The Story So Far

Well it's been a long time since I blogged but what with one thing and another i really haven't had time to keep it regularly updated so I thought it best to leave it alone for a while.
On to the birdy stuff......Last summers highlights on the patch were a male Bullfinch (surprisingly rare on the coast here) and a flyover Crossbill, both in July.
It was then very quiet until September 15th when there were 2 Whinchat in Tom's top fields, a Wheatear at Mans head and a Reed bunting (another local scarcity) at Clodgy. The bunting was living up to it's name and hanging out in the tiny clifftop reedbed just to the West of the head.This is a very odd place for a reedbed and I see no reason for it to be here.
Two days later, on the 17th, a short morning seawatch produced a Grey phalarope, 100 Manx shearwater, 4 Balearic shearwater and a Bonxie.
There was some real signs of common birds on the move on 19th when over 50 Swallows moved through along with 6 House martin and familiar warblers were relatively abundant with 12 Blackcap, 6 Chiff chaff, 9 Whitethroat and 1 garden warbler along the lane. There was also a Jay here. Sea bird interest was provided by 4 Sandwich terns feeding off Porthmeor and 5 Mediterranean gulls loafing on the beach there. The following day there were still good numbers of common warblers around along with the med gulls and there was a Little egret at Clodgy.
There was some more variety on the 21st when a Tree pipit flew over Clodgy, a Spotted flycatcher and a Great spotted woodpecker were at The Garrack hotel and a great northern diver was off Porthmeor. The Little egret remained at Clodgy.
breeding interest was provided on 22nd when 2 juvenile Stonechats were noted at Clodgy. This species has been extremely hard to come by since the freeze of last winter. There were 2 Wheatear here also.
There was another noticeable movement of birds on 27th when there were 63 meadow pipits up at the farm and 3 Goldcrests along the lane. it was good to see them as last year none at all were noted as they failed to arrive in Britain in any quantity due to adverse weather conditions in the autumn. Considering how cold it got they were probably fortunate in spending the winter elsewhere.. 2 adult Stonechat were also noted along the lane and again there was a good supply of common warblers. The rest of the month was quiet.
Octobers highlights were.... A Yellow browed warbler at Higher Ayr, 7 Ring ouzels at the garrack and along the lane, and 9 Siskins over the lane on 10th.
2 Yellow wagtail, a Brambling, a Merlin and a Lapland bunting over the lane on 11th.
Another 2 Ring ouzel over the lane and a Firecrest at Bullens lane on 14th.
A seawatch on 23rd produced 5 Balearic shearwater, 2 Sooty shearwater, 1 Manx shearwater and a Little shearwater, this is something I never thought I would ever see well enough to identify but his one was so obviously not a Manx. It's jizz was textbook, apart from being obviously smaller the wings were definitely more rounded and the flight was really fluttery. In addition 23 Bonxies 4 Arctic and 1 Pomarine skua passed West.
Things quietened down a lot after this and apart from a few Black redstarts dotted around and a noticeable increase in Med gull numbers during the month it remained this way until the cold weather set in during December.
The first sign of any cold weather movement was a Knot and a Sanderling in the Harbour

Goosander were the next species to make a show and there were birds in St Ives and Carbis bay along with up to a dozen Balearic shearwater, and at Bussow reservoir where numbers peaked at 24 (including 2 drakes) on Christmas eve. Other duck to put in a rare appearnce at Bussow were 4 Gadwall, 4 Shoveller, a Scaup, a Tufted duck, 60+ Wigeon and 50+ Teal.

The biggest highlight of december though was definitely a Waxwing that spend a day on Cotoneaster bushes at Nanjivey terrace. I had been keeping my eye on these bushes for a few weeks and they came up trumps on 23rd.

In to the new year and interest has been centred mainly around the large sprat shoals that have been congregating in the bay. These have attracted a Little gull, Slavonian and Red necked grebes plus thousand sof Kittiwakes and Auks, mostly Razorbill.