STITHIANS RESERVOIR AND DAM - DRIFT RESERVOIR - MARIZION MARSH
WEATHER: wet, wet and more wet. Temp 16C very light wind.
It was raining when we got up, it was raining during breakfast, it was raining as we drove all the way to Stithians Reservoir and it rained for the first couple of hours whilst we were there. Despite all this wet, misty and dull weather we saw quite a few species and added a couple of goodies to our list.
From the Southern causeway at Stithians we found Common Sandpipers, Ringed Plovers, Common Snipe, Little Egret and lots of Canada Geese. We didn't stand in the rain for too long before we drove up to the Northern Causeway where a hide can be found. A road closure delayed our arrival and the rain had eased off by then.
Stithians Reservoir from the southern causeway
From the hide we logged a good selection of waders including our target species the Spotted Redshank, a bonus bird was the Great Egret, this latter species is an uncommon visitor to this part of Cornwall. We sat in the hide for an hour or so and logged: Lapwing, Dunlin, Common and Green Sandpipers, Ringed Plover, Snipe, Common and Spotted Redshank, Curlew, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Great Crested and Little Grebes and our first Shoveler of the trip. Other species included Northern Wheatear, Jay, Pied and Grey Wagtails, Stonechat, Eurasian Teal, Mallard and Cormorant.
Green Sandpiper
Common and Spotted Redshank, which one is the Spotted?
At the dam it had stopped raining altogether, we enjoyed some dry birding with views of Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Swallows and House Martins and Common Sandpipers, a much closer view of Northern Wheatear and we watched a Cormorant trying to swallow a huge Mirror Carp!
Spotted Redshank
Before visiting Drift Reservoir we dropped into Hayle to visit PHILPS' pastie shop, my god, they are the best Cornish pasties in the world!! We ate them over looking the dock area behind Asda supermarket.
the view from the hide at Drift, most of the birds were feeding in the distant far left
It remained dry throughout our visit to Drift Reservoir, a long walk along the well trodden footpath on the west shore led us to a hide where we sat for a little while. The hide was practically useless because it stood too high and too far away from the shoreline, the water level was much lower than normal. So we scoped the area from a position just in front of the hide. We found our two target birds after a short while, Guy picked out the female Garganey and I located the Wood Sandpiper, everyone got to see both species. We also saw more Lapwings, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, many Teal and Mallards and the gull roost was impressively large.
the Garganey and Lapwings - a very distant record shot
During the walk to and from the hide we listed a few more species seen in the bushes, Common Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Long-tailed Tit, Goldcrest and the usual Robin and Blackbird.
the gull roost at Drift
Our last port-of-call for the day was the Marsh at Marizion and the Longstone Pool near the Bridge. We searched the reed-fringes of the pool for a Water Rail because Debbie and Brenda had yet to see one on this trip. We found Kingfisher, Wigeon, Teal, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Grey Heron and Mallards but no Rails. In the main marsh we listed similar species with addition of Common Snipe and Little Egret, I got two Water Rails in the scope for Debbie but the birds were too quick for her.
a Jay - taken at Stithians
The bay and the beach at Marizion was quite crowded with walkers and dogs, the tide was very low but it was slowly creeping ashore. A nice bunch of Bar-tailed Godwits was joined by a single Knot, we saw our first Sanderlings perched on disdtant rocks, Oystercatchers did the same with many gulls Shags and Cormorants. Out in the bay we found quite a few Gannets sitting on the water and we picked out a small dark sea-duck. It was sleeping but it did raise its head and we confirmed its ID as a Common Scoter.
a second Garganet shot
It was now 5pm and everyone was quite tired, so we walked back to the bus and returned to the hotel. We took dinner at the Angarrack Inn once again, it was lovely.