Common or European Starlings

I spent this morning trawling the runways and old broken down buildings of Davidstow airfield in an unsuccessful attempt to find rare waders and an elusive Rose-coloured Starling.

What I did find were a few common starlings but in the beautiful sunlight they looked anything but common!
Stunning glossy colours and super spotty plumage.

They were feeding on leatherjackets and doing it quite well so the predicted influx of craneflies should benefit them if it ever happens!

Catching a leatherjacket

Juvenile starling

Waders at Davidstow this afternoon 14th September 2016

American Golden Plover

Managed to catch up with the American Golden Plover this afternoon and good to see it with our regular Eurasian Golden Plover for comparison.

Also several Curlew Sandpipers, a Ruff, Dunlin & Ringed Plover.

Unfortunately couldn't find the Buff-breasted Sandpiper !

Popular place for birdwatchers today!

American Golden Plover with Eurasian Golden Plover and Curlew Sandpiper

Ruff

Ruff

Curlew Sandpiper

Juvenile Ringed Plover

Dunlin

Cornwall Wildlife Trust Photo Group field trip to Breney Common reserve 4th September 2016.

Common frog

 

 

An overcast day with a few bright intervals gave us ideal lighting for a variety of subjects today at the Cornwall Wildlife Trust reserve at Breney Common near Bodmin.

Common Blue Damselfly

 

Bee in Bindweed flower

Fungi on a fungi

Boletus

Boletus

Common Darter

Common Darter

Orb Spider spp.

Bee fly?

Emerald Damselflies in cop.

Black Darters (S.danae) at Breney Common reserve 23rd Aug 2016.

Male black darters in good numbers this afternoon at the Cornwall Wildlife Trust reserve at Breney Common near Helman Tor, Bodmin.

Kingfisher fledging time River Camel, Cornwall 29th July 2016

A new fledgling from today (left) is attacked by an older fledgling from a previous brood

Well the kingfishers that I'd been watching successfully fledged 4 youngsters this morning and it was great to see them flitting around the riverbank often struggling to land on branches and roots.

They lack the colour of their parents but that will come in a few days.

Almost immediately there was aggression from 2 birds that I thought were their parents but now I can see that they are also juveniles but from an earlier brood, maybe 2 months old.

It's possible to age them from the colour of their feet, the newly fledged ones have brown feet, the ones from the first brood only show the brown on the top of their feet and the adults have bright orange feet.

An aggressive posture from a fist brood male.

Adult male brings a fish for a new fledgling.

Just hours out of the nest these 2 lack the colour of the adults.

A whole new world to explore.

Kingfishers, River Camel, Cornwall 26th July 2016.

That's what you call a meal for a hungry youngster!

Huge fish being taken to the nest by the male kingfisher.

He got so slimy and messy that he dunked into the water to clean himself no less than 22 times!

This is a second brood so I'm hoping that their population will expand this summer as , keeping fingers crossed, no floods yet this summer!


Here's the short piece of video I took of him bathing after taking that huge fish to the nest.....

38 ft Sperm whale dies on Cornish beach 11.7.16

This sad sight is the sperm whale after the experts have taken their samples in order to ascertain why this amazing animal beached here at Perranporth in Cornwall.

It was still alive when it beached 2 days ago but being out of the water made it virtually impossible to survive as the weight of its body was no longer supported by the water.

I've tried to be as sensitive as I can with the photos and am still in awe of this huge mammal but can also see why people are still flocking to catch a glimpse of such a rare event.