Botallack Birds

Posted here are a few of today's bird portraits taken around Botallack

Male Stonechat

Female Heron Gull and chicks

Great Tit predating on Caterpillar

Black back Gull with chicks

Raven with chicks

Female Peregrine

Pair of Cornish Chough

Other North Coast sightings today

While waiting for prey hand-over and mating activities from the local Kestrel up on the north coast this morning  I spent my in-between time recording other passing local bird life.

These included pairs of White throats and Wren, several early morning Curlew,  A female Peregrine and a Buzzard that both passed by several times and four Cornish Chough two of which landed quite close.

With the above subjects and both mating and prey exchange shots of the local Kestrel in the can !       I finally dragged myself away from some very pleasant encounters

Trewavas Head Today

I returned to Trewavas Head this morning looking for a little more Kestrel interaction,  The male was looking for her around the area for the duration of the four hours that I spent there but the female seemed to be:  Absent without leave !

A pair of Chough put in an appearance from time to time and were at their closest on the top engine house chimney

A lone young bull Grey seal worked its way along the coastline looking for females among the rocky outcrops,

It was round up day for the Shetland ponies that were being moved to a new section of coastal headland by their keepers and there was a merry chase going on with the short legged ponies showing an impressive turn of speed when put under pressure,

The male kestrel like me was missing the interaction and mating sequences provided by the female so lets hope that she is back on show again tomorrow,

Trewavas head today

It was a cold bright day with a stiff offshore wind when I walked to Trewavas Head at lunchtime,  I was there to check up on possible early annual Adder sightings following a cold night but it was not to be,  I walk on to a favoured perch point for a pair of Peregrine but no show from them either.

A pair of noisy Raven landed while I was there and I think they were the same birds that disturbed the Peregrine last year when they  [the Raven] tried and failed to reconstruct an old raven nest on the cliffs here last year,

One of a pair of local Kestrel  [the Male] also arrived on the same cliff ledge briefly and treated me to a predictable take-off on leaving to create the merged image below,

A pair of chough were feeding amid the cliff vegetation below me for around thirty minutes or so and I can confirm from their leg ring formation that they are the same two birds that successfully raised fledglings in this area last year so it was good to see them feeding and looking very healthy,

At their nest site below a pair of Fulmar were still having trouble with another bird trying to muscle in on the action again the same as reported several days ago,  He does not seem to realise that

                                                           Three are a crowd !!

Peregrine v Chough & Kestrel

 On a sunday My wife Heather and I often take a walk along our local stretch of coast line,  We walk from Rosudgeon down through Chiverton farm and Trevean hamlet and come out onto the coast at Trevean Cove which has a memorable and ever changing view of St Micheil's Mount.

Heather takes a carrier bag for collection flotsam and jetsam from the shore,  She is working her way through a three year BA [HONS] Textile Design degree studying  Weave, Mixed Media & Print at Falmouth University and uses all sorts of weird finds in her current Mood board project on a theme titled  'The Sea', 

I take my camera and usually head for the clifftops backing the cove which is an excellent location for picking off images of larger birds hanging off of the up-draughts when the winds range from southeasterly through to westerly. 

The Sky's were very overcast today which tends to turn lots of skyward images into silhouettes but I ended up with some rather surprising shots anyway,  First up was a pair of Noisy Chough which could be heard before coming into view around an easterly headland.  The nearest known pair usually operate around Trewavas Head which is not that much farther around the coast to the east,

Fifteen minutes later I thought they were coming back in the opposite direction only to realise  [ Just in time to grab one chase shot that was in focus ]  that it was in fact a Peregrine in pursuit of one chough which escaped by the skin of its teeth,

I have never seen a Peregrine at this location before and I tracked it as it gained height to hang on the wind waiting for another opportune moment to attack another unsuspecting bird but the tables were turned when a female Kestrel well known to me as Kate came swooping in to side swipe the Peregrine at close quarters catching it off guard,  She came around again but the Peregrine and I were both ready and the kestrel pulled out at the last second which I think was a good call.

The Peregrine departed shortly afterwards in the direction of Perranuthnoe and was not seen again but Kate moved in low over the fields behind me moving up and down the field for thirty minutes until she finally caught a vole,  She providing me with a better set of images with the light coming from behind me which I will use to illustrate another Blog on the Kestrel some time tomorrow

                          She was a smart bird to see off the Peregrine before starting any hovering !!

Botallack Birds

I saw this fine Peregrine return to a stash at Botallack PM yesterday, It found some remnants of a previous kill stashed in a tuft of grass and as soon as it was visible I heard its mate calling from the rocks below me to be fed, I could tell that it was closer to me than the photographed bird but I could not locate it on the rock face,  Working my way back up the coastal path I was passed by a gaggle of very vocal Chough which are always a pleasure to see and hear,  Back at the mine engine houses at the top a fine Raven was perched on one of the gable ends crocking for its lost mate,  A very pleasant visit but it was now time to head for home to replace some Nikon downloading software that was behaving very badly.

Cornish All Sorts

It was a good day for walking the south coast with cold but light northeasterly winds being tempered by plenty of sunshine.  I had not just one but two pods of Bottlenose dolphins pass by heading east towards Porthleven  just one hundred yards from the shore with eight and six animals respectively in the pods, Later in the day the two pods had joined up and passed again heading west towards Perranouthnoe

My next encounter was a pair of Chough where the male was regularly feeding the female and later I watched their behaviour as they fussed and preened each other showing  a very good bond,  Lets hope they produce another fine clutch of fledglings again this year,

At the bottom of the cliffs a pair of Heron Gulls were mating amid the low tide cord weed which produced an good contrast to their bright plumage

This  lovely male Linnet was in fine tune and singing its heart out among the flowering Gorse bushes

This female Kestrel is not one that I am used to working with but as I took a few shots it swooped into a granite outcrop in an awkward position and had to work hard to correct its flight path on leaving but it came away with yet another common lizard prey in its beak

Cornish Chough

Walked the coast path between Botallack and Kenidjack on the 28th December and worked on a lovely pair of Chough at North Zawn then onto Nanven for what looked like another promising sunset behind The Brizons,

Ringed Chough calling its mate

This chough was brimming with voice and character

Sunset behind the Brizons