Saturday 16th March: Feock and Stithians

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 We set off early for our holiday in Cornwall arriving at Dartmoor in time for a late breakfast, before stopping at Yarner Wood, with an outside chance of encountering a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Needless to say, we didn’t find one! However, a few minutes in the hide produced a few nice birds coming to the feeders, including Nuthatch, Coal Tit, Blue Tit and Great Tit. A Great Spotted Woodpecker perched for a moment on a dead tree, but did not come down. Probably the highlight was a Grey Wagtail foraging amongst the vegetation around the stream edges, constantly bobbing his tail in the characteristic fashion.

We didn’t linger here long, with many miles still to travel- our next scheduled stop was at Stithians. However, a sign to Feock, just two miles off the main road, was a temptation too far,  with reports of a Surf Scoter frequenting the area for several weeks, and seen again earlier today. Viewing conditions were far from ideal, with very poor light, and drizzle, but we eventually managed to make out the target bird, although it was difficult to get a clear view of the necessary features for ID, and Tim threw in a red herring by claiming he saw white on the underwings, whereas the bird I saw showed dark wings. However the white facial markings were visible and on subsequent viewing of a photo of the same bird, I’m confident that’s what we saw. With luck we can go back in better conditions for another try. A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers were easier to pick out in the murk, with their bolder colours and our greater familiarity with this species.

After some time, and with both ourselves and our optics now pretty soggy,  we continued on to Stithians Reservoir. This was more successful, and we were quickly onto our target bird here, two drake Greater Scaup, plus a single female. With our recent observations of Lesser Scaup, it was interesting to note the larger bulk and rounded head shape. A few Tufted Duck were also here. A female Goldeneye and some displaying Great-crested Grebes provided further colour and interest, making for a satisfying start to our holiday.

Greater Scaup (f)

Greater Scaup (m)

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