Nineteen bird species and a dolphin pod off Mevagissey

Eight pairs of binoculars set off along the harbour wall under a sky without a cloud worth mentioning, three of those binoculars held by children under twelve. By the time the group sat down to lunch, the bird list had run well past the teens, five different butterflies had been logged, and something had turned up in the water that nobody had put on the itinerary at all.

Nineteen species before lunch

The birdwatching trip around Mevagissey Harbour was organised by Connect with Nature, the Cornwall wildlife group founded and chaired by Rowena Castillo-Nicholls, who is also RSPB Kernow Group Leader and Publicity Officer for Cornwall Birds. Rob Nicholls led the fieldtrip itself, taking the group along the pier, the rocks and the water’s edge in what the organisers called another spell of glorious weather. By the end of it the tally stood at nineteen species, among them a Cormorant drying its wings out on the rocks, a Herring Gull surfacing with a splash mid-dive, a Pied Wagtail working the harbour wall, and an Oystercatcher picking its way over the seaweed with that unmistakable orange bill.

Three young ornithologists steal the show

Some of the sharpest eyes on the trip belonged to its youngest members. Ollie Neal, Ettie Neal and Maddie Neal spent the day spotting birds and calling out identifications, and the rest of the group said it was a genuine delight having the three young ornithologists along for the walk.

Butterflies and a pod of dolphins

Birds were not the only thing on the list. Five species of butterfly turned up over the course of the walk: Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Green-veined White and Large White. Then, out past the harbour wall, came the sighting nobody had planned for. A pod of Common Dolphins appeared in the water, giving the group something to point their cameras at that had nothing to do with feathers at all.

Lunch at She Sells Mevagissey

The group closed out the day with lunch at She Sells Mevagissey, binoculars finally put away. Connect with Nature runs birdwatching fieldtrips across Cornwall through the year, with details of the next ones posted on its page.