Saturday 24 October
An update from Fowey. Thanks to the impending arrival of Storm Austen, and strong winds on the days either side of it, we’re going to be holed up in Fowey until Sunday 25 October. Fowey is very pretty (photos) but being there for five days isn’t great.
Still, changeover day on the 20th was a glorious day so a short walk along the coast west of Fowey was in order. It was warm enough to walk in a tee-shirt, which is a bit mad for late October, and also warm enough to see six species of butterfly on the wing. There were plenty of Clouded Yellow (photo) along the coast path and several Red Admiral with Painted Lady, Large White, Small Copper, Speckled Wood (photo) also seen.
The port area is surrounded by trees which are full of Rook, Jackdaw and Woodpigeon and Jay were surprisingly visible with several seen flying back and forth across the river. A large holm oak at the other end of town also had several Jay and Woodpigeon, all feasting on the acorns in the tree, there appeared to be a bumper crop, judging from the mess on the road.
A beautiful, pale Common Buzzard, almost completely white underneath, looked amazing against the blue sky and I regretted not having my camera out and ready to take a photo. I did manage a photo of another Buzzard which was almost the exact opposite, being on the darker end of the Buzzard colour-scale.
The coast woods were lovely in the autumn sunshine, and I came across two Firecrest, flitting around in the ivy-covered trees alongside the path. A very pleasant half hour was spent photographing these little gems (photos), they’re never still so trying to get photos is a challenge. A bold Robin standing its ground as I walked past stood out bright in the shade of the wood (photo).
On Thursday 22nd I returned to have another look at the holm oak at the south end of Fowey. The number of Jay using the tree was amazing, there must have been at least a dozen flying in from various points and then flying back with acorns to cache for the winter (photos). A Red Admiral settling in a sheltered spot of sunshine made for a lovely photo.
Storm Austen swept through Fowey early morning on Friday 23rd, apart from a spell of heavy rain, we were spared the stronger winds experienced by more exposed parts of Cornwall. It was still breezy of course; you could hear the wind roaring through the trees on the opposite side of the river valley.
All being well we should set off at 16:00 on Sunday 25th and hope to resume transects Monday morning.