Update of July August - Post 2

So the Plain Swifts ended my last blog entry which were on the morning of the 29th of July, so I'll start with the new post with the afternoon of the same day. After reporting my sighting of the swifts to Rare Bird Alert to put out on the pager system, another message from Cornwall appeared on my screen: Cornwall - BLACK KITE flying over Lands End Aerodrome at 11.58am. Funnily enough this came through at 12.20pm as I was sitting in my caravan no more than 2 miles from there and had driven past the aerodrome at the time the bird had been seen.... typical. Most Black Kite sightings are of birds flying through on migration and they don't tend to hang around but as it was just up the road I thought I'd go and have a look around just in case it was still in the area.

Black Kite (Milvus migrans)

I pulled up into the lay-by opposite the airfield and had a quick scan and saw a bird of prey in the distance which I thought may be the kite, so back in the car and off to the other side of the valley to see if I could get a better view. As I parked up by Bosavern Community Farm, the bird I had seen in the distance was drifting closer.... definitely a different shape than Common Buzzard but it was head on, so I couldn't see the tail to be certain. As it came closer and closer the features became more and more apparent and soon the kite was flying no more than 40m above my head. Brilliant. For the next 2 hours I stayed watching it following a tractor in the next field as it cut the hay, exposing small rodents for the bird to pounce on. It showed really well before floating high and disappearing over the hill towards Newbridge, but not before a guy called Adam Hartley, whom I met in the spring in one of the valleys looking for a very secretive Melodious Warbler, turned up to watch it for a while with me.

Black Kite (Milvus migrans)

The kite hung around for nearly 2 weeks before it headed over to Drift reservoir, on the outskirts of Penzance, where I think it's still floating about, but proving a little harder to locate.

With the weather turning towards the south-west a couple of days later I decided to give Porthgwarra a bit of a go to see if any seabirds were passing through. Before I popped down there I had to nip into Penzance and I thought I'd drop past Drift to look for a Wood Sandpiper that had been reported there..... Bad decision!!! Pager message: Cornwall - ATLANTIC PETREL seen for 5 minutes around the Runnelstone bouy before landing on the sea and lost to view at 11.32am. I couldn't believe it..... another 1st for Britain and I decided against going there before Penzance..... 20 minute later I was sat on the cliff-top with several others including the Seawatch SW team (who had first seen the bird and reported it), intently staring at the sea in the vain hope that it would be relocated.... alas, 3 hours later..... nothing. It did, however, give me a chance to meet the Seawatch guys who I'd been meaning to see a few weeks earlier, but not had the time, and chat to John Swann - a Porthgwarra regular.

Fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Fox (Vulpes vulpes)

I decided over the next few days to spend more time down at P.G and help out with the Seawatch study. I spent most mornings and evenings (those where I wasn't working at the hostel or ringing) sat with Tom McKinney, the seabird volunteer, counting whatever went through. We had a pretty good few days, dark and light phase Pomerine Skuas, Roseate Terns, Balearic, Manx, Sooty and Corys Shearwaters which got me thinking about the weekend that I was going to spend on the Scillies going out on a boat to try to get closer views of some of these South-West specialities.  Every night though it was something else that was keeping my attention when I went back to the car.... a very confiding Fox cub, almost fully grown, who would come almost up to your feet to see what bits were left by holiday makers in the car-park.