Gull Watching in Mount's Bay - Part 2!

  It was nice to wake up to a beautiful crisp morning with the sun shining and a clear blue sky. I guess that it was inevitable that we would end up down west again looking at the gulls in Mount's Bay! 

  With my 70-300mm lens currently at Nikon for repair, I decided to take my 10-24mm lens out today. We spent most of the day at Marazion beach where hundreds of gulls were feeding in the surf. I decided to leave John to the gulls and took some photographs of St Michael's Mount. The picture below was taken in the morning.

Gull watching in Mount's Bay, Penzance.

  We started our morning's gull watching at Marazion. The sea was crashing in on the beach and the wind and kite surfers were doing somersaults over the waves! The wind was very strong and the sand was blasting the side of the car making us very reluctant to get out!

  Along the shore we could see groups of gulls feeding on the surf. After a short while John found a first winter and an adult Glaucous Gull. Their white wings making them stand out from the crowd. We then noticed an adult Little Gull battling its way over the waves. 

  Next we headed to Penzance to see the Surf Scoter which had made friends with an Eider! Our final gull for the morning was the adult Kumlien's Gull that has been in the Mount's Bay area for about a week. We found it flying with other gulls, in a river outlet near the railway station. Luckily there is a footpath which allows you to look over the outlet, and from here we had really nice views of the Kumlien's as it flew around.

  All the pictures below are of the Kumlien's Gull.

Hooded Merganser at Newquay Boating Lake

  Today John and I thought we would have a look for the escaped Hooded Merganser that has made its home on Newquay Boating Lake.

  It did not take long to find the merganser and we when we first arrived it was very active, swimming around the separate lakes and diving frequently. It was even tempted on occasion to join in with the Mallards and Black-headed Gulls when there was free food on offer.

  Eventually it settled down for a preen and a sleep! This then offered the best opportunity for some photographs. I particularly like the reflections in the water, not only of the merganser but also of the trees.