West End Gulls

 

https://youtu.be/0nTTGw2tXWU?si=jhsU9OfuxdXR_0cH

I had been planning a few days in Cornwall for some weeks, my current writing project is based around seawatching and seabirds, hence my trip in January down the North Sea coast.  The SW tip of Cornwall is a favourite area for my birding holidays and over the decades has proven very kind.  At 14 years old, back in the 80's, I joined the Leadley family on an October holiday, when Jono's mum pointed out a pale bird in the mist at Zennor Head, this proved to be the county's first Isabelline Shrike.  10 years later we were in the right place again, finding Britain's 3rd Blue Rock Thrush, a male and the county's first, down Cot Valley.  As a place to find rare birds I have been no where more productive; Aquatic Warbler, Greenish Warbler, Surf Scoter, Fea's Petrel, Wilson's Petrel, Azores Gull, and most recently a Barolo's Shearwater, have all raised my pulse to pounding, through the adrenaline surge of discovery.  A smorgasbord of american waders and ducks has often been on offer during these trips and holidays. The eastern warblers, pipits and buntings, sprytes and skulkers alike, also often feature and the outliers have included Little Bustard and Booted Eagle.  It's a very tempting part of the country to consider moving to in the future - we'll have to see.

I had a couple of false starts during early February as family commitments and the unrelenting wet, windy weather led to last minute postponements.  I was keen to catch up with a Pacific Diver (a bird I've not seen this side of the pond) and the possibility of seeing both Bonaparte's and Ring-billed Gull certainly leant into the seabird theme.  I was also aware that auks moved past the peninsular in impressive numbers during late winter and hoped to see some of that passage if I could.  

We were staying with friends in South London (visiting the London Wetlands Centre and unwittingly starting a pop-up Gull ID workshop around a couple of Caspian Gulls) when the news of a Ross's Gull in Newlyn harbour broke.  This was all the catalyst I needed to push me towards Cornwall, the Arctic waif was still present at dusk, and I decided now was the time to instigate my Cornish break.

I was at the harbour early doors, not as early as the keenest, who had seen the bird in the gloaming, but shortly before my arrival the bird had flown out to sea.  I scoped the roof of Lidl, across the bay, and was surprised that the loafing gulls could be seen quite easily - and there amongst them the Ross's Gull.  I won't lie, I was a teeny bit disappointed that this was my first view, like many, I have buy into the myth and enigma we birders have created around Ross's Gull.  For a scarce bird of remote, high tundra and open sea, hanging out on a supermarket roof on the edge of town threatens to burst the romantic bubble.  Not for long though, I popped over for a closer look during which time the gull had returned to the harbour, and on my return was treated to prolonged, close and dynamic views of the most enigmatic of gulls, as it dip fed of the water, cruised up and down the sea wall, and twisted back and forth, constantly on the move.  I decided there and then that I would keep returning over my days on the peninsular, between my searches for the divers and the other scarce gulls.  And that's what I did - I spent many hours drinking in this magical bird, mostly in flight, but on my last visit it took a short break from feeding to preen on the rocks and beach at Tolcarne, and offering the kind of views I had only dreamt of.  Boom.  I was fully sated.  Between time with this bird I managed to see a lot of other gulls - there was a constant movement of Kittiwakes out of Mount's Bay through strong southerlies (and impressive numbers of auks on the move too), I found the 2CY Bonaparte's Gull in the large evening roost at East Green, Penzance and on the Hayle there were Iceland, Little and Yellow-legged Gull amongst the roosting throngs and nearby, from Lelant Saltings persistence paid off with great views of the adult Ring-billed Gull after 6 visits to check the loafing Common Gulls there. So ended a fantastic few days birding, time spent with the undoubted star, the Ross's Gull, burnt upon my memory.