Peregrine Behaviour

While on an early AM visit to cliffs along the south coast of Cornwall where I had been watching the progress of this years fledgling Peregrine,  The adult female Peregrine returned to the cliffs just as they were exposed to the rising sun,

Several months ago I watched for my first time as a buzzard in this area spread its wings on a sun soaked rock ledge presumably to warm up in the morning sunshine and this is exactly what the Peregrine did on this occasion.

The Peregrine spread its wings and flattened its body down on to dead soft grasses that had died on the ledge due to the current drought conditions,

To an untrained eye this would probably look like a peregrine on a nest but this female is already well clear of raising her fledglings for this year and they do not use any nesting material anyway.

She stayed in this wing spread stance for upwards of thirty minutes before regaining her feet and flying off a few minutes later presumably now all warmed up to start her day.

A recent visit to Stithians Reservoir

Peter Tonkin and I revisited Stithians Stuart Hutchings and  Southern cut-off hide last week to check if the Great Spotted Woodpecker fledglings were still working the area,  We only saw one bird but it looked to be doing very well and it was interesting to note that its juvenile red cap was beginning to fade out.

Water levels were expectantly low and all vegetation around the hide high but we enjoyed our visit while snapping away at the images posted below.

This juvenile Grey Heron appeared to be displaying but we could not see any other Heron in the area.

We were seasonally surprised to note several Lapwing working the margins

There were around a dozen mature Cormorants occupying all of the large rocks around the water margins of the main reservoir.

And five or six juvenile Grey Heron resting up between bouts of fishing the margins

Back on the cut-off the displaying Grey Heron eventually took to fishing the margins amid masses of flowering water plants before flying off to join the heron on the main reservoir

Confident Grey Heron

Back on the 14th July in a blog relating to Peregrine prey hand-overs I showed the above image of a somewhat reckless juvenile Peregrine swooping down on a passing Grey heron which screeched and changed direction.

Far from being fazed by the experience the Heron dropped down onto the very rocks that the local south coast family of Peregrine regularly use as a look out point to hunt their prey.

Following an initial look around the bird went into a long slow process where it appeared to be resetting its powerful beak which I have often seen after a heron has made a strike but missed its victim which on this occasion might have been the cheeky young Peregrine had it not backed off.

The bird was then quite relaxed and started to preen its feathers and accepted me gradually moving ever closer on an open clifftop which afforded me no cover,  I then took a few preening shots before backing off and leaving this very confident bird to carry on with its preening

Millpool Butterflies

The portfolio of colourful butterflies below have all been taken in the habitat surrounding the Millpool within the last couple of weeks.

THe magnificent Peacock butterfly is just one that is highly attracted to the visual colour and scent of the buddleia trees flowers in the area,

Heat seeking Red admiral are abundant and always on the lookout for good sun spots to bask from while turning their backs to wards the sun.

Painted Lady are also keen to soak up the warmth of the sun and seem to like open stoney ground to bask in

 Perhaps not so common at this location are the smaller but striking colours and wing pattern of the wall brown.

Another portrait image of the Peacock butterfly,  this time sunbathing on stoney ground

The local Buddleia trees are also popular with the Small Tortoiseshell butterfly with their gorgeous  orange,black and yellow wings with mosiac blue effect completing the detail.

The distinctive shape of the Comma's wing shape make it an east one to identify but this was the only one seen at this location

Millpool Wildlife

ON LAND

A chilled out fox cub relaxing in the middle of the lane access to the Millpool and below a fine young buck Roe Deer feeds on grasses as it works its way through local fields looking for female deer.

A resident male Pheasant patrolling his patch in the field adjacent to the pool,

ON AND IN THE WATER

A Water Lilly reflects nicely on the still surface water off the pool.

A two foot long 15 lb + wild common carp cruises between the wed beds with its dorsal fin projecting though the surface water.

An adult Moorhen finds a floating dog biscuit on the surface that has come off our hook when used as bait for Silver fish and Perch bait.

A Female Emperor Dragonfly lays her eggs on surface floating pond weed

AND IN THE AIR.

The male Emperor that the above female has just mated with lands to take a rare break from seeking out females and fighting off rival males,

A pair of mating Broad bodied Chasers hang in the air from a dried reed stem to complete their mating cycle.

A pair of Narrow -winged Damselflies hooked up and mating in the morning sunlight.

And finally a female Broad-winged Damselfly also known as a damoiselle takes a break on a fresh green Hazel leaf.

Millpool Retreat

The image above shows the peaceful setting of an early sunrise over a misty Millpool,  Peter Tonkin and I use this location as a summer holiday retreat to avoid the volume of tourists that descend on Cornwall during this period and the level of my wildlife blogs is curtailed for a while but my next blog demonstrates some of the wildlife that the Millpool has to offer while we are waiting for a good bite.

The fishing so far this summer has come up with some fine Roach to just over a pound,  A couple of 3lb + eels,  Several perch to just over two pounds and Peter presents one of his fine Golden Rudd of which we have both caught many fine specimen to just under two pounds.

All fish caught on barb-less hooks were safely returned to the water

Peregrine aerial prey hand-over

The aerial Prey hand-over images above are of a female adult Peregrine testing the flight skill of this years eight week old fledgling with amazing acrobatic and noisy displays before finally handing over a partially consumed kill to the excited youngster that is on a steep learning curve to become self-sufficient before the leaner winter months arrive.

This young birds skill learning is quite remarkable,  It is already showing hovers, glides, stoops and agile landing skills,  can carry a jackdaw prey over long distances and has been seen attacking Sparrowhawks, Buzzards, large Gulls and even a flock of six Heron on the wing, 

 Images of some of these activities are posted below.