Sand Martins nesting in the raised beach of the Camel estuary. 29th June 2023.

 

Our Cornwall Wildlife Trust Photographic Group spent a pleasant few hours on the north shore of the Camel estuary today. One of our target species for the day were Sand Martins and we caught them just in time as the young are at the fledging stage with many juvenile birds on the wing.

Fortunately they were back and forth the nest holes as it seems to be the most reliable tactic to ensure getting fed by the parents!

It's still early in the year so it's likely these birds will have a second brood in a few weeks time before they finally fatten up in order to be fully fit for the long journey of migration south into Africa for the winter.

A week of birds... 26th May - 1st June 2023

 

Dartford Warbler

What a week it's been with trips to Devon & Somerset mixed in with lots of outings on my local patch.

Most of the birds are well into their breeding time with several already having fledged their young and thinking about starting 2nd broods.

I'm just going to post a lot of photos, all from this week but I won't name any locations as I don't wish to draw attention to those sensitive places. Those of you that are in the loop will already know and hopefully be sensitive to the welfare of these amazing creatures.

Here are a selection of this weeks photos... Enjoy and please comment if you like them!

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Hobby

 

Nightjar

 

Cuckoo

 

 

Mute Swan with 6 cygnets

 

Male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Male Pied Flycatcher

Female Pied Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Male Linnet

Marsh Harrier

Canada Goose pair with goslings

Greylag Goose with gosling, sole suvivor of a clutch of 4.

Barn Owl adult ringed during nestbox survey.

 

 

Barn Owl with young in nest box

Wild White Stork in Somerset

Captive White Stork in Cornwall

Garden Warbler

Mute Swan cygnets

Dartford warbler

Nuthatch nesting in oak tree. 12th May 2023.

 I checked out this regular nesting site in a huge oak tree in the Camel valley and sure enough a pair of Nuthatches were actively feeding young.

I photographed this from quite a distance with a 500mm lens to avoid any chance of disturbance and the birds carried on their normal routine without flinching. I watched the same nest hole last year but this year the late evening light was much better and illuminated the tree nicely.

Nuthatches will partially block up natural holes or old & unused woodpecker holes with mud so that when it hardens it fits their body size perfectly. This then helps keep predators from stealing their eggs or eating their young.

A few more photos follow.....

A tight squeeze

White-tailed Eagle in Cornwall 18th April 2023

 

 

 

Heard that a White-tailed Eagle was back in Cornwall so popped out to take a look this afternoon.

Seems it's been around for a few days and is probably one of the released birds from the Isle of Wight project.

I'll enter the details on the Roy Dennis Foundation website later and they'll advise if it's one of theirs.

 I won't give out the location so please don't ask , if you know then you know!

All taken from about 600 metres away with a Nikon D500, 500mm lens plus a 1.4 converter, hence the poor quality image.....however good to watch it and it became my 150th bird of this year!

Purple Heron at Ruan Lanihorne, Cornwall. 9th April 2023.

 

An early start paid dividends this morning as I caught up with the adult Purple Heron down on the Fal at Ruan Lanihorne.

It was hunting in the reeds on the upstream side of the bridge before eventually flitting across the road out to the open water side.

Always difficult to pick out as it skulked around the marsh and the high hedgerow by the road made it even harder to find a hole to poke the lens through.

Good to see so many friends down there and sad to overlook the Black-winged Stilt that was also there but I'm a bit "stilted out" at present!

A few more pics to follow.....

Black-winged Stilts at Walmsley sanctuary, Wadebridge 8th April 2023.

 

Well who'd have thought we'd have a group of 6 Black-winged Stilts turn up at Walmsley this spring. Having raced off to Bude to see one on Tuesday it was a bit of a shock for 6 of them to turn up at our reserve, Walmsley sanctuary, on the Wednesday.

It's now Saturday and they're still there, feeding well and spreading across the site. Marsh Harrier is annoying them at times but I'm sure they will be used to these birds where they've come from.

A remote possibility they may try to breed but after last summer with 18 Glossy Ibis I've lost that hope factor! 

Here are a few images from the past few days.

 

4 of the 6 birds present