The bird watching cruises for this winter have now been finalised and details are on the Birdwatching Cruises Page 

September on the Rivers Tamar and Lynher can be an exciting time. Whist there may not be the variety or  number of birds present, there’s the added bonus that something unusual may turn up. This year was no exception. Highlight was a Common Crane, found by Derek Julian on 24th at Wacker Quay. The first Spoonbill returned on the 26th and was seen again on 30th   Wildfowl numbers do not start building until early winter but a female Ruddy […]

The first of the Great Black backed Gulls ringed on Looe Island that went to Spain has returned to the island. The bird was ringed on the 13th June 2010 and was seen in north west Spain in 2011 and 2012. Assistant Warden Claire Lewis recorded the bird (which is identifiable by the numbered ring on its leg, L:AH1) back on Looe Island on 25th April 2014. Although cross channel movements are quite common this is thye first time a […]

Drakes Island is again under threat from the hotel development. In spite of serious concerns by Natural England, English Heritage, RSPB, Cornwall and Devon Wildlife Trusts and Cornwall Bird Watching and Preservation Society, the developers are still pressing for planning permission from Plymouth City Council. Drakes Island is the only nesting site of Little Egret in the Tamar Valley. It also supports a winter and high tide roost of almost all the egrets that use the Tamar Valley ie 70-80 […]

This evening Chris and I took Tilley for her usual walk around Millbrook Lake, a bit later than usual about 7pm. As it was late I didn’t bother taking binoculars – I should know better! We parked at the dam and a Little Egret was fishing by the outflow grid, where often a Grey Heron sits. Our walk around the lake and surrounding area was uneventful apart from spotting a Song Thrush carrying food to its chicks in a nest […]

With the wind blowing south easterly I thought it good for a Hoopoe this morning. I started at Maker, just a couple of Chiffs and a Blackcap. Then onto Rame Head, picking up a Wheatear and a few more Chiffchaff, a Kestrel and several Cormorant and Shag on the rocks. Finally on to Penlee where there were a couple more Chiffs near the car park. The place where I’ve always thought would be good for a Hoopoe is the north […]

Photo by Sue Sayer, Cornwall Seal Group http://www.cornwallsealgroup.co.uk/ A Great black-backed Gull ringed as a chick on Guernsey  in June 2010 has been sighted on Looe Island and may possibly breed here this season. If so it may well be the first recorded instance of breeding emigration of a Great Black back from Guernsey to England. The bird was sighted at Downderry in September 2010 and was seen several times at Looe in 2012 and 2013. Identified by the inscribed […]

Helene Jessop, Assistant Conservation Officer for the RSPB at Exeter has provided me with an update on the seabird wreck in the eastern Atlantic following the winter gales. A conservative estimate puts the figure at a staggaring  30,000 birds.  In Cornwall the following were reported c1,400 birds of 15 different species, with more than 1,300 auks (mostly guillemots, with smaller numbers of razorbills and more than 50 reported puffins) and also shag, kittiwake, black-headed gull, common gull, herring gull, lesser-black […]

Heronries Survey At the recent joint CBWPS/BTO/UoE conference (where I gave a presentation on GBBs) the CBWPS launched the 2014 Cornwall Heronries Survey which aims to visit all of the recorded heronries in the county to confirm their current status. Some are undoubtably historical and will be unoccupied, but a full audit of all of all of these sites is long overdue. The Tamar Valley is an important county site for Herons and there may be new heronries tucked away […]

Mark Grantham has put the following post on his west Cornwall Ringing Group blog. Tony Blunden took the photos. ”The last couple of weeks have seen large numbers of Great Black-backed Gulls (and the odd Iceland and Glaucous Gull, and even a smart Kumlien’s Gull!) gathering on the reef at Lizard Point. There seems to be an endless stream of colour-ringed birds in amongst them as well, with birds from as diverse places as Norway, Wales, Channel Islands and France! […]