ZENNOR VILLAGE – PENDEEN LIGHTHOUSE – ST JUST – KENIJACK VALLEY – MARIZION BEACH – RYAN’S FIELD AND LELANT SALTINGS
WEATHER: ABYSMAL!! we had an horrendous day with rain until 3pm, heavy at times and a brisk wind driving the rain.
Today was a bit of wash-out we saw very little despite being out and about for most of the day. It was raining when we left the hotel for breakfast at 7am and it was raining when we returned at 3pm, we had had enough by then.
We started the day by driving to Zennor, a beautiful little village not far from St Just and Pendeen. Yesterday there were good reports of Wryneck and both Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, we met the guy who had found them and he pointed us in the right direction to where they had been seen. Out of the three birds mentioned we saw one them, guess which one?..................Spotted Flycatcher, of course ! We enjoyed a walk around the village finding sheltered spots from the wind and rain, we found lots of Robins, Jays, Jackdaws and not much else.
From there we drove the short distance to the Pendeen Lighthouse where we hoped to see a few sea-birds flying past. You know you have made a mistake when no-one else was there looking, but we perservered and saw ..............nothing much. A few Gannets, Cormorants and Shags, a few gulls and a couple of Rock Pipits, we left just as a couple of Dutch guys arrived, we wished them good luck, the rain was pouring down, it was very misty and also windy.
looking out from Pendeen Lighthouse
After a qucik stop in St Just for a hot chocolate we drove down to the Kenijack Valley, it was a little sheltered down there, the rain came down vertically and not at a 45 degree angle. A Wryneck had been seen at 10am in the allotments. We saw Blue and Great Tits, Robins, Wren, Jay, Magpie, Chiffchaff and Dunnocks at a water works station along the lane. In the Allotments we saw similar birds but not a Wryneck.
We drove across country to Penzance hoping for better weather there, but the rain came down even harder as we left the car near Marizion Beach. We saw nothing out in the bay except for Gannets and Cormorants. On Longstone Pool we watched Little Grebe, Grey Heron, Moorhen and Coot. We never made it to the Marizion Reserve as the rain drove us off.
looking across the Hayle Estuary to Lelant Saltings, our best best bird sightings were that of; 6 Curlew Sandpipers and a Spoonbill and over 50 Redshanks
Finally we decided to sit in the hide at Ryan's Field at Hayle. There it began to brighten and our mood picked up even though there were only a few birds in sight. We saw 5 Redshanks, 1 Greenshank, 2 Curlews, a Kingfisher, a Grey Heron, 2 Little Egrets, a single Black-headed Gull and a dozen Canada Geese.
The Spoonbill was still present
Mike and I walked down to the main road where we scanned the Hayle Estuary and across to Lelant Saltings. Many more birds were present on the sand-flats as the tide began to rise. We saw all the same birds as yesterday, imcluding the Spoonbill. Then the sky darkened again and rain threatened once more.
some of the 50 Redshanks seen on the Hayle Estuary
Back in the hide we sheltered from another deluge before making our way back to the car, we had had enough and even though the sky looked brighter we decided to return to the hotel and call it a day, it was 3:30pm when we got back and it was raining once again! The forecast for tomorrow is a little better.