Birding & Bugging; somewhere in Cornwall

Moved blog!!!

2007-08-15T01:56:00.000+01:00

I have now moved the blog... or continued elsewhere... on Myspace and a new Blogger. To see all my new posts visit The New Blog Home and to be my friend, visit... Myspace profile here.

Strange robber bees & book reviews.

2007-07-05T22:43:00.000+01:00

The weather is still flippin' awful at the moment and I am now at a point of despair that many of the insects are having a rather dire time trying to get anything done.

Looking back through 06 photos, I was happily meandering down Patch One photographing crickets, hoppers and a plenty of flies, bugs and butters. Come June, the patch would be filled with the sounds of Grasshoppers singing away in the sunshine, the foliage would droop under the weight of pentatomidae and other buggy type creatures and the back of my neck would turn as red as a pyrochroa coccinea. But now… thanks to mankind (you gits) …now, the only thing present is the hardcore soldier beetle known as Rhagonycha fulva (or colloquially as ‘that bloody red beetle again’).

I haven’t even bothered doing any birding.

I did, however, raid the library and managed to steal (using a library card) a selection of dodgy books:

Understanding Bird Behavior. (Stephen Moss / Wildlife Trusts).
In this book it tells you why birds fly and how they fly, why they hop around and why they try their utmost to avoid being spotted by overweight birders who give themselves crap nicknames such as ‘The Cardinal’.

How to watch birds (some guy / Wildlife Trust)
Sit, wait & then go home and sulk.

Devon & Cornwall Where to watch birds (Norman & Tucker).
Mr Norman and his pal Tucker attempt to send me on a wild goose chase.

The Bird Feeder Book
If you want to build a bird feeder shaped like a McDonalds drive thru or learn the height of such a table above the ground for a nesting Chickadee or Yellow Bellied Sapsucker (and happen to live in America) then this book is for you.

Above: Robber fly type thing with stuff and, you know... things like wings...

Digibinning… still deleting the photos…

Tehidy Woods: Don't peck the hand that feeds you.

2007-07-01T22:59:00.000+01:00

The weather has been (as most will know) rather shocking as of late. Bugging has gone more or less out of the window and the only chance to do any birding fell on Thursday last week when we made a mini-trip out to Tehidy Woods.

Tehidy is basically a hybrid-mallard sanctuary, with an overabundance of tame birds to feed. Believe it or not, you can even feed blackbirds by hand; utilising a little patience that is. Larger birds, such as the Rooks and the Jackdaws tend to follow in the wake of breadcrumbs left when feeding the duckies. Dunnocks come in close, but have not yet managed to brave mankind & Jays will quickly make an appearance to pick off bread from the ground before heading back into the trees.

Below shows part of an arm owned by Tracee and an approaching Great Tit + a parked Robin Red Breast.

Luckily the day ended with a brief sighting (plus plenty of singing) from a Blackcap jumping around in a tree by the pond near to the entrance.

My next post will be all about the delightful world of digibinning... prepare for lots of out of focus dribble.

General update: Part 1

2007-06-20T00:13:00.000+01:00

Stithians Reservoir: 16.06.07
A quick 15 minutes stop at this watery world produced a few Sedge Warblers, more Willow Warblers and the usual Dunnocks, Chiffchaffs, Blackbirds and other dreary flying creatures to which many of my trips are becoming well noted for spotting. In fact, if I see something small resembling a bird, I tend to accept my luck generally runs out the minute I wake up and announce the bird to be nothing more than a Sparrow and have done with it.

I spent 5 minutes watching the young Buzzard preening itself before deciding to head off back home.

Crowan Church: 17.06.07
Not much happening down this end today. The Jackdaws had fledged and could be seen (and more importantly heard) flying around with mummy & daddy. A Magpie was being lovingly assaulted in mid air strikes by a Collared Dove and a Chaffchiff perched on the telegraph wire for a good few minutes watching the commotion.

Home sweet home: This week.
The House Sparrows which are currently nesting around this area (including a large brood in the honeysuckle sharing our garden and a neighbour’s) have been out on mass. There must be around 8 pairs coming to the garden to feed, including young, making up to around 15 sparras at any given time.

A family of Magpies (2 young + parents) have been coming regularly to the garden to feed, which is always a lovely site. At first much of the feeding has been done with mother or father watching over them, although recently they have been coming alone. Then, much to my surprise, this morning before leaving for Redruth I counted 5 young Magpies hopping around the garden (our two plus the rogue three). I assume they have got together to start some kind of gang…

The Chaffinches have yet to return to feeding in the garden, as it is always around baby making time they head off to Patch One to breed. The same goes with the Wrens and the Bullfinches.

I’m currently filming what does make it to the garden, which tends to be the larger birds who usually arrive when they are heading back to roost over yonder somewhere…

New YouTube video

2007-06-05T00:08:00.000+01:00

I finally got round to uploading the 2^nd (and last part for now) of the Fox Cubs in patch one. This is a shorter film and with no Japanese background music (couldn’t be bothered searching out a suitable track).

I don’t think the cubs are using this area anymore, as signs suggest they have moved on to the usual stomping ground over in a nearby field. I should, touch wood, be off filming tomorrow night (badgers… owls… foxes… reindeer… who knows… I may just get drunk instead).

New Fox Cub video (please... for the love of god... rate the bugger!)

Lanner Walk.

2007-06-01T04:11:00.000+01:00

A good friend decided to do a sponsored walk for a feline re-homing centre (http://www.lonelypawz.org.uk : website currently not working btw). So, we joined him for a 3 mile trek around the old mining site(s) of Lanner. For birding enthusiasts there was not much present. I watched some baby Great Tits begging for food; they had fledged and were stumbling around the nesting area… there were plenty of Goldfinches knocking around and I could still hear a bleedin’ Cuckoo in the distance…

For Cuckoo fanciers, there was a reported 15 at Stithians; so says Dave (was it Dave?) from Orca Sea Faris (their website aint working either!).

Anyhoo… the walk disappointed as birding goes. A Song Thrush appeared momentarily, but nothing else was doing.

As for the Bugs, the only semi-highlight was a Large Skipper (first of the season).

Oh, Stithy and no website....

2007-06-01T03:44:00.000+01:00

I gave up! I have done… what… 80% of the website but have run out of steam (I am currently designing another two for clients, with the aid of my partner and UK Duty Paid Cutters Choice…). So, I have not had time to spend finishing off the further 20%... so back to the blog!

Stithians Reservoir.

Tracee and a dearly befuddled friend went to Falmouth for the day and left me in the wonderfully tranquil reservoir that is Stithians. I did plan to walk around it, but as I had to stop every few meters to inspect the undergrowth for insects, I didn’t get very far.

Upon entering I was greeted with a wonderful warbling from some Willows and spent some time watching the Buzzard flitting back and too from its nest. A pair of Sparrow hawks circled one of the adjacent fields and a couple of Reed Buntings popped out now and again to see how my journey was progressing.

In the heat of the midday sun I could feel the ‘thermo insulating heat eliminating cool air system’ of the Tesco rucksack failing miserably to keep my back dry from the untold amount of sweat pouring from it but I knew I must continue, to find some illusive animal, to report back with my findings and become some overweight national hero. Well, I did continue…

I made it over the damn where I came across plenty of Drinker Moth Caterpillars. Unfortunately they were all dying... perhaps the heat or just bad season (not going into details on this)… but I managed to move a handful from the path back into the scrub.

A large group of gulls had gathered near to the ‘canoe lesson sailing club’ (does this place have a bar? I wanted a refreshing larger & lime but my reconnaissance mission to discover a licensed shed found nothing). I didn’t bother checking the gulls to see what oddities may be lurking in the gathering, but I assume there was something good I missed.

On the way back now and some Canadian Geese flew into another adjacent field and I managed to sit for 15 minutes photographing a Common Blue Damselfly.

Blog News & Important things

2007-04-23T15:43:00.000+01:00

I have decided to take another route with Blog and concentrate my efforts on a website which will include;

# Local area & patch reviews
# Photographs
# A blog / diary
# Recording database of bugs & birds
# Anything else that I can think of.

Anyone who has kindly linked to this blog will be informed of the new URL when the site is up and running (oooh, a week or two)...

Bye de bye,
The Cardinal.

Oh I got out to Stithy.

2007-04-19T21:20:00.000+01:00

At last, I finally made it out into a world beyond the front door and was surprised to find not much had changed since I last peeped out (I expected cars to be hovering by now).

The day was spent down at Stithians Reservoir where a pair of Hillbilly Grebes, a troupe of Canadian Geese, some mallards and a chiffchaff in the guise of a Chaffinch, were all visible to the judicious birder. A Buzzard was busy visiting its nest and some small watery birds flew off before I could identify them. A solitary swallow dive-bombed flies from the waters surface and I’m so (so so) sure I saw a Hawfinch… I can but dream (he was carrying a bottle of Sake). L. Grebes could be found on the ‘marshy’ bit over the road, but I didn’t stay too long in order to discover any other meaningless highlights.

Not as many lizards around this time, much to my partner’s displeasure. Plenty of Slender Groundhoppers pottering around & Leaf Beetles (the anomalous Gastrophysa viridula beasties) dangled on various grasses getting down & dirty with the opposite sex (bit early, but when the sun comes out the mood does take over…).

The other inane highlights included: A rather large Bumble Bee trying to fly up my arm, finding the biggest Earth Worm I have seen this year and discovering a small red beetle which I can’t identify.

And whilst I remember, there may have been a Willow Warbler, but I didn’t take much notice thinking he was the Chiff I spotted only moments before… a mystery.

Been busy

2007-04-14T12:32:00.000+01:00

Been busy, oh so busy, be back start of next week....

Krites Vs The Cardinal

2007-04-08T21:18:00.000+01:00

I have not had much time over the past few days to go out, although a brief stop at Stithians reservoir did produce the Hillbilly Grebe (that the birders at Falmouth Birding always see) and more Lizards than I care to shake any variety of stick at.

I will be out more next week, just for one hour jaunts up and down the local patches to see what has decided to retire from the winter slumber and munch on some fresh greenery. And next week also includes my long awaited ‘beetle trapping’ sessions, so who knows what surprises I may encounter when emptying the traps (most probably just some dreary wolf spiders and a slightly miffed slug).

Then we have the ‘surprise Pupae’ jars, which contain mysterious Pupae connected to even more mystical flying beasts that I have yet to identify in the Pupae state (again, probably just a blue bottle…).

The moment it hatches, I shall photograph and release it unto the world (and let you know just what it is currently transforming inside the plastic container). The whole process should take 10 days, probably less as the current detainee may have been in the Pupa stage for some time already.

Actually, it may even be some beetle pupa…

Or… I may even wake up one morning to find the container ripped to shreds and an interstellar bounty hunter called Ug wanting to know where the Krite is…

Orange beetles and Peacocks

2007-04-04T15:06:00.000+01:00

Ah, the blog hasn’t been updated in something resembling a week! What has happened to me I hear you cry? Well, I have been out and about, but it seems that any interesting birdy sightings have fallen thin on the ground. As the sunshine pulls me away from the computer and into pastures new, my binoculars stay tucked away in my trousers and the camera comes out to photograph what insect life is foraging around in the undergrowth.

Butterflies are now making more of an appearance and today I was presented with a couple of young Speckled Woods. Yesterday I managed to photograph a Peacock (see below); the only reason I managed to photograph this one is probably due to the knackered appearance of his wings (assuming he’s getting on a bit in butterfly years/had a rough life)…

The other ‘ooh la la’ moment was finding an Orange Ladybird (Halyzia 16-guttata). The numbers of these beetles has been climbing steadily all over Britain and it’s the first I have found in Cornwall (although, not that this fact means anything as they have been here since before I can remember anything worth remembering… )

I can hear a Chiffchaff…

Faux Yellow Billed Loon fiasco.

2007-03-28T23:43:00.000+01:00

Popped over Hayle today to visit a friend and managed to sneak away from ‘womanly chatter’ to wander around the Estuary. As I stood watching a L. Grebe a couple of twitchers walked on over. Apparently the White Billed Diver had been spotted in the estuary yesterday morn.

I helped identify the lone diver that was causing all the fuss (more twitchers turned up) and broke the sad news it was just a Great Northern. An over zealous birder obviously got carried away when identifying… I just hope they didn’t add it to their life list…

Although, as luck would have it for me, I hadn’t seen the GN Diver this year, so it’s another one for my 07 list.

Bugging & reptiles: Spring is here!

2007-03-27T18:52:00.000+01:00

Another wonderful day of sunshine fell upon the land of Cornwall, and whilst Tracee went on a training course, so I took the time to wander around some new areas not yet been trod by my trainers.

The initial point of insertion was a playing field just on the outskirts of Camborne Town centre. Woodpigeons busied themselves collecting twigs & Gold/Greenfinches just flew around… but other than that, not much was doing. I observed on the walk to the field a public footpath just before the entrance, so I went on a ramble down the mysterious corridor in search of something magical and altogether more interesting.

Shield bugs had begun to make a welcome return to the hedgerows and it did seem that finally spring was upon us. A butterfly was briefly spotted (and this time not a Peacock!) but I didn’t have time to classify it. Ladybirds had also started to appear and various bees and hoverflies meandered down the lane.

Another welcome site was a trio of lizards basking in the late morning sun.

Later on in the day we visited a friend and her lovely cats, I spent most of the time wandering around her garden where I managed to find only one interesting creature; a Crab Spider (Misumena vatia) enjoying some brunch.

Pendarves Wood: Creepers & Peckers.

2007-03-24T19:25:00.000Z

Today was pitched by the MET office as a blue sky and full on sunshine affair, thus, it was with this prediction I planned an outing to Penny Woods. The MET office had not been wrong…

I arrived at the woods at around 8am (after a 30 minute walk) and immediately heard a woodpecker doing what comes naturally. I attempted to head towards the noise, but found that knee deep mud and overgrown flora quickly stopped me in my tracks.

My first stop was at the lake. A Cormorant (or was it a shag… never really paid much attention to it… probably not the latter) was gleefully floating around. Moorhens foraged around in the weed and a Coot was busy building a nest in a small reed bed situated 20 meters out into the lake. The swans too had their nesting area ready and I managed to film them mating in order to fill it. A couple of Mallards pottered around at the rear and a duo of L. Grebes sat in the weeds.

The lake rarely holds any surprises, which is a shame as it’s so close by. The Tufted Ducks have moved on and the Teal, which made an emergency landing during bad weather, has long since fluttered off.

I continued my walk around, filming what I could. I managed to capture a Wren showing off to a female and also managed to badly film a ChiffChaff.

Back at the lake, this time on my hands and knees crawling around so not to be spotted, apart from by the swans who came over to see what I was and if I was carrying any bread (Johnny Kingdom aint got a thing on me). As I lay on the ground, filming one of the swans, a Treecreeper landed on the tree next to me. I managed to roll on my back and film him for a moment, but he was backlit from the sun and to compensate the gamma had to be turned up to 11. This in turn meant the quality wasn’t very good, but hey ho, it’s another tick on my 2007 list.

As for insect life, this was still pretty thin on the ground. Another month and it will be action stations for me and my camera, but until then I shall have to contend with;

Bumble Bees still dominated the arthropod sightings; a peacock was still the only flippin’ butterfly to be found and a possible Syrphus Ribesii (that be a Hoverfly don’t ya know) was busy feeding on some Japanese Knotweed… how exotic.

Throughout the entire trip the Woody kept pecking away…

Filming & the mocking of chiffchaffs; Swanpool.

2007-03-22T22:37:00.000Z

The other day I began work on my garden birds’ video compilation. This venture into home video producing will eventually, give or take a month, make it onto YouTube. The still below shows a Blue Tit apparently... this nest box is not ours, it's in a neighbouring garden...

I have asked on Freecycle if anyone is getting rid of a tripod, as mine is now 15 years old and doesn’t have the smooth action it was once famed for having. Thus, this creates a problem when filming birds ‘on the move’ as resulting video footage looks like dodgy stop frame animation.

The problem became more annoying when trying to film the non-stop LT Tits whilst down at Swanpool this avvy.

Not much could be found at Swanpool unfortunately. Numerous Mallards, BH Gulls and plenty of Coots mooched around. The odd Moorhen popped out now and again and some Herring Gulls stopped by once in a while. A swan was tucked away in the reeds and plenty of Great Tits, Robins, Dunnocks, LT Tits and Chaffinches hung around in the trees flanking the waters edge.

I could hear the odd sporadic Chiffchaff, but for one reason or another could not find the bleeder.

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

2007-03-18T17:59:00.000Z

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.

2007 List & a YouTube video

2007-03-15T00:01:00.000Z

I have uploaded a YouTube video. It’s a small slideshow of some of the arthropods I photographed last year. I selected a random 26 of the hundreds of photos I have, loaded up Windows Movie Maker and created the so far un-rated video you will hopefully rate…

The Cornwall Arthropod YouTube Video

My UK2007 list is now situated at the bottom of the Blog... see bottom for the UK2007 List at the bottom.

13/03/07 Rinsey Cove: Sods Law Part 1

2007-03-13T23:09:00.000Z

Finally, the bitter chill of winter has passed by and what appears to be an air of the seasonal delights known as spring is now upon us. The winter melancholy has gone astray and I can once again kneel down in the freshening mud photographing twigs. The first ‘trip’ out was to Rinsey Cove, a National Trust doodar situated near Praa Sands. This venture was not really meant to be a wholly birding/bugging expedition, but as a ‘let the dog stretch her legs and eat a picnic with the loved one’. Anyway, I am glad it wasn’t the former…

The Bird Report.
A screw came loose on my binoculars making it difficult to spot anything, as the fault caused double vision. Utilising stealth tactics I learnt at the tender age of 10 whilst raiding the fridge at 4am, I eventually came upon a bird I was stalking for a good 5 minutes, which turned out to be robin.

The Bug Report
The worst butterfly in my opinion to photograph close up, due to its 'shy' nature, is the peacock and (as it seems sods law is generally against me today) the only butterfly present was the peacock. The occasional bumblebee flew past and there was one or two hoverflies knocking around, but nothing special. I did manage to disturb a Tiger Beetle (see photo below) and was also pleasantly surprised to find a tick crawling around on the picnic blanket.

…and in conclusion.
It was the first day I could walk around in my combats without the need to wear a coat to keep the nipples warm. Plenty of dogs to stroke, a bird of prey (hitting the glare of the sun and impossible to identify with bust binoculars) and some unattainable birds somewhere else, taunting me with their ‘cheeps’ and ‘chirps’… probably some monotonous tits… The taponade Tracee made was wonderful.