The Mevagissey walk where five children out-spotted the adults

Binoculars were doing a lot of work on the harbour wall at Mevagissey one morning, but it was the five smallest pairs of eyes in the group that kept getting there first.

Twenty two species before the tide turned

The birdwatching trip was organised by Rowena Castillo-Nicholls, founder and chair of Connect with Nature with Rowena, with Rob Nicholls leading the group out from the harbour. Fifteen adults took part, working their way from the quay towards the headland and back. By the time they stopped for lunch, the group had counted twenty two species of bird, five species of butterfly and three grey seals in the water below the pier.

📷Maddie Neal, Ettie Neal, Ollie Neal, Rowena Castillo-Nicholls, Cerys Hudson, and Jake Hudson

The five young ornithologists

Five children joined the adults for the day: Ollie Neal, Ettie Neal, Maddie Neal, Jake Hudson and Cerys Hudson. Ollie, Ettie, Maddie, Jake and Cerys were quick with the binoculars and quicker still with the names, picking out birds and butterflies alongside grown-ups who had been doing this for years. More than once it was one of the five who spotted something first.

📷Cormorant

A cormorant on the harbour rocks

Among the birds the group picked out was a cormorant, stood low on a barnacled rock with its wings folded and its hooked bill turned towards the water. Cormorants are a common enough sight around Cornwall’s harbours, though this one held still long enough for a proper look.

📷Herring gull with a starfish

The gull that beat them to a starfish

Not every find needed a pair of binoculars. A young herring gull was spotted picking its way across the seaweed with a common starfish gripped in its beak, in no hurry to share its find with anyone.

📷Pied wagtail

A pied wagtail and a stop for tea

A pied wagtail worked the rocks nearby, tail flicking as it went, one of the smaller and more overlooked sightings of the day. The group stopped for refreshments before heading round to the far side of the harbour to carry on.

Three seals and a walk to the far side

Three grey seals surfaced at intervals through the morning, heads breaking the water just long enough for a look before they slipped back under. Between the birds, the butterflies and the seals, the group’s list kept growing right through to lunch.

Their day ended with lunch at She Sells Mevagissey, looking back out over the harbour they had spent the morning walking round.

📷Grey seal

📷Ollie Neal, Ettie Neal, Maddie Neal, Rebecca Neal, Emily Hudson, Jake Hudson, Vic Booth, Paul Hughs, Karen Marsh, Dan Marsh, Rob Nicholls, and Rowena Castillo-Nicholls