April 2020

30th. Lots of seabirds moving off the Island. Mediterranean gull, 1 summer plumage great northern diver (seen from window), many gannet, kittiwake, fulmar and Manx shearwater. Lots of gannets were plunging in the Bay. The first photo of a gannet below is one of my favourite wildlife photos that I've taken.

Fulmar

There was a little egret in the harbour.

29th. St Ives Island: 5 purple sandpiper.

26th. Wheatear and wren, Clodgy Point.

25th. St Ives – Buttermilk Hill – Trevalgan Hill – Hellesveor Cliff – St Ives: 1 cuckoo, reeling grasshopper warbler, 2 wheatear. Dartford warbler singing Penwith area.

23rd. Island: 7 purple sandpiper, 1 common sandpiper, 21 turnstone, 1 guillemot, 1 fulmar. 

Rock pipit

22nd. Ayr- Hellesveor Cliff- St Ives Island:  singing sedge warbler, whitethroat, 2 wheatear, purple sandpiper. An interesting pipit at Hellesveor had a pink lower mandible, supposedly typical of tree pipit, but had overall appearance more similar to a meadow pipit.

21st. Spring squill on the Island.

20th. Island: 7 purple sandpiper, 12 turnstone.

19th - back for better views of the ouzels.

Male linnet along the coast path.

Drinker moth larva.

18th. Buttermilk Hill: one or two groups of 5 ring ouzels.

17th. Island: 2cy Iceland gull, 1 purple sandpiper, 1 whimbrel, 1 wheatear, 1 guillemot, 2 shelduck flew east. 

16th. Island. 5 wheatear, 1 purple sandpiper. The male kestrel is hunting regularly.

15th. Clodgy Point to St Ives: 3 whimbrel.

14th. Trencrom Hill along the St Michael's Way.

13th. Wheatear at Clodgy Point and whitethroat above Hellesveor Cliff. Two chough high overhead. Stonechat below. Alexanders in flower.

12th Three-cornered garlic on the way to Porthkidney. A tame holly blue too.

10th. Island: c30 turnstone and 1 purple sandpiper.

8th. The day after the supermoon.

7th. 4 chough over garden, a single bird on 4th and one a few days before that.

6th. Island: Glaucous gull, 1 common sandpiper, considerable movement of kittiwakes, Sandwich terns and gannets offshore. The starlings are looking splendid at the moment.

Some of the turnstones in the harbour are in summer plumage now.

5th. Guillemot along shoreline, Carbis Bay. The blackthorn is in full flower.

4th. Circular walk to Hellesveor Cliff. First calendar year glaucous gull (different individual to one on 31/3 that had some orange/brown underneath), 1 swallow, 1 wheatear. There's a large frigate in the bay, apparently shadowing Russian warships. A hummingbird hawkmoth around now on the coast path was presumably an overwintering individual.

3rd. Tawny owl hooting outside the house - either in the Hepworth Sculpture Garden or Trewyn Gardens.

1st.Three common scoter from window. Recording nocturnal migrants has taken off in the UK, and many people are hearing common scoter overhead at nightime.