Christine's walking & birds blog

A weekend in Cornwall

We arrived early evening at the Old Quay House, Hayle. "First things first" we both said, as I set the scope up and Greger got the beers in.

The following day we drove across the county to the south coast, and walked west along the cliff path from Lizard Point. Greger did well to photograph a pair of wary choughs.

We wasted a lot of sympathy on the herring gull on the rock for having only one and a half legs - until Greger pointed out that he was merely holding his foot up! The buildings of Kynance Cove can be seen in the distance.

At Kynance we lunched on Cornish pasties at the beach cafe and then set off back. Swallows were everywhere, launching attacks every now and then on a party of inoffensive wheatears. This is another of Greger's shots.

Soon we were back in sight of Lizard Point and the lighthouse.

On the path ahead was a long fly clearly up to no good; I looked it up when I got home and learned that it was a sand wasp. She has paralysed the caterpillar and is dragging it back to her nest. She will lay her eggs on it, and the larvae will have fresh meat to feed on. Rather knocks on the head the idea of a benign creator.

This morning I woke at seven as the tide was coming in. The usual redshanks and oystercatchers were below Lelant Saltings station. Seven common sandpipers were on the river bank near the road. A flock of ringed plovers and dunlins zipped across the mudflats and three black-tailed godwits fed together far out. An unfamiliar call made me look up to see a whimbrel flying over.

Greger came out with a mug of coffee and pointed at a kingfisher flashing by just below us. As the swirling water crept over the mud and filled the creeks, the waders retreated to the south-west corner - which is difficult to see.

The best place to watch at this point is the car park; but after I'd done this the day before, a sign appeared there stating "This is not a bird-watching car park"! I wasn't sure if that was aimed at me, non-resident bird-watchers or everyone. When we stayed here before the manager was birder-friendly, but The Old Quay House has changed hands since then.

I was pretty sure I'd seen a curlew sandpiper and I thought I'd glimpsed a wood sandpiper. We booked out and loaded the car, and I risked setting up the scope in the corner of the car park. Greger took this picture of two wood sandpipers with the P90.

It was a great weekend with a fabulous cliff walk, some sunny weather, a nice meal at Alba in St. Ives and some good birding. But I doubt if we'll stay at the Old Quay House again.