Friday 27 October 2017

Devon + Cornwall - 6.10.17

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Its that time of year again when you hope for rare birds turning up and so Myself, Brendon Fagan and Ricky Flesher headed down to the SW for our holiday to Scilly but not before a day trying to see what these 2 counties have to offer!

A 4am start saw us head firstly to Labrador Bay RSPB where quite quickly we had up to 6 Cirl Buntings in the hedgerows and fields.

Our next stop was Davidstow Airfield where for the 3rd year running we were hoping to connect with an American wader. Early signs weren't good with no news on the pagers. As we entered the area I finally picked up my first Wheatear of 2017! The next thing we saw was that 20th century Fox were filming their next blockbuster on the site! Apparently its called The boy who would be king. There were only 3 other birders present and thankfully they had found the bird in question and waved us over. We pulled up and almost ran over 3 tame Dunlin but on the edge of the grass with a few Ringed Plover was the juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper. It showed very well allowing some photos to be taken. Just along one of the tracks is Crowdy Reservoir so we popped in and had a walk along the north shore hoping to find the Spotted Sandpiper that had been present but it had gone.

From here we then went to Marazion where a quick glance over the water found us the Cattle Egret sat next to two swans.

Porthgwarra was our penultimate stop but it failed to produce the hoped for Yellow-browed Warbler but I did pick up a single Balearic Shearwater offshore.

As the light was fading we headed for a look over the Hayle estuary. 14 Little Egret, a single Ruff and a winter plumaged Black-necked Grebe were the notable highlights.

Scilly here we come!

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