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.

Avocets in the Camel estuary. Sunday 8th Jan 2023.

 

So pleased to see these 2 Avocets this afternoon at Pinkson Creek on the Camel estuary.

My thanks to Rowan for calling me with the "heads-up".

I've not seen an Avocet on the estuary since March 2018 when one was at Treraven marshes.

They rarely turn up west of the River Tamar so maybe these are just sussing the place out before bringing the whole flock next winter!

To see 2 together and then be privileged to a very close 'walk by' made it super special.

Here are a few images from my trusty Nikon.....

Kingfishers on the River Camel. 10th May 2022

 

Male tussles with a large salmonid.

Both parents were very busy this morning carrying food to the nest burrow. 

I'm guessing the young should be about 17 days old now and it's evident that the size of the fish being carried bears that out.

Prey was bullheads and salmonids with no sign of lamprey on the menu today.

They frequently stopped to wash & preen with both birds taking time out to ensure their flight feathers were in perfect condition.

Dippers whizzed past all the time I was in my hide as I think the young have recently fledged. Also a female grey wagtail used the "kingfisher stick" a few times to call.

The female has a broken tip to her lower mandible...beak... so is easily recognisable but I was a bit taken aback after she turned up from upstream with earth on her beak. This is usually a sign of nest burrowing so I'm not sure of her intentions as she's not fledged the current brood yet. Seems a bit soon to be starting a nest for her 2nd brood but who knows!

All photographs taken under my Natural England Schedule 1 licence.

Male cleaning his feet

Male preening

Male preening

Female with a salmonid

Female fishing...note damaged lower mandible

The pair

Male with large salmonid

Female preening

Female with earth on her beak

Gadwall courtship. Walmsley sanctuary 26.3.22.

 Sometimes the courtship display and free for all in the duck world can be a dramatic affair which does appear to be very unpleasant for the females.

Here 5 drakes vied for the attention of the duck and there was a lot of jostling for position and bullying of the female. I'm sure the avian equivalent of rape is widespread amongst wildfowl.

I once watched over a dozen drake mallard kill the female in a continued onslaught just to mate with her. 

Gadwall have successfully bred at Walmsley sanctuary since 2012 when this was a first breeding record for the County. They've bred every year since.

They are usually very late breeders and don't normally hatch till late June although everything seems early this year so it may be sooner.

The female is the bird with the orange sides to her bill, there is only the one female in these photos and up to 5 drakes.

Here are a few more images of the amorous adventures of Gadwall.

More Otter pics from the Amble marshes, Wadebridge, Cornwall 7.3.22

Otter having a clean and roll in the grass

 

 

This otter has been around our reserve, Walmsley sanctuary near Wadebridge since November and has been uncharacteristic in its habits, showing openly at all times of the day whether in sunshine or the darkest of gloom.

Many visitors to the reserve have had their first ever sighting of a truly wild otter and it has been so good to see peoples faces when they've watched it swirling in the water and diving deep only to be betrayed by the line of bubbles with which we've been able to track its progress.

It's not always easy to see which makes it even more exciting when we do catch sight of it and because of its high metabolism it does seem to be always eating. I've watched it with sticklebacks, with newts and also with what I think is a large Rudd.

 

One of the largest fish I've seen in the reserve, possibly a Rudd.

In the 25 years I've been warden of this site I've never come across such a "showy" animal and feel privileged to watch and photograph it at such close quarters.

Here are a few more photos from the past few days.

Glossy Ibis at Walmsley & the Amble marshes. Jan 2022.

 

We've had a single Glossy Ibis at Walmsley reserve since September 2021, it was joined by a second bird into October and since then they've stayed in the area venturing out onto the Camel estuary on occasions and into various creeks and adjoining farmland. 

Fast forward to the 22nd December and a flock of 11 turned up at roosting time, to be more precise at 4:36 pm. 

They turned up for 3 consecutive days at that exact time again. 

The numbers then started to rise, one day there were 16 and now on 13th January there are 18 birds.

This beat our previous record of 14 in July 2017.

They have been difficult to photograph as they've been arriving at dusk and leaving at dawn with very few people seeing them during the daytime.

I know they've been seen on a local farmers substantial dung heap and can be seen circling the reserve at times with a group of cattle egrets.

However today I found them on the marshes happily feeding in semi flooded pasture.

All 18 were there but I couldn't get them all in the same photos so you'll need to take my word for that.

Here are some pics from a sunny day on the Amble marshes... a rarity in itself!