Cornwall, land of Legend, Pasties, Cream Teas and most importantly Shearwater migration, is the destination for our holiday this year, unfortunately in my Gluten Free state I can't have Pasties or Cream Teas😂😢so gonna be concentrating on the Shearwaters!!! However, things are not looking good, when I planned and booked this break, it was in the belief mid-September was peak time for migration and I've watched the Birdguides in despair, sat at work through August, as thousands of Cory's and Great Shearwaters flooded through past Pendeen and Porthgwarra!!!😢 Would we be too late? Especially as in the week before we left there was very little movement and the weather forecast was for windless days!!!! Great Shearwater is a long overdue lifer so fingers are very much crossed at least one goes through at some point over the week ahead!!!
So we set off to our cottage based in Wendron, near Helston, Margie suggested we break the journey at Tintagel, getting the castles in early seemed to be a good idea, both my regular readers will remember she's obsessed with em, so thought it might get them out of her system, doing one on the journey down!!😂 (some hope😢) We had a clear run down and arrived just before noon, weather was good and we set off down the track , £32 quid lighter mind😏 it was vey warm but luckily the path was all downhill (anyone spotting the downside to this coming up later😂) so we soon arrived at what admittedly is a very impressive Castle along with the tourist hordes, it was very busy!! The track down was lined with trees and bushes and looked a very good migrant trap, but all was silent and still😢 We crossed the bridge and began to explore, Margie doing all the usual reading of the boards, learning the history, etc whilst I did a quick Seawatch off the cliffs, sadly just 2 Gannets went past, though the coastal scenery is magnificent!! A few pics below. (For these holiday posts any picture with an (M) next to it was taken by Margie all others by me!!)
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| Tree from the carpark, I quite like these trees, quite a few in Cornwall |
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| Pastoral scene again from the carpark |
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| The track down, lots of Red Admirals around the bushes, but a lack of birds |
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| Red Admiral |
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| Bridge across the stream (M) |
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| Straight into the history (M) |
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| View down to the visitor center (M) |
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| Towering ramparts, don't no why they always build these things at the top of steep hills, blooming inconvenient 😏😂😂😂😂😂 (M) |
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| Margie braving the heights |
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| View from the top |
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| View from the bottom! |
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| Caves and Cliffs (M) |
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| Bits of Castle, not much left, cowboy builders probably, not built to last, not like today😅(M) |
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| More bits of Castle (M) |
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| (M) |
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| (M) |
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| (M) |
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| (M) |
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| (M) |
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| (M) |
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| (M) |
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| Another old ruin looking out to Sea (M) |
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| (M) |
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| (M) |
Birdwise very quiet, the aforementioned Gannets, a few Gulls, a Kestrel gave me the run-around, Margie was delighted when I spotted the first Wheatear of the holiday!! Though it was sadly distant! The highlight though as we descend some wooden steps was a Peregrine that stooped down the cliffs at some Rock Doves (ok I know they are Feral Pigeons) very quick and I missed the shot!!😢 though the good news is it returned, hurrah😃!! But was against the sun, boo😢 Has to be said, and no offence to Sussex Peregrines but it's much more dramatic seeing them here than sat in a tree at Pulbourgh Brooks!! Although, come to think about it, the one attacking the Vulture at Beachy couple of years ago was on a par!! Pics were difficult but I done me best a few below!!!
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| Herring Gull |
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| Kestrel |
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| Miles away Gannet |
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| Miles away Wheatear |
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| Juvenile Peregrine |
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| Herring Gull |
We wandered around for a while, admiring the Castle and the Scenery, joking aside it is really very impressive!!
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| Always good to get a Shag on the first day!! 😂😇 |
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| This Guy's sword seemed to be stuck in the Rock so I pulled it out for him gave it a clean and put it back!😂 What's that you say "the rightful King" nah think of the impact it would have on me birding😁😁😁😁 (M) |
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| The rugged coast (M) |
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| (M) |
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| (M) |
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| Watching the Peregrine (M) |
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| Margie learning something else (M) |
We wandered down to the visitor center, there were a couple of Fulmars zooming around the cove, so I entertained myself with them, while Margie hit the center!
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| Fulmar |
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| Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon) |
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| Peregrine food! |
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| Fulmar |
It was very hot and we had to leave to continue our journey, it was then the problem hinted at became apparent, while we had skipped jauntily down the track we now had the reality of having to walk back up a very steep path in the blistering heat!! We made it eventually and on the plus side Margie taught me a few new swear words between gasping for breath!!!😀😱😲 Even more annoying we found out at the top we could've of paid £1.50 to get a Land Rover to drive us back!! Denied!!
It was an excellent wander around a very impressive castle even with the multitudes and the heat!!!
We resumed our journey, arriving at our destination a couple of hours later, it's a converted barn/cowshed type of thing on a working dairy farm, I know, it's gonna put my conquered but fully justified trepidation around the big beasts to the test, especially with four massive Bulls in the field right next door😱😱, more of a problem were their attendant flies which in the heat meant keeping the doors shut! (This problem eased with the cooling of weather and was pretty much the only downside of an otherwise first rate accommodation) The plus side meant that there were several wagtails in the area and a huge flock of Swallows around the farmyard!
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| I know kin massive right and look how flimsy that fence is😢 |
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| Impressive beast!! |
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| Swallows on the Silo |
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| House Sparrow, nice to see quite a large flock on the farm |
So we were fairly knackered from the journey and the saunter around Tintagel, so you might think we would rest for the rest of the day, however the Birdguides had a Citrine Wagtail on Marazion Beach, a lifer and just twenty minutes away!! My " we'll just pop over there and tick that, be 20 minutes at the most " comment was to come back to haunt me big time!!! We arrived in good time, I hadn't realised but the beach was adjacent to St Michaels Mount and even this late in the evening was quite busy, I also hadn't realised that the Wagtail was frequenting a strip of washed up seaweed about 10 meters wide and three quarter of a mile long and was in the company of approximately 200 other wagtails all constantly being flushed by dogs!!!!! Needless to say after two hours relentless searching we didn't find the bugger!!😢I will however be hallucinating Wagtails for many years to come!! On the plus side there were some gorgeous White Wagtails in the mix, indeed the most I've ever seen in one place, beating my previous record of a flock of 6 by at least 30!!! There were also great views to be had of Sanderlings, Dunlin and Turnstones in the Seaweed. I also had a mysterious bunting on the beach acting strange flitting about, took me about 20 mins to realise it was a lone female House Sparrow !!! Duh!! We also spent a little while at the adjacent Marazion Marsh looking for the reported Purple Heron, didn't see that either, the Birding Gods are not being kind so far!!
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| St Michael's Mount (M) |
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| Lovely evening on the beach (M) |
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| St Michael's Mount (M) |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| White Wagtail |
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| Turnstones, Sanderling and Dunlin |
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| Sanderling |
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| Dunlin |
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| Med Gull |
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| Rock Pipit, several in with the Wagtails and Waders |
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| The Cornish Flag, on the journey down we also saw a house with a Leeds United flag in front of it but Margie wouldn't let me stop and get a picture 😢 |
That was the first day done, very enjoyable, but we are now both exhausted!! We stopped for Gammon Egg and Chips at a local pub on the way back to base!! Then collapsed into bed, dreaming of Wagtails!!! Nightmare!!!😂😂😂😂😂
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