Week 6 End Of Lockdown as we know it!

As things are now changing and from tomorrow we are allowed to exercise multiple times a day and drive to a destination I think it's a good time to finish the lockdown series. As I look back on events that unfolded I will always remember these last few weeks and the benefits wildlife gave me whilst feeling low and isolated it has always given me a lift! I hope you enjoyed the posts and we will be blogging as usual throughout the year about our birding and (hopefully) ringing experiences...

Seeing the first Swift of spring is always a magic moment! They are the true acrobats of the sky and an amazing long distance migrant that may not land for over 2 years!

The last week or so has been action packed for birds and birding with settled weather and favourable winds yielding plenty of surprises even for landlocked birders such as myself at the moment. A walk up to our favourite fields above the house presented me with the find of the Spring for me personally! A Blue-headed Wagtail which was sadly all too brief for a photograph as it came out of the same field that I found a Lapland Bunting on January 1st! The habitat in this one particular field is so unspoilt with rare wild flowers and grasses and a healthy population of Skylark and Yellowhammer it is an oasis for birds and a time warp to how things would've looked in the entire area 50 years ago (before intensive farming and early silage cutting). 

More Common Whitethroat have arrived in my local area this year having successfully completed their migration in the fine and settled weather, This showy male wasn't best pleased with our presence on his patch!

The high ground above my house is an important area for Skylark which breed in a large uncultivated field, sadly such habitat is very rare to find these days which is a major factor in their alarming decline (over 75% since 1970's)

As we were sat having dinner in the garden on Friday evening I happened to look up in the sky and noticed a group of Red Kite's soaring overhead! This was surely the start of the annual Red Kite influx to Cornwall and the next day huge numbers poured through the county with a record count of over 300 birds recorded from a garden in Marazion! I'm sure many of you reading this may have seen some of these graceful and eye-catching raptors from your own garden or on your local walk and if you haven't yet seen one do keep looking as they are still being reported throughout Cornwall (for a write up on the Red Kite influx it's worth reading this article by CBWPS: https://www.cbwps.org.uk/cbwpsword/sightings/)

Cornwall enjoyed a spectacular arrival of Red Kite with several hundred birds logged across the county! Note the primary moult in this bird ageing it as a  2nd calendar year. All birds I scrutinized were the same age and indicate that as usual they are probably all non breeding birds originating from the successful reintroduced population around the UK.

In a bright sky against the sun or high up in dull light Red Kite can look very dark meaning potential confusion with the much rarer Black Kite. Shape & structure are the best clues to it's identity with Red Kite showing a longer tail with a noticeably deeper notched fork. They have longer/thinner wings and the overall shape is less stocky than a Black Kite.

Even the Noc Mig recording was superb this week with several big groups of Whimbrel over the house plus some Dunlin and most bizarre and amazing of all a substantial flock of Common Tern recorded migrating over the house in the early hours! Noc Mig is changing my understanding of migration and I would never have guessed that Common Tern would migrate well inland through Cornwall at night!

Our resident birds seem to be having a successful breeding season so far thanks to the settled weather I suspect. We have been delighted to see fledged Song Thrush, Blackbird & Mistle Thrush in the garden and we have also glimpsed the odd juvenile Robin. The delightful Dippers which grace the river below our house have also raised their young and we were lucky enough to see two juveniles on VE day busily chasing their parents for food along the riverbank. After a while they began to search for their own food and were already pretty adept at catching prey underwater which is amazing considering they were so young out of the nest. It's worth searching for Dippers and watching their antics as they bob up and down the river. They are the only passerine that has adapted to feed underwater and they achieve this by having specially adapted eye lids which have evolved into a pair of water tight bird goggles!

Adult Dipper

Juvenile Dipper

In the future I have learnt to enjoy the nature that is around me and I will be continuing my photography and walking from home even after lockdown as I feel more familiar with where I live than ever before. I'll never stop going to the coast though as a birder the coast and migration is unmissable for me...