Some of my birding highlights from 2020 in what was a difficult year for everyone ,hope this adds some cheer .

Male Firecrest Conner Downs.

The year started off well when i found this first winter Kumliens Gull in January on the Hayle estuary .

Second winter Caspian Gull Hayle in what was a record breaking winter for these smart birds ,new individuals kept turning up including this beast of a bird. February .

Yellow Legged Gull . Hayle another good winter for these Gulls.

Skylark. Hayle Towans , Nothing better than listening to and watching Skylarks in spring.

Grasshopper Warbler. Hayle Towans. May.

Tawny Pipit. near St Just. May.

As above.

As above.

Adult Rose Coloured Starling .Hayle . June.

While searching for the adult Rosy i found this second bird the next day.

Semipalmated Sandpiper. Hayle. September.

Bairds Sandpiper. Hayle. September.

Lapland Bunting. Porthgwarra. September.

Snow Bunting . Porthgwarra . September.

Juvenile Hobby . Porthgwarra. September.

Ruff . Marazion .Semtember.

Juvenile Little Stint .Marazion .September.

Nightingale. St Marys. Scilly Isles. October.

Red Eyed Vireo St Agnes Scilly Isles October.

First winter Indigo Bunting, St Agnes , Scilly Isles. Bird of the year for me and only the 3rd record for Britain. October.

Lesser Yellowlegs. Tresco . Scilly Isles. October.

Male Red Breasted Flycatcher. Church Cove the Lizard .Cracking bird .

Sociable Plover with Lapwing. Crows an wra. December.

Dusky Warbler. St Erth. December. A hard bird to photograph.

Adult Ring Billed Gull.. Hayle . December.

Yellow Browed Warbler .Lelant Saltings . Never get fed up of seeing these delightful sprites so here are another series of shots to finish the year off.

 

Not a bad days birding in West Cornwall on Sunday.

Yellow Browed Warbler ,Lelant , one of my favourite birds .

This Siberian little sprite turns up in reasonable numbers in Britain and western Europe which is quite surprising when you consider it breeds 2500km away, this is thought to be what is called reversed migration where inexperienced birds go the wrong way.

This bird was continually calling its distinctive disyllabic high pitched tso-weest call.

It was feeding franticly on small insects.

Last pic of this little Cracker.

Dusky Warbler St Erth fisheries .

Dusky Warbler breeds in Siberia to northern China and although it usually migrates to southern Asia for the winter some birds presumably young ones do a 180 degree mistake and end up in Europe in small numbers ,it is still a rare bird in Britain.

These birds are so active and very hard to photograph.

Adult Ring Billed Gull  Hayle estuary. This Gull is a rare vagrant from North America.

Long Tailed Tit.

Blue Tit a much underrated common British bird.

Sociable Plover Crows-an-wra ,some distant record shots of what is the bird of the Autumn for many Cornwall birders .

Sociable Plover breeds in central Asia and SW Siberia and winters in NE Africa, Syria , Iraq and India ,it is a scarce passage migrant to south eastern Europe and the Middle East In Britain it is a very rare vagrant .

This is the first bird to be seen in Britain since 2008 when one was on the Isles of Scilly ,it is now on the world red list of endangered birds with up to 90% of its population decimated in recent times.