Cornwall birdrace January 2026

 

Lesser Yellowlegs

This was the first Naturetrek Great British Bird Race, with tours taking place across eight counties in Britain. Our Cornwall group was based at the Marazion Hotel in Marazion, near Penzance — a charming traditional hotel with excellent rooms, a welcoming lounge, and first-class food.

The winter weather in Cornwall was challenging, with recent storms bringing heavy rain, flooding, and strong winds. Despite this, the group embraced the competitive spirit of the Bird Race, enjoying spectacular coastal, estuarine, and woodland habitats. Highlights included North American Lesser Scaup, Lesser Yellowlegs, Avocet, Spoonbill, Ring-necked Duck, Bonaparte’s Gull, and excellent sightings of seals and other wildlife. By the end of the tour, the group recorded a total of 94 species.

We had been allotted 48 hours to see how many bird species we could see, from 2pm on the Wednesday until 2pm on the Friday. It was a fun event although we all got immersed in the competition despite knowing we would be competing with the county of Norfolk, with its many reserves!

Here are a few of the sights and species we saw on our travels around Cornwall......

 St.Michael's Mount Marazion. 

Black-tailed Godwit

Greenshank

Redshank 

Gwithian

Godrevy island and lighthouse 

Ring-necked Duck (female)

Lesser Scaup (female)

Lesser Scaup (drake)

Bonaparte's Gull

Bonaparte's Gull

Team Cornwall 

Team Cornwall at Walmsley

 

 

 

Early birds at Godrevy

Cornish Chough

We had an early start to photograph birds and landscapes at Godrevy near Hayle this morning.

After watching the sunrise and illuminating the lighthouse we spotted a lone chough feeding on the clifftop. I note also that it hasn't been ringed.

I was delighted to get some shots of this the emblem of Cornwall!

Cornish Chough

Cornish Chough

Next came a couple of kestrels that were feeding on worms on the soft clifftop, they were most accommodating and allowed quite close shooting.

Male Kestrel

Kestrel

Kestrel

Kestrel

Kestrel

 Finally after some poor shots of ravens I got a nice few of a skylark feeding on the vegetation inland from the cliff edge.

Skylark

Godrevy lighthouse at dawn.