The Return of the Swallows

Swallows (Hirundu Rustica) are small birds (7 1/2 inches) with dark glossy blue backs, red throats, pale under parts and long distinctive tail streamers. They are extremely agile in flight and spend most of their time on the wing. They are widespread breeding birds in the Northern Hemisphere, migrating south in winter. Recent declines due to loss of habitat quality in both their breeding and wintering grounds mean they are an Amber List species.

Swallows are found in areas where there is a ready and accessible supply of small insects. They are particularly fond of open pasture with access to water and quiet farm buildings. Large reedbeds in late summer and early autumn can be good places to look for pre-migration roosts.

Swallows are usually seen in the UK between march and october months. My first sighting of this agile and beautiful bird was early this morning - 29th March 2011.

'One swallow does not make a summer' is an accurate observation as the swallows begin to return from their winter quarters in Africa and south-east Asia at the end of march or early april in one's or two's. It is not until mid-late april that they are here in force, and summer is on its way. 

It is thought that the decline in the number of swallows is from an improvement in farmyard hygiene. Most swallows in britain nest in farm buildings and improvements to the milk parlours and barns have reduced the numbers of insects available to the birds.

Ringing has proven that swallows return year after year to same nests and are often found nesting in loose colonies and gather with other birds such as martins on migration or when feeding. 

I aim to photograph these birds, record when they are here in high numbers and therefore suggest the start of the summer months.

Abbi 

Location : Porthtowen
Date: 29th march 2011

Time: 9am
Weather: Sunshine, limited cloud coverage, warm southerly winds. 
Map Reference: SW690483

Black - Headed Gulls

The Black - Headed Gull, (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) is a small gull which breeds in much of Europe and Asia, and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory, wintering further south, but some birds in the milder western-most areas of Europe are resident.

Black - Headed Gulls can be seen all over cornwall and I have noticed they are both present in rural as well as the more built up areas. I began photographing, learning about and recording them from the start of my university course. I have done keys and research to learn more about the most pleasant and better looking out of the gull genus. 

Black-headed Gulls in their winter plumage.

All year round the adult Black-headed Gull has silver grey upperparts and white underparts, and dark red bill and legs. The wings have black wing-tips and a white edge along the forewing (which separates it from the Common Gull). Up until the end of march, all black - headed gulls, in my area, have kept their winter plumage of white heads and a black dot seen behind each eye. In the summer, the adult has a dark chocolate brown head (but not nape and neck). This colour change has just started to appear, showing the summer months are soon to come.

All images are copyright to Abbi Hughes and were taken on Swanpool Beach, Falmouth. 

Location : Swanpool beach and lake
Date: 25th March 2011 (I go regularly)
Time: 1pm - 4pm (varies)
Weather: Southerly warm winds, sunny but with spells of rain. 
Map Reference: SW795313

Kynance Cove - Lizard Peninsula

Kynance Cove is 'considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the world' (National Trust). The cove is found two miles north of Lizard point which is the most southerly point in the British Isles. 


Kynance Cove is probably the most painted and photographed place in Cornwall. This beauty spot has been immortalised as the perfect cove by romantic poets and painters since the eighteenth century, due to the brilliant turquoise water and white sands, with islands, caves and unexpected views which are still as powerful today, as are rocks of green and red serpentine, polished by the sea over thousands of years and unique to the Lizard Peninsula.


Serpentinite rock weathers to a nutrient poor soil which is unable to sustain the plants, crops (even pasture) and trees that might otherwise be expected to grow in this area.  This presents opportunities to rarer plants which are tolerant of the soils and which are not out-competed or removed for agriculture.  As a result, the Lizard is of considerable international importance for its outliers of rare and endemic plants.  It has populations of 53 nationally scarce species and 20 species which appear in the Red Data Book.

The Lizard Peninsula has been designated as a Special Area of Conservation importance of its sea cliff, grassland and heathland vegetation.  


Many plant species are rare or unique including, for example, the Cornish Heath (Erica vagans, found only on the Lizard in Great Britain) and the fringed rupturewort (Herniaria ciliolata, sole British population). 
Other rarities include: yellow centaury (Cicendia filiformis), long-headed clover (Trifolium incarnatum, molinerii), upright clover (Trifolium strictum) and spotted cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris maculata, found above Kynance Cove). The Lizard is also of national importance for rare lichens, liverworts and invertebrates.  One example of the latter is Lasiacantha capucina, a nationally rare lacebug which feeds on thyme and is found only in Cornwall, mainly on the Lizard.  The Lizard is also the location of the only breeding population in Britain of the chough.


For more information on this unique coastal area, look at Plymouth University Site: http://www2.plymouth.ac.uk/science/cornwall/Sites/Site_Lizard_Peninsula.html


I visit the Lizard on regular occasions, both to Lizard Point and Kynance Cove. There has been little noticeable change to the habitat from November to March but i would like to look further into the unique habitat of the Lizard Peninsula and I will post my findings up regularly. 


I recently visited the cove in massive storms with swell reaching up to 10ft. The overall scenery was very dramatic with strong winds and emotive skies. Some of the images I captured on the day can be seen below and are copyright to Abbi Hughes. 

Both of these images were photographed using a standard 50mm lens with a Nikon D200 on the cliff paths above the cove. Both using a long exposure technique.

Hope you enjoy my images.

Abbi

Location : Kynance Cove
Date: 20th march 2011

Time: 3pm - 6pm (varies)
Weather: Strong westerly winds, large swells, evening sun set. 
Map Reference: SW684133

Godrevy Seals

The colony of Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus, meaning "hooked-nosed sea pig"), at Godrevy Beach can be seen basking in sunny cornwall all year round. I have been visiting the seals since October 2010 and recorded that around 30 individual seals, including the pups, have been seen on the beach on each visit. Through internet research I have discovered that there are usually about 30 seals that inhabit the beach but another 200 seals visit with 30 that come more regularly. I photographed the seals with a 500mm lens on the towering cliff paths above their private cove. Images can be seen below and are copyright to Abbi Hughes. 

This seal on the shore (seen above) was photographed at high tide. You will see the highest number of the seals on the beach at low tide (image below), playing and fishing around the rocks.

Information bout the grey seal....These seals are of a medium size, (the bulls reaching 2.5–3.3 m long and weighing up to 300 kg; the cows are much smaller, typically 1.6–2.0 m long and 100–150 kg weight). It is distinguished from the Common Seal by its straight head profile with nostrils that are well apart, and fewer spots on its body. Bull Greys have larger noses and a more convex profile than Common Seal bulls. Males are often darker than females, with lighter patches and often scarring around the neck. Females are silver grey to brown with dark patches.

Hope you like my images and information.

Abbi

Location : Godrevy Beach
Date: 12th march 2011

Time: 11pm - 2pm (varies)
Weather: Strong winds with sunny Spells. 
Map Reference: SW592435

Wind Turbines

Looking out of my bedroom I can sit watching beautiful sunsets with glorious sky colours and cloudscapes. Along with the sunsets there are two tall wind turbines that whir round and round. I have lived in Falmouth for nearly seven months and had not found a route to visit them until now.

Many people that live around them struggle with their appearance, vibrations and noise levels, 'ruining the landscapes' and the turning blades killing birds and our protected bats along with obstructing their migration patterns.

Although many of these points are valid and true, I personally find the turbines beautiful and a defining part of our landscape. They are a brilliant piece of engineering that helps towards conserving and saving our planet.


Below are some of the photographs of the turbines and surrounding landscape.
All images copyright to Abbi Hughes



Within this landscape there a many opportunities to study the varying wildlife that live in the different habitats. These habitats consist of consist of large rows of hedges, hilly and flat grasslands and farmland.The only colour out at the moment is a strong yellow seen by the daffodils and gauze flowers.

Hope you enjoy the images
abbi

Location : Falmouth Turbines
Date: 6th March 2011
Time: 6pm - 7pm (varies)
Weather:Strong winds, bright colourful sunset. 
Map Reference: SW756354

Swanpool

Swanpool is a beautiful idyllic nature reserve situated close to Falmouth town, Cornwall. It consists of a large lake surrounded by trees and shrubs that provide great habitats for a variety of wildlife. On the opposite side of the road is Swanpool beach. When a culvert was built in 1825 between the sea and the fresh water lake at swanpool to lower its water level a unique landscape and habitat was created. The lower water level left a marshland area to the north-west through which six freshwater streams meander. It is a small and densely wooded wetland made up of mostly willow carr that provides shelter for many small birds and mammals. Wet woodland is a rare and valuable type of landscape, epecially so in this case as the willow acts as a filter, removing pollutants from the water before it flows into the main pool. The pool itself, with its unique mix of fresh and salt water became a special and unusualnatural habitat playing host to over 100 species of bird icluding regular visitors such as grebe and tufted ducks, siskins and kingfishers. A good supply of food is provided by the fish and eels that enter the pool through the culvert, the larvae in the mud, and the insects that are harboured in the reed beds at the margins of the pool.


The stars of this ornithological display has always been the swans. They are fiercely territorial and, though the pool used to support many pairs, the current cob and pen guard the lake so ferociously that all incomers, including their offspring, are kept out. Some of my photographs of the wildlife found in th lake are seen below (all images copyright to Abbi Hughes)

The pool's most prized inhabitants are, however, invisible to the naked eye. In the nineties it was discovered that beneath the water lies the the Trembling Sea Mat, a group of primitive microscopic animals called bryozoa which live in underwater colonies and thrive at Swanpool on the balance of salt and fresh water. The Trembling Sea Mat is the only one of its kind in Britain, a fact that has led to the pool being given status as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.


Below are some of the images a took at the beach and surrounding area.

  

Information about Swanpool found at http://www.swanpoolbeach.co.uk/BeachNatureReserve

Other wildlife spotted at the pool:
Swan
Coot
Malard
Orb Web Spider
Hering Gull
Black Headed Gulls
Tufted Duck
Crows
Buzzards

Thank you and hope you enjoy my images.
Abbi

Location : Swanpool beach and lake
Date: 27th Frebruary 2011 (I go regularly)
Time: 10pm - 12pm (varies)
Weather: Southerly warm and strong winds. 
Map Reference: SW795313