PAR.

The Par Beach Pool was strangely different this evening..... not a single Canada Goose was to be seen. That is a first for me since I have been doing the Baywatch blog.
The Knot that Roger saw yesterday was not in sight this evening and it was a case of the usual residents plus an extra Coot or two.
The beach and shoreline were much the same...Crows, Pied Wagtails, Rock Pipits, Oystercatchers, a lone Ringed Plover and Sandwich Terns offshore.
The evening was very dull and misty and the light was poor for photographs.

Knot seen.

A nondescript juvenile Knot was at the Par Beach Poolside early on.
Thanks Roger Lane.

Coot

Coot......Fulica atra

A cousin of the Moorhen.

Resident Moorhen

Moorhen.... Gallinula chloropus

Head on a little strange.

Jackdaw

Jackdaw.........Corvus monedula

We're a Couple of Gulls

Morning at Par.

I had a look around Par Beach Pool and shoreline this morning but have nothing unusual to report.
The Pool was teeming with the usual geese, gulls and wildfowl...these were being aided and abetted by a dozen Jackdaws and a pair of Pied Wagtails, practically all of them were at the poolside rather than on the water....waiting for the holidaymakers to feed them I reckon.
The shoreline and sea were pretty barren as the tide was in ...Rock Pipits, and Pied Wagtails were on the shore with a handful of Mute Swans and the odd Gull out at sea.
Still it gave me time to test the camera that I had returned yesterday.

Rock Pipits

Latin Identification

Rock Pipits ................Anthus petrosus

The Return of the Nikon.

Yes....the Nikon is back home but due to the awful weather the testing will have to wait till tomorrow.

Harvest Moon.

The Autumn Equinox is on the 23rd September. High tides occur the first new or full moon after the equinox.
The expected date is the Full Harvest Moon on the 4th day of October 2009.

High Equinox Tides

The last email I got from Roger Lane identified the problems the equinox tides may have reaching the pool.

"Tide line was strewn with the urchin-like 'Sea Potato', many hundreds, dozs. of dead crabs, shells from oysters down to winkles, some partial fish skeletons and more green sea-weed. The high equinox tides MAY not make it into the pool since the council have not cleared the entrance stream (partly blocked half-way down to sea), but IF we get a strong S/SW wind sea-water may push through the blockage (reed- growth)."

Thanks for that Roger. I suspect most of us are kind of ignorant on these matters.

Nikon D300

Great news from Steve Rogers....... the Nikon is on the way back fully repaired.

Digiscoped Ducks.

Walmsley Sanctuary

We decided to take a short break up country and visit the CBWPS' Walmsley Sanctuary near Wadebridge. Please note you have to be a CBWPS member and also a acquire a key from the CBWPS Membership Secretary before you can visit this site.
Digiscoping was the order of the day and will continue so.. until my Nikon comes out of the repair shop.
The visit provided me with life ticks at Walmsley (Green Sandpiper) and (Curlew Sandpiper) viewed from the Camel Trail near Padstow.

Rainbow

Looking across the reeds and hills from Par Beach Pool following the heavy rain shower.

St Austell Bay

Looking out to sea from Par Beach .

The Red Arrows flew overhead a few times but way to far away for the Nikon compact.

Toxic Algae

The toxic algae that is thought to have killed thousands of fish and shellfish in St Austell Bay is a "natural phenomena caused by weather conditions".
The last time the algae was encountered in the Bay was in the 1970's when fish and shellfish leapt on the beach "as they gasped for air"..
A complete report can be found in this weeks Cornish Guardian.

A Young Sparrow ?

House Sparrow ................Passer domesticus

.

I believe this to be a young juvenile House Sparrow. The head-on view confuses rather than helps.

Colourful Corvids

Corvids are very intelligent birds......maybe these are having a quiet moments meditation on thermals and high pressure zones.

Roger Lane. Saturday Sightings

AS well as supplying me with valuable technical details Roger Lane stated the birds were sparse at Spit on his first visit for a long while.
Noted were four Curlews that flew in to roost on the Harbour Wall with multiple Oystercatchers.
Three Sandwich Terns "were chasing a gull which flew into Spit and it was my first adult, winter-plumage Mediterranean Gull of autumn ."
A Holly Blue butterfly was also recorded only Roger's third of the second brood.

"Today: not much at Par, except an almost dead conger eel gasping for breath (youngster only 3ft long), which I 'rescued' by returning to the sea, but it won't survive. Dead flatfish, crabs and cockles galore. "

Bar-Headed Goose

The photograph of the Bar-headed Goose was sent in by Angela Tonry .

The Goose was on the Par Beach Pool on Saturday evening and is most certainly an escapee.

Jackdaw

Jackdaw...................Corvus monedula

The widespread Jackdaw is the smallest member the crow family.

Flock of Waders.

I had a report from Roger Lane about a small flock c 30 of waders that may have come in from Spit on the evening tide (sighting 13-08-09 at 7-30pm) that eventually landed at the dock end of Par Beach. In Roger's words
"They eventually landed and flock was composed of c.half i.e. 15 x G.Ringed Plover, up to 10 x Dunlin and c.5 Sanderling (both adults and juveniles of each, a confusing assembly!)."

Roger also saw a lone Common Sandpiper that flew down the Par River towards Spit.
He also drew my attention to the heavy algal pollution that is killing the fish with the Charlestown area the worst affected.
Further news bulletins on local and regional news.

Roger has been watching the area for twenty years or more and must have a vast knowledge of his three disciplines , Birds, Butterflies and Dragonflies to go with his records from 1990 onwards.

He has kindly offered to assist in areas that I find difficult and I have gladly accepted.

Thanks for the report Roger

Moths.

"There have been over 2400 species of moths recorded in the British Isles".

We have some way to go on this blog.

Wren

Wren....................Troglodytes troglodytes

Robin

Robin ..........................Erithacus rubecula

Coot from the Archives

Coot.........Fulica atra

St Austell Bay

The Bay looking from Par Beach.

Camera Update

The camera is being sent away and I have been informed I can expect at least a four week wait before it is returned.
What actually happened...I do not know, I am no wiser than yesterday really.

The Bad News

I fear the worse with my Nikon D300. The gremlins have struck and it will not come on at all. My SDHC card has blown and it is looking bad for the electronics of the camera.
As soon as I know anything I will post on the blog...until then ..fingers crossed.

Goose

Canada Goose ..................Branta canadensis

Dunlins at Par

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

Yellowhammer

Yellowhammer ...............Emberiza citrinella

This bunting seems to cause me all sorts of problems in trying to get a good image. I feel I have had the opportunities to deliver but have failed. A difficult bird to photograph well...up on the wire .

Yellowhammer

Yesterday evening saw us back again at the Beach Pool Par.
The pool seemed taken over by Canada Geese who have been joined by a cousin or two from another Parish.
A Little Egret was resting in a tree at the far reed bed end of the pool a distance far too great for my lens to do justice ..so I left alone.
The beach turned up six Dunlins ...later joined by two others...feeding at the waters edge.
Next we tried the Church area on the road to Menabilly but the usual butterflies in the fields and hedgerows were absent this evening.
Swallows were hawking high up which augurs well for fine weather today.
On the return Angie spotted what we at first though was a Greenfinch up on the wires but turned out to be a Yellowhammer..a patch tick as was the passing Sparrowhawk.

Lone Dunlin

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

The Dunlin was photographed last Tuesday as it waited for the tide to recede.

A FABULOUS BLOG

I would like to thank Professor A.B.Yaffle http://thenatureofwoodpeckers.blogspot.com/ for giving me the A FABULOUS BLOG award.

Let me ponder awhile over what to do next...

More of the Pied Wagtail.

The young Wagtail stayed around long enough to get some half decent images. As I find the adult Pied Wagtails difficult to photograph well ....I am pleased with these .

Pied Wagtail Showcase

Pied Wagtail ....................Motacilla alba yarrelli

Valley Walk

We decided to take Hesper down the valley and as she is far to excitable and boisterous I had to leave the camera behind . We ventured further along the walk than we had previously done and it turned out very pleasant. Two new patch butterflies Angie photographed..the Comma and Gatekeeper, are now added to the list.
Half a dozen or so Swallows were perched on the wires at the end of the walk , also an elusive Chiffchaff and more obliging Wren were noted..
At the finish of the walk close to the Sewer works three Goldcrests were playing in the trees. Although Angie tried to get a top shot these little birds again won the battle.

The Last Cygnet (latest)

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

The first photograph is the early May shot of the Swan and her three cute Cygnets.

Unfortunately she was soon left with just one and you can see by the latest photograph he/she has turned out into a fine specimen.

The Gulls Back in Town

Herring Gull

The Herring Gulls were back on the Pool in large numbers. The gull with the oversize meal in its mouth was continually mobbed and chased till it eventually dropped it . The meal was swifty devoured by the pack.

Around the World

This morning I learnt that the St Austell Baywatch blog has been added to the guide Around the World http://www.geraldengland.co.uk/dp/ naturally I am very pleased with this and feel compelled to make a supreme effort to warrant its inclusion.

White Horse of Manoa Valley

Tree Creepers

We decided again to look for and try to photograph the Tree Creepers we saw at the Manoa Valley Sewage Works.
Unfortunately again we failed to locate them.
The hawking Swallows were active quite low which is a sure sign of rain ahead. A family or two of Blue Tits were rustling around in the trees above and a couple of Jays were active at the first bend of the walk. I tried creeping up and half hoped they would return so I could get a photograph…no luck again… but in the field opposite was this white horse watching me intently. So today’s photograph is of a horse.

Common Blue

Small White (hopefully)

My butterfly identifying skills are not the best.

Turnstone (Spit Beach)

Click on Images to Enlarge

Turnstone..................Arenaria interpres

Turnstone

The first port of call this evening was Spit Beach. Although the tide was in we saw Cormorants, Gulls,Rock Pipits and three Turnstones at the waters edge which after checking turned out a patch tick.
The next stop was the Beach Pool at Par...the first thing that I noticed was that there was not a single Herring Gull on the pool, posts or waters edge a most unusual occurrence. In fact the pool was very quiet with a lone Coot, thirty Black-headed Gulls and the usual Geese and Swans but in smaller numbers.
All the little brown jobs decided to keep themselves hidden and it was a very strange Gorse Walk with no birds singing or in sight.

Early in the afternoon Angie and myself photographed a number of Butterflies in a field close to Menabilly.

On the Run

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