beach. 

Grey Wagtail

A Rock Pipit foraging amongst the thrift on the cliff face gave us something to watch and a pair of Chough winged in and danced around the rocks for a while. In truth though, the birding was a tough gig, there was little to find at any of our usual haunts and even less to go out and twitch. We needed the weather to improve. Even a Shag was bored and loafed about on the rocks.

Rock Pipit

Chough

Shag

A return to the top of Kenidjack produced some Fieldfare and the shelter of the trees by the engine shed held more common species and a couple more Firecrests.

Blackcap (female)

Long-tailed Tit

Wednesday 18th October; Even Worse Weather!

Our hopes and request for better weather obviously fell on deaf ears because when we drew the curtains we were greeted by a full on monsoon. There would be no rushing out to bird the Kenidjack in that. The rain didn't relent one little bit but by ten o'clock I was going stir crazy and just had to get out. I thought we'd try a spot of seawatching at Pendeen Light since you can stay in the car and look out at the birds passing. A good idea but unfortunately there were two snags in my plan. One, that the rain was driving directly in through the open windows and secondly, that the fog and rain was so dense that you could hardly see off the coast anyway.

We looked the other way out of the car windows instead and studied the garden of the Clock House but could only find incessantly cheerful Robins, they can brighten up even the worst of days, and busy little Chiffchaffs. On the drive away from the lighthouse we stopped to admire a pair of Ravens that were hunkering down as best they could on a low stone wall.

Robin

Raven

Pendeen Churchyard offers shelter for small birds so we went for a look there. I can't ever remember it being anything other than wet and windy in Pendeen and I wondered what it must be like to live there. With Mrs Caley once again wisely choosing to stay dry in the car, I donned my partially waterproof rain wear and trudged around the church and grounds. On my third traverse I spotted a Black Redstart dart across the roof. Not rare but a good bird to self-find in the conditions.

Black Redstart

The rain persisted for the rest of the day so we gave up and went in search of coffee. Moomaid in St Just does the best Flat White anywhere. Cakes are good too.

Thursday 19th October; Snow!

The rain had left, thank goodness, so we tried our luck in the Kenidjack again. There was even less in the valley although we did find a pair of Choughs close to the cottage.

Dunnock

Chough

News of a Snow Bunting in Lands End airport carpark had us intrigued so after lunch we went for a look. I asked in the office if it was okay to walk around the parking lot and there were no objections so off we went. It was still strange to be walking around dozens of cars looking for a bird and at times we felt as though we were being intrusive which was an uncomfortable feeling, and that we really shouldn't be there. However, we didn't appear to be upsetting anybody and the staff were both curious as to what we doing and courteous. We spent half an hour without finding the bird so went back into the cafe for more information and a coffee.

Refuelled we looked a bit harder the second time around the carpark. I looked under cars and in between them, in fact I pried into just about every conceivable hiding spot. Just as we were about to give up, Mrs Caley spotted some movement by one of the cars and, lo and behold there was the Snow Bunting, incredibly well camouflaged amongst the gravel and granite stones of the carpark base. It had chosen a quiet corner of the carpark next to the perimeter fence but we'd checked that area at least twice so it must have been well concealed.

Snow Bunting

Now that we'd found the Snow Bunting we could track it across the carpark. It could move rapidly though and often disappeared underneath the parked cars. But in keeping with most Snow Buntings, it was fearless and allowed a fairly close approach. I must have thousands of similar closeup photos of Snow Buntings and these weren't even the first I'd taken of one in a carpark either. I remember two birds frequenting the Lands End Theme Park carpark a few years back and of course the Cairngorm Ski carpark is a guaranteed place to see the species during the winter months.

At one point the Snow Bunting showed interest in one of the tyres and wheel arches of a parked car. Presumably the rubber tyres become warmer in the sunshine and attract insects that the bird sought for food. The Bunting stretched up to peer into the wheel arch and then flew up and disappeared within it. We then saw it on top of the tyre peering out. One of the photos that I took gained a "Notable Photo" award on BirdGuides.

We stayed for another half hour watching and photographing the Snow Bunting. We didn't see anybody else other than passengers from the airport either parking or retrieving their cars.

From the airport we drove to Porthgwarra to look for a Yellow-browed Warbler that had been reported earlier in the day. Yellow-browed Warblers appeared to be in short supply in Cornwall this time around and I was glad that we'd seen one in Oxford on New Year's Day. I found the sprite but my view was limited to just a flight between two stands of bushes by the Doctor's Garden. We also had a brief view of a milky tea coloured Siberian Chiffchaff. This holiday had mostly been about near misses, total misses and brief views.

Friday 20th October; Last Knockings, Same Old Story

Our last full day dawned with fine sunny weather and only light winds so we walked across to the cliffs and into Kenidjack again. We come to this part of the world to "work" the valleys after all so we had to give it one more shift. We already feared that it would be quiet and so it proved, testified by the fact that I didn't take a single photograph.

By lunchtime mist had wafted in from the sea but I decided to go for a last look at the sea off Pendeen Light. Unsurprisingly it was raining again, it always rains at Pendeen, but you could at least see the rocks just off the point where some of the seabirds pass, close enough to enable a decent view even without a scope. The first bird that flew past had me aghast, it was an adult Pomarine Skua, the pale yellow face, black cap and spoon shaped tail feathers all clearly visible. Of course I'd left the camera in the boot of the car because of the rain so only have my memory to remind me of the only year tick that I'd had during the week since arriving in Cornwall.

To round off the week, we took a quick walk along a section of Kenidjack again. In the rain of course, it just wouldn't have been fitting to not have some precipitation for company on a walk that week. We logged another Ring Ouzel and found a Lesser Redpoll to finish the holiday off.

Year List addition;

302) Pomarine Skua