I've been away from Bloggerland for well over two weeks now, primarily due to a visit to the Isles of Scilly. I returned on Tuesday afternoon (22nd), but was out for much of Wednesday at our daughter's house, where our granddaughter had beautifully prepared a party in honour of their cats' birthdays. On Thursday I was on Osprey duty at Rutland Water, so the first time my feet touched the ground was yesterday. I find that I took just over four thousand photos whilst away, so I've got a bit of work to do, sorting those out!
I came back from the Scillies, thinking that the birds might have deserted our garden during our absence. Nothing could be further from the truth! We returned to find that, extremely unusually, the most numerous bird in the garden was Siskin, followed by Redpoll! Numbers have steadily increased since our return and today the Redpoll firmly overtook the Siskin in numbers. Today we peaked in the early afternoon at 25 Redpoll and 13 Siskin - a truly amazing sight in a small garden, and those were just the ones we could count! This, of course, has added to the distractions which are conspiring to keep me away from photo processing and returning to Bloggerland.
To get the ball rolling again, I'm putting up a small post which covers the first day of the Scillies trip.
Our sailing for the Scillies required us to check in at the car park near Penzance by 07h45 on Monday 14th March. The sensible option was, therefore, to travel down on the Sunday and stay nearby. The Travelodge at Hayle suited our purposes admirably, and offered accommodation at a bargain price (£28.00 for the room!).
Lindsay, my wonderful wife, is passionate about coasts and so, having checked in, we set off for the nearest bit of coast, which happens to be at Gwithian - probably only 3 miles (5 km) away. As we approached the coast, I commented to Lindsay that this looked like Stonechat country - and about 5 seconds later we saw one!
We arrived at the car park, which was full of surfers getting ready to hit the waves, one of whom kindly tipped me off that the car park was free for the next two days. We then set off for the beach. The view as we approached was delightful.
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| Godrevy Light - from Gwithian |
At the bottom of the steps to the beach I was impressed by the wonderful colours and contours in the rocks.
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| Rock on Gwithian Beach |
Not being a beach lover myself, I left Lindsay sitting on a rock whilst I went to explore the sand dunes behind the beach, drawn by a map near the car park which showed inland water and a nature reserve. On the way I took a shot of a Stonechat.
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| Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) (female) - Gwithian |
I soon realised that the nature reserve was further away than originally envisaged, and that I'd be in trouble if I left Lindsay for that long - besides, it would be dark in less than an hour!
I did spot a distant bird wading in a shallow bit of water, which I'm relatively sure was a Rock Pipit, although this was not the sort of environment I've seen these in in the past. I did do slightly better, however, with a Skylark that I saw come in to land.
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| Skylark (Alauda arvensis) - Gwithian |
It was time to rejoin Lindsay, and head back to the car as the light was failing fast. I purposely chose a path through the dunes, and managed to connect with Stonechats again. Lindsay patiently sat on a dune whilst I took photos.
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| Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) (male) - Gwithian |
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| Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) (female) - Gwithian |
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| Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) (male) - Gwithian |
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| Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) (female) - Gwithian |
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| Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) (male) - Gwithian |
As we neared the car park, there were a few corvids around. I'm not used to seeing Rooks with dark bills, but by the shape of the bird's head and its bill, I think that this was what this bird was - an immature? Please tell me if I'm wrong!
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| Rook (Corvus frugilegus) (immature?) - Gwithian |
After this we went back to our hotel before heading over to dinner in the nearby Brewer's Fayre. It was then an early night for both of us.
Hopefully, I'll find time in the next day or two to visit the blogs of my friends in Bloggerland. Thank you for dropping by.
