Fox Hunt ?

A Fox in excellent condition looks like its on the hunt as it slowly works its way along a river bank.

It picks up the scent of something a bit interesting and moves on with a bit more purpose.

The fox sneaks up on a relaxed Cormorant that is facing away from him and is probably expecting it to fly.

But the Cormorant is going nowhere and looks a little annoyed at the disturbance !

The Fox is taken back by the Cormorants bold stance and decides to go for that " I was just passing and I'm a bit tired anyway " routine as shown below.

The fox then sloped away looking for an easier target while leaving the Cormorant totally unimpressed !!

Carnsew Basin early AM

I called in at Carnsew Basin on the Hayle Estuary early AM today looking for sightings of the current Osprey that is on a fishing stop over for a few days before migrating onwards towards west Africa

Carnsew basin was perfectly calm and showing lovely reflections from shore side properties and its prominent church with a late moon setting behind it,  I thought the weird shot above just showing the moon set over the church reflections was interesting.

First up on the wildlife was a fishing Cormorant with an interesting split reflection caused by its own body movement. A distant Kingfisher was followed by a large flock of noisy Canada geese moving out of the estuary and a large volume of ducks moving in.

I finished off with a very bold Rock Pipit that was foraging in the tidal rock banks in front of me for over thirty minutes and what about the Osprey I hear you say !  Well it did finally show and passed by at a rate of knots with five crows snapping at its tail feathers but I will be back again later today to try my luck once more.

I spent a lot of time while waiting for the Osprey working on Cormorant behavior and reflections which will be shown in my next blog !

Cudden Point in B&W

Walked down to our local Cudden Point pm yesterday but the skies clouded over making it all look rather sombre so with the lack of colour I decided to go for a few B&W shots posted below.

A very relaxed local fisherman with his mind set on a large Bass passed by without so much as a turn of the head.

A Kestrel stopped to hover in the light breeze and a young Grey Seal surfaced to take some air

Four Cormorants eventually reduced down to one as I passed along to the point.

I walked home through the local farmers fields which produced no more than a couple of young bunnies which didn't work well in B&W !

Carn Le's Boel Point yesterday

 I spent a bright sunny windless day walking and watching the wildlife on the beautiful rugged south Cornish coast near Pendower Caves and on around Carn Le's Boel headland into Nanjizal bay.

Below is one of my first sightings  a fine if noisy pair of juvenile Raven that were enjoying the freedom of new experiences out of their nest.

Kestrel and Peregrine were not showing well but I did capture one close kestrel hover posted above

Small coastal rocks and islands provided a drying and resting resting area for dozens of Cormorant both young and old.

Off the point at Carn Le's Boel six young Grey Seals were playing tag with each other and a small group of three passing Kayaks which I will cover in my next blog.

As I made my way back to Porthgwarra from the stunning coastline of Nanjizal bay I was treated to a quick drop in to forage among rough grassland by a raucous and happy group of four Cornish Chough which stayed just long enough for a few portraits.

It is nice to see that due to the success of the Cornish Chough breeding programmes that the last couple of generations no longer require the fitting of four colour leg rings which tended to spoil their '  Wild Look  '

Cudden Point

A jet fighter Plane out on exercises from the nearby RNAS Coldrose is the only thing that disturbed the peace as it flashed by Cudden Point as I arrived yesterday morning.

A large mature male Grey Seal took little notice as it continued to patrol along the shoreline on three occasions exploring all the nooks and crannies on the lookout for female grey seals.

Several pairs of Rock Pipit were busy catching flies and insects among the colourful rocks and wild flowers 

 Cormorants Gulls and Oystercatchers also showed well on rocky outcrops and small islands

Hayle Estuary Wildlife

While waiting for many hours for the Osprey featured in the previous blog I spent much of my time snapping away on the variety of wildlife that passes through Hayle Estuary over time and decided to produce this additional blog of some of the images captured

Shell Duck.

Whimbrel.

Cormorant.

Little Egret.

Black-tailed Godwit

Grey Heron

Canada Goose

Walmsley visit

Peter Tonkin and I took a trip up to Walmsley Sanctuary yesterday morning looking to capitalise on the recent  ' Frog Fest '  event with an influx of dozens of Cattle Egret predating on the local frogs during their breeding season.

Our visit was perhaps a little too late with most of the Cattle egret now feeding in sheep grazing fields at the Chapel Amble end of the reserve but we stayed in the fine 4m high hide for the duration and eventually picked off a few stay birds that did pass our way.

We did get a few distant shots of a Cattle Egret devouring what must have been one of the last luckless frogs to finish our day but we will look to visit at an earlier opportunity in oncoming years should this event be repeated.

                             

So we finally got a bit of a shot of the Cattle Egret predating on frogs but on this occasion I believe that the Cormorant below created our best photo opportunity of the day as it displayed its pristine plumage in a few classic wing drying poses

Perhaps Walmesley was a long way to go for a Cormorant Shot but the we had really enjoyed our visit to this excellent hide and our thanks go to Adrian Langdon for arranging our access and showing us around.