Red-breasted Merganser

It was a cold frosty morning here on the south coast of Cornwall but the wind was light and off-shore which was idea to record the calm sea sunrise which is near to the closest it gets to St Michael's Mount throughout the year.

Several groups of Curlew flew in from coastal roosts to cross Marazion Marsh on route to their inland feeding grounds and the rabbits on the warren cuddled up for warmth on the frosty grass around their burrows

A noisy trio of crows searched the warren looking for something to start their day and their racket attracted more of their clan which flew in to join them.

The surprise of this mornings early shoot was a female Red-Breasted Merganser which is a bird that I have never seen at Marazion Marsh before.

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 !

The Round Rabbit

This cute little Round Rabbit and others gave me a good show on the north coast while I was waiting for Kestrel prey hand-overs yesterday.

This lively Dunnock seemed to have plenty to sing about near its nest site.

A male Linnett picked a high point on the gorse to proudly show off its mating colours

A female Peregrine with a new family to feed is out hunting for the likes of the above small birds

Our male Kestrel eventually recovers a stashed fledgling from a stone wall to hand-over to its mate but this time the exchange was completed out of sight in the nest area but there will be many more to capture in the ongoing Days !

High flying Buzzard and Rabbits

A high flying Buzzard descends over Marazion Marsh sending a few Little Egret and several ducks off in a bit of a panic.

The buzzard seemed to have its eye on a few young rabbits that were sunbathing on the warren but they had seen it all before and held their ground while keeping an eye on it.

The Buzzard landed close to the rabbits and proceeded to hop around on the cut grasses perhaps having seen a vole or some other potential prey.

Now when it comes to Grass hopping rabbits are specialist and a couple of them put on a display for the Buzzard to show it how it should be done

The buzzard was visually up set with all of this 'Extracting the Michael' and departed to look for a more easily impressible audience

New encounters with subjects from earlier blogs

I made another early morning visit to Marazion Marsh this morning looking out for a pair of Otter that were spotted again yesterday. 

No show today,  I will keep plugging on as usual until I encounter them but I was delighted to see that the dominant pair of Mute Swan were proudly showing off a fine clutch of seven goslings along the front of the marsh water line.

The rabbits had plenty of evidence of young bunnies chasing about but the adults decided to make a few more just to keep their numbers up.

It was also nice to see a flock of Sanderling with a few Ringed Plover that were busy working the surf line on the beach opposite before the morning beach walkers arrived,

Moving on along the coast I came across a noisy trio of newly fledged Ravens that were still being fed on the nest the last time that I saw them,  They were all now looking grown up and confident in their cliff top environment,

Moving on to to higher heath land I missed the best part of a Red Kite fly-bye but enjoyed working with a couple of skylark and Willow warbler and ended with yet another fine take-off shot by a male Cuckoo.

Grey Heron Take-off Reflections

Dark clouds formed a dramatic and somber looking sunrise over Marazion marsh early AM yesterday on what was otherwise a very still morning.

These conditions were a bit challenging on exposures and shutter speeds but they also helped to create the interesting set of take-off reflections from one of the resident Grey Heron posted below.

From its short flight the same bird also produced a very graceful landing for what can sometimes be a very lanky looking bird,

When I left the marsh heading off along the south coast the resident female Mute Swan was already busy turning her eggs and the warren rabbits were doing what rabbits do best !!   So all was looking well with Marazion marsh.