West Cornwall Tour for Two

Thursday 14th April 2022

We enjoyed a fantastic day on Thursday 14th April when we were joined on a west Cornwall tour by American birders Beata and Alex. Paul picked up the couple and their guest from Trevore Farm, St Buryan and the birding started immediately `with singing Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Blackbird and Wren, all along the driveway out of the farm! We stopped briefly at Bartinney Downs en-route to Kenidjack Valley and were rewarded with a single Short-eared Owl being mobbed by carrion crow.

Kenidjack Valley

Kenidjack was alive with singing Chiffchaffs and we added more common species to the day list like Song Thrush, Stonechat, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Blue Tit and Great Tit. At the seaward end of the valley a couple of Ravens flew over, followed by a single Chough. A scan of the gulls proved worthwhile when Paul picked up the adult Iceland Gull that had been present in the area all winter. Two Great Northern Divers flew west at sea along with nine Manx Shearwaters. We also recorded our first Swallow, Sand Martins and House Martins all together over the donkey paddocks.

Porthgwarra

Porthgwarra was our next destination and after a coffee at the cafe we headed over the moor towards Trevean. At least 3 Choughs were in the area, showing well feeding on the moor or flying past. A pair of Wheatears were added to our list with Linnet and Meadow Pipit. We then spent an unsuccessful hour searching for the two Little Buntings that had been reported the previous day. They remained elusive but we added Bullfinch and Buzzard whilst looking. Something then spooked the flock of mixed corvids in field north of Trevean and Paul picked up two, then three Hobby flying fast and high to the east! After a latish lunch we headed east ourselves in time for high tide at Hayle.

Final Destinations……..

The tide was still coming in as we passed the estuary so we carrying on up the coast to Hell’s Mouth where we took the opportunity to photograph Fulmars, Guillemots, Shags and Cormorants. We ended the day on the Hayle estuary where we added a few waders and wildfowl. The tide was very high and numbers of birds was i bit disappointing, but we manged another 12 species there before calling it a day.

Beata and Alex were great company and they had 8 lifers during the day. We saw 62 species in all and we could have easily added another 15-20 sp had we not spent so much time looking for Little Buntings! The full list of birds is shown below.

Species List

Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Shelduck, Mallard, Teal, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Great Northern Diver, Guillemot, Gannet, Shag, Cormorant, Fulmar, Manx Shearwater, Oystercatcher, Greenshank, Redshank, Curlew, Common Sandpiper, Kestrel, Buzzard, Hobby, Short-eared Owl, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Chough, Jackdaw, Rook, Raven, Starling, Woodpigeon, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Linnet, Meadow Pipit, Icleand Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Black-headed Gull, Wren, Stonechat, Wheatear, Barn Swallow, Sand Martin, House Martin, Pheasant.

If you would like to book us for a private tour in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset or the Isles of Scilly, you can contact us at [email protected] or SMS to 07794559881