PENNINIS HEADLAND – PORTHCRESSA BEACH – ST AGNES: PARSONAGE – CRICKET PITCH – BIG POOL - PORTH KILLIER - PARSONAGE
WEATHER: sunshine and showers, light winds
Before catching the boat for our trip to St Agnes we took a walk out the headland at Penninis, it was a lovely morning with a clear sky and a light breeze. We saw very little as expected just a few Meadow Pipits, a couple of Stonechats and all the usual common species.
As we walked towards Porthcressa we scanned the rocks in the bay and saw the usual Sandwich Terns, Mediterranean Gulls, Oystercatchers, Greenshank, Curlew and a couple of Grey Seals.
looking into Porthcressa from Penninis with the Garrison in nthe background
A Greenish Warbler had been showing on and off in the grounds of the Parsonage for a couple of days and that was our main target bird for our trip to St Agnes, we were joined by a lot of other birders as the first boat went out full. Some of group did not get on it and had to wait for a second boat which also filled up!
two Sandwich Terns in Porthcressa
Once on St Agnes we all marched up to the Parsonage to join the ‘Greenish stakeout’. On the way up we saw Chiffchaff and heard Goldcrest. It wasn’t long before some of the group got a little restless and decided to wander off, the warbler wasn’t showing.
I watched the second baot unload at the quay on St Agnes
We gave it another 30 minutes and suddenly people were getting excited, the bird appeared briefly at the bottom of the garden, not ideal, but we managed to get glimpses of it as it made its way along the hedge. A stunning little green warbler with a very distinctive supercilium and a small wing bar.
The group had split up by now, some of us walked down to the cricket pitch area where we sat and ate lunch in the company of two Rock Pipits. A quick look in the Big Pool produced a Teal, Moorhen, a dodgy Mallard and a Herring Gull. Some of the others had noted a Common Snipe earlier.
Spotted Flycatcher seen in the garden of the Parsonage
In Porth Killier we scoped the rocks as the tide was almost full and no shoreline was visible. We saw the usual Oystercatchers and Curlew but no other waders. Visiting the causeway which leads to the sub-island of Gugh (pronounced ‘Goo’) we could see that the tide was almost covering the pathway across and so we never attempted to visit the small island.
We made a second visit to the Parsonage but never saw the Greenish warbler again, we did see two Goldcrests, a Spotted Flycatcher, some Swallows and Pauline noted three House Martins and a Swift. Wow! A Common Swift is a good sighting for October, it went out on the Whatsapp group as others had seen it too!
Painted Lady
a Buddleia in flower attracked many butterflies we saw this Painted Lady, a new species for our list. Also new was Small Tortoiseshell, we also saw Clounded Yellow, Red Admiral, Small White and Speckled Wood today.
We caught the 3:30pm boat back to St Marys and decided to try to see the Rosefinch once more, it had been seen in the usual sycamore tree once again today. We did see Common Whitethroat, Blue & Great Tit, Chaffinch, Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird, Goldfinch and Song Thrush all in the sycamore tree but not te Rosefinch once again.
Just before 5pm the bird was reported at another site not far from our Guest House, but a long walk to get there, so we abandoned our vigil and called it a day.