30th. An early start to see the steppe grey shrike that was relocated near Gunwalloe yesterday. It was first photographed near Mullion by a visitor on 19 October and was seen around there until 22nd. It gave some great views today. I also saw a brambling and 3 firecrest.

Feeding on elongated beetles

29th. An adult Greenland white-fronted goose Anser albifrons flavirostris, a dark-bellied brent goose, 2 barnacle geese and 2 pintail on the Hayle Estuary. The white-fronted goose is in trouble from a conservation perspective, with only 15,000 remaining in 2024, under half the population of 35,570 that had recovered by 1999. Climate change may be affecting reproductive success, with only 5% of the birds being juveniles.

28th. The morning seawatch was relatively quiet, with a strong passage of auks about an hour after sunrise. I saw a pale juvenile Arctic skua and a leaping bluefin tuna. There was a goldcrest and 5 chaffinches in the bush at the bottom of the main track.

At Drift Reservoir I saw the Slavonian grebe, great-crested and little grebes, a kingfisher and 3 cattle egrets. Sennen was quiet.

Another 6 cattle egrets at Marazion.

27th. A seawatch from the Island 07.45-09.15h. Despite fairly strong NW winds last night, there was little of note. Large numbers of kittiwakes and auks passed by, together with 5 Manx shearwater, 1 sooty shearwater, and a distant pale-phase skua. there were 7 little auks past Pendeen!

I then went to the Tesco car park next to the Truro River and had great views of the juvenile lesser yellowlegs that has been present for at least 12 days. there were 2 black-tailed godwit here too. The yellowlegs fed on lugworms that it would carry to the main channel to wash.

The first-winter drake ring-necked duck is extremely confiding at Helston Boating Lake. An approachable common sandpiper here too.

I eventually found Hellarcher Valley near Caerthillian on the Lizard. In about 90 minutes, I hard a few calls sequences from the dusky warbler here. A swallow nearby too. I saw about 8 chough, including three on a house.

26th. Six whooper swans at Chew Valley Lake. There's a big flock of great egrets in the channel at Herriot's Bridge - 19 in this photo.

25th. Slimbridge. A mobile and sometimes confiding juvenile Temminck's stint on the Rushy Pen.

Spotted redshank

Long-tailed tit

Carrion crow doing its bit for rodent suppression with a dead young rat on next door's roof in Bristol.

4th. A classic sea watch off St Ives. Strong W winds yesterday veered into NW ones today, and there was a wonderful seabird passage. Liam's totals that I saw many of were 2 Leach's petrel, 200 storm petrel, 31 great shearwater, 225 sooty shearwater, 1000 Manx shearwater, 22 Sabine's gull, 5 juvenile long-tailed skua, 3 Pomarine skua, 139 Arctic skua, 102 great skua, 55 grey phalarope, 1 great northern diver, 1 common scoter, 125 Sandwich tern, 25 Arctic tern, 3 common tern, 75 commic tern.

Leach's petrel

Great shearwater

Sabine's gull

Long-tailed skua. Juvenile, intermediate morphs.

Pomarine skua

Arctic skua - different ages and morphs, including a 'blonde' juvenile

The blonde one.

Great skua

A presumed dark juvenile great skua

Some challenging skuas - first a large, dark skua with a noticeable tail projection. This is probably just the consequence of tail moult, with the outer feathers moulted first.

A dark-looking, compact large skua that appears to show moult in primaries and secondaries. On bulk, Bob Flood thinks bonxie.

A presumed dark Arctic skua trailing a great skua

Grey phalaropes

3rd. A glossy ibis flew past the Island into St Ives Bay, maybe a bird seen flying east from Kenidjack?

1st. Kenidjack: 3 goldcrests (my first for the year!), green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker heard, and a water rail calling. I also heard a yellow-browed warbler near the sewage treatment works.