Happy New Year from St Austell Baywatch

Roundup.

Report. Angela Tonry. 30th December 2010

My listing was a little sporadic today, so mainly consists of the highlights! Do let T know if I have missed anything guys. We met up with Andy Carey this morning at Manoa, and then Andy Carey, Mark Whittaker & Roger Lane in the afternoon at Par, where it was bitterly cold :-

Garden this morning (Boscoppa): Chaffinch 8, Blue Tit 3, Blackcap 1 F, Blackbird 8, Starling 11, Woodpigeon 7, Robin 2, House Sparrow 7, Magpie 2, Carrion Crow 2, Herring Gull 9, Great Tit 2, Coal Tit 1, Redwing 5, Wren 1, Collared Dove 2, Dunnock 1, Jay 1, Songthrush 1, Pied Wagtail 1, Bullfinch 1 M.

Manoa Valley (Sewage Works): Large flock of Redwing seen sporadically (60-100 in numbers), Wren 4, Chaffinch 6, Robin 2, Pied Wagtail 8 (plus flock of Wagtails c25), Grey Wagtail 3, Meadow Pipit 1, Buzzard 1, Teal 1 F on the river, Dipper 3, Little Egret 1, Goldfinch 9, Blue Tit 3, Long Tailed Tit 6, House Sparrow 1 F, Goldcrest 2, large flock of Carrion Crow, large flock of Herring Gulls.

Par Beach Pool: One of the male Tufted Ducks on the pool today has what looks like a postman’s red elastic band around its neck – Mark or Andy may have an image of this. The colour ringed Coot was still there today along with Tufted Duck 6, Teal 4, Bar Headed Goose 4 (juv), Adult female Goldeneye 1, Bittern 1 (seen this morning A Carey & late afternoon M Whittaker), 21 Curlew over (late afternoon M Whittaker).

Par Bay: Eider 6, Brent Goose 3 (along the surf and showing well), Great Crested Grebe 6, Turnstone 2, Stonechat 1, Rock Pipit 4, Linnet 20+, Goosander 9 (came in from the bay, circled and headed out over the harbour), Gannet 12, Great Black Backed Gull 3, Lesser Black Backed Gull 1 (and 5 small waders in flight, but unidentified).

Thanks for the report Angie.
Cannot add much to that. During my little wander down by the river I saw 4 Stonechat and a large flock of Chaffinch.

Coot on the Sea.

Report. R.Lane. 30th December 2010

Good to see you again today(Thurs). I counted c.70 Coots again at Par Pool (and saw the ringed one that Nigel photographed yesterday, pretty obvious once you know it's there! ). Having been a bird-ringer once (eons ago!) I know how important it is to have such accurate information as Nigel's, especially in colour ringing schemes (Darvic rings). Before we leave the subject of Coots, I think Ian's record of 4 x Coot ON THE SEA (off Spit?) is noteworthy, although it was several weeks back when the Pool first froze (approx 1st-half Dec.'10) If I had not seen 2 x Coot on the sea (off Par Harbour) many years ago, under similar frozen conditions, I would have thought it unique, but presumably it happens rarely, when fresh water is frozen up.

Interesting observation again by Ian. Keeping you and your old records on your toes Roger.
Nice snippits.

Dipper and Goosander.

Photographs and report. Andrew Carey.

1 shot of the Dipper from Manoa and one of seven of the nine flyover goosander from Par Beach. Good to see you both today, and a happy new year to you both.

Nice shots of the Dipper and Gossander in flight .

Ringed Coot.

Photograph. Nigel Climpson

Hi Trevor
There is a colour ringed Coot at PBP. Left leg: Green over green. Right leg: Pink over metal.
I have attached a photograph taken yesterday.
I contacted the ringer and passed on the details.
He responded with the following. The bird (GR25118) was ringed 26 days ago at Southport Marine Lake, Lancashire and thus has travelled 384km. The project has been running for one year, and some 900 Coots have been ringed. This is so far the most distant sighting.
I have also attached for your info some details of the project that he sent.
The bird was still present (with some 50 others) this afternoon.

All very interesting

Thanks for the information Nigel.

Now the strange thing is ...I was looking on the guys blog this evening and left him a comment so I was half expecting a report from you.

We do have a large number of Coots on the Pool at the moment so maybe we all better start having a second look at them.

Well done finding it and getting the history.

The guys blog said he thought they may be heading to France.

Interesting stuff indeed.

Dipper with the *Goggles On*

Thanks to John Rance for supplying the technical details about the white eyes and also using the goggles on expression. Very apt.

Barnacle Geese at PBP.

Barnacle Goose .....Branta leucopsis

Photographed yesterday evening close to dusk at Par Beach Pool.

Identification Please.

Photograph. Andy Cross

Andy took the photograph early on in the year and wishes to know what it is.

I am going along with Stonechat.

The Five Bar-Headed Geese.

Angie, Andrew and myself and maybe others have photographed the five Bar -headed Geese on Par Beach Pool today.
Who is going to make it six?

Manoa and Par.

Report Angela Tonry. 28th December 2010

We had a great day today & it was lovely to see Andy & Roger. It was not so great to see the mass orgy of copulating flies at Manoa when we arrived there at 11.45am where the sun was shining, but I know they are the reason the birds do so well there so I bit the bullet and endured it!
Roger said that as it was so much warmer there had probably been a hatch.
There were swarms of little black flies in the air around the trees and what seemed like millions of them “hooked up” and “loved up” and dropping on everything, including us. I’m still itching for some reason!

My lists for the day: In the garden this morning (Boscoppa):
Moorhen 1, Blackbird 12, Starling 18, Coal Tit 2, Blue Tit 2, Chaffinch 4, Wren 1, Robin 1, Collared Dove 2, Woodpigeon 8, Herring Gull 6, Great Tit 2, Blackcap 2 M&F, Dunnock 2, Redwing 3, House Sparrow 9, Magpie 2, Carrion Crow 3, Bullfinch 1 M, Goldfinch 2, Jay 1, Songthrush 1, Greenfinch 1, Goldcrest 1 (a little up stream).

Manoa Valley (St Austell Sewage Works) where we were joined by Andy Carey: Chiffchaff 1, Grey Wagtail 3, Carrion Crow c30, Robin 2, Pied Wagtail 5 & then a flock was seen c30, Meadow Pipit 2, Blue Tit 3, Chaffinch 5, Dunnock 3, Great Tit 1, Jackdaw 2, Long Tailed Tits 8, Goldcrest 2, Wren 3, Woodpigeon 6, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1, Dipper 1, Blackbird 3, Magpie 2, Jay 1, Redwing c20, Songthrush 1, Buzzard 1 as well as lots of Herring Gulls & Black Headed Gulls.

Par Beach Pool this afternoon (no time to count numbers of everything so here are the highlights!): Bar Headed Goose 5, Shelduck 1 (nice patch tick Trevor!), Barnacle Goose 2 (another nice patch tick Trevor!), Tufted Duck 6, Wigeon 2, Finch Flock c25, Heron 1, Goldcrest 2. Also seen this morning by Andy Carey was Bittern 1 and “a single Redshank did a couple of laps of the pool, but didn’t land”.
Thanks to Andy for the use of his lens again and generous guidance. I’m still trawling through my pics! Angie

Yes it certainly was a good day. Pity the Dipper remained upstream.
The five Bar-headed Goose were definitely a bonus as was the Shelduck and the Barnacle Geese.

Reportfrom Spit Beach

Report. Marilyn Edyvean. 28th December 2010

Hello Trevor

Have been to Spit today 12.30 until 14.00.
Saw 40 species of birds altogether, highlights were:

2 Great Northern Diver
5 Great Crested Grebe
2 Little Grebe
1 Shelduck
1f Greater Scaup
2m + 6f Eider
11 Grey Plover
8 Bar-tailed Godwit
2 Curlew11 Knot
13 Ringed Plover
1 Redshank31 Dunlin
1 Purple Sandpiper
3 Brent Geese - scoped from Harbour wall on Polkerris side of Par Beach
Little Egret
2 Grey Heron
20+ Redwing

Thank you for an excellent report from Spit Beach ..Marilyn
You most certainly have had a good day.

Manoa Valley

Photographs . Andrew Carey


Hi Trevor

Two of a goldcrest and one of a grey wagtail at the Manoa Valley.

Great shots Andrew of a tricky birds in dense foliage.
You have done well to get a clear shot.

Manoa Valley Dipper.

Dipper .....Cinclus cinclus

I photographed the Dipper a few days before Christmas. Two flew just over my head and then broke off and flew in opposite directions..upstream and downstream. It was my first view of a Dipper flying above a foot over the water. I feel certain there was at least three Dippers in the small stretch of water I patrolled.

A strange fact I have noticed photographing the Dipper ....10% of my photographs show the Dipper with white eyes. Naturally it is when they are blinking but it does look kinda strange.

Two Bitterns at Par Beach Pool

Report. Nigel Climpson. 26th December 2010

"I can personally confirm that there were two Bitterns present on PBP on Christmas Day at about 3-4 pm. They were showing well, walking on the ice and even had an argument whereupon one lew to the back of the main pool and remained in full view. There were a number of observers and Richard Ford has an image on his camera of the two together.

Happy New Year to you and Angie"

Thanks for the report Nigel. It does confirm what Ian thought.
A Happy New Year to you and your wife.

Mixed Bag

Report. R.Lane. 26th December 2010

"Greetings of the Season to one and all ! Congratulations to Andy on the Bittern and Bar-Headed Geese photo's this morning, what a Xmas present ! I can assure you I never saw either of them today. But at c.3.30pm my driver (!) stopped by Par Pool so that I could get a '2nd-hand' resume of the day's lesser avian fauna for a totally reliable source, one IAN PROFIT, still 'scoping the pool at dusk. All these records are HIS, and probably include more, that he, or I, forgot !
At Par Pool: at least 1 x Bittern (c.3.15pm), Ian now believes there are 2 x Bitterns present from his personal observation (and also has a Bittern tick from his house window !). Lesser items include sundry duck, notably c.50 Wigeon, 1 x Goldeneye (male), also Tufted Duck and possibly Pochard (?).(I.P.)
In Par Bay this morning, as well as the G.C.Grebe flock, were: 4 x Eider Duck, 2 x G.N.Diver and 1 x RED THROATED DIVER (I.P.).
At Spit beach (this p.m.apparently) were NINE x Purple Sandpipers and a selection of recent waders (but no Grey Plover seen). In the Harbour were a few waders including 1 x Sanderling, and also the male Scaup was still present (I.P.). There may have been more mentioned which I forget. Whatever, Ian had a good Boxing Day, as did Andy! The variety of birds around Par on this one day was bigger than the six months of summer altogether!"

Thanks to Roger and of course Ian.
The cold spell has certainly livened up the Baywatch Sites.
I hope the bird figures continue into the new year.....not the cold spell though.

Bittern and Bar-Headed Geese.

Report and Photographs Andrew Carey. Christmas Day 2010

Hello Trevor, I trust you and Angie had a lovely Christmas Day and that you are well and truly sozzled by now. However, in the interests of those who were on parade this morning (lots of lovely sunshine, too much ice) down at Par Beach Pool, I thought I'd let you know that between 10 and 11.30am there were 4 bar headed geese (this summers brood I suspect, looked like first winter birds to me.) and that the bittern showed really well from just before 11am until about 11.30, when it did a big lap and dropped down into the reed bed far right.

It came to front of the island about 10.50, then disappeared until just before 11.00 when if flopped into the reed bed at the back (north side of the pool) where it stayed relatively still for about 15 minutes, when it eventually travelled to the left, and came out on the ice, giving some cracking views.

I attach 3 bittern pics, and a pic of the 4 bar headed geese. Merry xmas one and all!!

Great shots of the Bittern Andrew.

The Bar-headed Geese photograph must be a pictorial record for PBP at least.

A lovely bunch of stocking fillers.....well done.

Christmas

The St Austell Baywatch Blog would like to wish all readers old and new a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Thank you all for your support.

Christmas Robin

Took this photo this morning very apt for Christmas i thought so also i would like to say happy Christmas to you all andy cross

Photograph Andy Cross.

Nice topical photograph Andy.

Hope you also have a happy Christmas .

Calling the Experts

Report and Photograph. M. Whittaker. 22nd December 2010

Manoa Valley (am)

Goldcrest (20+), Flock of (20+) Goldfinch, Grey Wagtail (1), 2 flocks of (12+) Long Tailed Tits, 30+ Redwing over, 4 Fieldfare over, Male Bullfinch (1) and a very pretty Firecrest who was feeding by the metal gate at the end of the lane as you drive in and park on the left.

Spit Beach

In the harbour : Bar Tailed Godwit (4), Ringed Plover (8), Dunlin (34), Redshank (3), Little Grebe (3) and after sending my photo to a few people it would appear the reported "Scaup" in the harbour is indeed a scaup although i'm just waiting to hear back from Roger. Will send you the picture and see what other people think.

Off the beach :

3 Eider (2 female and immature male)

Par Beach Pool

Wigeon (18), Teal (39), Male Shoveler (1) and also reported male Goldeneye on the river. Cant remember the chaps name. The Bittern made a appearance again this afternoon at 3:40pm. Just packed the camera up and ready to go home then from the right out it came right across the pool before dropping down in behind the trees just behind the caravans just to the right. Went round for a look but no sign.

A very impressive list Mark. The only notable absentee is the Dipper at Manoa Valley. Did you try for it?

Canon Equipment

Equipment used Andrew Carey

In response to the request for information, I use Canon kit, as follows:

Canon 1D mk111 body

Lenses:
Canon 600 F4L
Canon 300 F2.8L
Canon 100-400 F4-F5.6L
Canon 24-70 F2.8L
Canon 16.24 F2.8L
Canon 1.4 and 2x extenders
Sigma 105 F2.8 macro

Canon 580EX Flash

Gitzo 1548 mk2 Tripod
Wimberely Mk1 head

That is a very impressive list Andrew. Any chance of a swap...Nikon plus my Alfa Romeo LOL.