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Description
Porthgwarra has a bit of everything, habitat wise and a full day here can turn up a surprising amount of birds.
The car park has a small wooded copse to its north and this is often a good place to start your day. Britains first American Redstart was found here years ago and more recent rarirites include Hermit Thrush! During Autumn migration the wood is good for црноглаво муварче and сиво муварче, Yellow-browed Warbler, црвеноглаво кралче and possibly something rarer such as црвеногушесто муварче or Greenish Warbler.
From here walk up the valley and after the wooden five bar gate take the path to the left and down into the wooded valley known as 60 Foot Cover. On a calm sunny morning take time here to stand/sit and observe the copse. A Yellow-billed Cuckoo was found by a visiting birder in October 2014. This area is also good for warblers which can include црноглаво грмушарче, обично грмушарче, Lesser Whitethroat, брезов свиркач, обичен свиркач and градинарско грмушарче.
Go back out of the valley and take the footpath right again onto the moorland. Just before the wall that cuts across the moor is the 'Dried up Pool'. Despite its name its not always dried up, but this is a good place to look for вртивратка in the Autumn. The moor is a good spot for златно блатарче in the winter and Pipits and Buntings during the Autumn. Lapland Bunting is a regular Autumn migrant here and обично камењарче and обично ливадарче can be found amongst the heather. планинско ливадарче are very common too. Keep a look out for birds of prey. сив сокол, Полска еја, блатна еја, сокол ластовичар, мал сокол, Обична (Црнонокна) ветрушка, Кукавија and блатен був have all been seen here.
A walk further towards Lands' End will find you at Trevean Pool. The pool itself is pretty much inaccesible but the surounding woodland is great for spring and autumn scarce migrants and overshoots like жолто гушанче, Краткокрил вољич, обично страче and црвеноглаво страче, Црвеногушо коприварче, Пупунец and Пештерска (Црвенкаста) ластовица. Keep a listen out for flyover жолтарче in Spring too! Anything can turn up here.
Resident birds include црвеноклуна галка, гавран, полска чучулига, ливадска трепетилка, царче, обично попче, црвеногушка and Rock Pipit.
From July through to late September, Porthgwarra becomes one of the UK's top seawatching hotspots. Some of the country's rarest seabirds have been seen from the cliffs at Gwennap Head including Black-browed Albatross, Fea's Petrel, Trindade Petrel (yet to be accepted) and Wilson's Storm Petrel. When conditions are right (South-westerly gales are best!) there can be thousands of Голем завој, Great Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Balearic Shearwater and Мал завој with a supporting cast of Мала бурница Northern Fulmar, Northern Gannet, арктички поморник, Long-tailed Skua, Great Skua, поморник, Sabine's Gull, Red Phalarope, Leach's Storm Petrel and all manor of divers, ducks, auks, terns, gulls and waders flying past!
Details
Access
From the A30 near Land's End take the B3315 to Polgigga, just after the duck pond take the road signposted to Porthgwarra. This is a very narrow road and can be busy during the summer and weekends. Get there early to avoid the crowds! There is a pay and display car park, toilets and a nice cafe that does great coffee, cakes and pasties!