Choughed at the Lizard

I was kindly given along with my brother a lift down to the well known peninsular named the Lizard. We headed down by car after a 5:30 wake up which gave us a kick start to our day. The trip down gave me a chance to properly wake up after only getting to bed later than 1 o'clock and by the time we had arrived I was ready for what lay ahead. Our birding started off by heading over to the very tip of the peninsular where we were immediately greeted by Fulmars, Gannets, and a wide variety of gulls but our main focus was what lay beyond them out to sea. As my brother set up his scope to view over the sea I took this opportunity to photograph the Fulmars which came delightfully close and gave great views with the waves breaking behind them.

Fulmar

Just as I had got the hang of chasing the Fulmars in my lens my brother shouted the words I had been hoping for "Pomarine Skua". It was a mad rush to get to the top of the cliff where a life tick was awaiting me. My brother explaining all the way about the plumage and the ID features which he could see. The short climb felt as if it took hours but when I arrived my brother complimented me on my speed that I had arrived in. I took a look through the scope and had my first proper view of the.... sea. Yes you read it right it was just the sea. After almost suffering from a heart attack the bird came into the frame, I first saw the Manx Shearwater and then the pale phase POMARINE SKUA came into the frame. All the ID features I could see on it was that it was a Skua. But in my rush to get to a more comfortable position to look through the scope I hit the tripod and lost the bird. I looked all over the sea to try and find it again but the search was fruitless, but my brother didn't mind and carried on with the sea watch. When my brother decided he wanted to look around I had a short view throught the scope where I saw a good amount of Guillimots (first for the year), Manx Shearwaters and some Gannets. After this my brother wanted to have a second go and had some good luck with a Great Skua and a fly past Great Northern Diver. Time was running out and I wanted to get some pictures of the Choughs so we headed over to the right place and instantly saw my first CHOUGHS for the year. They showed well but the rain ruined my chance for  good picture.

Chough

Luckily the sun came back out and an obliging Rock Pipit showed himself whilst I was waiting for the Choughs to return.

Rock Pipit

After the Lizard we were dropped off near Stithianes Reservoir where we were hoping to see a Grasshopper Warbler. To make a long story short we got drenched and had very restricted views of a GRASSHOPPER WARBLER and a few fly over Whimbrels.

I have been writing my posts up quite frequently so if you missed my last post about exploring my brothers local patch click here.