Blorenge - Sun 29 Oct

A planned twitch this morning as I set off to mid-Wales with a couple of mates to try and see the long-staying Rock Thrush. Leaving Somerset at 7.30am we arrived at Blorenge soon after 9.30am and made the walk out to the favoured quarry of our quarry! The bird was on the northern side of Gilwern Hill just below the Carreg Gywir radio mast. It was a pleasant 30 minute walk out to the site and it was probably the easiest twitch I have ever undertaken. You can see how obliging the bird was by looking at my photos below (I took over 100 photos whilst watching the bird and they were all passible!).

A brilliant bird and a wonderful morning out and my first Rock Thrush in the UK.

Sutton Bingham - Tue 24 Oct

A patch year tick today, the first one since mid-September. A small flock of six Pintail were viewable from the dam (not in an area with public access unfortunately). Now if you thought the picture of yesterday's Shoveler was bad, get a load of this:

There were four drake and two duck Pintail. The number of Wigeon had grown to twenty-five birds and seven Meadow Pipits flew over. A quick stop on the northern causeway produced a nice male Stonechat on the fence line south of West Pool.

Sutton Bingham - Mon 23 Oct

A stop at the Fishing Lodge on the way home from work today produced a drake Shoveler in with a small number of Mallard. It was rather distant but I never like to disappoint the followers so here's the required photo!

 

Two Little Egret flew through this evening also and singles of Meadow Pipit and Mistle Thrush were on the dam. Just three Wigeon noted today.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 22 Oct

An early morning visit proved to be rather chilly and the birds were somewhat lacking too. A female Tufted Duck was on West Pool whilst from the Fishing Lodge a flock of fifteen Wigeon were present. Four Meadow Pipit were on the northern causeway.

Cornwall - Sat 14 Oct to Sat 21 Oct

A family trip to Cornwall for the week and we again based ourselves in the Roseland Peninsula having found a nice little place that ticks the boxes for everyone.
The first full day started with a walk down to the "creek" near the cottage. At least four (possibly as many as six) Cirl Buntings were noted as we walked down the lane, with several Meadow Pipits, Chaffinches and Skylarks also seen. On the creek itself the low tide enabled me to find a few waders, with the pick being a single Bar-tailed Godwit. A total of seventeen Mediterranean Gulls were roosting on the exposed mud banks. The remainder of the day failed to produce anything out of the ordinary in the way of birds until I popped down to Pendower Beach late in the day where a Red-necked Grebe was offshore.

 

Monday morning and we managed a bit of time out before the tail end of Hurricane Ophelia hit, the pick being a Merlin which flew in-off at Pendower Beach. The strong winds had washed up loads of Portuguese Man-of-War jellyfish, really amazing creatures.

 

I made a quick trip down to Percuil on Tuesday lunchtime where I found a Firecrest amongst commoner birds. On the estuary a single Grey Plover was seen alongside a Black-tailed Godwit and thirty-four Mediterranean Gulls. Back at our cottage in the afternoon a Spotted Redshank flew over calling.
A trip to the Lost Gardens of Heligan on Wednesday was really interesting, and was livened up by four Firecrests found whilst wandering the grounds. A return visit to Pendower Beach in the evening and I relocated the Red-necked Grebe and found a Great Northern Diver.
Thursday morning and a walk along the beach at Pendower where we found a rather amazing Clam of some sort in one of the rock pools.

A little stroll inland and a Wood Mouse put on a bit of a show.

On the bird front there was not a lot of note other than several Gannets offshore and a couple of Common Gulls. In the afternoon I had a wander down to the creek and saw a Grey Plover and several Greenshank as well as a Kingfisher. In the evening a Noctule bat was flying around outside the cottage.

A trip down to Caerhays Castle on Friday morning where a couple of Stonechats were seen and three Mute Swans were on the lake.

 

In the afternoon we headed out to Ruan Lanithorne where seven Shelduck were on the estuary. Two Common Sandpipers were also noted and an adult Yellow-legged Gull was seen. A quick stop at Lamorran produced a few Teal.
The week away ended on Saturday as we headed back home, with one final addition before we left Roseland as a juvenile Swallow flew over the car. A really great "non-birding holiday" with a final trip list of 75 species.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 8 Oct

Managed a fairly brief visit to the reservoir mid-afternoon, but it was still pretty quiet. The female Tufted Duck was still on West Pool (I noticed it yesterday on my way home from work) but that was pretty much it on the water. A Little Egret was noted in flight and four Raven passed overhead. Also flying through, a Skylark, Meadow Pipit and two Linnet.

Sutton Bingham - Thu 5 Oct

A very brief post-work stop produced two Stonechats on the fence line bordering West Pool, a male and female bird. Don't' see many at Sutton Bingham, so I thought they were worth a blog posting!

Sutton Bingham - Wed 4 Oct

Due to various commitments I wasn't able to spend much of my half day birding at Sutton Bingham today, but still managed about an hour. Highlight was without a doubt a Slow Worm! Not a bird, but a patch tick and the first I've seen since I was a boy in my parent's garden, probably some thirty years ago. It was a bit of a beast too, being around 18" or so in length.

On the bird front it was still pretty quiet, though a Peregrine put on a bit of a show with two Buzzards over the southern end of the reservoir. A trip round to the Fishing Lodge produced a small flock of seven Little Egrets together and five Wigeon. On the dam wall there were at least five Meadow Pipits and several Pied Wagtails.

Sutton Bingham - Sun 1 Oct

Well September went out with a whimper and October failed to dazzle on the first day of the month! That being said there were still a few birds around today and the southern end of the reservoir was the most productive with nine Mandarin and a couple of Teal in with a growing number of Mallard. A Peregrine did a brief fly by and one of the fields adjoining the reservoir held around thirty Meadow Pipits, a similar number of Pied Wagtails and a couple of White Wagtails.
The only other bits and pieces of note today were a calling Chiffchaff, a Kingfisher, three House Martins heading south, and four Wigeon.