Nightjars..."you ain't seen me right?" Cornwall July 2024

 Nightjars... What special birds! Masters of camouflage!

For many years I've enjoyed going out to watch & more often hear them in the forests & heathland of mid & north Cornwall.

Until now all of my photographs have been grab shots of them perched at the top of a tree or whizzing past my ear!

 

All that changed this year when I found my first bird at roost on the ground! 

With its eyes closed and just an occasional flicker showing it was still alive I watched it intently thinking 'does he know I'm here' or is he so confident in its ability to stay motionless and its camouflage that it thinks I can't see it.

Or is it genuinely asleep and doesn't know I'm near?

I've now watched a dozen in various places and always given them plenty of space and photographed them with a long 500mm lens, sometimes cropping in strongly on my computer. Often they are surrounded by dead timber and dry grasses so that they blend in perfectly. In fact I will often gaze for many minutes before I notice one lying along a log of the exact same cryptic colouration. 

These birds are not on nests but roosting probably after fledging young, often close to forestry & heath tracks & footpaths. I'm sure they get regularly disturbed by dogs as these areas are popular with dog walkers and I often see dogs rooting through the areas the nightjars inhabit.

I'm confident that I'm not disturbing them as I have found so many in regular areas, often on the same logs or branches.

So here is a selection of recent images....

 

I suspect this is a juvenile

Moorland butterflies in Cornwall May / June 2022.

Marsh Fritillary

The weather has been kind recently and I've managed to get out to 2 different sites on Bodmin Moor to photograph both Marsh and Small pearl-bordered Fritillaries.

It was great to find them on some classic wetland plants, especially on Bog-bean in full flower.

The Small pearl-bordered was on bluebells on a drier section of the moor.

Here are a selection of images from  my camera....

 

Small pearl-bordered Fritillary

 

Round leaved Sundew

Bog bean

Cotton grass

Marsh Fritillary

Marsh Fritillaries

Marsh Fritillaries

Cotton grass

Bog bean

Marsh Fritillary

 

A White tailed Eagle on Bodmin Moor. 26th Dec 2021.

White tailed Eagle at Colliford Lake, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall,

 

Eagles are majestic birds and seeing one does stir your senses, but to see one near home in Cornwall is very exciting.

I kept seeing and hearing reports of a white tailed eagle around the Bodmin moor area and had 2 fruitless trips up there looking for it.

On Boxing Day morning I got lucky. I'd parked the car at the top of the lane that runs down to the Loveny reserve and hide, knowing that it was now out of bounds to people after a couple of issues with cattle had been reported.

However this spot gave me the best views of the North arm of the reservoir which is surprisingly low on water despite all the rain we've had. I'm guessing this suits the eagle as there are many suitable dead stumps & snags for it to perch on and consume fish.

After a an hour and a half I spotted it flying towards me at a reasonable height and thinking it was going to pitch up on the ground in the corner of the reservoir I started taking a few photos.

It didn't land but circled once almost over my head before disappearing over the hill toward the forestry of Halvana Plantation.

My first sighting of one of these birds in Cornwall & indeed in the UK I think.

Local birders think this is one of the birds that have been released on the Isle of Wight in conjunction with the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation & Forestry England. As such I've logged the details on their website with photos and will await confirmation.

The bird does appear to have a metal ring on its right leg and also looks to have a GPS transmitter at the back of its neck.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

UPDATE from the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation....

Dear Adrian,

Many thanks for taking the time to send in your Eagle sighting. I can confirm that the bird that you have seen is a female with the leg ring

G405 she was released from the Isle of Wight in 2020 so is in her second calendar year (1 year old in human terms). The young Eagles are very nomadic you can find out more about her movements here:

https://www.roydennis.org/category/sea-eagle/isle-of-wight-sea-eagles/

All records are useful and will be added to our database.

Best wishes,

Zoe Smith

Associate Ornithologist

Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation

www.roydennis.org

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

White tailed Eagle at Colliford Lake, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall,

White tailed Eagle at Colliford Lake, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall,

 

My previous views have been in Norway, Poland, Hungary & a captive bird used for hunting by a falconer in the Czech Republic. 

Here are a few images from my archives.....

 

A wild White tailed Eagle, Norway.

 

 

A wild White tailed Eagle, Hungary.

A wild White tailed Eagle, Hungary.

 

A wild White tailed Eagle, Poland.

Falconry hunting White tailed Eagle, Czech Republic.

Falconry hunting White tailed Eagle, Czech Republic.

 

Falconry hunting White tailed Eagle, Czech Republic.

Falconry hunting White tailed Eagle, Czech Republic.

Falconry hunting White tailed Eagle, Czech Republic.

Bodmin Moor annual trek. 4th June 2021.

 

Our Cornish "mountains", Roughtor left and Brown Willy right.

We usually go up to the moors this time of the year to check if there are any Whinchats. Every year they seem to get scarcer and we only spotted one female although she did appear to be feeding young so that was promising.

Team Whinchat consisted of myself, Dave Conway, Derek Spooner & Dave Thomas.... a motley crew!

L to R: Dave Conway, myself, Derek Spooner & Dave Thomas.

The weather was superb although it did cloud over a bit in the late afternoon but it was very hard going especially in the Moor grass tussock areas. Aching all over this morning!

I had great views of a songthrush singing its heart out at the very top of a conifer when we first left the cars but surprisingly we didn't see or hear any mistle thrushes.

 

Songthrush

 

 Dave Thomas & I had ventured up here last year after a break in the pandemic lockdown and we'd seen lots of freshly emerged Green hairstreak butterflies....this time only 2 individuals. 

Many of the insects were missing with one distant dragonfly, a handful of large red damselflies and a few small heath butterflies. No fritilaries!

Green Hairstreak butterfly

We had great views of a Roe deer as it broke cover in the vally bottoms and bounded along through the wetland.

Roe deer

Just before lunch we spotted a single female Whinchat but that was our only one.

Not long after we spotted a Hobby circling over us as we ate. Always high in the sky it was nonetheless fantastic to watch.

 

Hobby

Hobby

 

 

Lunch was taken at a little tumbled down cottage in a beautiful part of the moor.

After another hours hiking we turned back to start the long stroll home.

Cuckoos had been calling all day but none came close enough to photograph & a kestrel made laps around us as we walked. 

The best pic I managed on the way back was this newly fledged Meadow Pipit which was still being fed by its parents on the wing.

Newly fledged Meadow Pipit 

 

Wheatears on Bodmin Moor. 2nd June 2021.

 

Female waits for the male to leave the nest

An early morning trip up onto the high moor to the East of Bodmin moor was fruitful today with 2 pairs of Wheatears nesting in the stone walls and a pair of Redstarts.

Fortunately I had my pop-up hide in the car so set that up at a distance from the wall and started taking pics with the 500mm lens.

The birds accepted the hide straight away and I was able to move a bit closer after an hour. It was only then that I noticed a large Highland cow with massive horns ambling my way! Fears of it having a scratch at my expense on the side of the hide were fortunately unfounded!

A few downpours of rain made me glad I brought the hide as the birds continued to feed all through the rain and I watched from the dry.

Fears of many birds struggling to find insects in the cold weather we'd had were forgotten as they brought back a continuous stream of flies, caterpillars & even a damselfly.

Here are a few images from the morning, I'm hoping to have a go at the Redstarts one evening as they were in full shade in the morning.

Female Wheatear

Male Wheatear

Male Wheatear

Male Wheatear

Male Wheatear

Male Wheatear

Female Wheatear with a damselfy