17/3/07: Tits with long tails & Divers with White Bills.

Excursion number one: Praze Bridleway.
The first excursion of the day saw me wandering off to my 1^st patch (A bridleway in Praze) at 7.45am. A sense of hopefulness drifted in the air and there was some expectation that it was me secreting it. You see, the other day I heard what I can 80% say was a Hoopoe, so this was a mission to find the migrant visitor…

Pheasants could be heard a plenty, but for the main part there was not much doing other than the obligatory great tits, wrens & chaffinches. The only interesting part of this early morning stint was being able to watch a pair of Long Tailed Tits making a nest.

On the walk home a Buzzard landed in the field. Although not an overly interesting fact in itself (apart from me trying to metamorphosis it into a Ruff Legged one so I can add it to my 2007 list) it did turn out to be the pale variant of your familiar Buzzard.

No Hoopoe.

Excursion number two: Hayle Estuary
This was a late trip, as by the time I arrived at the estuary it was already getting on for 5pm (if not already on it). My mission was to spot the Great Northern Diver & the White Billed Diver (the latter being a very rare visitor).

Luckily, as soon as I jumped out of the car, I noticed a fellow twitcher pointing his scope at a potential White Billed, which in fact it was. The gentlemen’s name was James (I believe) and although he will probably never read this blog, I thank him for allowing my eyes to peer through the scope at such a wonderful bird.

James informed me that a pair of Great Northerns and a couple of Razorbills had been spotted along the stretch we were currently on, so after a few minutes of watching the White Billed I wandered up towards the estuary opening in the hopes of adding a few more birds to my list.

In the diminishing light I spotted a couple of shags, but nothing more could be seen apart from compulsory seagulls and the odd passing rook/raven/crow/jackdaw.

By the time I made it back to the initial arrival point, James and the White Billed had gone, so I ventured into the Copperhouse part of the estuary (tide in) and managed to see nothing more than an Egret and a sleepy swan.

Back to the other side again. I decided at this point not to bother heading anywhere else, so I parked my bottom on the estuary wall, dangled my legs over the edge and after a few minutes spotted the WB again. He came in very close, only perhaps 20 meters away, and there we stayed together for almost an hour, him cleaning himself and me smoking a cigarette.