Friday 22nd March 2024: Tour of West Cornwall

 With rain in the morning, we had a slowish start to our last day, arriving at Pendeen as the sun came out. As predicted, weather conditions were much better than yesterday, with stronger north westerly winds resulting in an impressive sea passage of Manx Shearwaters sweeping through at close range. It was fascinating to watch their undulating flight path, swerving upwards in a regular arc then down again to shear the waves with their long slender wings. I recall someone telling me they looked like black and white crosses as they fly, and this is exactly what we observed as their bodies twisted and turned to reveal dark backs then pale underparts.

A little further out were flurries of auks, flapping furiously and very difficult to track in my scope. With improved light, we were able to identify these as Guillemots, with brown backs rather than the black of Razorbills. 

After some time, we moved on to Cot Valley, via the pasty shop of course, where we clambered above the valley and found a seat to sit and peruse the landscape while we ate. Here we were well entertained by the antics of a pair of Choughs that were active around the coastline in in front of us and feeding on the grassy cliffs just below our seat. A male Kestrel also flew across, and sat and preened himself, sheltered from the wind on a nearby rocky outcrop.

Choughs

Kestrel

From here we drove to Penzance and had a short walk along the sunny promenade to Battery Rocks, where we found eight Sanderling, a small group of Turnstones and an impressive total of 47 Purple Sandpipers. We watched the Sanderlings running back and forth amongst the seaweed as the waves lapped nearby, before they flew to join the Sandpipers on a wet rock. The Purple Sandpipers mainly sat with heads tucked beneath their wings, but a few probed crevices in the rock in search of food. They were a joy to watch.

Purple Sandpipers

Sanderling

Sanderling and Purple Sandpiper

Finally, at Marazion, we had our usual fruitless walk around the marsh, with just a few Little Egret, Herons and Teal on show and on the beach, a few Mediterranean Gulls in various stages of breeding plumage amongst the regular gulls.

Back at our apartment, we made the most of our views across a sunny Carbis Bay towards Godrevy lighthouse, with distant Gannets diving as we sat in the warmth with a nice cuppa tea! A lovely and varied last day of our holiday.

Cot Valley