Places to see birds in the St Ives area
Welcome to the definitive guide to bird watching locations around St Ives. The place to figure out where to go, when to go and what you think you should be seeing .. and maybe, invent what you have seen so that you drive us all mad with jealousy ...
The St Ives area is varied - with headlands that seabirds pass in decent winds to well-vegetated valleys that attract migrants. As with most of Cornwall its migration that matters. At peak migration time in Spring and Autumn anything can turn up ... or nothing at all. Seabirds are the main attraction most of the year. Auks, Gannets, Kittiwakes - are pretty much all year - building up to peak seabird action between late July-ish and early October-ish. However, we've seen decent seabirds pretty much throughout the year when there is the "right" westerly wind with a bit of north in it.
Below you'll see the map that defines the "St Ives 15K" which is around 15 km squared near as dammit, and covers the areas we like to spend time in. From St Ives Island in the North East, heading West via Clodgy Point and Treveal valley to Zennor Head. From Zennor up the Foage Valley to Foage Farm in the South West and across east to Buttermilk Hill and on to Carbis Bay via Trencrom. Creating this map made us realise that even we haven't fully explored all of these habitats properly - which is something we're committed to rectifying.
"The Island" at St Ives
We're going to try and get through this whole article without mentioning the Great Day back in the 1980's... when the wind and meteorological conditions all conspired to create one of the greatest sea-watching days ever. We're a bit bored of hearing about that day - and, anyway, we've seen everything that was seen back then ... and more! So we're not going to mention it ever again ... <yawn>... so please don't ....
The Island at St Ives is not actually an island. It used to be a long time ago until back in the 1800's the gap between the Island and St Ives was filled in with sand by a storm and by some judicious building of sandbanks. To create what is now a headland with a Coastguard station. The Island "protects" the bay from a westerly wind and so from our perspective, any time the wind blows in a "westerly" direction (anything from NNW to WSW) - of sorts the birds come in close to The Island as they battle their way out of the bay.
Best time of year is,traditionally late summer but we have proven that The Island really does produce in any wind with a bit of West in it from July through to November. Manx Shearwaters breed on the west coast of the UK and they're always passing by and often drag other "carrier" species with them - skuas, other shearwaters etc.
However, the best time is in a NW blow, especially after a SW blow. St Ives gets Wilson's, Leach's, Sabine's, LT and Pomarine Skuas, as well as plenty of Cory's and a few Great Shearwaters. It's also had South Polar Skua and BB Albatross in the last 5 years. The Island doesn't get the numbers that Pendeen does - which is around 10km west of here. There are some reasons for that and we should probably blog about that some time.
Clodgy Point Coastal Path & Burthallen Lane
Clodgy Point is the next headland along from Man Head which is the one along from The Island. A walk out to Clodgy has delivered migrant birds like Wryneck, Whinchat and others - its an area that really should be watched more in spring and autumn... which is exactly what we'll be doing in 2026. Walk inland and it takes you through the Burthallen Loop - through a mix of scrub, farmland, fields and gardens. This promises much but we've not had time to really see what this area can produce. We have high hopes for Spring and Autumn. Our predictions for here include Tawny Pipit, Woodlark, Citrine Wagtail as well as more "common" species too.
Buttermilk Hill & Treveal Valley
Buttermilk (Rosewall) Hill is one of the highest points in the St Ives area. Regular birds here include Ring Ouzels, Cuckoo, Wheatears. Irregular birds have included Little Swift and Crag Martin in the recent past. Treveal is a NT location just down from Buttermilk and has hosted Yellow-browed Warbler, Golden Oriole, Melodious Warbler amongst other such rarities. Needless to say none of us have actually seen many of these rarities and they were seen quite a long time ago. But that doesn't stop us trying and given that Treveal is a valley, it's in West Cornwall, and those 2 things alone are enough to send birders quiver with excitement in autumn, and to a lesser extent, in spring. Buttermilk is Cornish farm and heathland with Western and European Gorse. Treveal is farmland and then remnant "Atlantic rain forest". The habitat promises much, but is hard to "work" precisly because it has so much cover. Both these locations are walkable from St Ives but need a well planned day trip to do both well.
