Seabirding

15th & 18th August 2015 - West Cornwall and Prawle Point

On Saturday I took up the offer, courtesy of Adrian Thomas (skipper) and Martin Elliott (spotter and chum operative), of a trip aboard the Mermaid II out of Penzance. Eight hours around Wolf Rock and the Runnel Stone produced a few hundred Manx and about ten Balearic Shearwaters, a couple of Sooties and a dozen or more Storm-petrels, a few juv Yellow-legged Gulls followed us for a while and a couple of Bonxies dropped in. Risso's and Bottle-nosed Dolphins, Porpoises, Minke and an unidentified larger whale added to the day's entertainment.

Manx Shearwater - 15/8/2015 Cornwall

British Storm-petrel - 15/8/2015 Cornwall

Fulmar - 15/8/2015 Cornwall

Fulmar - 15/8/2015 Cornwall

Yellow-legged Gull juv/1W - 15/8/2015 Cornwall

Yellow-legged Gull juv/1W - 15/8/2015 Cornwall

Yellow-legged Gull juv/1W - 15/8/2015 Cornwall

Common Dolphin - 15/8/2015 Cornwall

Tuesday saw me at Prawle Point for a marathon 14 hour seawatch - part of the co-ordinated Balearic Shearwater Survey for MARINElife and RSPB. Tony Marchese and I recorded a respectable 32 Balearics, all before midday; also a couple of thousand Manx and a Bonxie - not bad for conditions better suited to sunbathing than seawatching.

Marsh Harrier, Ham Wall

6th August 2015 - Ham Wall, Somerset

Having to collect brother and family from Bristol Airport, I decided to indulged myself by stopping off at the Avalon Marshes en route. As planned, a few Marsh Harriers were up and about; I had brief and distant views of an adult male before this juvenile obliged. It loitered for a good hour or so, presumably practising its hunting skills while waiting for a parent to provide a proper meal.

Marsh Harrier juv - 6/8/2015 Ham Wall, Somerset

Marsh Harrier juv - 6/8/2015 Ham Wall, Somerset

Marsh Harrier juv - 6/8/2015 Ham Wall, Somerset

Marsh Harrier juv - 6/8/2015 Ham Wall, Somerset

Marsh Harrier juv - 6/8/2015 Ham Wall, Somerset

Marsh Harrier juv - 6/8/2015 Ham Wall, Somerset

Marsh Harrier juv - 6/8/2015 Ham Wall, Somerset

Some gulls are bigger than others

2nd August 2015 - Topsham

Male Herring or Lesser Black-backed Gulls often look massive next to small, dainty females. I tend to forget that, like people, smaller gulls also come in different sizes. This bird looked so tiny that for a second or two I wondered if it wasn't another Bonaparte's.

Black-headed Gull - 2/8/2015 Topsham

Black-headed Gull - 2/8/2015 Topsham

 Sanity (sort of) returned with check of the deep red legs - wrong; white nape - wrong; then the reddish bill appeared - wrong. Just a runt Black-headed Gull, of course, with the added issue of optical 'size illusion'.