A bit twitchy

Devoran to Point Quay, Cornwall

There is – and you’ll just have to take my word for this – an osprey in this picture. Photo: Andrew Jones

“You can’t afford it,” quips the cyclist as he pedals past on the narrow road separating the older, smaller waterside properties beside Restronguet Creek from the newer, bigger ones.

“Haha, I know,” I say out loud. “Is it that obvious?” I say to myself.

We’re looking up at high white walls and a tarmacked drive snaking to a house that’s all glass and sharp angles. Too neat and tidy for our imaginary millions.

My first thought on looking at properties like this isn’t whether I want to live in them, but whether anyone actually does live in them.

I wonder how many of this year’s summer holiday visitors to Cornwall will decide to put down roots here. ‘Blow-ins’ may not be welcome to some¹, but the summer visitor we’ve come to see on this walk is being actively encouraged to settle down.

I guess you could call this a twitch – not that I would. I’m not a birder and I wouldn’t say I was a birdwatcher. I’m not even sure I’d say I was a bird watcher². But when I read there were ospreys at Restronguet Creek, I wanted to see them.

I wouldn’t make a special trip to peer through crowds of telescopic lenses to catch a glimpse of a Canada warbler, but some creatures are exciting. And an osprey is undoubtedly one of those: swooping down with a one-and-a-half-metre wing span to pluck fish from the water in Jurassic talons. Even the name sounds exciting – which is probably why the bag on my back is made by a company called Osprey rather than Stone Chat³.

Three ospreys have been reported around here and we get two fairly good sightings. The first as it glides past our lunch spot on wide, outstretched wings the colour of a Viennetta; the second at Devoran Quay on our way back, perched on the bare branches of a tree on the far side of the creek, preening its feathers in between dives to a pool left by the receding tide.

That is just a sprint compared to the marathon it will be setting off on soon, to winter in West Africa. Assuming this is the same osprey identified (by proper birders) by the blue ring on its leg, its journey started in Rutland in the Midlands, where ospreys were reintroduced in the 1990s, ending 150 years of extinction in England caused by the old double whammy of persecution and habitat loss.

There are plans for a similar scheme in Cornwall. A crowdfunder by the Kernow Conservation Community Interest Company has raised the best part of £30,000 towards a feasibility study and the protection of potential breeding locations.

Perhaps this summer visitor will find an exclusive waterside property to call home.

Basking sharks seen on this walk: 0

Total basking sharks seen to date: 0

1. As a ‘blow-in’ myself, I don’t mind, as long as they appreciate what they have.

2. I think there’s a distinction between a birdwatcher and a bird watcher. But generally I’m not bothered how it’s spelt and will happily leave 500-word analyses of whether it’s birdwatching, bird-watching or bird watching to other people. That blog was published on 27 December – there really is a lot of time to fill in those days between Christmas and New Year.

3. I like a stone chat, but you couldn’t fit a water bottle and a cheese sandwich in one.