Birding highlights in Cornwall November 2022

 November weather started with strong South to South-West winds and heavy rain. The month ended pretty much the same with heavy rain from the west.

The third Pallass' Warbler of the Autumn was found along Lloyds Lane, Lizard on the 1st, following one at Long Rock and another at Kennack Sands on 31st October.

Seawatching continued to dominate with two juv. Sabine's Gulls, two Grey Phalaropes and four Great Shearwaters off Pendeen. Presumably one of the same Sabine's Gulls was seen passing St. Ives.

Leach's Petrels were on the move on the 2nd. Seven were counted off Pendeen, three off Mousehole with one showing a dark rump. Two more Leach's at Downderry, two at Hannafore, one at St. Agnes, three at Cadgwith completed the best day of the year for this species.  Another Band-rumped Petrel was claimed off the Lizard and possibly the same dark rumped Leach's type also off the Lizard Point. The wind on the day was South to South-West.  With increased seawatcher awareness, its becoming clear that Pendeen is certainly productive on SSW winds. Porthgwarra doesn't have exclusive rights to this wind direction anymore!

The wind shifted to WNW on Friday 4th.  As expected, more Leach's Petrels were seen. An impressive 39 were counted off St Ives Island and 13 from Pendeen. Of interest, none were seen from Cape Cornwall indicating that the "geographical corner" of Pendeen lighthouse is the normal final seabird departure site in N Cornwall. An unusual Velvet Scoter was photo'd among 98 Common Scoters at Pendeen.

Treraven meadows hosted some geese. A White-fronted Goose, two Barnacle and a Pink-foot were among the Canada's on the 4th. A Whooper Swan was also at nearby Walmsley.

A Radde's Warbler was photo'd in a St. Just garden on the 4th. The finder must have had quite a shock while viewing the bird feeder!  Not to be outdone, a Dusky Warbler was found in the Nanjizal nets on the 5th.

Dusky Warbler, Nanjizal, pic courtesy John Overfield.

A presumed returning Ring-necked Duck appeared at Dozmary Pool.  This deep water pool is the favourite site for this species.  Last winter, at least ten birds were present here, a UK record.

Short-eared Owls started to appear at the normal wintering spots. An unusual record was a migrant flying along the coast with Kittiwakes off Pendeen. It attempted to move inland but was chased off by the local Choughs.

More significant numbers of Great Shearwater appeared on the 6th with two sizable counts. Porthgwarra recorded 363 and another 292 from the Lizard. The latter site also notched up two Leach's Petrels and a Little Auk. The seawatching season just keeps giving! More strong southerly winds on the 7th Nov pushed nine Leach's Petrels, one very late Storm Petrel, 71 Great Shearwater and 27 Sooty Shearwater towards Porthgwarra.  Meanwhile, the Lizard notched up 483 Great Shears and a duplicate 27 Sooty's. 144 Manx was a high late season count and a juv Kumliens Gull was a surprise.  An exhausted Long-tailed Skua was photo'd in care at Newquay Airport on the 8th.  A late juv Sabine's Gull and yet another juv Long-tailed Skua were seen from Pendeen on the 9th. What a great year this species has had.

Cornwall's seventh Hume's Warbler was found with a Yellow-browed Warbler at Swanvale on the 9th.  The last Hume's Warbler in the county was 2007 when one was video'd, sound recorded and eventually trapped in Cot Valley. It was first located on the 23rd December and last seen 23rd February 2008, presumably attempting to overwinter. There are nearly 200 UK records but most appear on the east coast. It remains a very rare bird in Cornwall.

The Pallass' Warbler at Lloyds Lane, Lizard was still present on the 12th. A late Wryneck showed well at Kynance gate on the 13th and a flighty Serin at nearby Old Lizard Head.  A Hawfinch was found at Treleaver and another at Penryn Uni.

A juv Pallid Harrier was found in the Trevilley and Nanjizal area on the 14th. On a couple occasions it was flushed from the nets area. This species has become more regular in the county though the last officially accepted record was 2009.  Clearly there are unsubmitted Cornish records.  Its status reflects the increase across western Europe and the UK. A Short-toed Lark was found nearby in the stubble fields around Trevilley.

Pallid Harrier, Nanjizal, Nov 2022. Pics courtesy John Miller.

Cornwall's first Black-faced Bunting was found in the Nanjizal nets on the 19th. The juv female was trapped, ringed and later released in nearby stubble fields. By pure chance, the Pallid Harrier appearance created a Saturday morning twitch and the assembled birders were treated to the bunting release. The irony is that the harrier failed to show... The 19th was indeed a special day as a female Desert Wheatear was found at Falmouth.  Sadly it didn't stay long. This is Cornwall's 11th record following a male at Penberth in November 2020. A late Red-backed Shrike was found at Chapel Porth.

Juv female Black-faced Bunting, Picture courtesy Mike McKee

Black-faced Bunting, Nanjizal, pic courtesy Bob Bosisto

The wind turned westerly on the 18th, strong at times. The following three days were particularly noteworthy for late skuas, petrels and Little Gull.  Pendeen was the place to be.  On the 18th, 22 Little Gull passed the famous watchpoint, one of the highest totals in years. In addition, one Little Auk and a rare Blue Phase Fulmar and five Grey Phalaropes were seen.  On the 20th, a juv Long-tailed Skua, four Pomarine Skua, two Great Skua and three Arctic Skua, Leach's Petrel, two Little Gull, 3 Grey Phalarope, three Great Shearwater, 11 Sooty Shearwater and good selection of mixed divers were seen in bitter conditions.  25 Great Shearwater were seen off the Lizard on the 26th, continuing the amazing season this species is having.

Juv Pomarine Skua, Pendeen, Nov 2022, pic courtesy M Elliott.

Juv Pomarine Skua, Pendeen, Nov 2022, pic courtesy M Elliott.

Ad fem Pomarine Skua, Pendeen, Nov 2022, pic courtesy M Elliott.

Blue Phase Fulmar, Pendeen, Nov 2022, pic courtesy M Elliott.

A Dusky Warbler was found at Nanjizal cove on the 27th Nov, a typical late Autumn date. The Short-toed Lark was still present in the stubble fields nearby at Trevilley.  The returning adult Ring-billed Gull reappeared a Lelant Saltings.

The meteoric rise of the Cattle Egret continued. On the 27th, an incredible 167 were counted at Amble Marsh. This number at a single site is a county record. In addition, a further 85 were at Carne Creek, Gillan and another 21 at Loe Pool, Helston!

A late Sabine's Gull was seen off Newquay on the 28th, along with a more expected Leach's Petrel. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are no true winter records of Sabine's Gull in Cornwall?

Yet another Dusky Warbler (3rd for November) was found in the Nanjizal nets on the 29th. This was in addition to the Nanjizal Cove bird as it was seen independently the same day.  A Little Bunting was also found between Little Hendra and Cot.

Bird of the month: Black-faced Bunting at Nanjizal, first county record and 8th for UK.

Runner-up: Pallid Harrier, a stunning juv in the Trevilley area.

Birding highlights in Cornwall November 2021

 November weather started with a light westerly airflow. Mid month was generally mild.  The month-end finished with Storm Arwen unleashing some strong northerly winds.

Early November saw some rare Nearctic ducks appear across the county.  An impressive flock of five Ring-necked Ducks were found at Dozmary Pool on the 2nd and a 6th bird the following day.  A male Green-winged Teal appeared at Nanpean on the 3rd, with another first year male at Devoran on the 8th. A probable American Wigeon was seen briefly off Marazion beach on the 4th.  

An American Golden Plover was found with the goldie flock in the Crows-an-Wra area though proved difficult to pin down (1st).  A Radde's Warbler was trapped in the nets at Nanjizal and was the second county record this autumn.  A juv. Pallid Harrier flew over Lizard village on the 4th.  This species is now annual in the county but notoriously difficult to pin down for the masses to twitch it.

The Buff-bellied Pipit found late October on the Lizard was re-found a few hundred yards from the original spot on 3rd Nov. This is the third record for Cornwall and not an easy bird to find.  The species certainly requires diligence searching through pipit flocks. This bird was confirmed as the American race and not the eastern form japonicus.

The first Little Bunting of the season was found at Nanjizal on the 5th.  The stubble fields in the area may just hold this species through the winter months, as seems to be the norm.  Little Bunting winters in very small numbers in the county now and it pays to check winter finch flocks. 

Considerable flocks of migrating Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Fieldfare, Redwing were seen from "vis mig" watchpoints on the 5th. No doubt the Wryneck at Kenidjack, Rosy Starling at Pendeen, several Lapland Buntings and Brambling were caught up in this movement.   

Vis Mig or visible migration is a growing aspect of birding and involves static viewing of the skies early morning, from notable high points, eg St Agnes Head, Land's End, Trevose, Park Head etc.  Results can be very rewarding eg on the 5th at St Agnes,  7500 Fieldfare, 2000 Redwing, 1400 Woodpigeon, 14 Stock Dove, 600 Chaffinch, 7 Brambling, 26 Siskin and six Whooper Swan!

Seawatching at Pendeen on the 7th produced huge numbers of Kittiwake, 4000+ and mixed auks of 10,000+,  a Little Auk and an unusual record of Snow Bunting migrating at sea with the auks.

A late Barred Warbler was photographed on the 8th at Kenidjack and the Rosy Starling remained in private gardens at Pendeen.  An unseasonably late Hoopoe appeared in a garden at Trebetherick on the 10th.

The runner-up bird of the year was found dead at Helford on the 12th.  A White's Thrush sadly hit a house window.  The freshly dead corpse was passed to Tony Blunden for the simple ID process.  This is the 3rd record for Cornwall but first in modern times.  The earlier two were in 1874 and 1962.

White's Thrush, Helford Nov 2021, picture courtesy Mark Pascoe

The weekend of the 12th and 13th saw a change of wind to north westerly.  Two Little Auks, two Leach's Petrels, a Long-tailed Skua, a small movement of divers and a massive movement of thousands of auks and Kittiwakes were seen off Pendeen, St Agnes and St Ives. 

Two Dusky Warblers were found by the same birder at Trevean and Porthgwarra on the 14th. Yet another was found at Nanjizal.  A Richard's Pipit and several Siberian Chiffchaffs were noted at Trevilley also on 14th.

Continuing with the Siberian theme, a bright coloured Radde's Warbler was found at the top of Cot Valley on the 17th. Present for just the day, it was typically elusive as it foraged low down in the grasses and ground vegetation. Another or the same was trapped in the Nanjizal nets on the 19th,  Three Dusky Warblers were also available on the same day at Porthgwarra, Trevean and Nanjizal.

A stunning male Bluethroat was trapped in the Nanjizal nets on the 18th.  This is the second record this year from Nanjizal and was one of the red-spotted forms.  Bluethroat breeds as close as France and winters in west Portugal, yet this species is a major find in Cornwall.

The 20th saw no less than five Dusky Warblers in the county, with one on the Lizard, one at Nanjizal and three in the Porthgwarra area. An addition, a single Yellow-browed Warbler was also seen in the 60 ft. cover at Pothgwarra.  The latter species has been uncharacteristically scarce this year.  Who would have thought that Dusky Warbler was the "common Sibe rarity" this Autumn!

Dusky Warbler at Trevean, pic courtesy Steve Rowe.

The wide ranging American Golden Plover was eventually pinned down on Hayle Estuary with the Golden Plover flock (20th) and photographed well on the 22nd. 

American Golden Plover, Hayle Est. Nov 2021, pic by Mike Spicer.

The 26th saw Storm Arwen hit the UK with the Northern Isles taking the brunt with up to 98 mph winds. Cornish north coasts were affected with 60+mph winds.  The highlight was a Brunnich's Guillemot off St Agnes head, in close with 20 auks. This species is potentially the first record for Cornwall. Seven others were also claimed on the north east coast of England at the same time. A handful of Leach's Petrels and Little Auks were seen of St Ives.  A Blue Fulmar was also unusual. Arwen failed to really deliver any quantity of unusual seabirds though.  White wing gulls were strangely absent too. Finally, the six Whooper Swan originally found on the 7th were still in the Trewey area at the month end.

Birds of the month: White's Thrush corpse at Helford and Brunnich's Guillemot off St Agnes.

Runners-up: high numbers of Dusky Warblers, Radde's Warbler, Pallid Harrier and Bluethroat.