Around Par... St Andrews & Par Beach Pool

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I actually heard a Greenfinch today...!!!

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Muscovy Duck

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Robin

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Chiffchaff posing as a Reed Warbler!

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Chiffchaff posing as a Chiffchaff!

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Distant GS Woodpecker

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A few images from the last few weeks…

I’ve not been about for a while and this trend may continue for a while yet, but I took a little time out this evening to post something. I am trying to catch up with what everyone has been up to. I’ve missed so much!

A bit of this and that from the last few weeks:-

Swifts nesting in the roof above my bedroom. I have been trying to capture the male coming in to feed the female, who I can only assume is sitting eggs, but he's too quick for me, even though he stuggles to get in. Very difficult to take the shot with the bright sky in the background when all you have is a small face peering at you from the darkness. Any advice would be greatly appreciated to improve on quality!

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A Herring Gull with a problem, at Par... Fishing twine protruding from the head and I suspect that is attached to a hook, which must be lodged in the throat.
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Moorhen at Par (with six chicks altogether).

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Apologies for the length of this post, but it has been a while! I have not had much time to myself lately. My work and my friend, Molly have been taking up most of my time, which is good in a way, as I am unable to walk too far. Never take your mobility for granted! I have been concentrating on bird watching, rather than taking pictures, so I have very little to show in the way of images for the last few weeks...
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The Moon this morning (taken from my back doorstep)
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The evening Moon from my back doorstep
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A gathering at Manoa (St Austell Sewage Works)

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Collecting nesting material at Ninestones

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Bullfinch (M) in the garden

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Robins in the garden

In the garden again

Ninestones

Par

Garden

Garden

Par

Wild Flowers

My best friend... Up to no good!

Amusement for my best friend!

Taken at Siblyback

Having polished off yet another handful of Mealworms, along with it's mate, during which time it plucked about ten feathers from an innocent Great Tit who tried to grab a Mealworm from the dish (and let's face it, those little birds can't afford to lose feathers in this weather!) this Robin then bathed in the stream running along the back of my garden and then sat up on the favoured perch for a blow dry. I was dithering; the wind was so cold!
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Well, we have spent the whole weekend with Derek and I can honestly say I’ve had more Phalacrocorax aristotelis’ this weekend than I’ve had in the whole time I’ve been bird watching I think :-) We must have had over 200 of them! Well done Derek; you have worked hard! I had another three life ticks today; two of which were with Derek and are Black-Necked Grebe and Cirl Bunting and one, which we decided to look for on the way home at Dozmary Pool, namely the Lesser Scaup. The light was fading fast as we arrived at Dozmary, but I managed to find it quite quickly. I hope it stays around for another visit.

The day list was 72, which I am more than pleased with as my highest is 74 and if I had been able to add a few more wildfowl and a Coot or even the Firecrest and Goldcrest in the garden before I left home this morning, I could have set the record higher, but I mustn’t be greedy! We had great close up views of Loons, Grebes/Seabirds and the Cirl Bunting was a special moment. Also had a very good view of a Peregrine Falcon, which was posing on a ledge.

THANKS again Derek. I do feel I have learnt an awful lot this weekend. Time to do some work now!
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Cirl Bunting (Female)
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Peregrine Falcon
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Red-Breasted Merganser
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Great-Northern Diver
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Red-Breasted Merganser
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Robin...

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