I so wish I had been closer to this Wren. I never get so much time to watch them as they normally flit away quickly, but this one even had a snooze. I suspect if I had moved closer though, it would have been gone in a flash!


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Common Darter
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Greenshank. On this same bird yesterday I auto contrasted and it was too bright so I have tried to tone it down a little today. Sometimes AC works well though.

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Starlings at Par Beach Pool at dusk this evening giving a stunning acrobatic display before going to roost in the reeds...
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A crankey post in more ways than one...

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I had to go up to Torpoint today as I didn't want to risk the post strike with society paperwork and it created the first window of opportunity to do a bit of bird watching for nearly two weeks! Most of it was done from the car as my hands are playing up again... I've waited so long for an appointment to see a consultant (who hopefully will tell me why this is happening and give me a miracle pill); they lost the referral and then last week I received TWO appointments! To add to that, I received another letter this morning stating that they are in the process of making me an appointment so I've decided not to respond to that one because I'm getting CRANKEY. To add to that even more, I was so looking forward to visiting Wacker Quay today and I was going to risk an out of the car session (hands wrapped up) with the scope, but as soon as I arrived I heard it; a gun shot. Two men over near the woods with shot guns and three dogs. There were birds flying in all directions and this upset me too much to stay. I may have done something regretful. Now I'm even more CRANKEY, so to go with my CRANKEY mood I've taken some CRANKEY pictures... They were mostly taken at a distance and are not good, but it cheered me up a bit. Oh, sorry for being CRANKEY Trevor - I don't know how you put up with me sometimes :-)
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A long road ahead, ...

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but I have my friend to guide me :-)
I do hope they survive the shooting season and their walk in the road!

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It was cold and windy and the last thing I expected to see was this fella sitting on a slate topped wall...
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Dunnock in my garden

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I've not been doing much; unable to get out and about due to lots of work and it has not been a good day today, but I'm still keeping my day list and having the odd session in the garden, even though I'm quiet and it's so dark out there even in the daytime! Catching up with the blogs tonight and decided to put these up for Holdingmoments Keith. "Hold onto those special moments in life"...

Robin in the garden...



Coal Tit in the garden...



I needed the flash for this one!... Don't think that Squirrel proof peanut feeder will last much longer!

A few more from last (long) weekend...
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I spent a lot of time watching the Spoonbill at Marazion yesterday, so I couldn’t resist putting more up. I wish I had a video camera. It’s so much more enjoyable in real life. It slept most of the time, but occasionally had a stretch and took the opportunity to preen in the sunshine. An adorable bird to watch and it’s much nicer when you have the time to enjoy them for a while. The injury by the eye seems to be healing well.


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Having slept for ages in the sun; Tired again...!

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We have spent the last two days down West. My day list yesterday was 55 and today it was 59. I saw the Choughs both days, feeding on dung, and I’ve fallen in love with them. We also saw the Spoonbill at Marazion today and I’m embarrassed to say how many pictures I took! It was adorable to watch. I must have spent an hour sprawled out on the wet bank waiting for movement. It just wanted to sleep most of the time, and on one leg! I was going to try and get some pictures of the Choughs today, but ended up looking for Yellow Browed Warbler and Booted Warbler with no success after what seemed like about an hour and a half! I admire those who are dedicated and stick it out until they find them. It’s thanks to them that we know these birds are around and sometimes have the pleasure of a glimpse of them. I tried Drift for some pictures of the Whooper Swan, but it was too far away and had to be scoped. Pity I never got the hang of digiscoping! John mentioned that there were four Spoonbills at Copperhouse so I asked Trevor if we could call in there on the way home, but were met with Oystercatchers, Redshanks, Greenshanks, Little Egrets, Gulls, Curlew and too many more to mention all in flight having just been flushed by a man with two dogs, without leads on and walking briskly straight across the middle of Copperhouse! Needless to say we did not see four Spoonbill!
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Marazion - Spoonbill
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Marazion - Pintail (if I've ID'd correctly, so feel free to let me know if I haven't!)
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Robin at Cot Valley for MA!

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Marazion - Red Admiral
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Fox - Nanquidno

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A visit to Torpoint was the requirement for today and an opportunity to have a look around. Unable to lift the camera without pain I decided to leave it in the car. The weather was awful in the morning; not being able to see for the sea mist at Rame Head, but it brightened up in the afternoon, just in time for Wacker Quay – tide out and the highlight of my day. Trevor was out of sorts today having had 2 injections yesterday that can have that effect. When we arrived at Wacker Quay he got out of the car; scanned with his bins and said “nothing here” and went back to the car to read in the warm. Hopefully he’ll be better tomorrow. I wasn’t giving up that easily so I scanned with my bins and out came the scope! My head count at Wacker Quay was 25 species! The real highlight for me was counting 6 Great Crested Grebe – I love them and I’ve never seen that many in one place. My head count for the day was 44. I took a couple of shots today to test the camera and it’s working well – miraculously!

Test shots…The bad quality is down to the poor light and poor photography skills I hope and not down to the encounter with a couple of rocks! There must have been 100 + Goldfinch in this flock, but I only managed to capture these few!


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Some from St Levan some time ago when we saw the Wryneck for the first time. I spotted this Chaffinch preening in the sunshine above me. I think it’s a juvenile.
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