Weekend Uni. trip to Falmouth, not forgetting the beach (1st October)

This weekend was very eventful as I headed down to south Cornwall with my dad on a University open day visit on the 1st October.  We finished touring the amazing campus and departments and ventured down to Swanpool Beach directly south of the university, only half a mile away.  We worked our way around the busy beaches, but most striking of all was the massive differences in the type of coastline that we passed, at times walking over a shallow gradient sand beach at other times navigating steep jagged rocks jutting out into the sea that forms the basis for the headland at Blockhouse.  At least 7+ Rock Pipits were frequenting the beach at different intervals searching the wavecut platform for invertebrates.  2 pos. Whimbrel also flew passed on two occasions (possibly the same birds twice) followed by 10+ Oystercatchers.  A single Wheatear was also perched on the sea wall preparing to leap the English Channel.  Starting at 5:35pm I managed to fit in a short period of seawatching from the headland itself, I was just in time to see 2 Sandwich Terns pass close inland followed by 2 Mediterranean Gulls and a pos. Arctic or Common Tern.