Biffa Ponds

Here's a photo (courtesy of Cornwall Wildlife Trust) of the nine new ponds at the farm. They were created in conjunction with Pond Conservation and also funding by Biffa Waste Services through their Biffawards scheme.  They should provide great habitat for some some of our rare plants, birds and hordes of invertebrates.

Review of 2011

At last - a new blog entry!! I've been entering the records for the farm for 2011 onto my MapMate program and have set out below some highlights.  It was a very good year indeed.  Firstly the birds. Those in bold are the first records of those species for the reserve:

Golden Plover 248 on 1st Jan
Snipe 49 on 1st Jan
Mediterranean Gull 9 sightings during the year
Fieldfare 200 on 14th Jan
Wigeon 51 on 14th Jan
Shoveler 13 on 14th Jan
Hen Harrier 9 sightings during the year
Bewick's Swan 7 on 30th Jan
Gadwall 5 on 3rd Feb
Teal 23 on 14th Jan
Black Redstart 5 on 25th Mar
Ring Ouzel 7 sightings during the year
Bee-eater 1 on 3rd Apr (added retrospectively - see comment below)
Marsh Harrier 1 on 9th Apr, 1 on 22nd Nov
Merlin 6 sightings during the year
Peregrine 3 sightings during the year
Hoopoe 1 from 19th-24th Apr
Short-eared Owl 1 on 19th Apr
Black-tailed Godwit 3 on 24th Apr
Whimbrel 14 on 7th May
Tawny Owl 1 on 28th Apr
Red Kite 1 on 15th May
Golden Oriole 1 on 19th May
Wryneck 1 on 19th Aug
Green Sandpiper 20 on 23rd Aug
Black Kite 1 on 29th Aug
Spotted Redshank 2 on 29th Aug
Yellow Wagtail 6 on 2nd Sep
Wheatear 20 on 4th Sep
Whinchat 10 on 4th Sep
Redstart 1 on 30th Sep
Meadow Pipit 80 on 1st Oct
Hobby 1 on 1st Oct
Tree Pipit 1 on 2nd Oct
Pectoral Sandpiper 2 on 4th Oct
Linnet 300 on 11th Oct
Yellow-browed Warbler 1 on 17th Oct, 1 on 19th Oct
Firecrest 1 on 17th Oct
Siskin 5 on 25th Oct
Bullfinch 8 on 25th Oct
Lapwing 103 on 20th Nov
Redwing 120 on 12th Nov
Little Gull 1 on 12th Nov
Pintail 3 on 22nd Nov
Greylag Goose 6 on 20th Dec
Black-headed Gull 82 on 21st Dec
Brent Goose 1 on 26th Dec
Jack Snipe 1 on 28th Dec

Red Kite

Spotted Redshank

Short-eared Owl

Best counts of singing warblers during the Spring were as follows:

Grasshopper Warbler 9
Whitethroat 12
Lesser Whitethroat 2
Blackcap 5
Garden Warbler 1
Sedge Warbler 9
Reed Warbler 4
Willow Warbler 24
Chiffchaff 6

And now, some other notable records:

Vagrant Emperor 1 on 24th Apr, 2 on 25th Apr
Lesser Emperor  1 from 28th Jul to 4th Aug
Red-veined Darter 6 on 25th Apr and many sightings of up to 3 throughout the summer
Marsh Fritillary 6 on 6th June
Roe Deer 1 on 21st Apr
Pigmy Rush 142 plants
Yellow Centaury 1440 plants
Green-winged Orchid 17 plants

We were probably the only site in the whole country to record all three species of Emperor dragonfly during the year. We had the highest count of Pigmy Rush too - not difficult as it occurs only on the Lizard!

Marsh Fritillary

Green-winged Orchid

Thank heaven for Little Gulls!

There was plenty of activity at the farm yesterday. As I arrived in the car-park, a large flock of Redwings, which I estimated at 120, were flying low towards the Lizard village.  Following on behind were 40 or so Fieldfares. A few individuals from both groups dropped down to feast on our bountiful hawthorn berries. Meanwhile, this Black Redstart was catching flies from the roof of the outbuildings.

On towards Ruan Pool and some 350 Lapwings were flapping around, with at least 500 Golden Plover doing aerobatics above them.  I settled down in the hide with my telescope to scan through the gulls. This may be hard to believe, but in the first few years of the reserve's existence, Black-headed Gulls were very rare visitors. In fact, despite hundreds of hours of observer coverage, it was four years before the first record! That may have been because until then we didn't have a suitable body of water to attract them. But it's only in the last two years that they've become much more regular, both in the spring and the winter.  As far as I'm aware, local farming practices haven't changed recently, so that wouldn't account for them appearing in greater numbers at the southern end of the peninsula. Yesterday there were about 60 of them splashing about in the water and in the midst of them was the reserve's first ever Little Gull! This is a scarce passage migrant and winter visitor to Cornwall and was a very nice surprise. There were also two Common Gulls amongst the group, another bird we rather surprisingly rarely see on the farm.

Little Gull on Ruan Pool (okay, it's not a frame-filler........)

Finally - a piece of the action.

The last few weeks have seen an unprecedented influx of American waders into the county. For this we can thank Irene and Katia for creating havoc in the north Atlantic weather systems. Almost every patch of mud in Cornwall has hosted some leggy shorebird or other from across the pond - but not our patches of mud at Windmill Farm.

Today was misty and eerily quiet. Having decided there was nothing about, I was idly and, it has to be said, carelessly trudging along the edge of our little scrape, which is almost dry, musing that I have seen Pectoral Sandpipers in the most unlikely of places. Not five seconds later, I heard a distinct call - "prrrt". I looked around in search of the culprit and there it was - a Pectoral Sandpiper, not 10 yards away. Three feet from it was another! We all froze. I ever so slowly down sat down. After an age, they decided I wasn't a threat and much to my relief carried on feeding.  After admiring them for a few minutes I slowly withdrew back into the mist and left them to it. 

The light was hopeless for photography today, so here are a couple of shots I got over the weekend of adders enjoying the warmth of the brief Indian summer. The top one is a youngster, about eight inches long, and below is an adult male.

 

Poser

Spotted Redshank on the Plantlife pond this morning.