New Years Bird List Boosters 2025

January 2nd 2025

Our first NYBLB of 2025 saw 7 guests with Paul as guide, head out from Connor Downs HQ at 08.30hrs. We started the list as soon as everyone arrived with Blackcap, Long-tailed Tit and flyover Woodpigeon and Starling! Our first destination was Stithians Lake with an initial stop at The Golden Lion cutoff, adding Great White Egret, Little Egret, Teal, Cormorant, Wigeon and few other common species, including Great-spotted Woodpecker, expertly picked up by Simon. We then headed to the other end of the reserve adding a few more water birds and waders including our first Snipe and Lapwings, Little Grebes, Gadwall and Tufted Ducks. The feeders didn’t provide us with much so we headed back west, calling at Helston Boating Lake and sewerage works where we picked up Firecrest, Chiffchaff, Grey and Pied Wagtails, Mute Swan and a nice male Shoveler.

Next stop was Marazion where we enjoyed a hot drink whilst adding a few extras like Stonechat, Greenfinch, Great Northern Diver and commoner Gulls. The marsh itself didn’t help the list along much but a Cetti’s Warbler showed nicely. We stopped at a few places around Mount’s Bay giving us good views of Purple Sandpiper, Sanderling, Common Scoter, Eider, a Black-throated Diver, Black Redstart and best of all the Velvet Scoter, picked up by Sarah. Velvet Scoter is an uncommon bird in Cornwall so really good to catch up with this one.

Sadly the high tide at Hayle wasn’t due until early evening but we didn’t miss out and after lunch at Ryan’s Field we added another 15 or more species on the estuary including the Spoonbill, picked up distantly by Allan. Others added here included Golden Plover, Dunlin, Greenshank and Redshank, Goosander, Shelduck and Common Gull. We stopped briefly at Copperhouse to use the public facilities and a scan over the creek helped tick off Ringed and Grey Plover. With daylight fast retreating, we headed north for a few last ditch additions, calling at Hell’s Mouth, where Tim found a stunning Peregrine, along with Fulmars. We spent the last 45 minutes of day searching for woodland birds at Tehidy and managed Nuthatch, Goldcrest and a pair of Mandarin on the pond.

Back in the relative warmth of the minibus, a count up of the day list reveled 92 species (94 including Bullfinch and Fieldfare which were only seen by Paul!) A fantastic achievement by the group! We missed out on a few that were available, like Red-throated Diver, Fieldfare, Bullfinch, Glossy Ibis, Bonaparte’s Gull, Water Rail, Slavonian Grebe, Great-crested Grebe, Sparrowhawk and Kingfisher! But, you can’t get em all.

SPECIES LIST

Black-throated Diver, Great Northern Diver, Little Grebe, Fulmar, Gannet, Cormorant, Shag, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Spoonbill, Canada Goose, Shelduck, Mandarin, Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Eider, Common Scoter, Velvet Scoter, Goosander, Buzzard, Kestrel, Peregrine, Pheasant, Moorhen, Coot, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Lapwing, Sanderling, Purple Sandpiper, Dunlin, Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank, Greenshank, Turnstone, Mediterranean Gull, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Kittiwake, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Black Redstart, Stonechat, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Cettis Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Firecrest, Long-tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Nuthatch, Jay, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Raven, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet (Plus Bullfinch and Fieldfare)