A session of sea-watching from Cape Cornwall brought me several great skuas and further out to sea an unidentifiable large shearwater. Earlier in the day, I added turnstone to my trip list in St Ives.
Early in the morning of the 28th, I headed to the nearby Kenidjack Valley in search of rare migrants. Unfortunately we missed anything especially rare, but did see chiffchaff, willow warbler, blackcap, sedge warbler and whitethroat, as well as grey wagtail and buzzard. The highlight, however was a wonderful pair of sparrowhawks getting mobbed by carrion crows and magpies. Down by the sea were several oystercatchers and a remarkable 17 grey seals.
A little later on, we wandered down the coast path past Cot Valley. Along the way, we passed dozens of kestrels, stonechats, whitethroats and linnets. There were also several ravens. While having a picnic on a cliff top, I found my first two basking sharks ever, both heading towards Sennen Cove, which was a truly magical sight. There remarkable size was evident even from a great distance. Incredibly, as we made our way back to Cape Cornwall, I saw my first Cornish choughs and at least four more basking sharks. A quite stunning walk!
No comments:
Post a Comment