Big birds in the Sky

It was a windy day up on the moors again yesterday,  I took this shot above of the Longships Lighthouse taking a bit of a bashing:  Nothing unusual about that during winter months but this shot was taken from Chapel Carn Brea car park which is six miles from the light.

At the same time a 'big bird'  Skybus was dropping into Lands End Airport and it was that close that  I could see the pilot or perhaps a cockpit passenger taking selfies as it did so,  ( Zoom in on the cockpit )

Saw two early morning Short-eared Owls but both were being harrassed by the local crows and they went to ground to remain unseen for the next six hours

This fine male Kestrel provided some entertainment as it used the strong winds to make light of some early morning hunting over rough grass fields.

This large local Buzzard stole the show when from several hundred metres away it travelled slowly against the wind without a single wing beat to glide slowly and directly above my head at around ten metres and it never took its eyes off me until it eventually passed on over.   Wonderful !!

More on the PM Short-eared Owls later

Chapel Carn Brea

It was a fine sunny afternoon with little to no wind yesterday,  I took a trip up to Chapel Carn Brea in the company of Peter Tonkin looking for Birds of Prey,  It is very close to Lands End Airport and the first big bird we saw was the colourful twin engine Skybus featured below,

We soon had sight of a female Merlin that seemed to be going somewhere in a hurry, It was shortly followed by a more leisurely female Kestrel that hovered gracefully above us until it was rudely interrupted by a feisty Skylark that was determined to evict it,

I tracked the skylark back on to a hedgerow where it posed quite nicely showing off its identifiable crest and extended rear toes, Bored with posing it dropped into a very muddy and flooded tractor tyre track intent on taking a bath but Peter Tonkin surprisingly beat him to it throwing himself horizontally into the mud with great gusto,  By the time I managed to pull him out excluding his boots he resembled and smelt like an old duck pond!!  I Hadn't realised that he had a fetish for mud but I guess it is each to their own,  I kept upwind of him after that,

As the sun headed for the distant horizon over the sea I picked a grassy route along Cornish stone walls back to the car park trying to avoid any more mud slicks incidents with Peter and was presented with this nice Buzzard take-off sequence and a cheeky male Stonechat on the way,

The setting sun had turned the calm sea to a shimmering gold creating a lovely backdrop for a silhouetted image of the Longships Lighthouse which was around six kilometres away and looking far more peaceful than it did a week ago during Storm Brian.