Falmouth Patching (12th-18th January)

Essentially just copied and pasted my sightings from the Falmouth Thread on Bird Forum.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=165985&page=73

12th January:

Female type Black Redstart showing nicely outside my bedroom window again, even perching on my bike!

14th January:

A full days birding with Dan taking part in a one-team bird race (we won!). Basically, our aim was to try and clock as many birds between the hours 7:30-17:00 within the localish area and spilling out onto less frequented sites such as Devoran and Feock. Our efforts paid off well with a total 88 species!

Mute Swan
Canada Goose
Shelduck
Wigeon
Mallard
Teal
Scaup
Tufted Duck
Long-tailed Duck
Goldeneye
Red-breasted Merganser
Great Northern Diver
Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Slavonian Grebe
Black-necked Grebe
Fulmar
Cormorant
Shag
Gannet
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Buzzard
Sparrowhawk
Kestrel
Water Rail
Moorhen
Coot
Oystercatcher
Ringed Plover
Lapwing
Purple Sandpiper
Snipe
Turnstone
Black-tailed Godwit
Bar-tailed Godwit
Whimbrel
Curlew
Redshank
Greenshank
Mediterranean Gull
Black-headed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Common Gull
Kittiwake
Sandwich Tern
Feral Pigeon
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Kingfisher
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Green Woodpecker
Skylark
Pied Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Meadow Pipit
Rock Pipit
Dipper
Wren
Dunnock
Robin
Black Redstart
Stonechat
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Redwing
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Goldcrest
Firecrest
Long-tailed Tit
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Magpie
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Raven
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Linnet
Bullfinch
Reed Bunting

Falmouth Town (Marlborough Road):

Starting at Dans we soon located 2 Black Redstarts (1 male, 1 female type) at the Trelawney/Marlborough Road crossroads, along the line of houses opposite the bowling green. Also 3 Blackcap.

Swanpool:

1st win. Long-tailed Duck, still in the NW corner (diving almost continuously only showing for a few seconds at a time)
1st win. drk Scaup, almost definitely one of the earlier long staying birds that had left a few weeks ago
2 Water Rail, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 2+ Chiffchaff, 1 Kingfisher, a few Little Grebes and a Mediterranean Gull in the car park.

Swanvale:

Only added Robin here and heard 2 Green Woodpeckers calling.

Swanpool Beach and Falmouth Bay:

2 Slavonian Grebes off Castle Beach, 11 Fulmar on the cliff, 15+ Turnstone, 7 Ringed Plover, Stonechat and 2 Mediterranean Gulls.  It was a sigh of relief to have a Sparrowhawk fly over (arch nemesis for any bird racer as they only crop up every now and then and pinning them down at any guaranteed site isn't easy).

Castle Beach:

1 Whimbrel

Pendennis Point:

1 Purple Sandpiper feeding on the rocks below the point
2 Great Northern Divers
2 Stonechat
3+ Common Gulls

Jahovah's Witnesses Hall:

1 Firecrest

Gorrangorras and Bissom Sewage Works:

15 Mute Swan, 3 Greenshank, 60+ Curlew, 30+ Redshank, Kingfisher, 2 Skylark over, c.10 Teal, 4+ Chiffchaff but no sign of the YBW in a brief search.

Mylor:

1 Great Northern Diver, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers (1 male, 1 female) and 1 Black-necked Grebe, 8+ Common Gulls (hardly the numbers we were hoping for but the wind was building up and the high tide was probably encouraging most of the grebes and mergs to take shelter in the creeks).

Devoran:

1 adult Sandwich Tern (a surprise find amongst the gulls at the northern end of the creek), 2 Raven, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, 16 Black-tailed Godwits (1 colour-ringed bird: right leg pale greenish/white over green, left leg red over white with 8 on the white ring).  Double figures of Wigeon, Teal and Redshank.  Also, a handful of Common Gulls, Greenshank and c.10 Shelduck.

Feock (Loe Beach):

1 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Whimbrel and 1 Raven.

Stithians Reservoir:

1 Slavonian Grebe (from Stuart Hutching's Hide), 2 fem. Goldeneye, 10+ Little Grebes, 2 Ringed Plover (near sailing club), 1 Kestrel and c.15 Lapwing.  Southern cutoff: 1 Reed Bunting and numerous Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Dunnocks, Robins, 1 Chiffchaff and a Water Rail around the feeders.  9 Snipe in the centre of the cutoff directly ahead of the hide.  Rain soon set in from 2-3pm and our day list started to suffer as a result as well as slow our pace.

Argal Res:

Black-headed Gulls and Tufted Ducks.

College Res:

1st win. drk Scaup almost definitely the other long staying individual that was at Swanpool.  No sign of any Bittern yet unfortunately but did note 65 Wigeon and 2 Great Crested Grebes.

Swanpool Beach, Swanpool and Swanvale:

A couple Fulmar offshore and more rain.

Trescobease Park:

Nearly dark but still noted 20+ Redwing, 2 Bullfinches, Magpies in double figures (maybe pre-roost flocks), 4 Skylark and 10+ Meadow Pipits in the neighbouring field.

Also 1 Dipper at an undisclosed site on our route around the local area.

Thanks again to Dan for all the driving and the great company!

15th January:

Female Black Redstart in my garden again and even more unusual, a Meadow Pipit having a wander around the roof outside my window.

17th January:

Back out patching with Dan once again. :)

Stithians Res:

1 Slavonian Grebe, 13 Snipe (7 in the southern cutoff, 6 in the northern cutoff), 1 Peregrine, 1-2 Ringed Plover (need to check pics to see if 2 separate sightings are of different individuals).  Wildfowl include double figures of Wigeon, Tufted Duck and Canada Geese. Also 6 female Goldeneye, 1 Little Egret, 3 Stonechat, 1 Grey Wagtail, 3 Song Thrushes, 30-40 Redwing, 2 Chiffchaffs, 2 Goldcrests, 1 Water Rail, 3 Curlew, Raven (heard only) and a Reed Bunting at the feeders.

College Res:

1 Yellow-browed Warbler showing nicely on the western bank c.200m North of wooden footbridge at the southern end. Precise location of bird here: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x...&ay=33327&lm=0
Also 2 drk Scaup lingering around near the island and diving regularly, 7 Goldcrest and 4 Chiffchaffs.

18th January:

Female type Black Redstart in my garden again.

Black Redstart