First Cornish Owl (27th October)

I forgot to mention I heard my first Tawny Owl Strix aluco last Saturday whilst in the kitchen, my first owl species for Cornwall!

Volunteering for the Wildlife Trust (29th October)

Another day of volunteering with the Wildlife Trust as part of my Environmental Science degree.  Our task for the day was to remove as much Cherry Laurel as possible from a local woodland as it was now choking the life out of all the other native species.  The dense canopy and acidic nature of the plant is unfavorable to the rest of the native species so naturally, we resorted to practical work once again sawing and lopping the trees down.  Unfortunately, due to the very fact that most of the native species had been out-competed  not a lot of birds were of note except 2 Siskin Carduelis spinus flying over and 2 Raven Corvus corax briefly glimpsed through the canopy whilst cronking overhead.

Local birding at another new patch (28th October)

I got up and left everyone still sleeping off their hangovers from last nights Halloween party and cycled the four miles down the road to Penarrow Point, a new local spot for me!  The birding started slowly, not very unusual, but as I was walking along the rocky shoreline  several Meadow Pipits Anthus pratensis and Rock Pipits Antus petrosus did their attempt to appear rare some Mipits even going to the extent of fooling me by hopping around inside the bushes like the accompanying Chiffchaffs Phylloscopus collybita some bizarre behaviour I haven't seen before!  Even the Robins Erithacus rubecula put me off for rarities  maybe it's just my brain trying desperately to string garden bird as megas!  A little further around the point and I finally found the first good birds for the day, 2 Firecrests Regulus ignicapillus working their way around the lower canopy at eye-level affording excellent views!  They performed well for some time before I decided to move on.  A brief shower followed by overcast skies brought in a few more good birds.  On my return along the beach, I found 5 Brent Geese Branta bernicla (4 adults, 1 1st-win.) paddling casually about near the shore, feeding occasionally on some sea-weed.  Apparently they're not very common in this area of Cornwall so I'm rather pleased to have them on my county list so soon!

 all 5 Brent Geese

one of the adults

A pewit call from the shoreline also announced my first 2 Lapwing Vanellus vanellus since my arrival in Cornwall (I haven't seen this bird since being in Herts so I was equally pleased to finally catch up on this greatly missed wader, just shows how much I took them for granted back home).  Anyway, other birds of note include 2 Mediterranean Gulls Larus melanocephalus, 1 Bar -tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica , 3 Siskin Carduelis spinus, a single Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus and a Grey Seal to top the day off.  In all, not a bad starting point for a local patch but I'm still desperate to set eyes on a self-found Yellow-browed Warbler which was true ambition for the day.

My first visit to the north east of the county! Rosenannon Downs (26th October)

Once again I was out with my fellow Environmental Students surveying the vegetation cover at Rosenannon Downs, a SSSI.  With our heads down, IDing the plants and measuring vegetation height for nearly all of our visit it was no surprise the only noteworthy bird I saw were 2 Ravens Corvus corax and a flock of 20+ probable Golden Plover in the distance.  The reason for our monitoring seems to be related to the poor state of the environment as the lack of grazing and appropriate swaling has resulted in undesirable dominant species such as purple moor-grass from proliferating and smothering the variety of other species that the diversity of life depends on.  The Wildlife Trust hope to recreate a different habitat that could host an array of plant species and rarer breeding birds such as Hen Harrier, Skylark and other classic heathland specialists.  With the data we collected, the managers hope to compare present with future results to compare the species diversity and the resultant impacts for the ecosystem to measure the changes that human management on the downs has brought about.  With my rant on about conservation over, a member from the Wildlife Trust kindly pointed out Devil's-bit Scabious and Bog Asphodel to me.  Two other birders on site remained later until dusk looking for Hen Harrier which had been reported only last night but I wasn't able to hang around to see the turn out as we were already on the minibus heading back to campus.

Even another E.S. Outing (25th October)

south east Lizard

Just about squeezed in five minutes of birding during a volunteering session down on the Lizard as part of my Environmental Science degree.  We were removing gorse from a SSSI site in order to recreate space for some rare plants but during the 50 minute lunch break I decided to run south along the coastal path about 2 miles south of Cadgwith to Church Cove in order to connect with a Yellow-browed Warbler which had been seen on some occasions during the past week or so.  It took about half an hour to reach so only had five minutes to have a quick dash around the site before running the 2 miles back up the path again.  Unsurprisingly my tick and run method (meant in literal terms) was unsuccessful only 2 Mediterranean Gulls Larus Melanocephalus seen from the quarry and a Raven Corvus corax near Cadgwith.  Diving Gannets Morus bassanus near the coast were a nice sight as were several Common Dog Violets (something I wasn't expecting to see in full flower during mid-late October!).

 Common Dog Violet (confirmation would be much appreciated)

Another E.S. Outing (23rd October)

This time all 8 of us Environmental Science students were down on Gylly Beach and Swanpool Point surveying the structured distribution of biodiversity and biotic life across a rocky shoreline.  Not much in terms of bird species unfortunately as there was dense fog and most of the time involved staring into rock pools, this brings us all back to the early days of childhood tottering about precariously over the coast bewildered by the array of life in a puddle.  Anyway, a few Oystercatchers Haematopus ostralegus flew past and we accidentally disturbed 1 Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula and a pos. Dunlin (with what appeared to be a rather long beak).  Still a very enjoyable day!

Swanpool Point

Environmental Science Field Trip! (22nd October)

A rather enjoyable combined Geography and Environmental Science field trip to Geevor Mine, near Pendeen, educated us all a lot in terms of the social way of life minors and their relatives lived as well as a study into the physical landscape.  However, the fact we were down a mine with no natural daylight did limit the species list for the day.  I managed to reach 18, with a Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros fly-catching from the mine-shaft being the highlight for the day!

Geevor Mine-shaft

possibly the worst record shot, I'll stop trying to come up with excuses

 Chun Down