A day out in Cornwall

Yesterday, Calum, Liam and I spent the whole day birding around Cornwall. We started at Hayle estuary, and although there was no report of the Franklin's Gull yesterday, Liam soon picked it up roosting just off the causeway with Black-headed Gulls and 9 Med Gulls. It was there for a few minutes before flying towards the A30 and making a turn north, seemingly heading towards Gwithian. It was reported back on the estuary later in the day. A new bird for Calum and a Cornish tick (but not even a year tick!) for Liam. Scanning over the estuary, Liam picked up the immature Spoonbill and I counted 148 Lapwing, 62 Golden Plover, 3 Grey Plover, a Greenshank and 7 Bar-tailed Godwit amongst the mass of Wigeon and Teal.
Next, we headed south to Polgigga to look for the possible Eastern Yellow Wagtail reported yesterday evening. We couldn't find the wagtail, and it wasn't reported by others today, but there was clearly lots of birds around. To start, a flock of larks and finches flew over us. Liam and Calum picked out a call which sound unusual, I must have missed it because all I could hear was Skylark. Liam played back a few calls and reckoned it was a Short-toed Lark. It was difficult to be sure because the call was only brief and we never saw or heard it again. We walked on a bit further to check ploughed fields between Lower & Higher Bosistow Farm. Scanning the fields was hard work, birds would constantly fly up and settle elsewhere and others would disappear from view behind large clumps of earth. Lots of Linnets, Skylarks, Mipits and Pied Wagtails were in the field and after much searching we got a reward. I picked up an interesting pipit feeding with a few Mipits about 100m away. It kept disappearing behind the clumps of earth but eventually came out so I had a good view. It was Rock Pipit like in size and shape with very white underparts, lacking any dark smudging on the flanks and also the streaking was notably finer down the flanks than on the breast. Features included fairly streaked grey-brown upperparts, 2 white wing bars, a white eye ring and although a supercilium was visible it did not stand out. Another key feature was the malar patch on the side of the breast, which was quite large and really stood out. I showed the bird to Liam who suggested a Water Pipit. Calum had a look and after a look in the book and the features noted we were happy to call it a *Water Pipit*, a lifer for me. After about 15 minutes it flew and was lost, probably still in the field though. Other highlights here was c12 House Martins (very late), a immature Merlin zooming past and about 150+ Skylarks.
We decided to have a quick look around Porthgwarra because we were nearby. Apart from a Great Spotted Woodpecker there was completely nothing until Calum found a immature Black Redstart on the Doctor's House. We had a short seawatch, very little apart from 20+ Razorbills and several Gannets.

Black Redstart

It was lunchtime by the time we got to Penzance so we called into McDonalds for some food, then went back to Hayle. We looked at Carnsew Pool where 2 Goosanders reported. The Spoonbill was present and was really quite close. Liam picked up two ducks and I got my scope on them. They were very distant but we were all pretty sure they weren't Goosanders. We walked around the pool to get closer and confirmed they were actually Red-breasted Mergansers... still nice birds nonetheless.
Our final stop was Gerrans Bay. It's a fair drive from Hayle, about an hour so it was gone 4.30pm when we arrived. The sea was a bit choppy but this didn't stop us picking out an impressive 10 Great Northen Divers, most of which still had a lot of their summer plumage. Calum picked out the smart *Red-necked Grebe* also in the bay, another new bird for him and only the second I've seen!