Coot and Chicks

First time since the blog started I saw Coots on the Lake with youngsters in tow. A patch tick.

Chaffinch..........Fringilla coelebs

A colourful well groomed bird. One of my favorites.

Male Chaffinch

Latin Identification.

Swan..........Cygnus olor

Swanning Around With Cygnet

Contrasting Views Of A Song Thrush

Song Thrush....Turdus philomelos

Sanderling

Sanderling..........Calidris alba

Evening Walk

It was a nice warm evening at the Lake and I thought there would be very little change in bird activity . Mostly that was correct
The Swan and remaining Cygnet were on show as were the two tribes of Goslings who are still intact.
A Heron flew over and settled on the far side along with a fistful of Canada Geese.
Proceeding to the beach walk the odd Crow or Two just kept out of photographic range as is par for the course.
Four small birds flew in from offshore and started feeding at the waters edge, they turned out to be Sanderlings .Another addition to the list along with the Rock Pipit from the previous day.
Very little else was happening. The Herring Gulls along with a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls were bobbing a little offshore and that was it for the beach.
The rest of the walk produced the usual bunch of singing Song Thrushes, Dunnocks, Chaffinchs, Blackbirds, Robins and Greenfinch.
We watched the sun settle and returned home happy with the walk and the Sanderlings an added bonus.

Male and Female Mallard

Anas platyrhynchos

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The Mallards are plentiful around the Lake and tolerate humans getting up close ,unlike the Moorhen that soon turns tail and scarpers into the reeds or distance.

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An interesting and startling fact is that nineteen percent of male Mallards are homosexual.

Last Evenings Sunset

Wooded Area . Par Lake Site.

Par Lake Taken From The Gorse Walk

What Are They Crowing About?

Evening Walk

Another quiet but pleasant evening around Par Lake and surroundings. We generally start off by scanning the Lake for newcomers and getting updated on the youngsters . Next we cross the Gorse Walk and walk the seashore looking for Gulls and Waders.
At a rough guess I would say the beach was approximately half a mile long. It is a dog walkers beach and is obviously popular with locals and holidaymakers who travel with their dogs.
After the beach we meander throughout the gorse and small pines searching for the smaller birds and anything else interesting that happens along. Over the boardwalk and damp area comes next then into the small wooded area. After walking a half circle we end up back at the top rough park road. Finally a walk back along the Gorse Walk to the car park.

Identification from yesterday...

Although a few birds were perched atop the gorse it was a quiet evening bird wise.
One strange thing I noticed was that the elder goslings had gained another member and the total now reads eleven. The six younger birds were still together.
The Knot was still on the Lake and seemingly content.
A walk along the beach produced very little accept a Pipit (I hope) which, I cannot decide, but think it is a Rock Pipit . Can anyone identify the bird from the photographs?

Which Pipit?

Gorse Birds

Greenfinch.

I think the bird, background and gorse blend well to produce a lovely image. Now if only it was sharper .

Little Egret

The Fisher

Little Egret...........Egretta garzetta



The Little Egret was in an obliging mood yesterday evening as he started feeding just off the foreshore.

Older and Younger

Goslings

The news at the present is good with the whole company intact from the last update. The two groups are generally( if my observations are correct) in close proximity to each other although clearly showing two separate family's and although I am no expert on this (hells bells,,,,I am no expert on anything) I would think a difference in age of the two groups of at least a week or two. The older group appear awkward and gangling whereas the younger ones are showing the gangling symptoms to a lesser degree they do have a more vulnerable look to them.

The largest group is probably made up of a few family's and numbers ten goslings . The smaller and younger group has six. Both groups have a number of adults in attendance.
Canada Geese on the Lake yesterday numbered fifty plus.

Floral Interlude

Dunlin

Latin Identification.

Knot.................Calidris canutus

Dunlin..............Calidris alpina

Knot ................... Knot and Dunlin.

Black-headed Gulls

Latin Identification. Larus ridibundus

Gulls and Waders

Arriving at the Lake the first thing I saw amongst the Herring Gulls was two Black-headed Gulls with their chocolate coloured heads. The first I have seen for a month or so. Next right at the waters edge was the Knot that was reported yesterday.Also at the edge and in close contention was a smaller wader which turned out to be a Dunlin. I was very happy with the three patch ticks in as many minutes.

Wooded Area

Clay Trail

The trail starts a short way before getting to the top rough car park. The part walked last evening was a semi-circle taking in a boardwalk over a boggy area, a small conifer wood, and finally returning to the main caravan park area. The wooded area was totally unexpected and added to the diversity of the Baywatch Patch.

Evening Fun.

Another evening well spent with four more patch ticks plus the early Pheasant adds up to an enjoyable day with some rather surprising newcomers. The Evening ticks are:-
Black-headed Gull, Knot, Dunlin and Swift.
Photographs will be loaded tomorrow.

Pheasant

Male and female Pheasant between the top Trenarren sign and Ropehaven Cliffs parking spot. A Land Rover was right behind me on the one track lane so I had to leave behind the photographic evidence.

Red Kite.

A Red Kite was reported seen at Burngullow near St Austell at 12-30pm today by John Rowe.

Reed Bunting

Helping himself to a meal of the leftovers.

Cygnet

The remaining cygnet was photographed tonight with the female Swan. He/she is growing fast and hopefully will survive.

Knot

A knot was reported ( photograph seen on the camera ) on Par Lake yesterday evening around 20-00hrs.

Royal Navy Rescue Exercise (Offshore Par)

Tonights Walk.(Two Ticks)

Two House Sparrows (patch tick..I know) were feeding on the stone makeshift bird table in front of the car park attendants hut .

Three Goldfinches were seen but not photographed along the *Gorse Walk* . They continually stayed one jump ahead which was demoralizing as I hopefully tried to outfox them.

The Sandwich Terns were again just offshore, eight in total. As I tried to creep up to them to take a photograph with my 400mm lens I was thinking of our counties King Of Digiscoping ..Mr John Rowe
A Cormorant landed in the middle of them and off they went into the grey distance. Now John would have had them ,done and dusted and ready for his blog. So, I suppose the next time I must think of a guy with a wide angle lens.

Wild Flower Indentification

Any reader who is knowledgeable about the wild flowers growing locally I would love to hear from you.

http://staustellbaywatch.blogspot.com/

Floral Interlude

Angela's Heron

Thanks to Angela Tonry for the photograph of the Heron taken on the far side of Par lake with a hand-held 500mm lens. Not an easy shot to execute.

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

A Nice Tern

We watched the Sandwich Tern glide then dive for fish just a short way offshore. This was a life tick for me so I tried to get a good photograph....alas the shots are not good enough for the public eyes .

Top of the Trio.

Moorhen and Mallards