Ring Ouzels at Rosewall Hill, St Ives

There has been above average numbers of Ring Ouzels this Spring with some sizeable flocks being recorded.  There seems to be two obvious influxes with the first starting around the 8th and 9th April, where many singles and a flock of six occurred at Trinity Field, Sennen.  Nationally, 250 were recorded at this time.  The weekend of 24th and 25th April saw some good numbers passing through the county.  Viv Stratton counted a flock of 22 at Rosewall Hill, St Ives on the 24th and I counted at least 15 there on the Saturday.  The majority were females.  The image below was taken by myself on Saturday early morning.

Great White Egret at Marazion Marsh

Brad Dallas found this cracking Great White at Marazion Marsh on Saturday.  I've seen it a couple times now but its always distant feeding in the far channel out of site.  I managed this record shot yesterday evening in low light when it flew up to go to roost.  My mate Sam got lucky though and it was briefly in the front pools by the road!  His shots are the best I've seen. Oh well...

Hoopoe at Polgigga, Cornwall

I photographed this bird at St Levan cricket field, Polgigga yesterday.  On Saturday there were three together here.  The national movement of Hoopoe's started on Wednesday 8th April with seven birds, mainly in the South West.  This had increased to a minimum of 23 on the 9th and 32 on the 10th, with at least 11 in County Cork, nine in Scilly and at least five in Cornwall.  Others undoubtedly go unreported in private gardens.

 

Hoopoe at Porthgwarra 8th April

Mark Wallace found this Hoopoe near the stone wall yesterday at Porthgwarra.  I went down in the evening after work and connected with it much further over towards the far pond.  There was a decent amount of migration happening as well with 25 + Northern Wheatears, fem Ring Ouzel plus two more Ring Ouzels at nearby Polgigga.  A friend of mine also saw another Hoopoe yesterday at Mylor Creek.  

The images were all taken with Nikon D800e and 500mm F4 lens plus 1.4x TC.

Long-tailed Duck at Swanpool

This Long-tailed Duck has spent the whole winter at Swanpool.  I've seen it several times but its always been distant.  This morning in appalling conditions, I managed to get some better views though this bird seems destined to remain difficult!  The kit used was a Nikon D800e with 500mm F4.  The white spots in the background are not grain but drizzle caught in the high shutter speed.