Cornwall, Somerset and Cornwall again...

I haven't had a chance to update the blog in a while due to university work so here's the catch up from the last few weeks.
The afternoon of 25th November, Max, Ben and I went down to Marazion to witness the spectacular flocks of Starlings going into roost. Before the Starlings arrived I had a look out into Mount's Bay. A Red-throated Diver, 2 Common Scoter and a Red-breasted Merganser were the highlights. On the marsh loads of Snipe and the best views I've had of Jack Snipes, 2 were feeding in the open on the edge of the marsh. The Starling numbers started to build around 4pm with roughly 10-20,000 roosting in total. The noise and numbers were amazing! The day ended perfectly with nice views of a *Bittern* flying over the marsh at dusk.
Max, Calum and I spent the day out birding on the 26th, we started at Tehidy woods, and soon heard a calling *Yellow-browed Warbler*. We soon picked it in the tit flock and eventually it gave some great views. Next to Hayle, which unusually was fairly quite. A Spoonbill showed well from the causeway, and based on the large amounts of black in the primaries, I am pretty sure its a third bird. Very few gulls around and no yellow-legs, but I did manage to pick out the Green-winged Teal with the other ducks. Also, 5 Goosanders there too. We had a look for divers at Carbis Bay and got all three common species. 5 Great Northerns, 3 Red-throats and 3 Black-throats, the latter a new bird for Calum. Another Great Northern was off Penzance and surprisingly a pair of Goldeneye too. A fantastic male Black Redstart showed well on the rooftops by Newlyn Harbour. We finished the day at Marazion for the Starling roost, as always a great spectacle and there was still 1 Jack Snipe on the Marsh.

 

Spoonbill

A very early start on the 29th as I met with the guys to spend the whole day birding in Max's home county-Somerset. We arrived at RSPB Ham Wall shortly before 7am and made our way to wait for the mass emergence of Starlings; it really didn't disappoint. The noise of the birds was amazing and after a short while they all took of in huge flocks a couple of thousand strong to spend the day elsewhere on the levels. Max also promised me *Great White Egrets*. And it wasn't long before we saw our first of the day, 2 flew over the reserve. Walking back a further 3 together were seen. Next to Westhay Moor, and unfortunately the Bearded Tits didn't make an appearance but we did flush 8 Jack Snipe with 15 Snipe. At RSPB Greylake loads of Teal were just out from the hide and at least 1 Water Pipit was with the Mipit flocks, though very distant at the back of the marsh. At West Sedgmoor early afternoon, a large flock of ducks gathered. Mostly Wigeon and at least 4 Pintail. 3 Marsh Harriers together harassing a Teal flock and Peregrine zoomed through. I picked up 3 *Cranes* flying over the marsh and the settle in the nearby fields. Also present were 15+ Blackwit and a Green Woodpecker. We returned to RSPB Ham Wall to watch the Starlings come into roost. A Great White Egret was still on the marsh and showed very well. The Starlings started to arrive in there thousands, murmurating overhead before settling into the reeds. And finally a Bittern put in an appearance flying over the reeds. We finished the day on 80 species, a pretty impressive list.

 

Starlings 

On Thursday afternoon, we heard news of *Velvet Scoters* in Carrick Roads, so Max took us up to take a look. We viewed from Mylor, with the first birds being 7 Red- breasted Mergansers. I picked up 2 distant ducks, closer to Feock side. Although very distant, we were pretty sure they were Eider, a female and a 1st winter drake. Max picked up the scoters in flight and we picked them up as they landed on the water. Great views of the 2 females and an immature drake. Other interesting birds included: 3 Great Northern and 3 Black-throated Divers and 4 Black-necked Grebe.
That evening I was down at College Lake and picked out a duck that looked like a Scaup with the Tufted Duck, the light had faded so much I wasn't sure so Calum and I went down there yesterday morning. We walked down through campus and picked up a *Yellow-browed Warbler* calling nearby, unfortunately we didn't see it. At the lake Calum found  2 Firecrests together, and 3 female Goldeneye were close to the dam. We could see the group of Tufted Ducks from here so decided to have a quick scan for the duck. I picked it up and we were fairly confident it was a Scaup but it was still a little distant. 7 Med Gulls were with the Black-heads but nothing interesting with the larger gulls. We walked further around and got closer enough to see the tufties well. I picked up the duck again, views were much better, and we confirmed it was indeed a Scaup, a 1st winter drake. Also 4 Shoveler on the lake and nice views of a Marsh Tit in the woods.

photo by Calum Urquhart

 Scaup (record shot)

 Later in the afternoon, we headed up to Feock to check Carrick Roads. Again plenty of birds present including 5 Great Northern and 2 Black-throated Divers, 10 Black-necked Grebes and 14 Red-breasted Mergansers. More birds were in the bay but they were to distant to ID so we went to Mylor to look from there. From here I picked up the 3 *Velvet Scoters*, (distantly from Feock) and an extra Black-throat and 3 more Great Northern Divers.