Joseph Nichols' Birding Blog

The Trip to Portland and South-west England: A Day in the Poole Harbour Area (9/4)

2010-07-25T18:11:00.007+01:00

I know , I’m absolutely MILES behind with this blog. It’s true that I won’t be up to date with it for a long while yet, as I have been very busy in the past few months and have thus not had much time to write my blog at all. However, now the summer holidays have come, a time of tedium for most teenagers, I’m endeavouring to get that bit closer to getting up to date by posting as much as much as possible. I hope you haven’t lost all faith in me; and if you have, I will aim to make you restore it!

9/4: 20 past 6 (a bit later than the previous day) and off it goes again, that horribly effective phone alarm! I woke up, momentarily bewildered after having been in the middle of dream just seconds earlier, but soon regained my senses and quickly pounced out of bed, opening the curtains to check what the weather was like. Oh dear.... clear skies again; a no-hoper on the migrant front, surely? Rather convenient though seeing that the plan was to spend a day in the Poole Harbour area looking for resident species such as Mediterranean Gull and Dartford Warbler. One might as well hang around for a couple of hours at the Bill though in the event of something kicking off, of course, so we quite quickly headed into the Obs to see if hanging around would pay off. Furthermore I was quite eager to explore other parts of the island, such as the Top Fields and the East Cliffs. On our arrival in the Obs we soon found Peter, who told us he hadn’t ringed anything thus far that morning and that he expected the day not to be dissimilar from the previous one. Not a great sign... Looking out to sea proved equally unproductive as it had done the day before, with a trickle of Common Scoters and commoner auks past but little else. In the 45 minutes or so that we remained solely in the Obs Peter came up only on two occasions, once with a female Blackcap and the other time with a Whitethroat. Lovely to see in the hand, but it didn’t succeed in easing the general disgruntled atmosphere that birders were experiencing at the Obs. After some breakfast we knew that it wasn’t worth hanging around at the Obs much longer, so we planned to investigate the Top Fields and the East Cliffs, and then drive off to the Poole Harbour area.

Portland’s Top Fields are basically just across the road from the Obs, and are very easy to access. As my Dad and I went round part of the Fields, it became immediately noticeable that in good conditions the Top Fields may be teeming with passerine migrants as there was extensive and promising bush cover all around us. However that morning the bushes didn’t have anything notable to offer about from a couple of migrating Chiffchaffs and a Whitethroat. Quite regularly the odd group of Swallow was seen zipping quickly over the fields, an indication of the spring migrants starting to arrive in more substantial numbers (I can’t believe I’m talking about spring migrants when it is now mid-summer!). Once a circuit round the Top Fields had been completed we headed down through an equally quiet Obs Garden (there were a couple each of Chiffs and Willows plus a male Blackcap here) till we reached the cliffs, and headed northwards across the East Cliffs. The scenery was dramatic here and was a pleasant distraction from yet again was seemingly very quiet, save a few shrieking Oystercatchers passing overhead and Rock Pipits sporadically popping up onto rocks both in the quarry areas and in the grassy, level areas of the walk. We walked along the cliffs for about 15 minutes, and then decided to turn back. Once back at the Obs, we quickly got some food to take with us, said cheerio to the crew standing on the veranda, and headed off at about 9:00 to spend the day in Poole Harbour. Below are a few pictures from the Top Fields and the East Cliffs respectively - appealing in their different ways but devoid of entertainment that day. Also below is a map of the Poole Harbour area.

The plan was to head Wareham first, where in the wetland area surrounding this small town a lost Cattle Egret had temporarily found a new abode, according to Birdguides having been: ‘present and viewable from the bridge over the River Frome’, 11 days prior to our attempted search for it. Once clear of Weymouth the drive to Wareham was swift, and we were there within 45 minutes or so, finding what we presumed was the bridge that Birdguides had mentioned across the River Frome and drove into the very quaint, animated town of Wareham (in which we parked up before commencing our search for the Egret). We started our search by walking up to the bridge and scanning the expanse at both sides of it. I had noticed on Birdguides that it warned birders that the Egret was distant, and on the first side we checked there was a massive expanse of wetland in which it could have easily been hiding in without being see-able. I scanned both sides with the bins quite slowly and carefully, but with no success. Perceiving a public path that ran alongside the wetlands, I decided to take it in the hope that it would increase my chances of seeing this seemingly elusive Cattle Egret. At several points I stopped with the scope and meticulously checked the ground I was previously unable to cover. A Little Egret that flew by caused momentarily excitement before I caught onto it with the scope, but as far as I could see there was no Cattle Egret. Was there more than one bridge? Had I come to wrong place? Such questions filled my mind as my Dad and I headed back a little half-heartedly towards the car. It had been a quiet start to the day, and with the heat of the day becoming more intense a soporific air was descending on us. We needed some stimulation in the form of some better birding, and it seemed that our next stop, Arne RSPB, would be most likely to do that. It so happened that no-one else was to ever see the Cattle Egret at Wareham again, the 8th April (the day before we went) being the last day it was seen. Our ‘target species’ at Arne RSPB were essentially Dartford Warbler and Spoonbill (on the adjacent Middlebere Lake). I wasn’t sure if the task ahead of me would pose any difficultly - only the near future would be able to tell me the outcome of that.

Arne RSPB wasn’t very far from Wareham at all, and we were in the Arne car park within 10-15 minutes, having witnessed a transition from wetland and field like habitat to lowland heath scattered with gorse bushes – quite dramatic and pretty, as well ideal for Dartford Warbler (and Nightjar at the right time of year). On our arrival we headed into the hut to pay, and as my Dad did so I had a look at the sightings board. It seemed that Tree Pipits had already returned to the area, and that Dartford Warblers and the Spoonbills on Middlebere were being seen daily. This made me hopeful, and as I entered the vast expanse of heathland I was quietly confident that I may have a good time and find the species that I was in search of. The mix of old oak woodland and heathland was just fantastic, and was quite lively with birds. At various points I could hear Nuthatches, shrieking Green Woodpeckers and the intensely loud and rapid drumming of the Great Spotted Woodpeckers, something you just don’t hear up here in Scotland, mixed with the resonant calls and songs of commoner species. Very early on I picked up a party of 5 Ravens heading southwards over the heathland, their hoarse croaking call sounding rather ominous, as well as a Great Spotted Woodpecker at the top of a tree. As we walked along, we kept our eyes peeled and our ears at the ready just in case we were to hear the unmistakable song or chatter of a Dartford Warbler –sounds I had grown extremely used to on my trip to Corsica the year before. On our way we met a birder who confirmed that there were 3 Spoonbills showing from Middlebere Lake and also told us that he had seen several Dartford Warblers. Ironically enough it was just after the birder we met walked on that we stopped in our tracks as we heard a quiet, single noted call coming from an area of gorse bushes nearby – a definite Dartford Warbler. On hearing it I was keen to locate it, and made my way off the path and into the heathland, stealthily walking towards the area of gorse in which I had heard it. Once there I stood in silence, waiting for it to call again. 20 second past and quite suddenly it started calling again, this time inserting an extra note and sounding much closer. On hearing it I scanned the gorses and duly caught onto a superb male Dartford Warbler, sitting proudly on the highest pinnacle of the gorse it was on just 20ft or so away, its tail attentively cocked. Fantastic! My Dad had taken another route round to the gorsey area so as to increase our chances of seeing the bird, and when I caught onto it I signalled to him. He too caught onto this magnificent little Dartford Warbler, and we stood there for a while just watching it. It was something special to see this species in its very confined, British range, and it was only the second time I had seen the species within the UK (first time in Suffolk 2006). It was a rather fearless and inquisitive little creature, not afraid to make itself apparent and not flying away as it noticed us, staying put for at least half a minute on the pinnacle of gorse that it was on. I admit that in comparison to my views of Dartford Warblers in Corsica, this view was far more prolonged – I was really able to see its dark vinous red breast standing out and its eyes staring intensely around the place, rather than a brief fleeting view. I tracked it as it flitted onto another gorse a bit further away from me and closer to where my Dad was, chattering as it went. Once it had found its new piece of gorse to sit on it duly started to sing – a high speed, rattling warble with a few whistled notes – a very pretty song. We watched it for about a couple of minutes before it eventually decided to fly far away from us. A lovely experience – and hopefully not our last with this species that day, I hoped.

We continued our walk feeling much more positive than we had done previously –seeing the Dartford Warbler was the first thing to have really lightened up our day. As U neared to where the woodland fringing the heath came to a close, an unfamiliar, explosive call came from very close by in the trees just behind me. Behind me, my Dad was signalling me to come over to where he was standing. I did so, and I could see what he was looking at; a pair of Marsh Tits. This was a pleasant surprise and views were astonishingly close, the two of them only 6 or 7ft away from us, busily scuttling up and flitting around the nearest tree to us, presumably in search of small insects beneath the bark. It was undoubtedly these two birds that we had both heard calling. I tried to get some pictures of the birds, but unfortunately they were a bit too quick for me. Marsh Tits are yet another one of those species that you just don’t get in Scotland, so it was lovely to see them so close up, with their glossy black caps, white cheeks and brown plumage making them appealing on the eye. Not only that, but I had not regarded this species as on the agenda on the visit to Arne or Dorset by any means, so it was a valuable year tick for me (remember, I am all the way up in the North-east of Scotland!). They remained on the tree for just under a minute, and then flew higher up and out of sight. Suddenly, it seemed that the day had kicked off. The path then took us round onto open heathland, sparse of trees apart from the odd one scattered here and there, plus plenty of gorses. Walking a long it you could really get an idea of the expanse of the heath. As we walked along we heard another Dartford Warbler singing and soon located it on top of a nearby gorse – a female, although it didn’t stay there long and soon dipped out of view. A bit further on from there, we heard yet another one, and this time located it diving into an area of gorse about 10ft away from us, a male with a couple of small sticks in its mouth. It quickly came back out, and returned with another couple of sticks. This was fantastic to see, as the sticks it had in its mouth were irrefutably there for the making of a nest – and it’s not often in the UK that you’ll come across a Dartford Warbler in the process of nest-making. Very nearby, as the Dartford Warbler passed them, I was able to locate a couple of pipits briefly foraging on the ground. One of them duly went up and sat on top of a nearby tree and started to sing – confirming that they were indeed Tree Pipits, my first of this species for the year.

We left the Tree Pipits and the Dartford Warbler to it, and proceeded towards the adjacent Middlebere Lake, which soon appeared to our left. We walked a little further until we came to what appeared to be a screen-come hide to look out across the lake. Much for Middlebere being called a lake, it is actually a tidal inlet off the much larger Poole Harbour. You could see for miles from where we were, right across towards Brownsea Island (famous for its ternery) and even towards Poole itself. Once sat down at the screen, I had a scan with the scope in search of the Spoonbills that the man we had met earlier on had mentioned seeing. I couldn’t see any close in, which meant they would be quite a distance away. It was a gull haven, with thousands congregating over the entirety of the area. I searched meticulously for those white birds that would be just that bit bigger than the gulls, and eventually, at great distance (far enough that I couldn’t see its eyes), I spotted a single Spoonbill; far bigger and more elegant than the gulls it was amongst and its spoon-shaped bill fairly obvious. When located it was standing still, but after about 20 seconds or so it started spooning in that archetypal swaying motion. With seeing this bird I really felt that my mission had been accomplished at Arne RSPB and that day was really coming on strong. As I watched the distant Spoonbill continuing to spoon in the scope, my Dad caught onto what, as far as he could see through his bins, the other two Spoonbills. I moved round to where he said they were, which was again at great distance and not easy to pick out through the bins (although slightly closer than the first one), and indeed, there were other two Spoonbills. These two were roosting, and at the distance they were at of course you’d want them to be have been more confiding – but even at distance it was great to see them. After looking at these two birds and the more active one further away, I handed the scope to Dad, who watched them for a while. As far as I could see nothing much else was on the lake, save a few commoner duck and wader species, so once we’d had our fair share of seeing the Spoonbills, we decided to head back to the car. It was going on 13:30, so a good time to leave so we could get back for some lunch. On the way back a party of 5 Long-tailed Tits were seen at fairly close range, plus another Dartford Warbler, this time a male oddly placed on top of a tree. We left very pleased with our success – having seen 4 Dartford Warblers, 2 Marsh Tits, 2 Tree Pipits, 5 Ravens and 3 Spoonbills and taking the year list up to a respectable 155. Below are some pictures of Arne and Middlebere Lake, well worth a visit for the diversity of wildlife and the beauty that goes with it.

Once we had had our lunch and had headed off we were slightly unsure of where to go and what to do the next. The primary target for the rest of the day essentially was to try and find basically what was my biggest bogey bird (at the time of course), a bird well known to breed in substantial numbers in the Poole Harbour area – Mediterranean Gull. Of course, Med Gulls could be anywhere in Poole Harbour, so we had to decide which areas of Poole Harbour we were going to investigate, with the additional knowledge that it was quite a big area and would take quite a while to get to different parts of it. We eventually decided on Studland Bay, on the south-eastern edge of Poole Harbour. It took quite some time to get round to Studland Bay and we had to take quite an obscure and long route to get there. Eventually, however, we made it, and I couldn’t help but notice the amount of people that had chosen to stop here and sit on the beaches, a bit putting off if you ask me. As a coastline itself, it was rather glorious, with a golden, sandy beach stretching for miles and views towards Brownsea Island, Poole, Bournemouth, and even the Isle of Wight. In noticing a dead end, we parked on the side of the road, and walked down to the very nearby beach, beholding the dramatic views we had seen from the car. No sooner had I got down there did I hear the inimitable and unmistakable shriek of a Sandwich Tern, and turned to find 2 of these beautiful birds close in, one flying underneath the other and communicating to one another. These were my first two Sandwich Terns of the year, and my first tern species of the year too. Once I had seen the Sandwich Terns I set up the scope and duly scanned the area for any Mediterranean Gulls that might be amongst the vast amount of Black-headed Gulls there were present and in doing so I noticed the presence of some 10 other Sandwich Terns in the bay, fishing together quite a distance away. I scanned the Black-headed Gulls for about 5 minutes or so whilst my Dad picked up on 9 Brent Geese feeding on an area of shoreline which I didn’t have my scope concentrated on, a nice sight and a rare one on land in Scotland (such numbers can be flying at sea in autumn however up in Aberdeenshire). Despite meticulous scanning of all the gulls in the area, no gull stood out as a Mediterranean, they were all Black-headeds. We took a walk up the beach and kept on checking gulls as we passed, but nothing. It seemed that Studland Bay didn’t hold any Mediterranean Gulls, but having noticed a report on Birdguides of an area of Poole Harbour called Lytchett Bay where over 30 Med Gulls had been reported a few days earlier, there was still a very good chance of seeing them. Having checked Studland, we were yet again out of ideas as to where to go next – as we didn’t want to go to Lytchett Bay until the evening. Below are a few pictures of the picturesque Studland Bay and one of a view down onto Poole Harbour from a viewpoint on the way to Studland Bay.

It was decided in the end that we would visit Durlston Head/Country Park, another area of the county that sticks out along way and is effectively like Portland in that it is a stop off point for migrants of all sorts. Of course, on such a beautiful day it would likely be devoid of migrants, but it would undoubtedly be quite a dramatic area, and why not casually check it anyway? Durlston Country Park is situated about a mile south of the seaside town of Swanage, and consists of many acres of very dramatic sea-cliffs – the complex geology of these cliffs being an absolutely fantastic sight. As we made our way in the direction of the Observatory at the bottom, we passed a big clump of bushes that look completely ideal for passerine migrants and undoubtedly would be filled with them at the right time of year; the problem was that there we didn’t see anything apart from the very commonest of species on the walk down, not entirely unexpected. Once we were by the observatory, we sat and looked out to sea briefly – as to be expected nothing was going past. We didn’t stay long, and soon made our way up back up to the Visitor Centre, had a refreshing cuppa, and then decided we’d set out for our final destination of the day – Lytchett Bay – for another stab at Mediterranean Gull. Below you can see where Lytchett Bay roughly is on the map, circled in red, and a picture of the Observatory at Durlston.

Now Durlston CP to Lytchett Bay was an annoyingly long drive – with it taking at least 50 minutes to get there, maybe even an hour. It was about 6:00pm by the time we were getting close, and it so happened that we were hitting rush hour, and the main road in the direction of the nearby Lytchett Minster and Poole was clogged up with cars. We sat for at least 20 minutes in quite a lengthy queue, until we finally reached our little turn off towards the small villages of Upton and Hamworthy on the B3068, which would duly take us towards Lytchett Bay. Once we were in the little village of Hamworthy we found a left turn, and took it in the hope that it would take us down to Lytchett Bay. We found ourselves to be lost briefly going round a housing estate, but soon noticed an area of water that was undoubtedly Lytchett Bay, and we parked up and headed down to it. Suddenly, from having been lost in the middle of a housing estate, we were down by the water’s edge at the scenic Lytchett Bay, the sun just starting to look as if it wanted to set. Lytchett Bay was surprisingly expansive, stretching along way. We took a small path alongside a large wall placed just behind the back of some of the houses on the housing estate, and quickly noticed a large number of gulls in the distance presumably getting ready for roost, mostly Black-headeds, so a good chance of Mediterranean Gulls being amongst them. On first noticing them we were a bit far away, and decided to take the path round a little further so we could get closer to them. As we were doing so we heard the shriek of a familiar wader call, and looked up to see 3 Greenshanks flying at speed away from us. This was a very pleasant surprise and a notably early record for this species, our first of this species for the year. Eventually we were lucky enough to find a little area of beach just off the path for us to watch the birds from, and I thus set up the scope and scanned all the gulls in the immediate area, hoping that a Mediterranean Gull, or maybe more than 1, would be amongst them. I alone scanned the flock for about 15 minutes as meticulously as I could, checking out every bird, but honestly, none of them at that distance stood out; they would be obvious – however, I was rather happy to pick up a group of about 40 Black-tailed Godwits feeding together just in front of where the distant gulls were and a few Little Egrets. The fact that we weren’t getting any luck with Med Gull was a little distressing, and I let my Dad take over to see if he agreed that really weren’t any stand out Med Gulls amongst the hundreds of roosting Black-headed Gulls. He scanned the more distant birds just as I did, whilst I scanned the closer birds. He too put in about 15 minutes of scanning, and he came to the same conclusion as I did – there were no obvious Med Gulls out there. It was now about 7:00pm, and dusk was nearly upon us, the light giving the surrounding water and land a beautiful, scenic, golden tinge (see below). This did, however, mean that viewing conditions were poor.

We were nigh on giving up, and I was becoming increasingly disappointed that I had missed out on a golden opportunity to see a bird that was undoubtedly an embarrassing bogey bird. We were just about to pack up and leave when all of a sudden I heard a sound that I had never heard before but was completely distinctive. It was a nasal sounding ‘yeaaa!’, coming from not far away. In response, we turned quickly to notice a small group of 5 gulls flying in to join the roost. The sound had definitely come from one of the birds in the group, and with that a moment of great joy came in the discovery in that we had been rewarded with not a group of 5 Black-headed Gulls, but 5 Mediterranean Gulls. Just when we were giving up, we had found some! In identifying them and noticing that they were splitting up from one another and about to place themselves amongst some 300 Black-headed Gulls, we tracked 2 of the birds in the bins till they landed, the other birds flying and presumably landing further away. Once they had landed I immediately got the scope on them, and there two Mediterranean Gulls stood beside each other. It felt absolutely fantastic, as I had finally seen a bird that I had long sought after, and had tried hard to find that and been rewarded at the last minute; it really was the icing on the cake for what was a very successful day’s birding. The two Med Gulls were just a little too far away to get really good views (couldn’t properly see the eyes of the bird), and the light meant viewing conditions could have been a lot better - but they were completely unmistakable. In comparison to the Black-headed Gulls they were beside they were noticeably bigger, stockier and thicker-billed. The fact there was no black on the wings, the head was darker, and the black on the head extended down almost to the neck also made them very obvious. We watched these two beautiful birds for about 15 minutes, and by this time it was getting much darker and there wasn’t time to try and re-find the other three birds.

And with the setting of the sun, ended a fantastic day and a successful trip to Poole Harbour in which I had successfully seen almost all my targets for the day + some nice added extras – Dartford Warbler, Spoonbill, Med Gull, Marsh Tit, Tree Pipit, Black-tailed Godwit and Greenshank. We ended the day very content, and drove back to Portland very content and with the yearlist now on 158 species. It had been a truly great day, but would the final 3 days of the holiday match up to it? Tune in to my next entry to find out more.

Thanks for reading, and sorry for not being more up to date!

Joseph

The Trip to Portland and South-west England: The First Day in the Portland and Dorset

2010-06-12T23:42:00.006+01:00

It’s 5:55am, and I’m abruptly woken up by the sound of my phone alarm ringing loudly inches away from me, piercing my poor ears with its monotone, crescendo and repeated beeps. Not the most ideal of awakenings, I know, but at least it made me get up. As soon as the alarm sounded I pounced out of bed and started preparing to go into the Observatory; I don’t think I had ever been so eager to get up in my life. Such eagerness came from the prospect of being able to properly explore the whole of the Portland area and visit other nearby places, and possibly seeing some good spring migrants. I opened the curtains to find that the skies were clear; was this to be a good thing or not? The ideal of course would be to wake up to low lying dense fog, cloud or mist, but what did it mean at Portland if the skies were clear. Would all of the spring migrants there on the previous day still be there? Put it this way, I wasn’t as hopeful as I could have been, but I was still excited nonetheless and I knew that unpredictable was possible; as it always is when you’re birding. After getting dressed and wetting myself with cold water to help me regain my senses my Dad and I headed into the Observatory. We arrived to find a sizeable group of birders, some of which we had been acquainted with the previous day, looking out to see from the balcony, including the warden of the Observatory, Martin Cade. Upon seeing him we greeted, and he quickly told us that not a great deal had happened thus far that morning and that even though it was early days he had been around and noticed that a majority of the hundreds of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs that had been there the previous evening had moved on. This piece of information acted slightly as an ill omen for the rest of the day, as without bigger numbers of birds like Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler on passage the likelihood of something more noteworthy is not as reliable as it would be in conditions such as fog, mist etc. As I went out onto the veranda I looked out to see a breathtaking sunrise over the Dorset cliffs, which you can see in the picture below. I don’t think the picture quite matches the beauty of it, but you can see what I mean!

As I looked out to sea I quickly came to the conclusion that not a great deal was passing offshore, although there was a steady and fairly substantial passage of Common Scoters, flying in flocks of 3 or more. After a refreshing cuppa and some hobnobs, we decided to have a check of the Obs garden and go down to the Bill again as nothing of note was being seen from the Observatory itself. From Martin’s report I wasn’t expecting to see any signs of fall conditions. I was annoyingly correct in my expectations too, as despite a meticulous check of the Obs garden there were no signs of any of the scarcer species that had been present the previous day; not even any Redstarts. Maybe 20 each of Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff remained, but this was a significant decrease from yesterday’s numbers. One word was lingering in my mind, and that word, I thought, could well turn out to prophesise the rest of the day’s birding on Portland; quiet. What can one do though? Admittedly I was taken aback slightly by the sudden change from the previous evening (the change from definite signs of a fall and huge numbers of small birds, to very little indeed), but Portland is obviously one of those places that is dependent on certain winds and weather conditions for providing good birds. On the plus side, I was still very keen to explore other parts of the island, I could always go elsewhere and things could change. As I walked down to the Bill the atmosphere of the morning livened up a little as I discovered that the White Wagtail was still present, feeding busily with a few Pied Wagtails just a few paces away from the end of the huts round the Obs garden. As well as this I was delighted to come across 3 cracking male Wheatears flitting about on the rocks by the shore, their white rumps leaving me in a state of trance and allowing me to ID them instantly. These 3 birds were my first of the year and took the year list up to the big 150 mark. When we got to the Bill itself and had a look again out to sea much the same was passing, basically more Common Scoters plus a few Razorbills and Guillemots. Apart from that though, there really was very little happening, so we trudged back to the Observatory. Our entire walk and check of the Bill and the Obs garden took just over an hour, so by the time I returned to the Observatory it was coming on 8:00am. The sun was well up by now, shining high in the sky and casting an air of warmth on the area; it looked like it was going to be a lovely day. The atmosphere of the day birding wise remained negative though. Little did I know though that I was going to be in for a pleasant surprise when I got back into the Observatory...

I have to confess to being very hungry when I got back, and I decided to disregard birding for a while just so I could have some breakfast... toast had rarely felt as replenishing as it did then. Now for those who aren’t aware of this, a lot of ringing goes on in Portland, and every 20 minutes Peter will go around usually with a few visiting ringers and check if any birds have been caught in the nets. They leave the nets up from dawn till dusk, and anything that gets caught in them is taken out of the nets and is ringed (if the bird hasn’t been ringed already). Once ringed, if the bird is of the scarcer variety they will bring it up and show them to visitors in the hand, although sometimes I was told that they do bring up commoner migrants like Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers, Whitethroats and Blackcaps. I was yet to see a bird in the nets or being taken up to the veranda, so when I noticed people getting off their seats and stopping staring out to seas and going towards Peter, I knew that something had been caught, ringed and was going to be shown to visitors. The question was which species? With me noticing this, I left my toast and hurriedly joined everyone on the veranda. As I did so I could see Peter walking towards us with a bird in his hand, from a distance looking like a Phyllosc. I wasn’t able to see quite where it was from that distance, but as he got closer I could see that it was far too small (minute) to be a Phyllosc and that it had a bright, orange crest. As he climbed the stairs I could see a whacking great supercilium... It was a male Firecrest!

Suddenly, the negative atmosphere had completely alleviated, giving way to intense and total joy. Peter proceeded to walk right to us, and everyone crowded round the bird. With a big group of people towering round it, the poor thing must have been scared out of its wits! It definitely looked as if it was, looking around the place nervously and cautiously, eyes wide and riddled with fear. I admit to feeling slightly sorry for it. It was a beautiful bird though, its intense orange crest mixing perfectly with its black eyestripe, grey down the side of it its face and broad white supercilium. The plumage was a fine mix of olivey, yellow and bright green. Just beautiful! I stared at it in sheer admiration for a couple of minutes, taking a couple of photos whilst I was at it. There was something really special about seeing it. It felt very rewarding in that I had finally seen a bogey bird long sought after, yet getting to see such an exquisite little passerine at such close range also added to the fantastic sense of the occasion. Was this lovely little bird going to act as a kick start to a successful holiday? I couldn’t be sure, but it was a memorable experience nonetheless seeing it, a moment I’ll think back on nostalgically in years to come... After giving everyone plenty of time to see and admire the bird, Peter let go if and it flitted into a far off bush. Peter told us that there is quite often a bird that sticks around in the Obs for a while during the early parts of spring, and this bird had been one they had already ringed. I returned to my toast very pleased, consuming the rest of it with great ease. I suddenly felt hugely much happier than I h3d been, and was keen to see what the rest of the day would hold. It was only 9:00am by the time we had finished eating and got ourselves fully prepared for the day ahead of us, although it felt like it could be 11:00am. It was turning into a lovely day, with the temperature already have risen at least a few degrees over double figures. I anticipated that it would get a lot hotter, which was good in one way but bad in another. It would be a pleasant change from the chilly weather of Aberdeen, but may not be good on the bird-front... My Dad and I spent another 20 minutes or so standing on the veranda to see if anything would be caught in the nets or if anything was passing through, but it was much the same as it had been before the Firecrest, very quiet. Peter did come up and show us a Chiffchaff, which was lovely at close range. I photographed this bird too. After seeing that nothing much was going on and having a discussion with Martin Cade about the Hoopoe that had been at Suckthumb Quarry, we decided we’d go up to Suckthumb Quarry and have a look for it. Martin had seen it on the Tuesday evening, but whether it was still there we would have to wait and see. Here are a few pictures I got of the Firecrest, plus a picture of the Chiffchaff and where Suckthumb Quarry is located in relation to the Isle of Portland.

You can’t see it on the map above, but Suckthumb is situated between the small communities of Weston and Southwell. The quarry itself mines the famous Portland Stone, a type of limestone mined only on the Isle of Portland that has been used since Roman times and is the stone to have built several famous buildings such as Buckingham Palace and St Pauls Cathedral in London. We had been told that Hoopoe had been favouring some fields on the very edge of the quarry, pecking around by some horse paddocks. We were given precise directions as to how to easily access these fields, and were there by 9:45am. Parking up just as the fields came into view, we got out of the car and proceeded to enter the quarry. I set up the scope and scanned the whole field as meticulously as I could whilst Dad scanned through the bins. A few Pied Wagtails were scuffling around, along with at least 5 Wheatears (2 females and 3 males), which was quite nice. The Hoopoe, however, was conspicuous by its absence. There just wasn’t one there. Hmm, what to do... The best thing was just to have a look around the whole quarry for it, plus check for anything else. The bushes looked ideal for catching a fall or a rare passerine, but it was by no means the right conditions for this. We trudged round the quarry, sweating as the heat of the day intensified, with no success. The best that Suckthumb Quarry had to offer bird-wise was those Wheatears plus 2 migrant Willow Warblers. I wasn’t surprised that we had failed to see the Hoopoe. After all it was bound to have moved on due to the lovely weather and clear skies. Having done this, we decided it would be most appropriate to head to Radipole Lake RSPB, not far as it was only in Weymouth. There had been an Alpine Swift around there a few days before. Plus, Portland was destined to be quiet all day with the sheer lack of migrants passing through. We didn’t plan to go towards the Poole Harbour until the next day, so birding locally seemed to be the best idea. A couple of pictures taken at Suckthumb Quarry are below.

It took surprisingly long to get from Suckthumb Quarry to Radipole Lake, with traffic acting as a constant hindrance to our birding time (WARNING: The traffic is terrible in Weymouth). It probably took around 25 minutes to half an hour to get there, plus time spent getting food for the day. When Radipole came into view I couldn’t help but think about how strange its location was, a lake fringed by dense reedbeds in the heart of hectic Weymouth; convenient for those living locally, definitely. On our arrival we paid at the car park, and headed off for a look around. The species I was most wanting to see here was Bearded Tit, a specialist bird to the reserve and a bird that is very hard to see here in NE Scotland (although they are just about annual at Loch of Strathbeg but very elusive). I was also looking for Reed Warbler (even though it was a bit early for them), yet another bird that you don’t get in North-East Scotland. I had seen both species on plenty of occasions before, but to see them both would be very useful on the year-list front. As we crossed the bridge to enter Radipole I couldn’t help but notice the escaped Hooded Merganser hanging around and feeding with the Mallards in its semi-tame fashion, and decided to photograph it just because it was an aesthetically pleasing creature. See below for a photo. If it only it was wild... hey?

Looking out from the other side of the bridge, there were a variety of species of commoner ducks, ranging from Shelduck to Gadwall, as well as a couple of Little Grebes and plenty of Black-headed Gulls. I quickly felt the need to get away from the general populous and thus headed onto the reserve quite quickly. It wasn’t long before we heard the explosive song of a Cetti’s Warbler, and it wouldn’t be the last time we’d hear it, as there were plenty around on the reserve. A Sedge Warbler was also singing nearby to where we had heard our first Cetti’s. It was rather pleasant walking around and being surrounded by reedbeds in the sunshine and hot weather, a far more tranquil scene than the hecticness of the car park. As we walked towards the North Hide I had fleeting views of at least 3 Cetti’s Warbler, with one individual briefly hanging onto a piece of reed very close to us before flitting out of view. A few more Sedge Warblers were singing and one was seen. However, despite meticulously searching for them, there weren’t any signs of Bearded Tits. I found this somewhat odd as I had the impression that there were a good number of Bearded Tits on the reserve. Furthermore, I hadn’t even heard any. On a couple of occasions we came to openings in the reedbeds and had a look for avifauna, but there was nothing apart from the same variety of wildfowl that we had seen earlier on. The word was once again staring me in the face - ‘Quiet’. Mind you, what do you expect? There is minimal wind, the skies are clear and it’s hot! When we finally reached the North Hide, which was quite a walk, we had a look out. After sitting there for 20 minutes we had seen much of the same, which was perfectly nice but was not enough to keep us fully occupied. As I sat there, staring out onto the reedbed fringed lake, I felt slightly soporific. The fact that I had only had around less than 8 hours that night was starting to tell on me, and I was feeling somewhat tired. As was my Dad, so we headed back to the car park to have something to eat and drink to fuel us up, yet again failing to hear or see any Bearded Tits. I now knew that seeing Bearded Tits at Radipole wasn’t as easy as I had originally thought. My overall impression of Radipole was that it was a nice reserve and could easily have potential when conditions were better; however it was a little too disturbed for my liking.

Lodmoor RSPB, where I visited next, was much the same habitat wise but was out the town more and was more peaceful than Radipole. It seemed generally prettier too, and come to think of it I didn’t see a single person, birder or non birder, on my visit to the reserve. Soon after arriving I was pleased to latch onto my second Little Egret of the year gliding across the reeds, always a nice sight. On the lake there were notable numbers of Canada Geese, as well as 6 Gadwalls. Lodmoor unfortunately but predictably proved quiet like Radipole and unable to produce any Bearded Tits, but was probably that little bit better on the day. The Little Egret was nice to see, and hearing a Water Rail was also a good bonus. Both locations were pleasant, but unfortunately lacking in good birds. It was lunchtime by the time we had visited and been round both Lodmoor and Radipole, and I decided, having received no texts from Simeon, that I might as well check Birdguides. In doing so I discovered that nothing had been reported in Dorset whatsoever, save Spoonbill at Middlebere, where I was planning to visit the following day. After having lunch, it was kind of a sense of what to do next. After all, there wasn’t anywhere locally that may be worth visiting and nothing had been reported. In the end, we decided to spend the afternoon down by Chesil Beach at Langton Herring, where a long stay Hoopoe had been. However, having missed out on one Hoopoe that day and because of the weather I wasn’t hopeful that I was going to see this bird at all, but why not have a check when you’ve got nothing else better to do, I thought to myself, even when there’s 99% chance it won’t be there? Here are a couple of pictures of Lodmoor and Radipole respectively.

Langton Herring itself is a beautiful little village, and to access where the Hoopoe was hanging around you have to park at the end of the village and walk down through rolling fields towards the coastguard’s cottages by the beach. The field that the Hoopoe had been favouring was in fact before you reach the coastguard’s cottages, on the edge of the only oil seed rape field in the area. It took us a little while to find where we were supposed to be going to get into the area, but with the help of a birder (who unsurprisingly said that he hadn’t seen it) we found out where to go and proceeded to walk down. The area itself was very scenic, the ideal place to spend a sunny afternoon. When we reached the rape field, we walked slowly down the edge of it, seeing if we could flush up anything orange. But no, it wasn’t to be, as I had expected. Once we had walked down the side of the whole field we came to a lagoon, situated in front of the beach. It held a few species of wildfowl, the commoner suspects and, on the more notable side, at least 6 Red-breasted Mergansers. A Little Egret also flew by. Yet again though, it was quiet. With the feeling of quietude and being soporific, my Dad and I couldn’t help but just sit there and relax for a while, admiring the beauty of the area. After a while we moved on, slowly wheeling round past the coastguard’s cottages and back up the track towards the car, with still no sign of the Hoopoe. Not that I felt at all disappointed though, I wasn’t expecting to see it by any means. From here we couldn’t really think of much else to do or anywhere else to go. It was nearing 4:30pm, and we were both feeling tired. We both agreed that we might as well go back to the Observatory. Below is a picture of Chesil Beach.

And we did return to the Observatory, to find out that nothing but a few more Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and Blackcaps had been ringed. Nothing new had been seen apart from that. Dad was more tired than me, and shortly after we arrived back he had a kip. I had a brief look around the Obs garden, but with little success, the best I could see being a few Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers. At this point, I gave up for the day, and woke Dad up. We spent the rest of the day sitting in the Observatory chatting to other birders, and as it got dark, went to the local pub with one of the birders and the ringer Peter. Overall, a very quiet day, which was frankly rather disappointing, what with the fall on the previous day. However the Firecrest was lovely. Without that, it could have been even worse. Not the ideal start for the holiday, but there was room for improvement. The next day we would spend the day in Poole Harbour, which we hoped would prove more productive. Whether it would or not is a story yet to be told. For more on that, tune in to my next post.

Thanks for reading,

Joseph

The Trip to Portland and South-west England: Casual Somerset birding, the visit to Shapwick Heath/Ham Wall RPSB and the arrival at Portland

2010-05-13T20:45:00.010+01:00

First things first, I apologise for not posting in so long! I've had to do a lot of exams at school recently and thus have been very busy. I am aware that this puts me way behind again and that I probably won't be up to date for a long time now, but I'll get there eventually! If you wish to know any more of my recent sightings keep up to date on the latest sightings part of the sidebar to the left of this post.

Birding was really at a minimum up until the 7th April, when I'd leave for Portland. From the 30th March till the 4th I stayed in Bristol with my grandparents, taking the one day out (1st April) to visit Chew Valley Lake, where I started the holiday superbly. On the evening of the 4th I headed westwards. My relatives have a cottage in a little village bordering the Exmoor National Park and we stay here annually (sometimes twice a year). This was the first time I had visited this year, and I was going down there to spend some time with my auntie, uncle and cousin. We would stay here for just a couple of days (5th-7th), and then head down to Portland. There are several nice countryside walks you can take near where the cottage is positioned, and on the 5th I found myself doing some casual but very pleasant birding whilst on a couple of hour or so walk. I managed to get very nice views of a Nuthatch, a bird which you don't get in North-east Scotland but I do see on most occasions that I'm down in England, as well as fleeting views of a Green Woodpecker that I tracked down when I heard it calling nearby, yet another bird which you don't see in North-east Scotland. The biggest surprise of all, however, was a Red Kite which my Dad first saw when he did a casual scan of the fields around us. This magnificent creature was in one of the closest fields to us, and rose suddenly to the air. There were a few buzzards circling nearby, and it looked positively longer-winged and bigger than them. It circled briefly, showing wonderfully, and then flew eastwards and out of sight. What was really significant about this sighting was the fact that, after nearly 20 years of my family staying in the same cottage and walking around the same countryside, this was our first Red Kite in the area; I had never seen any there in the past. This almost certainly suggests a recent arrival of Red Kites in the area, which is very good news. I reckon they're in very small numbers, but there may be a few pairs dotted through the area's countryside. So, this walk provided me with three useful yearticks. Later that day I was rewarded another new bird for the year in the form of a Tawny Owl that flew in front of the car as we returned from an evening's meal late on, which rounded off what was a surprisingly beneficial day, even though it wasn't intended to be a proper birding day.

One annoying thing about the place I was staying was that I couldn't get a signal and thus couldn't receive any texts (I had made a deal with young BF member Simeon that he would send me texts from Birdguides). It so happened in the end that Simeon couldn't text me updates anyway as he was busy, but I was keen to keep up to date with what was being seen in Somerset and Dorset. As a result I had to take a walk each evening to gain enough height to get a signal, and on top of that use up quite a bit of my credit to see what was around. I did manage to keep up to date, noting on paper any significant sightings from the abovementioned counties. I became quite excited at news of a Rose-coloured Starling seen in the centre of Weymouth (the closest town to Portland), but it turned out that this disappeared on the day before we would go. I also kept track on the two Hoopoes at Portland and Langton Herring. The Langton Herring bird was present on the final day before we'd head for Portland, but the Portland one hadn't been seen since the Monday. Apart from this, there wasn't anything over significant reported. However, I was becoming very excited. I couldn't wait to stay in the Observatory and discover what wonders Dorset birding would hold...

Then the day came, Wednesday 7th, possibly my most anticipated Wednesday ever! When I got up that morning I was raring to go, and we were away by 10:00am. Portland is probably just over 2 hours away from where we were staying, so there was no need to hurry straight there. I had planned in advance that we do a bit of birding on the way, suggesting to my Dad that we stop at Ham Wall RSPB and the adjacent Shapwick Heath NNR. The last time I had visited this reserve was July 2009 when I went in search of the long stay Little Bittern that was seen at Ham Wall RSPB. Unfortunately I failed to see the Little Bittern (missed it by 5 minutes!), but saw some fantastic marsh species including my first ever Bittern and Cetti's Warbler. It's a fantastic site, and I felt that it would be a crime not to visit it on the way. My Dad thus obliged, and we arrived there just before 11. When you park at the car park you have a choice of crossing the road and going east towards Glastonbury and Ham Wall or heading westwards into Shapwick and Meare Heath, Shapwick being the first area you reach. For the previous two days before our arrival there had been a Great White Egret at Meare Heath, so it seemed a reasonable idea to go and look for this as well as check both Shapwick Heath and Ham Wall. We were in vague hope that we may be in luck and see a Bittern as well, but of course this would be difficult. We wanted to head off towards Portland by around lunchtime so we had a couple of hours or so to spare. Thus we set off.

Like Ham Wall RSPB, Shapwick Heath was a marshland paradise. Everywhere you looked there were reedbeds and muddy pools, and a flooded scrape. This habitat is ideal for marshland specialities such as Cetti’s Warbler, Bittern and Marsh Harrier and for waders and wildfowl. As we viewed the scrape at Shapwick Heath we could constantly hear the rapid, staccato song of several Cetti’s Warblers reverberating the area and dominating the other warbler songs that could be heard. It seemed to be literally teeming with them. The other warbler that seemed particularly in abundance was that of the Blackcap, although Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs were also singing a lot. Whilst we could hear this pleasant harmony of warblers, I was meanwhile having a look on the scrape at 51 fantastic summer plumaged Black-tailed Godwits. These beauties with their plumage mix of rufousy-orange and silvery grey were my first of the year, and a sure sign of spring. Whilst these Blackwits busily fed, several species of commoner duck including Shoveler and Pochard were also present on the lake. Whilst we stood on the scrape we asked a couple of birders if they had seen the Great White Egret today. Unfortunately the news was that it hadn’t been seen all day, but this didn’t surprise me too much as the sheer expanse of reedbeds gives the Egret plenty of space to hide! With the Egret not having been seen all day, we came to the conclusion that it was best not to go as far as Meare Heath and thus spent more time at Shapwick Heath. We were just about to move off towards Noah’s Hide, arguably the best hide on the reserve, when all of a sudden there was a cry from one of the birders viewing the scrape of:

“BITTERN!”

With this everyone that had been watching the scrape stopped what they were doing and looked to the skies. I too turned and looked up to see a magnificent Bittern gliding high above the reeds behind the scrape. This glorious create glided slowly away from the reeds behind the scrape, passing high right over my head, lowering as it passed the muddy pools and finally descending into the reeds behind the pools. This was a moment of pure magic as that was only my second Bittern ever and in comparison to the few seconds view of one rising above the reeds at Ham Wall the year before, the views were far more prolonged and at much closer quarters. I reckon it stayed in the air for about 45 seconds, which is quite impressive for a species that can be very elusive. As we left the scrape and continued towards Noah’s Hide, I felt as if I had been tinged with good fortune. I certainly didn’t expect to see one, that’s for sure. Shortly after this Bittern sighting I managed to hear and locate my first Sedge Warbler of the year which luckily was singing very close by. Arriving at Noah’s Hide nothing of great note was around, although at one point an impressive female Marsh Harrier was seen quartering the reeds, another new bird for the year. Plenty of common wildfowl species were present too. After about 20 minutes here we left, and due to no sightings of the Great White Egret, headed for Ham Wall. As we were walking back along the scrape and heading towards Ham Wall when I heard the most peculiar sound coming from the reeds. However, I didn’t fail to recognise it; there really was no mistaking it. It was extraordinarily low pitched, almost foghorn like ‘wooooomp’, heard just for a few seconds. I had just heard my first booming Bittern. I stood and listened in delight as it sung, and as it died down I couldn’t help but think what a bizarre but fantastic sound it was and how privileged I was to have heard one.

The walk to Ham Wall is quite a long one and can be tiring, but we were kept entertained by a few Cetti’s Warblers that showed themselves, my first two Little Egrets of the year at the first viewing point which was the same viewing point that I had seen my first ever Bittern and dipped on the Little Bittern, gorgeous views of a male Blackcap, good views of a Whitethroat (yet another year tick) and by the beauty of the commoner birds. By the time we had checked both Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath it was nearing lunchtime, just the time we were hoping to leave. I felt that I had real felt spring coming to life at these two reserves. Numerous species of warblers were in abundance and constantly singing, there was a decent flock of Blackwits, a Bittern was booming brilliantly and the first Marsh Harriers were quartering the reeds. It was a lovely thing to experience. Not only was it great in this way, but as a result of this visit my year list had now increased to 148 species when the initial target when I got back from Norfolk was 150 species. Not reaching this total by the end of the holiday would be virtually impossible, so I was now aiming for 160 species on my return to Aberdeen. I did manage to not see the Great White Egret, which was a bit annoying, but look at this way, I did get fantastic views of a Bittern in flight, and Bittern isn’t a species I normally expect to see! After a plain lunch, Dad then commenced the drive to one of the most southern points in Britain, Portland. Within a couple of hours I would be at the Portland Bird Observatory, where I’d be staying for 5 days. The time had now come... Here are some pictures taken from Shapwick Heath and Ham Wall RSPB.

As we drove out of Somerset and into Dorset I decided I would have a check of Birdguides in the event of anything notable being present en route to Portland. As I progressed through the long list of birds that had been seen that day, nothing caught my eye at first. However, about a quarter of the day something caught my eye that made me feel even more excited than I already was... Here was what the phone read:

“Pied Flycatcher – 1 male in the obs garden, as well as 2 Grasshopper Warblers, 12 Redstarts, 2 Firecrests and a Black Redstart. Also upwards of 200 Willow Warblers and 100 each of Chiffchaff and Blackcap”

A fall! Of course this fall had not producing any major rarities, but as a matter of fact it happened that a majority of my passerine migrant target species had been seen there today. With this news I was starting to feel that I may have a very nice start to the holiday, but would all these birds still be present, or just passing through? I was soon to find out... At 4:00pm we arrived in the bustling town of Weymouth, the closest place effectively to Portland. Now, for those that are unfamiliar with this area of Dorset, Portland is actually an island which is linked to the land and only by a causeway by the famous Chesil Beach, hence why Portland is accessible. Portland as an island is quite large, and the Bird Observatory is right on the tip. Here is a map of the island. Note that when I mention my explorations of different parts of the island, this map will crop again and the areas I am mentioning will be circled/cropped so you can get an idea exactly where they are in relation the island. You will see below that I have circled the Observatory’s position on the island and that it is incredibly to the southern-most tip, Portland Bill.

As we progressed up through the causeway into Portland and through the small community of Fortuneswell and Easton, we eventually turned a corner and all of a sudden we had alighted on verdant green fields and the Portland Bill Lighthouse. It was an exciting sensation seeing the Portland Bill Lighthouse come into view as I knew that not far from there stood the Bird Observatory lighthouse. After travelling through the little village of Weston we turned another corner and the Bird Observatory came into view. Within a minute or two we had arrived in the bird observatory car park and upon entering the lighthouse met a small, old man with some binoculars round his neck.

“Are you Joseph and Mr Nichols?” he asked kindly (I'm not giving the name of my Dad), “I’m Peter Morgan, the assistant warden and ringer here at Portland Bird Observatory, pleased to meet you.”

Peter told us where we would sleep during our stay, which unfortunately wasn’t the Lighthouse but a small annexe nearby. We duly put our luggage into our room, and then headed back into the Observatory for a small exploration. The living room in the observatory looks out onto the sea ‘obs garden’ as it known, an area of dense bush which is ideal for and hosts a majority of any passerine migrants passing through. A few birders sitting in the living room greeted us and we became acquainted to the adjacent kitchen. On the table in the living room we had a look at the day’s sightings, scrolled down a notebook. These sightings reflected that of the Birdguides report. Peter told us that plenty of people were out checking the Obs garden and advised that we have a look as migrant activity was still high. We agreed to this, and headed into the bush for our first exploration of the area and some early evening birding on what was a lovely sunny day. We aimed to start with a meticulous search in the obs garden, then heading down to Portland Bill and coming back round to the Observatory. To give you an idea of what the area looks like here are several pictures, including a picture of the Bird Observatory, a view from the balcony of the observatory onto the sea and the obs garden and the coastguards huts behind them, the obs quarry (which is just beside the obs garden), and a view down to the Bill lighthouse and a view of the obs garden from the very top of the lighthouse, where I went a couple of times a day to get a signal so as to receive texts about sightings from Simeon and others.

Upon entering the obs garden I could instantly see signs of the fall caused by the covering of cloud early in the morning. Almost every bush that we checked had at least one Chiffchaff or Willow Warbler; they were literally everywhere that you looked. I had never seen so many of them before in my life, and I revelled in the fact that these two species were so abundance. I would have said that Willow Warblers were the more plentiful of the two, yet again reflecting the Birdguides statistic of a 200+ total of this species. As well as watching these Phylloscs, we kept our eye out for those species that had been reported earlier in the day – Redstart, Black Redstart, Pied Flycatcher, Firecrest, and Grasshopper Warbler. Unfamiliarity with the Obs garden meant that if these birds were being seen in certain parts of the garden that we wouldn’t know where to go to find them, which frankly lessened our chances. As we wondered around the Obs garden without any real knowledge of our way round we continued to scour the bushes for anything that wasn’t a Phyllosc. Whenever we saw any sign of movement from any birds, I’d quickly latch on them but would normally find that they were Phylloscs. On one occasion, however, this wouldn’t be the case. Quite early on, as we came to a slight opening in the bushes I was keeping my eyes peeled when all of a sudden I saw a bright red flash of a passerine’s tail on the ground ahead of me. Eagerly, I got my bins on the bird, and to my delight had found a cracking female Redstart. I quickly alerted my Dad, but as he turned to look it flitted off the ground and dived into the nearest bush, leaving us both mesmerised by that iridescent red flash. The views were brief, but it was a good start to our search and took the year list up to 149 species. This sighting was also pleasing in the fact that I had regrettably managed to not see a Redstart in 2009 and that this year I had finally managed to catch up with this stunning species once again.

Unfortunately for us, things didn’t turn out as successfully as we thought they might in terms of seeing the scarcer species that had been present earlier in the day. Despite a full search of the garden (there weren’t any areas that we hadn’t covered even with the addition of the quarry) we could not find the male Pied Flycatcher, Firecrest or Grasshopper Warblers. It was fair to say that these species had either passed through or were keeping themselves very secretive, although for Pied Fly and Groppers the first of those factors was the most likely. We were however lucky to get a fleeting view of another Redstart briefly as we were heading to the western edge of the obs garden, although we didn’t get sufficient enough views of this bird to determine its sex. Also the sheer abundance of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers kept us well entertained. The walk from the obs garden to the Bill itself was about 10-15 minutes long, and on the way we were fortunate in coming across a White Wagtail amongst a small group of Pied Wagtails busily scuttling around the in the grass surrounding the huts. Of course, I couldn’t year tick this as it is merely a subspecies, but it was arguably a smarter and prettier equivalent to our Pied Wagtail and a nice bird to see. When we finally did arrive at the Bill we went behind the lighthouse and had a look out to sea. It was a remarkable experience looking out from here, as the Bill and Portland itself sticks out so far into the sea. This meant that any birds that were passing were often much closer than you would expect them to be. We didn’t expect much to be going past, and nothing much did, but it was just the fact that we were having a look out to sea from one of the most southernly tips in Britain that was so fulfilling. On the way to and from the Bill we had a look for the Black Redstart that had been reported early on the day on the rocky shoreline, but alas it wasn’t present.

Due to having to sort several things out such as getting the dinner and unpacking our stuff, when we returned to the Observatory we didn’t go out again that day. After doing these things, we sat in the lounge and got to know a few of the birders that were staying in the observatory, sharing a few birding experiences and commenting on how good the day had been until there was sunset and then darkness. At 9:30 we retired to bed, as we were going to get up very early the next morning. At Portland, it is always vital that you get up at sunrise as this is when you are most likely to catch the first migrants of the day arriving and migrant activity is at its peak. Sunrise in this case was around 6:00, so I set the alarm on my phone for 5:55. Whether my Dad and I were going to survive getting up at this time for 5 days straight, we didn’t know, but nonetheless I was eagerly anticipating what the next day would hold! I wasn’t too bothered that I had missed a few of the migrant species that had been seen that day, there was still 5 days to go! In my next entry you can read about how my first full day in Portland and Dorset went.

Thanks for reading,

Joseph

The Trip to Portland and South-west England: In Search of Rare Ducks at Chew Valley Lake

2010-04-18T15:41:00.017+01:00

For some teenagers, holidays seem to be received with great joy but end up being a source of deep and intense boredom. The boredom occurs due to the general lacaidaiscal attitudes that some teenagers possess and the fact that they can't think of how to use their time. Of course, I am not referring to all teenagers. Some teenagers manage their time brilliantly and get the most out of their time off. On my Easter holidays I certainly wasn't bored. I was the exact opposite, I was fully occupied! Just a few days after I had seen my first Bewick's Swan and had spotted an Egyptian Goose in the Ythan area, it was time for my Dad and I to travel down to South-west England. I am often down that way to visit relatives, and on this occasion I was down there for that reason. Well, partly. The difference was with this trip down to the South-west was that as well as visiting relatives, I would be doing a lot of birding and staying at the Portland Bird Observatory, a place renowned for the multitude of migrating bird species it gets. I would be staying in the Observatory for 5 days (7th-12th April), which would maximise our chances of spring migrants. For a whole week before this, however, I'd be seeing relatives. So on the 30th March we travelled down to Edinburgh and took a flight from here to Bristol, where my grandparents live. We arrived at my grandparents' house that evening and would be with them until Sunday 4th April, when we'd travel to Exmoor to see my auntie, uncle and cousin. One day between these dates though my Dad had said to me that we could go birding on one of them. Now, there were two birds that enticed us to get out birding during one of the days we spent in Bristol. Both birds were at a place called Chew Valley Lake, a massive area of freshwater that is just outside Bristol. The fact that it was just outside Bristol meant that going there was a perfectly good idea. Not only that, but my Dad was very familiar with the lake due to him birding there a lot in his teenage days, so not going would seem a bit stupid. The two birds that had been seen regularly for at least two weeks prior to our arrival were a Lesser Scaup and a Ferruginous Duck, both of which I had never seen before. On my visit to the lake I hoped to see either one or both of these ducks. The question was, which day was I going to visit?

In the end it was decided that we would go to Chew Valley Lake on Thursday 1st April, so after a day of pleasant socialising with my grandparents we headed down in our Renault Megane hire car and were there by half eleven. I had visited Chew Valley Lake before back in 2005 but my memory of the place was blurred, so visiting it again was actually like visiting it for the first time. Chew Valley Lake is a semi-natural reservoir ten miles south of Bristol, and it's the largest lake in south-west England. Fringing the water are plentiful reedbeds, rolling green fields and several areas of decidious and conifer woodland, an ideal range of habitats for birds. The one downside is however that fishermen and sailors use the lake a lot and thus it doesn't possess the splendid isolation of a lot of birding spots. Access to the several viewpoints on the lake is achieved by car with a road going round the whole lake, but to go to the birding hides and maximise your chances of seeing good birds you need to get a birding permit, which you can obtain at Woodford Lodge on the north-western side of the Lake for a cheapish sum of £2.50 for adults and £1.50 for children under the age of 16. Being just under 16 meant that my Dad had to pay a sum of £4.00 to visit the hides for the day, which seemed perfectly reasonable. When arriving at Woodford Lodge we found the trees to be alive with the calls of birds. Several Chiffchaffs were singing, and I was fortunate enough to locate a Willow Warbler which was singing very close by, my second spring migrant of the year. Having obtained our permit, we were in the process of heading southwards towards Heron's Green Bay when, as I looked out onto the water I spotted a large group of hirundines flying low over the lake. Getting my bins on them, I found out they were mostly Sand Martins, but with a good number of Swallows amongst them too. All of a sudden, I had seen 3 new species of spring migrant for the year within the space of a few minutes. The fact that this had happened so quickly instantly suggested to me that England was a couple of weeks ahead in its transition into spring, as I hadn't seen or heard any of those three species wheh in search of early spring migrants a week earlier at Girdleness. It really did seem comparatively spring like. So, having been nicely acquainted with 3 spring migrants in quick succession we headed to Heron's Green Bay as planned. I don't suspect you will know the route that I'm taking as a reader, so here is a link to a map of Chew Valley Lake (http://www.cvlbirding.co.uk/birdingmap.html). I reccomend that you look at it so as not to be confused when I'm mentioning places on the lake that I'm visiting. The plan was to do a full circle of the lake, spending most of our time between Moreton Point and Stratford Bay as it was between these two places that both the Lesser Scaup and the Ferruginous Duck had been seen the most.

Within a few minutes of leaving Woodford Lodge we arrived at Heron's Green Bay, which had a fantastic view onto the lake. From here several species of duck could be seen with Goldeneye, Pochard, Shoveler, Teal and other commoner suspects present in good numbers, as well as good numbers of fine summer plumaged Great-crested Grebes and two Little Grebes. A Blackcap was heard calling from here but wasn't seen, as well as several Chiffchaffs and a couple of Willow Warblers. Also plenty of Sand Martins and Swallows continued to circle the Lake. Apart from this, however, it was relatively quiet at Heron's Green Bay so we headed down to our next stop at Moreton Point to visit a hide looking out from there. Here is a picture taken from Heron's Green Bay:

It was a small hop down to Moreton Point, but finding the hide here proved quite difficult. We presumed there would be a small turn off for it. There was, but first time round we somehow managed to miss it. In realisation, we turned back and due to more focus we soon found a small turn off down a track which said: to Moreton Hide. As we travelled down the track, my Dad noticed a large corvid sitting on top of a dead tree. Getting our bins onto it, we discovered that it was a Raven, being way to thick billed and bulky for a commoner crow and my first one of the year. Shortly after this unexpected encounter, we reached the small car park and found the hide with relative ease, which to our surprise was empty. Opening up the shutters, we quickly found a group of Tufted Ducks about 50ft away from us, and set out to scan them for one of the rarer ducks that we were pursuing. Almost every duck was a Tufted Duck except one small, grey backed and non-tufted individual. There it was, the Lesser Scaup! You couldn't mistake it. It was way too small for a Greater Scaup and was even smaller than the Tufted Ducks that it was beside. Checking birdguides we found that it hadn't been reported thus far, so I put it in at speed. As well as being told by its small sized, this cracking drake Lesser Scaup also had a small crest-like crown peaked at the rear of its head and darker which lacks on a Greater Scaup and a coarser, darker grey vermiculation than its commoner cousin. It showed absolutely superbly, feeding and drifting casually with the 20 Tufties that it was with and diving every few minutes. I noticed a lot of the time that it had a habit of hanging its head very low and close to the water, which a Greater Scaup rarely does. Even when it did straighten itself up, it was visibly smaller than the Tufties. The other thing that struck me about this bird was that it spent quite a lot of the time hanging around with a female Tufted Duck, and at one point tried to peck at her as if it were attracted to her. It seemed to me that it almost thought it was a Tufted Duck or that it was with a group of Lesser Scaups, as if it wasn't aware that it was a different species from the others. As the Tufted Duck group moved, it moved, and the closest the flock got was around 35ft from the hide. Even at a further distance I managed to get some ok photos of it. It was fantastic to see this Lesser Scaup, as the views were ideal and also it seemed that we were the first people to have come across it that day. Here are a few pictures that I got of this beauty of a bird and a view out from Moreton Hide (note that in every picture the Lesser Scaup is the smallest bird):

After about 15 minutes of watching the Lesser Scaup we were joined in the hide by a few of the local birders who were happy to know that it was still around. We watched it with them for another half an hour or so, enjoying very nice views of it. Whilst the locals were there we asked them to tells us how to get to the nearby Stratford Hide (which looks out over Stratford Bay), and after 3 quarters of an hour of watching the Lesser Scaup we decided that we were going to go there. At the same time we found out that no-one had seen the Ferruginous Duck there, but hope wasn't lost as it could still be anywhere on the Lake. After a nice walk in the sunny weather, we arrived at Stratford Hide. It was a perfectly placed hide, sticking some way out into water (hence why there was a boardwalk to it) and allowed for fantastic views of the wildfowl. Tufted Ducks, Great-crested Grebes, Coots and Pochards all came with no more than 12ft of the hide. It was great to see them all so close up without even having to use binoculars. As the birders at Moreton Hide had said, there was no Ferruginous Duck amongst the multitude of common duck species, but it was nice to just sit there for quarter of an hour having a late lunch looking out across the Lake and watching the wildfowl come very close to me. Once we had finished our lunch, we walked back to where we'd parked the car near Moreton Hide and headed to the next place along, Herriot's Pool. Here is a picture of Chew Valley Lake taken from Stratford Hide:

Herriott's Pool is a medium-sized pool situated just behind the Stratford Bay viewpoint, and is where the Ferruginous Duck is often seen. Yet again, there was massive variety of the common ducks, but no Ferruginous Duck to be seen. It seemed like the Ferruginous Duck was going to elude us now. However, Herriott's Pool had a bit more to offer than Stratford Bay and Heron's Green Bay. As my Dad and I were busy scanning the pool for any sign of the Ferruginous Duck, we heard a loud, warbler-like call from the reedbeds behind it. It was the unmistakable call of a Cetti's Warbler. The call had come from very close by, so in response to it calling my Dad and I tried to locate it. Most of the time these warblers are elusive little critters, but persistence managed to pay off after about a minute of staring fixatedly at the reedbeds when I saw the Cetti's Warbler fly across the reeds for a few seconds. It then proceeded to vanish from view and called again. I felt relieved and touched by luck to see the Cetti's Warbler as not only are they elusive but you don't get them in Scotland at all, so this was a valuable year tick. In fact, it was only the second bird ever that I had managed to see in Britain.

By the time we had checked Herriott's Pool it was getting towards late afternoon and we had agreed with my grandparents that we were going to be back early in the evening. This meant we only had time to check one more part of the Lake, namely the East Shore, where we took a walk to the Bernard King Hide. The East Shore was the most densley wooded part of the Lake, and we had to pass through quite a lot of woodland to get the Bernard King Hide. On the way to the hide I managed to see my first Blackcap of the year, a fine male that made its presence known by calling nearby and then was seen on the top of a tree. Also on the walk to the hide several Willow Warblers were seen and up to 5 Cetti's Warblers were heard calling in the reedbeds. Masses of other birds filled the woods with melodic song, which was lovely to hear and a certain sign of spring. The walk to Bernard King Hide was quite long, and in the end didn't provide too much unfortunately. The best birds were a pair of Goosanders, the first we had seen on the lake.

It was 5:00pm when we returned from our walk to the Bernard King Hide and back. It was time went back to Bristol. It had been a lovely days birding. Not only had I seen one of the rare ducks that I was hoping to see and had great views of it, but I really enjoyed visiting Chew Valley Lake, getting up close to the commoner species and feeling the signs of spring. With Willow Warbler, Sand Martin, Swallow, Lesser Scaup, Raven, Cetti's Warbler and Blackcap all new birds for the year, my year list was now on 138 species. I couldn't have hoped for a more ideal way to start my holiday. So, Chew Valley Lake had turned out to be pretty successful. What next? Where next? That is what I'll be accounting in my next blog post.

Thanks for reading,

Joseph

In Search of Early Spring Migrants and Bogey Birds

2010-03-28T20:16:00.006+01:00

Ok, ok.... I know I said I wouldn't post again until after I get back from Portland. Afraid not! For a couple of reasons I found myself casually lured to get out birding. Firstly, a period of nasty, misty weather had brought in the first spring migrants at Girdleness. These included Chffichaff, Blackcap and Wheatear, and most notably a Black Redstart. Secondly, there had been a Bewick's Swan seen at the Ythan, which has always been my worst bogey bird and is a rare sight in Scotland. I mean, if you have your worst bogey bird present only 10 miles north of where you live and have some early spring migrants just outside town, what else are you going to do but go out and have a look? So on Friday afternoon after school, I headed down to Girdleness in search of spring migrants. We started our search by checking the Battery, where Mark Lewis had originally seen the Black Redstart which I mentioned. We gave the area a thorough check, but there was no sign of a Black Redstart nor any migrants.

Thinking methodically, my Dad and I decided that the best idea would be to have a walk across from the Battery towards the sycamore tree (nearer the Harbour for those that aren't Aberdeenshire birders). After all, the area is thick with bushes that would likely shelter migrants from the bitter wind and intermittent light rain. I have also seen Black Redstart at Girdleness before, and at the time I saw the bird in the past it was on the rocks which this walk goes past. The walk is of a fairly reasonable length and allows for a thorough check of half of Girdleness for any birds that may be present, so I constantly kept my eyes peeled on the bushes for any passerine that decided to show themselves. Satisfyingly, a passerine showed itself shortly after I started walking - my first Chiffchaff of the year and first spring migrant of the year, showing well. This was later followed by another Chiffchaff towards the sycamore. Besides these Chiffchaffs however, I didn't see any other notable spring migrants with the Black Redstart proving elusive and thus far no Wheatears. By the time I returned from the walk it was about quarter past five, which left me without an hour and a bit to check the rest of the Ness. From the Battery I headed to Walker Park in search of my first Wheatears of the year. There had been some seen here earlier in the day, but when I gave it a careful scan I could see nothing but a Meadow Pipit and an Oystercatcher on here. A look out at sea proved very little save a few Kittiwakes (my first of the year), and checking the rocks between the foghorn which I seawatch at and Nigg Bay there was no Wheatears either. They must have been passing through, presumably. At Nigg Bay there was little to report either, despite a Snow Bunting having been seen for the previous two days there. There was a Kestrel here and a singing Song Thrush though. Overall the early spring migrants that had been seen earlier in the day had proved annoyingly difficult to find. On the positive side though I had seen my first Chiffchaffs and Kittiwakes of the year, which was a sign of spring and meant my year list had increased to 129 species.

Now I only had yesterday (Saturday) morning to search for the Bewick's Swan at the Ythan. Ken Hall had reported it on Wednesday, saying that it was in a field between Waulkmill Hide and the Collieston crossroads with a juvenile Whooper Swan. Whether it was still there or not was for us to find out, so at quarter past 9 we headed to the Ythan. We arrived roughly at quarter to ten, and instead of checking the estuary first we went straight up to check if the Bewick's Swan and the juvenile Whooper which it had been with were in any of the fields viewable on the road down from the Collieston crossroads to Waulkmill. Half way towards Waulkmill there were no signs of any Swans whatsoever and I was starting to think that it had maybe moved off. But I was in luck. About 3/4 of the way there though I spotted two Swans at the back of theclosest field to the car at the time. The car came to an abrupt halt as I exclaimed that I had thought I had found it, and looking through the bins I could see a juvenile Whooper Swan and beside it an adult swan that was visibly smaller. I had found the Bewick's Swan. As I locked onto it I felt a real sense of relief. I had finally set my eyes on what had been the most embaressing species that I hadn't seen before. There was no mistaking this fantastic bird, as it seemed quite a bit smaller and wasn't standing as tall as its commoner cousin , even though the Whooper was a juvenile. It was so easy to compare too. I could visibly see that it had a much shorter and thicker neck than the Whooper, with the Whooper Swan's neck seeming positively thin and very long. As well as this, I also noted that the yellow on the bill was far less extensive and more contrasting than on the Whooper Swan, whilst the black was more extensive (just the opposite to Whooper which has more yellow on the bill). The views were ideal for the aforementioned comparisons, with the birds probably at most 50 yards away from us in absolutely excellent light conditions. The two Swans seemed perfectly happy hanging around together; it was as if they were oblivious to the fact that they were a different species. They spent a majority of their time meandering round the field, stopping frequently to feed or in reaction to any sounds they had heard. We watched them for about 20 minutes, then decided to move on. I felt very happy that I had seen the Bewick's Swan, as not only was it relieving to 'clean up' on what was my worst bogey bird but the views of it were top quality. Here are a couple of distant photos I got of the two birds plus a picture of the field it was in. I think the first one shows the comparison in size particularly well (it is the bird on the right in both pictures).

From here we headed to Meikle Loch, where frankly I didn't expect to see much. I was wrong in my prejudgement. Shortly after we arrived a flurry of wildfowl took to the air. Amongst them I spotted ia big, sandy coloured bird with hugely prominent white wing bars. My initial reaction was 'What the hell?!', but I soon regained my senses and discovered what species I was seeing. It was an Egyptian Goose. It was sort of extraordinary when I latched onto this bird, as I have never seen one in Aberdeenshire before, let alone on the Ythan Estuary or Meikle Loch. There was no mistaking it, and was too big/sandy coloured for it to be the other wildfowl species that has prominent white wing bars - Ruddy Shelduck. It's head was also too pale for Ruddy Shelduck and I could see a shade of green towards the wing. Annoyingly, it flew some way from its originally location on the Loch and landed in the fields behind. Here it annoyingly went of view. However, a few minutes later it flew back onto the Loch, sticking at the very back. This meant views weren't all that satisfactory, but through the scope you could easily see that it was an Egyptian Goose. It stayed near the back of the Loch for another few minutes and then flew off completely, heading south-east. What a strange bird to see! When it had disappeared, my mind puzzled as to why this bird was in North-east Scotland and of its origins. Was it a bird that was part of the established stronghold of Egyptian Geese in southern England and had migrated up to Scotland? Was it an escape? I doubted the latter, as it was incredibly flighty and only stayed on the Loch for about 10 minutes. Later that day I reported the bird on Birdguides and Birdforum and my Dad on ABZ Rare Birds. Just today, I got a response from an aberdeenshire birder on Birdforum who told me that the only other record of Egyptian Goose in North-east Scotland ever was a bird at New Deer in 2009. He told me that this possible made the sighting very significant, which makes me feel quite excited. On the other hand, he did mention that it is hard to know whether the credentials of such a bird would be suitable for one of the birds from the established strongholds in Norfolk and southern England. Having checked Birdguides I have noticed that an Egyptian Goose was seen last week in Shetland, so I'm half inclined to think that it may be the same bird that was seen in Shetland. However, it could also be one of the birds from a small stronghold in the Gosford Estate, Lothian. These are just possibilities. Its actual origins still remain clouded in ambiguity... My Dad and I aren't the only people to have seen it, as one person reported that it was seen on the Estuary itself an hour and a half after we'd seen it fly off. It hasn't been seen since, as far as I'm aware. An interesting one... I did year tick it, which now means that my year list is on 131 species.

From Meikle Loch we headed to Collieston where we stopped briefly for a look out at sea. There wasn't too much going past at all apart from a few Fulmars, some Guillemots, a couple of Gannets and a Kittiwake. The rocks by the sea there regularly provide Wheatears, but there were none there when I looked. From here, we went on a walk from the car park at the north end of the Ythan Estuary and into the Forvie National Nature Reserve, an area of coastal moorland which can provide migrants and the like. Unfortunately there were no migrants present here, but the area wasn't completely devoid of birds. Dozens of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits were singing and taking to the thermals of the area. It was a lovely to see them enjoying the early spring sun. Because the weather was so nice, I thought it would be a good idea to take a few pictures at Collieston and the Ythan. The first two are from Collieston, whilst the latter is a view looking west from Forvie.

Now that really is all I'm going to post in here until I get back from Portland! I hope I have a lot to report to you, as I'll be going to several places in Dorset, Hampshire and on the first part of my holiday, Somerset. Before I go to Portland I'm going to be spending a week in Somerset with family. On one day (maybe next Saturday) I hope to go to Chew Valley Lake, where Ferruginous Duck and Lesser Scaup have been seen recently, and on the other day I hope to go to Ham Wall/Shapwick Heath where a Great White Egret has been seen recently. When staying in Portland it is likely that I'll spend quite a bit of time in the areas round the observatory, but I will almost certainly visit places like Ferrybridge, Portland and Poole Harbour, Arne RSPB, Radipole Lake and Lodmoor RSPB. I may also visit places in Hampshire if Portland is quite quiet (for example Blashford Lakes). I have got my target birds for the trip, but I won't mention these to you until I get back. Anyhow, I'm leaving for England on Tuesday. I'm immensely looking forward to staying in Portland, and hopefully will enjoy reporting back my trip in here.

Thanks for reading and happy birding,

Joseph

A March Weekend's birding (20th-21st)

2010-03-24T18:28:00.005Z

This weekend just passed I decided that I should get out birding again. After all late March is just the time that the first spring migrants arrive on the coast, so what better than to give the 3 local patches a check? We chose the Saturday to do this, but reports on Birdforum from Mark (Fat Paul Scholes) and Andrew Whitehouse’s weekly patrols round Girdleness were not seeming hopeful on the migrant front, with neither them reporting of any migrant activity. Furthermore there were no reports of any migrants from elsewhere in the county on either the local ABZ Rare Birds service or Birdguides, so the chances of Wheatear, Sand Martin and the like being seen was minimal. And it proved to be at Girdleness, which was very quiet. A walk from the sycamore to the Torry Battery and back proved unfruitful, with a few Robins, Pied Wagtails and Blackbirds being the only birds on this walk. Walker Park, a place that regularly holds Wheatears, had nothing in it at all save a couple of Rock Pipits, and the sea was too still for anything to be seen but a few Guillemots passing by. However, there were definitely signs of spring at the Ness, with the songs of Skylarks filling the air. Not only that, but it generally seemed a lot warmer too. A stop at the Ythan also proved very quiet with a scattering of wildfowl and waders such as Mute Swan, Wigeon, Goldeneye, Shelduck, Redshank and Curlew present in good numbers, but not much else.

It’s just before midday, and I’ve already checked two of my three patches. There was still a possible 4-5 hours birding before sundown, but there was little point in birding for more than a couple of hours longer. Arriving at Strathbeg, we were greeted by one of the wardens. As always, we asked him what was about. From the sombre tone of the post thus far, you can probably guess what he said.

“There isn’t too much about today really, but still a nice variety of the common species.”

He was right to think as he did. There really was not much from the Visitor Centre at all, just really those species that we had seen on the Ythan plus a few Herons, Moorhens and what not. A Peregrine, however, was seen sitting distantly in the fields behind the pools. The Pink-footed Goose flock could just be seen through the scope towards the north of the reserve as well. It’s always worth it having a check through the goose flock, so after what was a brief stop at the Visitor Centre we made our way to Fen Hide to have a proper look at the geese. Arriving there we found a nice assortment of the commoner wildfowl, with a few Pochards amongst the copious Wigeons and Tufted Ducks. There were a few Goldeneyes present too, and I particularly enjoyed watching them. There were 3 individuals very close to the hide, consisting of 2 males and a female. It was a fascinating and beguiling sight to watch these 3 individuals as the two males were displaying to the females, both of them tossing their head back such a great distance that it nearly reached their backs and then stretching their necks up with their bill pointing upwards. I have seen this before on several occasions, but it was particularly good to watch it today as the Goldeneyes were no more than 25ft from the hide and I was looking at them through the scope. Looking through the geese we found 9 Barnacle Geese amongst the numerically superior Pinkfeets (c.400 birds). 121 was also a splendid number, and I presume pre-migratory gathering, of Whooper Swans. We sat in Fen Hide for over an hour, just enjoying watching the common species. Yet at the same time I felt that there was a sort of soporific calm and a general languor to the occasion. When there is little of note to see all one can do is watch those birds that are present. Otherwise, they can do little else. It was nearing two thirty when we decided that, having checked the three local patches, we’d call it a day and head back home relatively early. That was the first time this year that I came home early, and the first day that I felt it really was very quiet on the bird front. Oh well, what can you do?

But there is something I’m hiding from you. I was disappointed that we arrived back home earlier than usual on Saturday. Now, what I haven’t told you is that on Friday night the report of a Great Grey Shrike in the moorlands west of the village of Rhynie had come in from Birdguides. Rhynie is situated on the north-western most borders of Aberdeenshire. Here is how the exact details to the bird’s location read:

‘One perched on top dwarf willows 200m southeast of the Forestry Commission car park west of Rhynie, although this was seen yesterday (Thursday)’

Obviously this sounded a bit vague to someone like me who wasn’t familiar with the Rhynie area. On the Friday evening that this Shrike was reported, my Dad and I discussed whether it would be a good idea to go and look for it on the Saturday. However my Dad seemed to think it wasn’t a good idea. Combining the fact that Great Grey Shrikes can be elusive, that no one had seen it on Friday and that Rhynie was a long way off course from any of our local patches, we came to the conclusion that day could easily be wasted if we headed up there. So instead, we opted to check our local patches, which you know provided very little. If we were to go and see the Shrike on the Saturday, it would have to be reported on Birdguides whilst we were out. Despite me checking my phone quite often to see if it had been reported, however, nothing came through. As we headed back home on the Saturday afternoon my Dad said that if the bird was seen that day we would go and see it the next day. I check Birdguides and ABZ Rare Birds when I get home; still no updates on the Great Grey Shrike. I then proceed to go onto Birdforum, where the previous night I heard that a birder living close to the area in which it had been seen was going to have a look for it on the Saturday. This birder (Fiona, known as Tree Sparrow on Birdforum) was my last hope if I was going to go up and see this bird. I checked the ‘Wild in Aberdeen – City and Shire’ thread, and suddenly my sombre temperament metamorphosed into a feeling of pure delight. Fiona had seen it! It was still there after all. What’s more, she even had photographic evidence of the bird’s presence! This was fantastic, so I alerted my Dad and he agreed that we would go up and see it tomorrow, so long as I sort out the directions. That night on Birdforum, to make things even better for me, Fiona very kindly offered to show me and my Dad the bird, and later in the evening I found myself on the phone to her and organising meeting times and being given directions to where to go. After finding out how to get to the exact location of the Shrike, it was eventually concluded that we would meet at 8:30am outside the car park from which the car park was seen. This would mean an early start the next day.

6:30am, and the alarm clock is ringing. Both my Dad and I are out of bed very quickly, and are soon having breakfast. The birding equipment still hadn’t been put away from the previous day and Dad had made some food for us, so after breakfast and getting ourselves washed and our teeth brushed, we were out the house and travelling towards Rhynie by 10 past 7. Travelling past Loch of Skene, I picked up a Great Spotted Woodpecker dipping across the road, which was a year tick and took the year list to 122. Several Buzzards were enjoying the early morning thermals too, and were seen on a majority of the journey up to Rhynie. The drive was very efficient, and we found ourselves in the Rhynie area at around 5 past 8. Finding the appropriate turn off, we soon found ourselves driving right into the heart of the countryside, encompassed by the looming, heather-covered moors, some of which had a small scattering of snow on them, presumably the remains of the snow caused by the previous month’s hard weather. We progressed down the road for what seemed like quite a long time when eventually after 5 or 6 miles we saw the Clasindarroch Forest to our right. To the left was a fairly expansive lay-by where a Land Rover was parked. Beside it stood a woman who had her binoculars fixatedly on the willow bushes in front of her. It was Fiona, and my first impression was that she was watching the Shrike. As we got out the car, we greeted her and she said:

“It’s still there, perched on the largest of the willow bushes.”

I raised my binoculars in the direction of the willows in which she had said the bird was in, and sure enough, perched proudly on the top of the willows, was a fabulous Great Grey Shrike. It was a fantastic feeling to become acquainted with this bird, and so quickly after our arrival too. It was a terrific bird, easy to pick out even with the naked eye due to its diagnostic and distinctive features. No bigger than a Mistle Thrush, it had the archetypal stand out long tail that a majority of Shrikes obtain, whilst its back and the cap of its head were uniformed with a fantastic dove-grey and its breast a clean white. A black mask was also visible around the eye and its cheeks were white. I must say, it was rather sweet. However, bear in mind that this species is a small but efficient killer. Half of the Great Grey Shrike’s prey biomass consists of small rodents, making it, in a way, carnivorous. The fact the bill is hooked in a raptor like fashion would suggest this. It seemed pretty content sitting on the willows there. I presumed it was on the hunt/in search of prey as I could see its watchful, keen and somewhat mean looking eyes staring at the ground below it as it sat on the topmost branches of the willow. About 5 minutes after watching it my thoughts were confirmed as it abruptly rose from the tree and caught what was most probably a flying invertebrate before returning to its perch. It was a fascinating creature, and a lot of the time it seemed to just stay on the same perch, waiting for more food but at the same time being vigilant of what was going on around it. When a group of people returned to the car after about 20 minutes of us watching the bird, it became scared and took off, flying to a more distant willow bush and propping itself in the usual manner on top of its new perch. Whilst it was in flight, I noted the black and white visible on the tail and wings. What a fantastic bird! Having a look at the closest treetops in the Clasindarroch Forest behind us, I was able to connect with a few Common Crossbills and a few Common Redpolls, which surprisingly took the year list up to 125 species. The moorland was alive with the calls of these birds, as well as that of Siskin, the jangling song of Skylarks and the sweet calls of the first Lapwings and Curlews that had come to nest inland for the spring on what was a lovely, sunny morning. Here are a couple of pictures of the Shrike and the bush in which it was perched. Thanks to Fiona for the two pictures of the Great Grey Shrike and to Ken Hall for a picture of the willows in which the bird was seen on. The pictures aren’t that close up of the Shrikes, but I will link you to some closer up pictures of the bird at the end of the post.

As the Great Grey Shrike was more distant now we decided we’d leave it be for a while and head in search of a speciality species that was known to be present in the area – Black Grouse. Now, Black Grouse has always been a species that I have never seen, solely because hitherto my trip into the Rhynie area I had never been anywhere that was fairly reliable for them (yes I haven’t given the Highlands proper justice!). However, now was my chance to connect with this wonderful species. With Fiona hopping into our car, we left the car park, took a turn off and headed down a road in which she said she had seen Black Grouse before. A little way down this road she told us to park up and scan the moors. We did so, waiting patiently and looking meticulously for any medium-sized, sturdy gamebird that decided to venture behind the boggy grass that dominated in front of the tall heather behind. 10 minutes pass... no sign of any Grouses, but a few Curlews and Lapwings. Another 5 minutes pass and there is no change. But wait! Just as we were thinking that we may have to move on a little, I spot the back of a black coloured, medium sized bird behind a piece of bog. I stare through the scope fixatedly at it, and alert Fiona and my Dad of it. I was almost certain it was a Black Grouse, but for confirmation’s sake I needed it to appear from behind the bog. It did so, and there before me stood an astounding male Black Grouse. My reaction as it appeared was one of complete and utter joy. It was a beautifully ornate bird, with an almost fully jet black body. Going down its neck I noticed it had an exquisite, glossy green blue sheen and I could see its blood red, comb-shaped eyebrows, the latter feature being akin to that of the Red Grouse but much more vibrant looking and noticeable. It was an absolutely tremendous looking bird. As I watched flabbergasted at the beauty of the Black Grouse, my Dad pointed out that he had spotted another male not far to the right of the one which I was watching. Zooming out a little on the scope, I managed to get both birds into my field of vision. The one which I had originally been watching was busily feeding, whilst the other was just standing there. It felt almost like a dream to watch them, as not only is Black Grouse my favourite grouse species but one of my favourite birds. They were divine. After about 5 minutes of watching them, they suddenly took to the air. This was a stupendous sight, and I couldn’t help noticing their prominently exposed, long, lyre-shaped tails. I could also clearly see the white flash of the birds’ underwings and wing-bars, which were outstanding due to the darkness of the rest of the birds’ body. Unfortunately, they didn’t stay in flight briefly or not flight far. Instead, they flew completely out of sight. What extraordinary birds!

With their disappearance, we decided that we’d drive on a little and get to an area where there the land was less boggy and the heather was closer to the car. We eventually found somewhere to park, and were just about to set off into the heather when Fiona exclaimed that she had re-found the two male Black Grouses that we were watching earlier. This time, the viewing conditions were far more ideal. Both birds were closer to us, and were not in a field in which they could conceal themselves behind boggy grass; they were right in the open. As a result of this, I found myself watching them for another 15 minutes or so again. Once this time had passed, Fiona and I left my Dad to continue watching them and hopped over the fence next to the road and into the heather. The aim, of course, was to see if we could flush up any Red Grouse. Despite covering a lot of the heather, neither of us was successful. So after watching the two male Black Grouses a little longer we started to head back to the car park to see some more of the Shrike. Just as we were doing so, Fiona told my Dad to stop the car, and she pointed out a female Black Grouse in front of some heather. This was a comparatively dull bird to the males, but was interesting to see nonetheless. I observed just how much smaller this female was than the males, and I could easily see how one could rule out Red Grouse as this bird lacked the rufousy plumage of Red Grouse. Instead, it was a tawny brown colour and was barred all over. It also lacked the exquisite tail that the males obtain. We watched the female for 30 seconds or so before it disappeared behind the heather again. We then continued our return to the car park. Here is a picture taken by Ken Hall of a male Black Grouse that he saw in the area whilst looking for the Shrike. Thank you very much for letting me use the picture, Ken!

Arriving back, we found the Great Grey Shrike back on the perch in which we had originally seen it. I proceeded to look at it through the scope, trying to take a few pictures but failing to do so. Just as I was trying to take a picture, a van pulled up beside us, and out of it came a man with binoculars in his head and a young girl also surprisingly with binoculars. Who could this be? Well, the man seemed to know who I was.

‘Joseph, isn’t it?” he said as he got out the car, “Gus Guthrie, and this is my daughter Alex. You know us off Birdforum.

What a coincidence! I had just bumped into and met the only other young birder I was aware of in North-east Scotland, and the only person that also had a birdwatcher as a child. I greeted them both warmly, and showed them where the Shrike was. They were soon watching it. It was great to see Alex watching the bird, as she is only 11 years old. I think it is special for someone of her age to be so interested in birds and take such delight as myself in seeing the Shrike. We talked quite a lot as we watched the bird, and were very fortunate when the Great Grey Shrike came to the closest willow bush to us. It didn’t stay there long however, and after that disappeared out of view for a few minutes. At this point Alex and Gus left, as they were hoping to go up to Burghead in search of the King Eider. We wished them good luck and at this point set off for a walk in Clasindarroch forest. The walk proved rather annoying, as we surprisingly found ourselves walking in quite deep snow and occasionally losing our footing as our feet sunk deep down into the snow. However, on this walk up to 30 Siskin were noted, as well as a few Redpolls and a few Crossbills. The walk took half an hour or so, so it was just before midday before we returned to the car park to watch the Great Grey Shrike for the final time. Here we met another few birders who had come up from Aberdeen to see the Shrike, and we watched it with them. It was far more distant this time though. After about 20 minutes or so Fiona left, and we thanked her for what had been an incredibly pleasant morning’s birding. We soon followed her, and headed back to Aberdeen very, very content. As we were travelling back towards Rhynie, we briefly saw a Red Grouse scuttling from the side of the road into the nearby heather, which took the year list to 127 species. Anyway, I had not fully expected to see either Great Grey Shrike or Black Grouse to be quite honest, so it was a real surprise and delight to see them both. I think that both species are lovely birds in their different ways, and I couldn’t have hoped for better views of them. It was fantastic. There was a good cast of other birds that I wasn’t expecting to see that day too, including Crossbill, Redpoll, and Red Grouse. And to round it all up, the scenery was spectacular. Here are some pictures of the moorland round the Rhynie area, as well as a link to some top quality images of the Shrike on Birdguides from Alan Sinclair.

http://www.birdguides.com/iris/pictures.asp?f=242599 - Great Grey Shrike photo

I think that my day in the Rhynie area now stands me in really good stead for my Portland trip. And it just so happens that the next thing I will be blogging is that of my Portland trip. I’m really looking forward to the trip, and have written a whole itinerary of target birds and places I could visit. I will hopefully be doing birding in Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset, and my aim is to have seen around 150 species for the year by the time I get back. That should be possible, providing I have a good time. If I do, I’m sure I’ll have lots to report, and with having lots to report, will find myself not up to date with this blog once again!

Thanks for reading,

Joseph

Patch Birding in early March

2010-03-16T17:01:00.004Z

For once, I don't have to write as if I'm describing a birding day that took place two months ago. It's a good feeling! More to the point, back on the 7th March I was out birding, patrolling two of my local patches, namely Girdleness and the Loch of Strathbeg, for those commoner species that I was yet to catch up with on the year and for anything else that may have strayed onto the Aberdeenshire coast. It was an ok day, and saw me reach a useful yardstick year list wise for late winter, namely 120 species. You'll find out what those 3 year ticks were in the course of this post.

My patch patrol began at Girdleness. Now, I have found a generally lethargy to check Girdleness this year. I have found from previous experience that can be very quiet when migrant activity of some sort isn't a foot. However, I knew there were a couple of commoner species that I would have a chance of seeing here. Fulmar, Kittiwake and Common Scoter had thus far eluded me, and I knew Girdleness was probably the best place to see them. Obviously there's going to be no trouble with these species during a year, but it is always good to see them as early as possible. We started checking Girdleness by having a look around Nigg Bay, which held good numbers of Eider, the commoner species of gull, and on the slightly more interesting note, up to 4 Red-throated Divers and a lone Great Crested Grebe. Both these species were of interest to me, as one of the 4 Red-throated Divers struck me as rather strange and interesting. It was basically all dark, with no white on it whatsoever. Black-throated Diver was quickly ruled out due to the fact that this bird was exactly the same size as its fellows and had the archetypal up-turned bill of a Red-throated. The stance seemed all wrong for anything else. In the end, I concluded that it was a Red-throated Diver going through a transitional phase from winter plumage into summer plumage. Also adding to the oddity was the fact that the Great Crested Grebe was at the Ness, as I have never recorded this species at the site before, and I've rarely been told of any sightings. Also from Nigg Bay, I was happy to see my first Fulmar of the year, one of the three commoner seabird species I was yet to see.

Moving on from Nigg Bay, I had a quick check in Walker Park just in case the first Wheatear of the year had ventured onto Girdleness, but as expected no such luck. However there was a nice Rock Pipit here. Meanwhile, from the Coo there were up to 20 Purple Sandpipers, as well few Redshanks, Curlews, Turnstone and yet again plenty of Eiders, but nothing really at all at sea. No Kittiwakes or Common Scvoters. Not even a Gannet. Overall, pretty quiet, but you're not going to see anything at all if you don't check these places. We had spent a good hour checking Girdleness, and we decided that it would be best to head northwards. As we had not seen Common Scoter at Girdleness, we concluded it may be a good idea to Blackdog which from Spring to Autumn holds massive flocks of Scoters, including Commons, Velvets and usually one or two Surf Scoters. It was likely a few would still be out at sea there, and the fact that I hadn't visited the area in many months meant it was probably worth going there. So we did so. Our stop here was very brief, as within a few minutes of arriving down by the beach and looking out at sea did I spot a single Common Scoter zipping past at high speed. It was interesting that there were none amongst the Eiders, as I was expecting that a few would still be remaining from the big flocks of last year. Put this way, our mission was accomplished at Blackdog, so it was straight up to Strathbeg, where we would spend the rest of the day.

Upon our arrival at Starnafin, we found a couple of the local birders staring concentratedly into their scopes, clearly with their eyes on something.

" What may we have here today?" I asked after greeting them.

" Well, we're just having a scan through the pinkfeet flock in the back fields. There's a single Brent Goose amongst them which should be easily locatable. There was a White-fronted Goose with them yesterday, which is what we're looking for. The Bittern was also seen on Friday. However, no result so far."

"Anything else around besides these geese?"

" Well, I strangely had a Barn Owl down at the Fen Hide earlier this morning."

With this, the birder took out his DSLR and showed us some fabulous photos of the Barn Owl he had been talking about. Anyhow, it was sounding quite good at Strathbeg today, the right place to be. Having been shown the photos, we set up our equipment on the geese flock, and scanned through each bird. In total, I'd say there were maybe about 350 Pink-footed Geese there, which is a reasonably good number. Whilst scanning, I managed to pick out around 20 Barnacle Geese, and sure enough, the Brent Goose amongst them. Both species were stand out amongst their more copious cousins. The Barnacles were widely spread amongst the flock, whilst the Brent was roughly situated in the middle of the flock. The latter of the two species, was a year tick, and meant that I had reached my yardstick of 120. It was of the Pale-bellied variety, and was feeding contently beside a Barnacle which it seemed somewhat smaller than. It was a satisfying and pretty bird to watch. Apart from these 21 geese, they were all Pinkfeets.

" I reckon that if the White-fronted Goose is on the reserve that it'll be in the fields towards Rattray," said one of the birders.

He had a point, so, as no-else had checked, we quickly headed off to drive down the road towards Rattray to check if any geese flocks were present. About half way towards Rattray, we sure enough spotted a big group of Pinkfoots in the fields. However, they were quite distant, and the scope was needed to make out if there was a Whitefront amongst them. Yet again, the majority were Pinkfoots, with maybe 10 Barnacle Geese amongst them this time. The flock as a whole was a lot bigger too, with 1000+ birds in all I'd say. Finding a single White-fronted Goose would be hard. However, we checked nonetheless, and after around 20 minutes of meticulous searching, there seemed to be no sign. We were just about to leave for a check of Fen Hide when suddenly a huge racket came from the fields. The geese were taking to the air. Why, I wasn't sure, but it was a majority of them. It was a fantastic site, seeing all these wonderful birds filling the afternoon sky, filling the previously quiet fills with a cacophony of noise. We kept an eye on them, hoping they would come our way and land on the field closest to us. And bingo, they did, although the field in which we were by was expansive and some geese landed further away than others. Nonetheless this made for fantastic and much closer views, thus increasing our chances if there was a White-fronted Goose amongst them. But alas, despite some wonderful views and having checked every goose in the field, we could still not pick out a White-fronted Goose. It simply wasn't there. It was going to be difficult anyway.

Fen Hide was our last stop of the day, and it was here that we decided to sacrifice the last couple of hours of our birding day. Yes, that's right, we were looking for the Bittern once again. As expected, it wasn't showing on our arrival, and so the long wait commenced. An hour passes. Niente, rien. Why do they have to be so elusive? I guess it's just the way of the game. During this hour, however, a fine ring-tailed Hen Harrier makes a brief appearance, and the diagnostic piglet-like squeal of the Water Rail was heard on a couple of occasions in the reeds in front of us, but didn't show. Also, several Whooper Swans, winter wildfowl and geese are present on the Loch, with 25 Greylag Geese amongst the numerically superior Pinkfeets. Another half an hour passes. Still, nothing. The sun was starting to set... Just perfect for the Barn Owl which the local birder had seen earlier that day to come out. We wait another 20 minutes to see if both the Barn Owl and the Bittern show themselves. But no. It was time we headed off. The Bittern had eluded us once again, but who's to say there won't be another chance to see one later in the year? On the way back to the car from the Fen Hide we flushed a Woodcock from the undergrowth by the path, a surprising and strange sight.

On that note, the day ended. I have not been out birding since, but hope to get out birding again this weekend. However, on Sunday I took a walk in a local wood just outside Aberdeen, and stumbled across a couple of Jays, which has brought my year list to 121. I'll probably just check the local patches again this weekend, knowing me. If I'm lucky, a few of the early spring migrants may be at Girdleness. We'll see what the day holds, and I'll post in here about my day regardless, even if I see very little. The next big birding event is my trip to Portland, where I'll be from the 6th April to the 12th after staying in Somerset for a while with family. I now have a whole itinerary of target birds and places to go. Hopefully I'll see a good amount of birds in Portland and the surrounding birding places there, and be able to kick start the spring.

Thanks for reading,

Joseph

Late January and February Birding

2010-03-03T17:59:00.012Z

With a strenuous but pleasurable Lothian trip having been completed, I decided it would be good to take a weekend off birding and do something different. So a weekend passed with no birding, although a Dipper was a year tick on a walk by the River Don at Seaton Park. By the end of the next week though, I was itching to get out again, and asked my Dad if it would be a good idea to get out in the upcoming weekend. He obliged, and on Sunday 31st January, the last day of the month, we headed northwards for some birding. A Great White Egret had been spending a few days down on the River Ugie towards Peterhead, and a Mediterranean Gull had been seen up at Fraserburgh, so we thought we'd try to catch up on these two species, as well as check Strathbeg. The weather at this point was bitingly cold and there was quite a lot of snow present. However, the roads were relatively good and the weather reports for that Sunday suggested that it would be fine, so it looked OK for us to get out.

Our first stop, which intended to be fairly brief, was at Peterhead. On what was a rather delayed drive to this area due to slowish traffic and weather conditions, we came to the conclusion that it may be worth stopping at Peterhead Harbour to see check if there was any white-winged gulls about (Peterhead is good for white-winged gulls). Even though they hadn't been reported in a while, it was probably worth a try. By about 11:00am, we were down by the harbour's edge, where a mass of gulls mostly consisting of Herrings congregate each day in search of fish. As we we approached the area, we saw a man with a massive DLSR camera and lens in carefully photgraphing some gulls. He was definitely a birder, so we winded down the window. I asked if there were any white-winged gulls of any sorts about:

"Yes, there are. If you look just to your right at those gulls on edge of the harbour quay you'll see a second winter Iceland Gull at the very right-hand end."

Christ, this quickly? That was my reaction when I heard this. Taking the bins from below me, I raised them and scanned the side of the harbour wall, and sure enough there was a completely stand out Iceland Gull! There was no mistaking it. It was completely white with no blacks on the wings or back and no visible grey on the bird. It was quite a dirty white colour though. This was a life tick for me, and my second white-winged gull species that I had ever seen. For about 30 seconds my Dad and I had it through the bins on the quay, no more than 60 feet away and showing well. However, it quickly flew out of sight.

"It's most likely that it will have gone round the corner closer to the sea. It's often on the crossing there towards the very edge of the seawall. There's also an adult winter Iceland Gull hanging around somewhere here too, and another darker second-winter. I haven't seen the darker second winter yet today but I have seen the adult. Both birds are proving a bit elusive today though. I haven't seen the adult in a while. " the birder told us.

We decided we'd wait a little before, as we were keen to see if the other second-winter and the adult were showing. There were also tons of Grey Seals in the winter just in front of us. They were fantastic; maybe 12-15 in all. The birder had some bread at hand, as was throwing slices into the water for them. When he threw them in, the seals would suddenly go into a frenzy, diving towards the bread at high speed. This also attracted a hoard of Herring and Black-headed Gulls, but they were too slow and too afraid to risk diving down amongst the seals. It was lovely watching the seals and the gulls together. I managed to get several pictures of the seals, and I took a video of the whole scene. After about 15 minutes of doing this, we then headed round the corner to see if we could get better and more prolonged of the Iceland Gull we had seen on the quay earlier. Locating the crossing towards the sea wall he had mentioned, we found it again, huddled up against the side with a couple of Herring Gulls. The views from here were brilliant. It rarely moved, save for flying a short distance to another part of the crossing, which made it ever more enjoyable. It was never more than 20 yards from us, making for nice views through the scope. As I watched it I noted that it was more of an ivory white than the grey white of the commoner gulls, and was distinctly smaller than the Herrings. It also seemed to have more of a friendly expression in comparison to the Herring Gulls, and had dark eyes and a dark bill. We watched it for a good 20 minutes. After this time had elapsed, it started to snow quite heavily so we took cover in the car. Luckily, it didn't persist for too long, and it cleared again with in 5 minutes. At this point we then left and headed towards where the Great White Egret had been seen a few days earlier. I was delighted to have seen the Iceland Gull, despite not seeing the other two that were there. I prefer the second winters to any other form of Iceland Gull; its amazing how white and arctic like they look. They're also just great birds, and I felt very fortunate that we had decided on the way to the River Ugie to stop for a look at the gulls. Imagine if I hadn't seen them after all? It was also fantastic that they we saw one within a few seconds of our arrival at the Harbour. Here are some pictures I got of the seals, plus a link to my video on Birdforum of the seals and also a link to the post commenting on the Iceland Gulls that day in the birder who was with us at the time's blog, including pictures of the Iceland Gulls. The first picture, if you click the link, is of the second winter Iceland Gull I saw, as is the 4th and the 5th.

http://www.birdforum.tv/action/viewvideo/1941/ - Seal video

http://chrisgibbins-gullsbirds.blogspot.com/2010/01/three-different-iceland-gulls-peterhead.html - Iceland Gull pictures

Now I knew that only a few people had seen the Great White Egret, as well as knowing that it hadn't been reported for 5 days or so, so the chances of seeing it were fairly unlikely. However it was worth a check anyway, as any area like the Ugie Estuary is rather underwatched. It had been seen from the small bridge just south of Peterhead that has a view down to the Ugie from the road. We had to go across the bridge in order to make our way to Strathbeg, so there were no problems whatsoever in locating the area in which it had been seen. Because this area is quite a risky place to stop, we had to back off the road slightly and my Dad made me go out and check if there was any Egret viewable from the road. I checked the end in which you look towards Peterhead. No sign of any massive white egret as far as I could see. However a Red-legged Patridge rather convieniently came into the open as I was checking, which was a surprise year tick. I then scanned the river from the other side of the bridge, but yet again no such luck. It wasn't anywhere to be seen that was accessible from the road and it was very likely that it had gone anyway, so my Dad and I decided we head straight up to Strathbeg. But something was about to go wrong... Not long after we arrived at Strathbeg, it started snowing very heavily. And the problem was that it only stopped once for a minute or two... Very quickly the visitor centre windows became thickly condensated, meaning you could see virtually nothing out the windows whilst the snow was falling. It was more or less impossible to birdwatch. During the 5 minute or so break in the snow shower we managed to clear the windows of the condensation slightly, and managed to look out onto the reserve. A short time after we did so all the birds that were present on the reserve took to the air, flushed up by a hunting Peregrine (year tick) that was zipping in amongst the waders at high speed. There wasn't a great deal of waders; mostly Dunlins, Redshanks and Lapwings. A few Whooper Swans were present too, and the Pink-footed Geese flock was a mile off in the fields just beyond the edge of the reserve (weren't properly seeable through the scope). Having managed a brief check, it started snowing heavily again, and this time it didn't stop at all; it was continous. Quickly we decided that we would abandon mission, and get back to Aberdeen before the roads got too bad... It was a pity that the day was abandoned, but it was worth it for the Iceland Gull. Fab bird! With this outing, the year list was up to 108 species.

On the 6th of February, I found myself out birding for the first time in the month. However, I wasn't in the local area this time. During the week between my last birding outing and the 6th February, I had been noticing on Birdguides that a good deal of bird activity was taking place at Forfar Loch in Angus, about 45 miles south of Aberdeen. A Black-throated Diver, a drake Scaup and 1 each of Bean and White-fronted Goose had all been reported at the Loch, and I was tempted to go there in search of these species. With my mum being busy with work-related issues that day, I managed to convince my Dad that we should take a drive up there to see if the 4 species reported were present. When the day approached, however, the weather was annoyingly bad. The snow had cleared off, but it was grey and murky with fairly consistent light rain. This rain did stop at points, but even when it it remained very grey and sodden. The drive up to Forfar Loch was about an hour long, and was fairly smooth. We did have trouble, however, finding the turnoff to the Loch, but managed to eventually with the aid of a map. After getting parked up and getting our equipment, we set for a walk round the loch.

Forfar Loch is popular amongst its locals as a walking venue, and we could see this as many coated people trudged along the path with their dogs. It's a rather lovely area actually, with a nice mixture of woodland, grassland and freshwater loch habitats as you progress on the walk. The loch and its walk is about two miles long in total, and we started it from the south end, walking up to the north end and then in a circle back to the south end. All over the Loch, I could see huge concentrations of Anseriformes, mainly ducks, and of all sorts. There were big concentrations of Tufted Ducks particularly big at over 150 birds I'd say), Goldeneyes (80), Teals (50), Wigeons and Mallards, as well as surprisingly big numbers of Goosanders (25 maybe), Pochards (15), Shoveler (10) and Gadwalls(8). There were no geese present at the south side of the Loch, so I presumed we'd have better chances for the Bean and White-front at the north side. Our progression was fairly slow up to the north side, as we were checking the ducks meticulously for the single drake Scaup and also for the Black-throated Diver. Both of these birds were proving annoyingly non-existent though, particularly the Black-throated Diver which was said to have been the easiest to see. If the Diver was there it would have been obvious, and as we neared the northern edge of the Loch, I was starting to doubt that it was there. As well as the duck numbers, I was also relieved to see my first few Goldcrests of the year, with a few flitting about in the woods around half way up the Loch. It took us at least half an hour to complete the first half of our walk and get to the northern-most end of the Loch, which was more far more deserted than the southern-most parts. However, the fact that this side of the Loch was very close to the A90 meant that it was not by any means tranquil. However, that didn't scare off a host of winter wildfowl present on this part of loch. Nor did it scare a winter flock of 25-30 rather sweet Siskins that we found on the Silver Birches near the waters edge, showing well and moving hither and thither from tree to tree, calling loudly. Seeing these Siskins was a pleasant surprise, and a useful year tick for me too. Checking the wildfowl from here, the Black-throated Diver still wasn't to be seen. For me, that was our last hope, and now I was pretty much convinced it wasn't on the Loch. We had checked a majority of the loch for it, and despite thorough searches each time we stopped to look for it, it just wasn't there.

As we circled round to the other side of the Loch and started heading southwards again, we managed to find a small congregation of geese by the bank of the loch and decided to check them. They were close by, about 20 of them, almost all of which were Greylag Geese. However, there was one goose that was a different species, and it wasn't a Pink-footed or Canada Goose. Swimming beside a Greylag was a clearly smaller and darker goose, with a short dark, orangey bill. There was no mistaking the Bean Goose, even though it was in the water. It was a very pleasant surprise for us to have come across the Bean Goose, as it was arguably the most difficult of the four target species to see. It felt kind of ironic too that we had found it before the other 3 target species (Scaup, B-T Diver and W-F Goose) which we thought would be easier to find. It was a fine looking bird, this Bean Goose. It was clearly a rossicus (Tundra) type Bean Goose, having a very short dark bill with a small orange patch towards the tip, a very dark head and shortish neck. It spent a couple of minutes in the water, and with the Greylag it had been beside, then came out and sat on the river bank, where it revealed the orange legs that are diagnostic of a Bean Goose. On the river bank, it spent a lot of its time feeding, occasionally stopping as it stood upright and alert in response to sound or to preen. Despite how busy it was, it showed superbly, at down to 30ft, and you could see each and every one of its features through the scope. The views were definitely better than the two I had seen the previous February at the Ythan, as the weather at that time was horrendous and both birds were jam packed amongst a big flock of Pinkfeets. It was lucky that we had seen this particular Bean Goose without any Pinkfeets being present, as it made it considerably easier to identify. If it was amongst a large flock of Pinkfeets, we might have been able to miss it. If I had had my camera, I would have been able to get a picture of it, but the fact that I left it at home meant I couldn't. A pain! Nonetheless, it was good to see this Bean Goose. It was a very useful year tick, one that was not guarenteed!

After about 10 minutes of watching this goose, we progressed further southwards, checking for the 3 other target species as we went. About half way back, there was no sign of the Black-throated Diver still, meaning there was no doubt that it had eluded us. No other geese appeared to be amongst the wildfowl either, and the White-fronted Goose was most likely to be with them. This meant that was minimal chance of seeing 2 of the target species. However, when we were nearing the final quarter of our walk we came across a small group of Tufties. Amongst these we were happy to find the drake Scaup, obvious as it was with no tuft on its head and grey rather than white on the back. Scaup had managed to elude me last year, so it was a nice feeling to catch up on this species again. As we were watching the Scaup, a familiar, diagnostic high pitched, short whistling call came from close by. Taking our eyes off the Scaup, we turned to see 2 fantastic Kingfishers zipping away from us across the Loch, leaving a glint of azure as they passed. These beauties never fail to impress me. After about 30 seconds they went out of sight, and we left the Scaup to continue the final quarter of our walk. On this final quarter there wasn't much of note, but we spent quite a bit of time admiring the commoner ducks, each with their assortments of multi-coloured plumages. It looked as if a lot of the ducks plumages had been finely painted on them... its just something to watch ducks, whatever species. Undoubtedly one of my favourite families of birds. The walk round the Loch had taken just under two hours, and I must say was a very enjoyable one, even though we missed out on Black-throated Diver and White-fronted Goose. We had managed two of the species, as well as 3 year ticks that I hadn't expected in the form of Goldcrest, Siskin and Kingfisher. In total, there were 5 year ticks, meaning after this trip the year list was up to 113 species. As well as managing to see some nice year birds, it was a lovely walk anyway. I also really liked the contrasting habitats, the abundancy of the ducks on the Loch, and how well the ducks were showing. It was fantastic. On the way back towards Aberdeen, we stopped off at Montrose Basin to give it a small check. However very few birds were present close to the hides, and considering the size and length of the Basin, those birds that were on it were a very long way off. The most notable species here was 3 Little Grebes. We were back in Aberdeen in time for a nice cuppa.

It was a couple of weeks before I went out birding again, and I'm very glad to say that this next day was my most recent birding outing, meaning I'm going to be up to date by the end of this post and will be able to post things soon after they happen. It was on the 20th February that I was out again,in search of a few species but that had been present in the county over the last week or so. Due to snow the week before and the ice caused by this as it melted a Bittern had been showing on and off outside Fen Hide at Strathbeg, and a good number of Great Northern Divers had been seen off Rattray Head. More importantly still, all over the UK a mini-invasion of Waxwings had taken place, which still continues as I write this. Aberdeen has always been a good place for Waxwings, and a small number of them, maybe 35 or so, were being reported in different parts of the city. The nearest flock to me were reported less than a 20 minutes walk from the house, in the Upper Hilton area, Hilton Campus being part of Aberdeen University. The streets around here are rich with cotoneaster berries which the Waxwings love to eat, and a flock of up to 17 had been reported around this area. Part of the aim of the birdwatch was to see if we could see these Waxwings, as well as go up to Strathbeg to look for the Bittern and check what else was about. We did not start the day in either of these places though, we started at the Loch of Skene, a smallish loch a few miles west of Aberdeen. The countryside around Loch of Skene holds a number of re-introduced Red Kites, and these kites often stray to the Loch itself. I thought the area might be worth a check as I hadn't been since the summer, and also I was hoping to see Red Kite and a few woodland species such as Jay, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Treecreper for the year. We arrived at the Loch of Skene at 10:00am after a bit of hassle getting out of town. There is a place you can park which is a very short walk down to the loch side, and as ever, we parked here and found ourselves quickly by the Loch side amongst the pine forest that fringes the Loch. The forest and the Loch were looking very nice, with snow thinly coating the ground and the trees and the sun shining brightly. Here are a few pictures of the loch.

On the Loch itself there was a fair amount of winter wildfowl, all of which were congregated a long way away. This group mostly consisted of Goldeneyes, with a good number of Teal, Wigeon, Mallards and Tufted Ducks amongst them too, as well as a small group of Greylag Goose and a couple of Pochards. After a check of the wildfowl, we then proceeded to scanned the circumference of the Loch and its countryside for Kites. We did so slowly for about 10 minutes, but with no success. In the woods around us, no Jays, Great Spotted Woodpeckers or Treecreepers were present, just a few Goldcrests and some Blue, Coal and Great Tits. Another birder turned up shortly after our look for the Kites, asking if anything was about. We told them there was nothing besides the usual, but said we were in search of the Kites. He told us that he had seen one close to the nearby village of Monymusk a couple of days earlier, and that it was probably worth a drive round the countryside near the Loch of Skene to maximise our chances of seeing any Kites. Thanking him, we took his advice and went for a drive round the area. During the drive we drove slowly so as to ensure that we'd miss very little. We had several stops to check birds of prey that we found sitting on various posts, but these all turned out to be Buzzards unfortunately. It was nice to stop in the area, however. From here, we decided that we'd move on, and go in search of the Waxwings in Aberdeen.

It was about 11:15am when we found ourselves in the Hilton area in search of the Waxwings. We intended to check a majority of the streets in the area, with Hilton Street (the area they had mostly been seen in) being our first try. If we failed here we would head to Picktillium Avenue and Cattofield Terrace, where they had also been reported. Hilton Street is the biggest and most busy of the streets where the Waxies had been seen, and as you go down it you can see the Hilton Campus of Aberdeen University to your left. As you go past the gates surrounding the Hilton Campus, you will see a row of trees and cotoneaster bushes ripe with berries, and it is in this area that the Waxwings had been seen feeding in the past. The flock were said on birdguides to have been mobile, moving between their food source on Hilton Street and the nearby streets. Luckily the traffic on Hilton Street at the time was very quite, meaning that as we approached the cotoneaster bushes we were able to drive very slowly. As we meandered down, I made sure I checked every true and each part of the bushes for any signs of Waxwings. About three quarters of the way down the row of cotoneasters and trees, no Waxwings seemed to be present, and I was starting to think we should head to the surrounding streets in search of them. Just as we were about to give up on Hilton Street however, and we reached the final couple of rows of cotoneasters and trees, I saw a group of rather plump, crested birds sitting high on top of one of the trees. Bingo, it was the Waxwings. There were 18 of them, each sat their proudly and calmly with all their beautiful diagnostics showing brilliantly... their reddish buff colour, the large crest on the crown, the narrow black eye-mask, the narrow yellow tip on the edge of the tail... They're wonderful birds to behold. The fact that any sign of movement such as backing up or getting out would scare them off meant that we had to crane our necks slightly to see them and weren't really able to use our binoculars, but due to how close they were I could still easily make out their diagnostics. In the past, I have had many encounters with this species, having had very good views in my garden, on my street and at school on good winters for the species. The fact that there has only been a small invasion this year made this sighting of Waxwing particularly worthwile, as there was a big chance that I wouldn't have seen them this year, and these birds were one of the only flocks present in Aberdeen. After a minute or so of watching the Waxies from a position that would, after a while, cause repetitive strain injury (yes it was quite sore!), I came to the conclusion that one of us would have to get out of the car so we could get views of them without feeling uncomfortable and through the bins, as well as get a photo. So, as quietly I could, I opened and closed the car door. Just as I did this and was about to get my bins on them, they very suddenly took off from the tree, wheeling round onto the other side street and then turning back and over the Hilton campus gates, calling that archetypal, pleasant Waxwing trill as and twisting and turning in a Starling like fashion as they went. Damn though, why did they have to fly off when I got out? I guess I was just a bit too loud for them, the mobile little critters... I wasn't even able to get a photo of them.Nonetheless, even though the view of the Waxies was very brief, I was satisfied, as we had found them very quickly, and they're fantastic looking birds. Due to the quick sighting of these birds, we were able to get travelling towards Strathbeg by 25 past 11.

It was annoyingly 1:00pm before we reached Strathbeg, as we stupidly took what, with out snow, is the fastest route to Strathbeg as very few cars go down it, but it proved slower as the roads hadn't been gritted. We didn't head straight to Fen Hide, but spent some time at the Visitor Centre, which was pretty much devoid of people, save one of the old wardens who we had a nice chat to. There wasn't too much going on from the Visitor Centre either, what with a majority of the pools being frozen over. However, where there it wasn't frozen there were birds, namely a few Black-headed Gulls, some winter wildfowl and some waders. Apart from that though, there wasn't much going on wildfowl wise. At one point however, we were gifted by fantastic views of a ring-tailed Hen Harrier which we first spotted a long way off towards the actual Loch. Gradually, it flew closer to us, going to the pools at Tower Hide, and eventually flying at the very most 20ft away from the visitor centre windows! It was so close. Magical. Without looking through the bins, the views were fantastic. I could see its eyes, its features, everything. I was stunned by my views; definitely my best Hen Harrier views ever. I tried to get a picture of the bird as it was going past, but it appeared as a blur due to how fast the Hen Harrier was going! Just shows had bad my photography skills are... Anyway, after about half an hour here, we headed through Crimond Airfield, parked up and went to Fen Hide. Someone else was clearly at the hide, as they left tracks all the way to the car park and by foot. Entering the hide we found a local birder that we had met on man occasions staring out onto the hide. He greeted us as we came in:

" If you're looking for the Bittern, its nae showin. Been here a few hours now and it haven't seen it once," he said in a broad Doric acent.

Hmmm, not good news. Well, it's always a matter of patience with Bitterns, so we would have to wait. As we waited, my Dad and I both took a wholesome lunch and watched the winter wildfowl on the Loch, mainly consisting of the commoner duck species, and a few Whooper Swans. What provided the most entertainment on our stay at Fen Hide though was not 1, not 2, but 3 ring-tailed Hen Harriers, all quartering the reeds at the back of Fen Hide. It was a great sight. They didn't fly together that much and were spread out, but on several occasions they were all up together. This kept me very much entertained, but I was still kind of annoyed that the Bittern wasn't present. During my time there a few bittern like birds were spotted in flight, but despite the hope that they were all the bittern they ended up all being Grey Herons. After about an hour and a half, we headed off, leaving the birder that had been there before us behind, to the nearby Rattray Head. After risking going down the extremely potholled and slippy track to the area, we made it , the commoner seabird species which I hadn't seen (Fulmar, Kittiwake and Common Scoterafter an annoyingly long time. The aim here was really to have a brief look out at sea and see if we could catch up on a few of the seabird species that had thus far managed to elude us for the year, with the main target being Great Northern Diver. Surprisingly, even after nearly 20 minutes of seawatching) weren't passing at all. Instead, it was the slightly more notable species that were passing, with at least 10 Long-tailed Ducks passing during the 45 minutes or so that we were out there and 2 Red-throated Divers. But what of Great Northern Diver? Well, I am happy to say we quickly located at least 5 birds of this species sitting on the sea not far offshore. They clearly weren't any other species of diver, as they had very thick bills, were very dark billed, and compared to a nearby Shag, and one of the Red-throated Divers that passed, they were considerably bigger. Great Northern Diver is one of those annoying birds for me. Last year, for example it managed to elude me, and when I have seen them in the past, they are only lone birds seen briefly in flight. The fact that a good number of them were sitting on the sea not very far offshore meant I was really able to get good views and watch these rather nice Divers for some time. It was a pleasant experience, and meant that I had seen two of the 4 main targets for the day. It was about 4:15 by the time we'd finished sea-watching, and we decided that on the way back to Aberdeen we'd stop off at the Ythan. Here I was surprised to get two year ticks in very quick sucession, one in the form of a Canada Goose and the other in the form of two Grey Partridges in the fields near Forvie, making it 4 year ticks for the day. This meant that by the end of what had been a decent day, I was on 117 species for the year, and I still am to this very moment. I very much enjoyed the day; the weather was nice and it was fantastic to see the three Hen Harriers together, as well as the Waxwings and the Great Northern Divers The next day I decided I'd take the dog for a walk back up to the Hilton area to see if I could get any pictures of the Waxies, and I succeeded, although they were rather far away. I had to use the zoom, hence why its quite hard to tell that they are Waxies. See below:

So that my friends, is me FINALLY up to date. I can now post things quickly after they take place, rather than talk about birding days that took place a month or more before! With that, you can also expect quite a lot of my posts to be quite a bit shorter, unless the day in which I'm writing about is a fantastic one. On Sunday, I should be going out birding, so expect a post then or a couple of days afterwards if not. Next month, I will be staying in Portland, which will probably the next major thing I write about in here, and in May I will be going to Norfolk. So in the coming months I should still have a lot to write about and a lot to see! Stay tuned if you wish to keep up to date with my birding adventures.

Thanks for reading,

Joseph

My Birding Weekend in Lothian

2010-02-17T16:31:00.024Z

A day or two after what had been a great day at Strathbeg I was contacted by Mark Grubb on Birdforum, a birder from the Edinburgh/Lothian area. I had said prior to his email on Birdforum that I'd be down in Edinburgh on the weekend of the 16th and 17th of January. My sister lives in the city you see and had come up to visit, and my Dad and I were going to give her a lift back down on Saturday 16th. Nothing much else was going that weekend, so I also mentioned that it would be possible we'd stay the night in Edinburgh and then go birding in the area the next day. There was plenty about in the area at that time, most notably a long-stay Baird's Sandpiper on the East Lothian coast at Barns Ness, which we were eager to go and see.

It was the fact that I had mentioned going birding in the area that Mark emailed me. In his email he told me that he'd be very glad to show us the best places to go birding in Lothian and take us to have a look for the Baird's Sandpiper. It was very generous of him to offer. After all we didn't know the area well at all and would have to go through the efforts of getting directions to the limited birding spots in the area that we knew of. If we had Mark with us he'd know exactly where to go, as well as taking us to places we weren't aware of in the first place. Of course, I accepted his offer, and alerted my Dad, who was also fine with it. Mark then phoned us up and we made arrangements; coming to the conclusion that we'd meet outside an easy to access service station on the eastern outskirts of the city at 8:30am on Sunday 17th. As the weekend approached another thing also worked to our advantage. My sister decided that she would go back to Edinburgh on the Friday, as she wished to attend a good friends' party that evening. This meant that my Dad and I would then be able to birdwatch not only on the Sunday, but on the Saturday. On the Friday evening, we came to the conclusion that we'd stop off and see anything noteworthy that was about on the way to Edinburgh, as well as go to Vane Farm (Perth and Kinross) regardless of what was about. Checking birdguides, I found out that in Buckhaven, Fife (Fife being the county adjacent to Lothian) 3 Medittereanean Gulls were present. Med Gulls are obviously quite noteworthy birds (as well as a lifer for me), and convieniently Buckhaven isn't far from Vane Farm. Therefore we concluded we'd go in search of these gulls. So, we were all set, and ready to birdwatch in a completely new area to us.

Saturday 16th:

We left on our journey at about 10:30am, meaning it would be at least 12:30am before we arrived in the Vane Farm area. The weather wasn't great that morning, with consistent but light rain throughout Aberdeenshire and Angus. South of Dundee, however, the cloud lifted a little and the rain stopped, just fine for our arrival at Vane Farm at around 13:15, leaving us 2 and a half hours or so to birdwatch. Vane Farm RSPB is situated by Loch Leven, a 3 mile long and expansive freshwater loch in the southern parts of Perth and Kinross that is encompassed by hills. Vane Farm is perhaps most well known for the 3 re-introduced White-tailed Eagles present there, all of which are juveniles and were originally released with the Strathbeg White-tailed Eagle, Ralf. We weren't 'targeting' these Eagles as such, largely due to the good views we had had of Ralf the previous week, but were hoping to see them. After paying to get into the reserve (as well as buying the second edition of the Collin's Guide!), we headed down to the hides, which each had their superb loch-side settings and views of the central scotland countryside. Here are a couple of pictures I took at Vane Farm.

As one might expect at this time of year, there was plenty of winter wildfowl on the Loch, with good numbers of Goosanders (a year tick), Pochards, Goldeneyes, Wigeons and Teals etc. There was also a very pale Buzzard perched on a post (unfortunately not a Rough-legged!), but no sign of the Eagles. A good number of passerines congregated at the feeders by the first hide we went to; mainly Chaffinches, but with good numbers of Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Blue and Great Tits etc. A birder in the hide with us pointed out a fabulous winter female Brambling amongst these other passerines. I was very glad to see this bird, as it was only my second one ever (with my first being seen the week previously). It was great to see it both on the feeders and on the ground, completely stand out from its commoner relatives This view was more prolonged than my first, as it was present more or less the entirety of the time I was in the hide. The Brambling was the highlight of just under an hours visit to Vane Farm. In the end, there wasn't a great deal there apart from the commoner birds. Despite this, I enjoyed my stay anyway.

We then, as decided on the previous evening, headed to Buckhaven in search of the 3 Mediterranean Gulls. Finding this place was rather annoying, as at the nearby town of Glenrothes there was the most appalling signposting system I have ever seen in my life. There were no signs to Buckhaven at all! This meant that we found ourselves lost, and we wasted at least 10 minutes trying to find signs to Buckhaven. Eventually, after much annoyance, we did find the signs, and arrived at Buckhaven 10 minutes later. Med Gulls are fairly regularly reported in Buckhaven's Shore Road car park, convieniently named as the car park was right by the sea. As we arrived we saw a birder looking out to sea. Getting our equipment, we approached him and asked him if any of the Med Gulls were present. The answer was a tad disappointing.

" I'm afraid there aren't any Med Gulls here right now. I've been here for the past 15 minutes, but no sign of any of them."

That wasn't to say that they weren't there though. It was really a case of finding at least one of the Med Gulls amongst the multitude of black-headeds that were on the sea close in, and that was perfectly possible due the mobility of all the gulls in the area; they could fly in at any point. As we looked I made sure I meticulously checked ever gull in sight, whether it was in flight, on the sea or not. Despite this searching though, we weren't seeing any Med Gulls. The weather was harsh too, with a chilling shore wind buffeting against our faces constantly. About half way through my vist there I found myself with incredibly cold fingers and my eyes were beginning to water with the cold (something I'm susceptible to when it comes to birding). As the sun began to set, we still hadn't seen any Med Gulls, and due to both the weather and the worsening light conditions, we headed back towards the car, leaving the birder who had been with us to continue watching. Just as we were to get in however, we heard a cry from behind us. It was the birder alerting us of something. Had he found a Med Gull? Excited, we returned to where he was. I asked him as we arrived back if he had found one. His response was really strange:

"I absolutely sware that I had a Med Gull there sitting on the sea amongst the Black-headed Gulls here on the sea. It was completely white-winged," he said, " I only had it for a second but I called to you so you could come and see it. As soon as I turned back it had disappeared though, and I haven't seen it since."

How could he have lost this Med Gull so quickly? Surely if there's one there, it won't fly off that quickly, baring in mind it only took a few seconds for him to call us and then turn back? This was really odd.... We tried to relocate the bird, but even though we spent yet another 10 or so minutes looking, there was no sign of this so called 'Med Gull' that he'd seen. I was becoming suspicious if he had even see one at all. Was he making it up/imagining it. Or had really seen one for a second? I mean when you see them they're not that hard to mistake! Anyway, we gave up for the day, leaving for Edinburgh where we'd stay the night with an element doubt in our minds. Were we just unlucky? Rock Pipit, Shag and R-T Diver were all added to the year list here regardless, which was useful. Even so, a big day of birding beckoned the next day, and I was very much looking forward to it.

Sunday 17th:

We stayed that night in Old Craighall Services on the outskirts of Edinburgh near Mussleburgh. Convieniently, we had orgainised to meet Mark here at 8:30am, meaning all we'd have to do is have breakfast and go and meet him outside. So, at that time, we waited for him to arrive. Sure enough, he did, and we greeted.

" So where do you think is best to take us first?" my Dad asked.

"Well, I was thinking we'd start at Linlithgow Loch. As you might be aware there's been a long-stay female Smew there. From here we'd then head to Mussleburgh Lagoons, and then Barns Ness, ending up in Aberlady Bay by the afternoon. Does that sound like a reasonable plan?"

That was absolutely fine with us, so we made our way to Linlithgow Loch, some 15 miles west of Edinburgh. The drive here took about 40 minutes, so we arrived at quarter past nine. Once we'd parked up, we headed down to the nearby loch. The path down to the Loch was really slippy, as was the path round it. The Loch itself was like an ice rink too, almost totally frozen. However, there was one area at the south-west corner of the Loch where it wasn't frozen, and this was where all the wildfowl on the Loch, and presumably the Smew, had congregated. After a bit of trouble with the ice, we finally made it to where the wildfowl were. There were many species in this little area of unfrozen water, with good numbers of Mallard, Coots, Moorhens, Pochards, Goldeneyes, Tufted Ducks, Teals, Wigeons, Shelducks (year tick), Mute Swans and Black-headed Gulls, as well as 3 Little Grebes, all very close in. Nestled in amongst all these species was the cracking female Smew. It was very clear amongst the other ducks, looking clearly smaller than most of them, with its striking chesnut crown, white cheeks and browny-grey back . It spent most of the time at the back of the unfrozen water towards the gulls and with the Pochards and Tufties, diving fairly regularly but overall showing very well. This was only my third Smew ever, and it was a great joy to watch it. I managed to get a couple of reasonable pictures of it too (I don't normally get good pictures!). I also have a few other pictures, including one of the magnificent Linlithgow Castle and Palace, which overlooks the Loch. A royal manor existed on this beautiful site, with Mary Queen of Scots being born here. We sat and watched the Smew for about 25 minutes, then headed eastwards back towards Edinburgh, with our next stop being a Mussleburgh Lagoons.

After what had been a very pleasant early morning stop at Linlithgow Loch, we arrived at Mussleburgh Lagoons close to half ten. Musselburgh Lagoons, at the mouth of the River Esk, were formed in 1964 by the South of Scotland Electricity Board. They constructed an expansive concrete sea wall encompassing four large lagoons. These were used for the dumping of ash from the nearby Cockenzie Power Station, which you can see from the seawall. When we arrived there we found the four lagoons completely frozen over. This had already been anticipated however, so we headed straight to the seawall for a look offshore. Arriving we found good numbers of duck species such as Wigeons, Eiders and Teals. More notably amongst these common species were several Long-tailed Ducks and Velvet Scoters, both year ticks. Long-tailed Ducks were a tricky one last year and my views had been brief, so it was great to see them showing well at Mussleburgh Lagoons. Also off the seawall were a few Great Crested Grebes (another year tick). Whilst looking out a flock of 5 Twites were just behind the seawall too. After about half an hour here, we were nigh on leaving for Barns Ness when my Dad said:

"Just found a Slavonian Grebe. It's in line with the Cockenzie Power Station, near the Great Crested Grebes."

I was using Mark's scope at the time, and I quickly latched on to the grebe, which was indeed a Slavonian. Slavonian Grebes are regular at Mussleburgh, and one of the species I thought we might see. It was immediately identifiable with its smaller size in comparison to the G-C Grebes, its red eyes, its jet black cap on the top of its sloping head and its blackey-grey back. In 2008 Slavonian Grebe had managed to elude me, so this was a very pleasing bird to see. It dived frequently, but when it did show, it showed well. It wasn't visible through the bins as it was some way off, it was only scopable. This meant the views weren't as ideal as they could have been, but still of a good standard. We watched it for 10 minutes or so, and then decided we'd head off further eastwards towards the coast at Barns Ness. Here's is a kind of crappy record shot I got of the seawall at Mussleburgh Lagoons.

Now, something I didn't mention earlier in the post was that the long-stay Baird's Sandpiper hadn't been seen for 4 days or so, meaning that are chances of seeing it were quite unlikely. However, there was no harm in going to look for it anyway. Not just that but Mark told us that a Water Pipit was being seen fairly regularly there too, making it even more worth it to go there. Another thing I haven't mentioned is that the Baird's Sand wasn't actually present at Barns Ness itself but at the very close by at Whitesands Bay, and it was to here that we headed first. Located in the extreme east of Lothian, Whitesands, as the name explains, is a bay. It has a small beach with the archetypal golden sands and big piles of seaweed mopped up against the waters edge. Looking further eastwards, you can see the lighthouse at Barns Ness, which has a very similar but more expansive beach than Whitesands Bay. In the picture below, I must say the view reminds me of looking from Aberdeen Beach towards Girdleness.

Just to the left of what you can see here, the Baird's Sandpiper had been seen in the past with a good number of Dunlins and other wrders on the shore line amongst the seaweed. After travelling down several tracks, we managed to get to the carparking area, and set down to the beach very close by. There were a lot of birders about, presumably all in search of the bird. Of course, we already knew that it hadn't been reported for a few days, but what was the harm in checking? As we approached the beach, we quickly found the small group of waders that the Baird's had been amongst, and got the scopes on them. Most of them were Dunlins (which happened to be a year tick), with a few Turnstones and good numbers of Redshanks amongst them. But, as expected, there was no Baird's Sand amongst these. We took a 10 to 15 minute walk across the beach, just like most birders were doing, checking every wader we saw hopping about in the seaweed, but no such luck. Well, I thought, at least it was worth a try. With this, we headed towards the nearby Barns Ness, which was according to Mark was worth a try as there had been a Water Pipit lurking about there.

Due to its very short distance from Whitesands, we were at Barns Ness shortly. In terms of its landscape, it was no different from Whitesands, save the lightouse and the sand being less prominent, and rocks being prominent. As we took a stroll across the beach itself there were tons of Rock Pipits, maybe 30 or more in total. Every few steps you'd flush one up and it would dart to the nearby rocks in an archetypal undulating flight. Both Purple Sandpiper and a Golden Plover were also present on the rocks, as well as a pair of Stonechats flitting about in the marram grass (all three of which were year ticks). We spent a majority of our time here looking at the Rock Pipits, and it was interesting to note that there were no Meadow Pipits amongst them. If there was a Water Pipit with them, it was proving elusive, but it wasn't surprising that it was proving difficult becayse there were so many pipits on the beach. After walking a good way up the beach we decided we'd turn back. We were nigh on leaving for Aberlady Bay when all of a sudden, as we neared the lighthouse, Mark spotted a slightly different look people hopping about not far away from us on the sand.

" This pipit is looking different to the others, and looks good for Water Pipit. What do you think?" he asked.

He quickly showed us where it was and they got their bins on it. There were a few features on this bird that made me think it could have been Water Pipit. Jut looking at it briefly, what really struck me was its paleness in comparison to all the other birds I had seen. It also had pale-browny rather than dark legs and and a whiter breast than those other pipits. It also struck me as bigger, ruling out any possibility of Meadow Pipit. My Dad and I agreed with Mark that this pipit could well be the Water Pipit, which was an exhilirating thought. After watching it on the ground for a few minutes, we decided that we had to make it fly so we could see if it had the diagnostic prominent white wing bars that Rock Pipit lacks. Mark decided he'd be the one that would approach it. As he did so it took to the air, and there they were, the white wing bars, showing clearly; it was the Water Pipit after all that Mark had spotted. Of the spinoletta race, this Water Pipit stayed in flight for quite a bit, before finding a rock to sit on. On this rock sat 3 Rock Pipits, which allowed for interesting comparisons. This bird was indeed that much paler than the Rock Pipits, and did seem that bit larger than them too. I noticed that the streaks on the breast seemed that bit more distinct than on the Rock Pipits, as did the supercilium, and the bill was paler. It was quite flighty, flitting from one rock to the next quite often and thus meaning we had to re-locate. We watched it in its different positions for a good 15 minutes, alerting a couple of birders that came by and that hadn't seen it yet. However, after this amount of time had passed, it eventually flew away, presumably to another side of the beach. I was very pleased to see this bird, as not only had it not been reported that day, but the views of it were great, and helped me for comparative purposes in the future. It was also a life tick for me, my third of the year. We decided that it would be a waste of time to chase it down again, and we only had a couple of hours left, which we wanted to spend at Aberlady Bay. So, contently, we moved westwards again.

Aberlady Bay has gained fame in the recent past for a Lesser Yellowlegs that stayed for a few months and showed superbly there. Just like with the Baird's Sandpiper, this bird had now left and hadn't been seen for over a week. Mark had taken us to Aberlady Bay to see if he could show us some Short-eared Owls, one of my most embaressing bogey birds. I was really wanting to be relieved of the guilt of not having seen this species, and of course to experience what it is like seeing this fantastic owl, so I was hoping it would pay off. After taking some lunch and becoming acquainted with Mark's brother Neil, we headed for a walk round the reserve (there are no hides at Aberlady). Aberlady Bay is a very expansive place, covering an area of 582 hectares. The area has panoramic views and varying coastal habitats, consisting of tidal sand, mud flats and salt marsh. At the start of the walk, you cross the mudflats by bridge, and it was here that the Lesser Yellowlegs stuck around. On the mudflats there was a multitude of duck and wader species, but nothing that you wouldn't see at other reserves. However, 2 Grey Plovers were amongst these waders, a year tick and probably the most notable species on the mudflats. Having checked the mudflats we continued on our walk towards the extensive dunes ahead. It was at these dunes where the Short-eared Owls were said to spend most of their time. As we walked towards the dunes, I kept my eyes meticulously peeled for Short-eared Owl, checking every bird that happened to take to the air in view. There were massive numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings in the flora amongst us, reverberating the area with a cacophony of their chitt-chatter calls. Every now and then they all took to the air as if they worried about something, and the sky would be full of thrushes. It was a wonderful experience to see these winter thrushes in such abundance. As for the slightly larger birds, most of them that I spotted in flight were just crows. There weren't even any birds of prey, let alone Short-eared Owls.

After about half an hour of walking and we were nearing the dunes and there were still no owls to be seen. That wasn't to say that I wasn't enjoying myself, as the area was absolutely teeming with bird life, it was fantastic! As we advanced yet closer towards the dunes, I was having a conversation with Mark's brother Neil about how I got into birding. And just when I thought that they'd elude me, a cry came from my Dad.

"Short-eared Owls! To your right!"

In a split second Neil and I had stopped speaking to one another and had our eyes on two Short-eared Owls! As I locked onto them in the bins, my jaw dropped at their sheer splendour. They were divine! Just amazing! In a ghost like fashion the two birds emerged from the ground and took to glorious flight, effortlessly and buoyantly patrolling the dunes on hugely long, narrow wings not far away from one another with wavered wingbeats in a spell bindingly slow-motion and unspeakble majesty. They were there the epitome of grace. I was lost for words. As I watched, absolutely enchanted by both these birds, I could see their fantastic love-heart shaped faces; their crisp, neon yellow eyes casting a mean but determined look as they went in search of a meal. It was just mesmerising, watching these magnificent birds in flight. Both birds stayed in flight for ages and showed absolutely superbly. I couldn't have been happier with my views of them. Two very lucky people situated on the top of a dune had both birds fly right past them on several occasions, which must have been fantastic. Eventually, both birds went out of view for the first time. But we weren't simply going to move on, we were wanting to see more of these owls. They're not the sort of birds that you want to just get a single prolonged view of, you want several views to maximise the enjoyment of the experience. So, we headed further into the dunes and waited patiently for them to take to the air again. They rose several times again, performing the same rituals again in an equally enchanting way. We had one of the birds on the ground too, which was lovely to see. We watched them for a good 45 minutes before continuing on our walk, and I must say, I loved every moment of it. I have no doubt that that experience with nature will be one I'll cherish. The perfect bird to reach triple figures (100) for the year on Mark's brother Neil is a keen photgrapher too, and he caught the owls beautifully in flight throughout the 45 minutes we watched them. I feel very priveliged that he has allowed me to use some of his pictures of the bird on my blog. Thank you very much Neil! The final picture show you the area in which these birds were flying:

From the owl watching area, we went over the dunes and took a bracing walk along the beach. According to Mark, when you turn the corner from the beach the very top of the mudflats appear where you can get good views of a variety of wader species. And he was right, as we turned the corner away from the beach, we saw the very top of the mudflats, and here were loads of waders. This group of waders consisted a sizeable flock of up to 200 Knots (year tick), around 20 Sanderlings (year tick), and maybe 15 Bar-tailed Godwits (year tick). There were also good numbers of Ringed Plovers, Dunlin Curlew and Redshanks. They were all very busy feeding, but the Knot flock, as they always are, were very flighty, performing their impressive arial displays frequently. After a good look at these waders, we then headed on our longish walk back to the car, with the Short-eared Owls showing beautifully on a couple of occasions, and a Bullfinch was heard and then seen as we got close to the bridge over the mudflats. As we walked back,the sun setted beautifully, shrouding Aberlady Bay in its brilliant rays and making the clouds a wonderful red... Here are some pictures I took at Aberlady Bay myself, mostly taken when the sun was setting.

The drive from Aberlady to Mussleburgh was pretty short, so we arrived back at Oldcraighall Services quite swiftly. Here we said farewell, giving him countless thanks for taking us on what had been a fantastic days birding.... That day we had been to four fantastic places, each with their own good birds, what with the lovely Linlithgow Loch's Smew, Mussleburgh Lagoons' Slavonian Grebe, Barns Ness' Water Pipit and of course Aberlady Bay's fantastic Short-eared Owls, as well as a whole cast of other lovely birds. It was a great day, and well worth the trip both for the birds, and seeing the places themselves. It had definitely been a pleasant introduction to the birding places of Lothian. We ended the trip with an increase from 81 the week before to 104 species, with a total of 23 species being added to the year list over the two days. If I had to pick a bird of the day, a moment of the day, and the place I most enjoyed going to, I think you'd be able to guess! Of course, it was all down to the Short-eared Owls at Aberlady Bay. Aberlady Bay was a beautiful place, teeming with fantastic birds, and seeing the Short-eared Owls there was both relieving and mesmeric... My Dad and I spent a lot of time on the journey back to Aberdeen going over the experiences of the day, and overall, the reaction to the day seemed very positive! The drive back was smooth too, and we were back in Aberdeen within 2 and a quarter hours. And that is how my lovely birding weekend in Lothian ended.

Thank you for reading,

Joseph

The First Birding Day of the Decade

2010-02-11T16:13:00.004Z

1stJanuary 1st 2010, a new year and a new decade of birding. With your year list back at zero, you have a whole year ahead of you in which to see as many birds as you possibly can. At the very start of a new birding year you find yourself wondering just what delights the year will hold, what you'll see, and how many species you'll find. For these reasons I have always found the beginning of a birding year exciting. As soon as you get up on the first morning of the year, you know you can quickly get your new year list up to about 10 species just spending 15 minutes or less looking through the window into your garden. When I woke up on that morning, as soon as I opened the blinds I saw Town Pigeon and Herring Gull. Then, a brief look in the garden quickly added House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow and a few other common suspects. By the end of the day, I was up to 10 species without leaving the house, with Fieldfare and Redwing both seen. As we had relatives round at the time I couldn't get out birding for over a week. However, this didn't stop a steady supply of commoner birds. Within the first week of the year I was able to get up to 30 species in Aberdeen alone, with the more noteworthy birds being seen in the town including a Buzzard over the garden, presumably brought in by the snowy and harsh conditions at the time, Song Thrush and Long-tailed Tit also in garden, Grey Wagtail over my school and Snipe over the house, strangely my first wader of the year. I was quite satisfied with that little total, considering all 30 species had been seen just within Aberdeen city. Once my relatives had left and one week of school had passed, I finally managed to get out birding (10/1). We planned to spend the day primarily at Strathbeg, where a good number of winter birds were reported to have been present. On the way, however, we stopped at Girdleness. This was provided us with a lot of the commoner species that you'd expect to see by the sea including Eider, Lesser and Great Black-backed Gull, Guillemot, Cormorant, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Turnstone and other common waders, as well as Gannet, Mistle Thrush and Kestrel. The stop here was brief but quickly got us up to 47 birds for the year. It was satisfying too, purely because all the birds we had seen at Girdleness were new for the year and thus had more significance. Strathbeg would also prove to have that satisfying factor... even more satisfying than we were expecting it to be.

Getting out of the car at the car park by the Visitor Centre we found big numbers of passerines feeding on the feeders. These included lots of Chaffinches, Blue Tits, Great Tits, the odd Robin, Wren, Greenfinches and notably for the year a small number of Corn Buntings, Yellowhammers and the regular Tree Sparrows. The fact that all these birds were round the feeders seemed to imply that there was going to be lots more winter passerine activity at Strathbeg that day. Entering the visitor centre we saw a birder looking out onto the pools. We asked him what was about:

"There's plenty about today. Big numbers of winter wildfowl, Ralf the juvenile White-tailed Eagle and a ring-tailed Hen Harrier are all around. I've seen the latter two birds both within the last 10 minutes so they should both appear again soon. Other birders who have wandered out to Tower Hide also say they've seen two Snow Geese whuch apparently aren't quite visible from here and consist of one pale morph and one blue morph and massive numbers of Linnet with good scatterings of other winter passerines amongst them."

Hearing this we could see we were potentially in for a good day. And we were! No sooner had the birder said this did we find the ring-tailed Hen Harrier quartering the fields with a degree of majesty and sending the surrounding winter wildfowl up into the air. We watched this fine creature for a minute or so before it flew over the Visitor Centre. So, this was a very nice way to start our search of Strathbeg, as I thought Hen Harrier would be a tricky bird to see for the year. Yet, we had managed to see it within less than a minute of getting into the Visitor Centre. With the Harrier out of sight for now we watched the copious winter wildfowl in their hoards as they fed. There were big numbers of all of the commonest winter ducks (Mallard, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Teal and Wigeon) as well as Whooper and Mute Swan, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose and a couple of Barnacle Geese amogst those geese visible from the hide, as well as a few other slightly more notable species as a small party of winter Reed Buntings and a Hooded Crow . These were, of course, all year ticks for us and got me in the range of 60 species. Yet there are two species that I saw from the Visitor Centre that I am yet to mention. As the birder had said, the White-tailed Eagle had been present throughout the course of the morning, and about 15 minutes after our arrival he came into view, sending almost everything in the are up and causing absolute mayhem. You could undertsand just why they'd be scared as he was an absolutely massive bird both in terms of his bulk and his long 'barn-door' like wings. Not only that, but he was intent on harrassing the other birds, ducking, diving and jolting as he towered over the other birds, aiming to satisfy his pallet with a meal of winter wildfowl. The birder in the Visitor Centre told us that he had seen him eating a Wigeon earlier on, so he was definitely in for the kill. It is some spectacle watching Ralf, not only because of what havoc he causes, but because of his sheer size, splendour and resplendence. Like any eagle, he is just a joy to watch, even if you have seen him before (this was the 4th time I had seen him). He's just such an imposing and potently magnificent creature. We watched him harrass the wildfowl on and off for some 20 minutes, getting superb views of him both through the scope and the bins. It was just fantastic. At one point a female Sparrowhawk (another year tick) also joined Ralf on the search for something to eat, increasing the already terrible panic that the wildfowl were experiencing. With great views of both White-tailed Eagle and Hen Harrier already, I couldn't have hoped for a more satisfying start to both the day at Strathbeg and the year. Eventually the havoc stopped as Ralf settled himself down on a post, sitting there like a king as he browsed the area. Soon after this, I was delighted when I found a group of up to 20 incredibly stand out Snow Buntings on the sloping hill visible from the visitor centre. Most of these beautiful little birds were adult winter females, but there were a couple of whiter looking winter males amongst them. They were only seen for a couple of minutes, and then flew out of view. I suspected that there would be more of the viewable on the walk up to Tower Hide, as well as many more winter passerines. So, having given the Visitor Centre a great look and managed to get the year list up to 66 species, we made our way to Tower Hide. So far, it had been absolutely fantastic. I couldn't have hoped for better. It was a real haven for birds out there. Little did I know that on the way to Tower Hide that things wouldn't only get better, but that I'd experience one of my most amazing nature spectacles ever...

Leaving the Visitor Centre behind us I could see that the whole of the area was absolutely full of winter passerines. There was so much to see, and thus our progress to the hide itself was very slow. No sooner had we entered the path to Tower Hide did we stop and look at the birds. It was ridiculous just how many were present, in flight, on the ground around us.... just ridiculous. It was a festation of these small but very nice little birds. If I had to give rough calculations as to numbers of particular species just at the start of the path, I'd say there were over 60 Linnets, 30 Snow Buntings (most of these from the flock that I'd seen at the Visitor Centre), 20 Reed Buntings, 5 Corn Buntings, 35 Yellowhammers, small numbers of Chaffinches, Greenfinches and Goldfinches and 20 Twites. The latter species was a very useful year tick, and all 20 were initially heard before seen sitting on a tree. It was great having all these passerines everywhere around me; in front of me, behind me, close to me, further away from me. Such a contrast of these strangely copious species! It really felt like I was amongst nature. Our proceedings were slow as were constantly looking at these passerines. By the time we were half way towards the Hide, the numbers of passerines had increased further. Including those that we had seen at the beginning of the path, the totals were now up to well over 150 Linnets, at least 30 Reed Buntings and 45 Yellowhammers, 25 Twites, 10 Corn Buntings and 35 Snow Buntings. Linnets were indeed the predominant species, but I must say the numbers of the other species were also rather astonishing. I had certainly never seen such a gathering of winter passerines before in my life! There was also a largish flock of Pink-footed Geese in the fields beyond and several in flight as we watched the winter passerines. We checked this flock, but no sign of any Snow Geese as the birder had mentioned back at the Visitor Centre.

About 3/4 of the way to the hide, my Dad and I decided we would speed up, as we had given the passerines a good look. Just as we were about to do so and my Dad was having a last look at the geese, I suddenly saw the figure of a harrier for a second rise in front of me. The view was so brief I wasn't quite able to tell what it was.

" I think the ringtail is just in front of us here," I told me Dad quietly, " I only saw it for a split second but it looked Harrier like in shape."

We advanced slowly in hope that we'd flush the bird. We managed to successfully and confirmed that it was definitely the ring-tail. With its rise everything else in the area suddenly took to the air and chaos started. The geese, the huge amounts of winter passerines, the fairly large number of woodpigeons, all filling the skies and their panick-stricken calls reverberating through the area. It was an amazing experience. Hundreds of frantic birds, everywhere! We followed the ringtail as it was in amongst the huge hoards of other species. At one point it glided for a bit, and to my sheer delight as it did this it was joined by an absolutely magnificent male Hen Harrier! They were a pair on the hunt! No wonder they had been attracted to the winter passerines, as there were ridiculous numbers of the little birds. These two birds were no more than 30 ft away from me, so I just stood there, utterly flabbergasted by what was going on and watching the sheer beauty and splendour of the male Hen Harrier. Such a perfect bird it was; a fantastic, ghostly grey, long-winged bird with stunning yellow talons and eyes, flying at some speed in amongst the havoc with its mate. It was a magical experience watching it; my first ever male Hen Harrier. I continued two watch the two birds as they hunted together. It was a scene of complete franticness and chaos, a massive festation of birds. It was surreal! Yet there was something else that would make this experience even more memorbale and surreal than it was already and exacerbate the chaos for the other birds. As I was watching the harriers, my Dad suddenly exclaimed

'MERLIN!!!'

I was already bewildered and astonished by what had happened thus far, so looking up to see a miniature falcon far smaller than that of a Kestrel fly fast above our heads was ridiculous! There was no doubting that it was a Merlin, as it was way too small for any other bird of prey. The bird was a female, and shared that same common factor with the two Hen Harriers that were also present; it was in for the kill! As this was only my second Merlin ever I had to take my eyes off the Hen Harriers. It was going at a very quick speed, and was in there within a few seconds, looking for a food. As my Dad and I followed it through the bins I seem to recall that it caught one passerine. It stayed in view for a good minute, before eventually flying out of sight. I then turned back to the Harriers to find that the female wasn't in sight and the male flying towards the pools. With these birds of prey having left the area, successful or not, the passerines, the geese and the pigeons all settled down on the ground again, and the chaos died out. WOW! My Dad and I looked at each other when everything was over, utterly astonished. We knew we were thinking the same thing, that being: 'That was AMAZING." And it really was just surreal. Having hundreds of birds all in the skies at once calling their little hearts out, with a pair of Hen Harriers and a Merlin hunting at the same time. It was like being in paradise, being able to observe that piece of natural brilliance. It really highilights just how fantastic nature can be. It was basically a bird fest. Magical. An unforgettable moment; a moment that will undoubtedly stay with me for a long time! We then moved on and completed what would have been a short walk to the hide if it hadn't have been for the nature spectacles I had witnessed on the way. Just as we were about to enter Stock Dove was a welcome newcomer to the year list. At Tower Hide itself Ralf the White-tailed Eagle was showing more brilliantly and closer than he had been before, sending the wildfowl up several times. When he wasn't present though we managed to have a good look at the other birds. Here 3 slightly less common ducks were very nice to see and useful additions for the year: several Pochards, several Shovelers, a Gadwall and a few cracking male Pintails. Good numbers of Coots and my first Little Grebe of the year were also seen here. We spent another hour or so at Tower Pool just enjoying watching Ralf and the winter wildfowl, as well as taking a late lunch. By the time we left the hide and headed back to the visitor centre it was 2:30, and the year list had increased to 78 species.

When we arrived back at the Visitor Centre again we told people of our fantastic experience, and a few were keen on re-finding the Merlin. We were also told that there had been a Peregrine around, which, if we had seen, would have equalled 6 bird of prey species seen at Strathbeg, but we didn't see this in the end. However, a delightful thing to see was a Water Rail wondering onto the ice in the closest pool to the Visitor Centre. This was the third Water Rail I had seen ever and the second on the reserve. It stayed out in the open for a good couple of minutes as there wasn't any reed protection in which it could hide itself in, with many people managing to get pictures. I stupidly forgot my camera though, and thus wasn't able to take a picture. Before w lefte decided that it may be worth looking more closely at the birds on the feeders, as earlier that week at least 2 Bramblings had been seen there. We spent about 15 minutes looking at the birds round the feeders, focusing on where the Chaffinches were, as this would be most likely where they would be. And oh my, we were lucky! As we watched a group of Chaffinches on the ground, I spotted a clearly different bird, with orangey sides to a white breast, a dark head and a streaky brown back. There was no mistaking it. It didn't have the all orange breast of the male Chaffinches and the grey head or the browner colour of the female; it was a Brambling! A winter female, it fed gladly with the Chaffinches on the ground where some seed had been laid out for them. It was a beauty of a bird, and clearly stood out from the others. I was particularly happy to see this bird, as not only had I found it, but hitherto that day Brambling had been my main bogey bird. It was a lifer. It stayed feeding there for a few minutes, giving other birders a chance to see it, and then flew off, showing the tell tale white rump. What a very satisfying way to end the day! Yet even that wasn't it. On the way back as we entered Aberdeen a Woodcock darted across the road, a species that had managed to elude me last year and was a very useful year tick.

I ended that day on 82 species for the year, with 52 new species seen since I had set out that morning. What a fantastic day! Merlin, two Hen Harriers, Water Rail, Brambling, White-tailed Eagle, Twite, Snow Bunting, Woodcock, Pintail and great numbers of other winter passerines and wildfowl, all in one day, as well as 3 other species of birds of prey. What a kick start to the year! Will it be a sign of great things to come? We will see in future entries! Next time I shall chart my birding weekend down in Lothian.

Thanks for reading,

Joseph

Review of the Birding Year 2009

2010-02-04T22:13:00.002Z

2009, it must be said, was a legendary birding year on my part, probably my best ever. The amount of new birds that I saw was just phenomenal, and I saw some great sights that I’d never think that I’d see. This document will tell you about my birding year on a whole - its high points; its low points, and a personal reflection on the experiences which I hope to vividly describe.

January

Due to the bitterly cold winter and the hectic happenings that took place at school, it was a slow start to the birding year. Inevitably in the latter half of the Christmas Holidays I managed to see the commonest species without having to leave Aberdeen (e.g. Herring and other gulls, Town and Wood Pigeon, House Sparrow, the Tits, the finches), and was quickly up to 16. The first birding trip of the year took place in the middle of the month and the year list increased to 44. All three local patches (Girdleness, Ythan and Strathbeg) produced their common species, all of which felt extra special on the day as they all counted! The most notable of these early year ticks were a group of Red-legged Partridges seen on the road to Collieston in the Ythan area and Red-throated Diver and Purple Sandpiper at Girdleness. The commonest winter waterfowl species (Eider, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Pink-footed Goose, R-B Merganser, Shelduck, Mute Swan etc. ) were all seen including the three commonest birds of prey (Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk), the commoner waders (Oystercatcher, Redshank, Lapwing, Dunlin, Golden Plover) and other commoner species. This was the only time I got out during the month, but I was fairly satisfied with my totals even though most birders would see this as a rather petty total.

February and March:

February was that bit better than January, with some interesting birds seen. Managed to get out birding just once yet again as I was still busy with school work and the weather was still cold. However, before this outing I was blessed with the arrival of one of my favourite winter species outside my house. It had been a great year for Waxwings on all over the country that winter, and I was absolutely delighted when I spotted a flock of 15+ of these birds (4th February) on the cotoneaster bushes in the garden. The past few winters had been good for Waxwings and each year I’d had them visiting these bushes which are ripe with berries that they like to eat, and it was lovely to see them there again. The views were brilliant and, as the bushes ware fairly close to the house, you didn’t have to use the bins to see them, but I used mine anyway. No other Waxwings visited again that month unfortunately, or for the rest of the year.

I got out birding properly a week after my Waxwing encounter, where I spent the day at the Ythan and Strathbeg. Stopping at the Ythan there were no birds to note particularly apart from those I had seen the month before. As I was leaving the area however, I came across a birder looking at a big flock of maybe 200 or so Pink-footed Geese. Getting out the car I asked if he was looking at anything in particular:

“It’s strange that you ask actually. I’ve been watching what I think are two Tundra Bean Geese, but I can’t be sure. I’ve reported it and texted a few people about it and was wondering if you were responding to the report.”

“We didn’t get any reports,” I replied, “We just thought we’d stop by to see if you’ve seen anything interesting. Where about are these Bean Geese then?”

The incredibly strong and cold wind made it hard to view the geese through the scope, but the birder managed to show my Dad and I these geese that he was looking at. As these two geese were right amongst a flock of standing Pinkfeets, we couldn’t see the orange feet which would separate them from Pink-footed. They seemed to be considerably bigger though and didn’t have the frosty blue-grey backs of the Pinkfeets, as well as have longer bills. It would have been easier to identify them if the wind hadn’t blown the scope about, but eventually we all came to the conclusion that they were Bean Geese. To confirm though we would have to wait until the birds were in flight. Eventually, the flock did take off for a second before landing again, with the two geese we had been keeping an eye taking to the air too. It was specifically these two geese that we were watching, and to my delight we found that both geese did have orange feet! This was great news, and meant that I had seen my first lifer of the year. The birder who had spotted them was very pleased with his find and took our names so as to show that he wasn’t the only person to have seen them. We had spent an hour watching the flock with the birder, an hour that was definitely worth it. We weren’t expecting to see the Bean Geese at all. It’s such moments in birding as these that I enjoy, when you just fall upon nice birds without having a clue that you’re going to see them! At Strathbeg I managed to see some useful species that I hadn’t seen as of yet, including Whooper Swan, Reed Bunting, Peregrine Falcon, Gadwall and a fine drake Pintail. I finished the month on a fine 66 species, with Waxwing and Bean Goose being the main highlights of the year so far.

March saw some harder weather with considerable snowfall. School and work for my Dad was also more hectic than ever, with me having to sit and revise for several test. As a result I didn’t make it out once that month and the year list total didn’t rise. It had been a slowish start in the first few months of the year. However, as April arrived so did spring in all its warmth and glory. What birds would it produce?

April:

On the first weekend of April (to be precise the 4th) I was out for my first ‘Spring Birdwatch’, and was hoping to see the commoner spring arrivals (e.g. the hirundines, a few commoner warblers). However I was only out for the morning due to other arrangements that day, which to a degree lessened the amount of new species that I saw. Only five year ticks were seen that spring morning. The first Swallow of the year was a welcoming sight and a real sign of the nicer weather, as was a Chiffchaff viewed just outside Waulkmill Hide and a Blackcap at the second stop off area near the main part of the Estuary. On the way to Collieston for a brief look out at sea a few Grey Partridges took us by surprise as they took a risky and sudden flight across the road as we passed by. At Collieston I managed to see my first Gannets of the year with approximately 35 birds passing in 20 minutes. It was rather embarrassing that we hadn’t seen any Gannets for the first few months of year, so it was a relief to see them then. 71 species of bird had now been seen as of 4th April.

With the arrival of the Easter Holidays a few days later my Dad and I (my Mum and sister were busy with work –related issues) had prepared a trip down to Roadwater in Somerset, a village close to Exmoor National Park. My Dad’s parents own a cottage in this village, and we visit it annually so as to be able to visit them and other relatives (I don’t have any relatives in Scotland you see). I’ve been going there for years, and I must admit it’s a beautiful area, filled with nice woodland and rolling fields. The aforementioned habitats are home to some birds that are difficult to see in Scotland such as Green Woodpecker and Nuthatch. As we were only spending a few days in the area my Dad and I didn’t get out to do any proper birding, but, because of the many beautiful countryside walks you can take from Roadwater, we had outings each day. One particularly long walk across Exmoor was good for birds, providing us with quite a few upland species. At least 5 Ravens were seen and we heard their guttural croaking fairly regularly on the walk. As well as this we managed to flush up a few Common Redpolls from the heather which were nice to see. Other walks proved slightly less interesting but Willow Warbler and Yellowhammer were welcome additions On the way back to Aberdeen my Dad and I thought it might be worth it to stop off at WTT Slimbridge, a place my Dad had I always wanted to show me and that is obviously renowned not only for the wildfowl you get there but its collection of wildfowl too, both of which I saw and greatly admired. However I would comment that the place was a little clogged up with visitors that strayed into the hides after looking at the wildfowl collection. At Slimbridge I managed to pick up quite a few new species for the year, including Shoveler, Greylag Goose and Canada Goose, Black-tailed Godwit, my first Sedge Warbler of the year and up to 5 Little Egrets. The latter obviously aren’t a common sight in Scotland but I see them at least twice a year in places like Strathbeg (these are usual lone birds however), and obviously I see plenty of them when I’m down in England. With this visit to Slimbridge and the long walk up in Exmoor the year list was now at 80 species.

On 26th my Dad and I spent a day at Strathbeg and managed to see a lot of lovely species that hitherto I hadn’t seen that year. The visitor centre, Tower Pool, Rattray and the hides at Crimond Airfield were all checked, and by the end of the year the year list had increased by 14 species and was now on 94. All the birds seen were the expected spring arrivals such Ruff, Sand and House Martin, Sanderling, Common and Sandwich Tern, Marsh Harrier, a stunning Osprey over the visitor centre and a fine male Wheatear. However, there was one species that I saw that day that I haven’t mentioned. This species was a lifer for me, and was seen right at the end of the day. It took frustratingly long for me to see however, as it was only really viewable through the scope and kept on disappearing out of view at points. It was very busy in the visitor centre, with all the visitor scopes being used. Not much was going on for a lot of the time, and people were just watching the wildfowl. Just as were about to leave, however, a cry came from one of the birders:

“I’ve got a female Hen Harrier here! It’s a long way off but is currently quartering the fields towards Savioch!”

Now Hen Harrier, at that time, was one of the biggest bogey birds that I hadn’t seen, and I was desperate to see this ringtail. However, because of the amount of people in the place that were using the scopes, I wasn’t able to catch onto the bird. Just less than a minute after this person’s cry it went down again. Those that were at the scopes had all seen it, including my Dad. I hadn’t however. There was then a long wait for the bird to re-appear. 20 minutes pass. Nothing.... I was becoming very unhappy, thinking that this was going to be my first major miss of the year. But I was relieved when I managed to get onto a scope and the bird rose again. I quickly caught on to it, and watched it as it patrolled across the reeds and showed brilliantly! It was a beautiful bird to have seen, and one less bird to feel embarrassed about! That was how the month ended. Overall I’d say it was much better than February, which was the runner up in terms of quality, not because I saw rarer birds or anything, just because I went to different places than usual and saw some really nice birds. Hen Harrier had now nicked in as bird of the year.

May:

May, it has to be said, hosted not only the best birding day of the year but one of my most enjoyable days birding ever, and is definitely worth an extended account of! This day, which was May 2nd, was once again spent at the Loch of Strathbeg, and it was just phenomenal! The fact the only 10 new species were seen that day makes it sound petty, but oh, amongst those 10 birds were some brilliant species! The reason I had gone up to the Loch of Strathbeg was to see a Great White Egret that had been reported there. Great White Egrets have obviously starting to lose their status as a vagrant nowadays, what with the many reports of this species in the past year or so. Neither I nor my Dad had seen one before, and the prospect of seeing one was very tempting and exciting. When we arrived up there we didn’t go and have a look for it straight away, we checked the visitor centre first. The bird of note on this first visit to the Visitor Centre was a charming Little Ringed Plover. Little Ringed Plovers are a difficult bird to see and was a very useful year tick for us. In fact, it was only my third LRP ever. There were also up to 3 Marsh Harriers quartering the reeds. We then headed to Fen Hide, where the Great White Egret had been seen. As we arrived there we met with a photographer that we’d seen on a number of occasions.

“Presuming you’ve come to see the Great White Egret. Well, it’s just at the back there towards the reeds.”

And he was right. There was a fantastic, very tall all white heron pecking about in the water, viewed down to about 30 metres, the Great White Egret! I had never seen any water bird so magnificent as this in my life. It was just amazing! The conditions (excellent light and very close views) we had were just ideal, I couldn’t have hoped for better! At first it was viewed alongside a Grey Heron (and three Whooper Swans) for comparative purposes, which was rather a treat. When standing it looked hugely bigger and more magnificent than the Grey Heron, that’s for sure! As it pecked about in the water and waded with its hugely long legs, I noted that its bill and legs were basically black but the bill also had a yellowish colour round the base. It was just brilliant watching it; I couldn’t have been more content. We sat there for half an hour (by which time the photographer had some superb photos) just watching it beside the Grey Heron when all of a sudden it took to the air, flying in a very dignified and flamboyant manner into the reeds, where it disappeared. 25 minutes later it reappeared, and was viewed at the edge of the reeds where it walked about a lot. It stayed there for another 10 minutes and then flew back to where we had originally seen it, this time seen catching fish. It was just astounding watching this beautiful bird. My experiences of it are truly unforgettable. This was my third lifer for the year, and my Dad’s first. So within the first hour and a half of birding at Strathbeg I had seen Little Ringed Plover and Great White Egret, how could it possibly get better? Well the answer is that it did get better. We didn’t go back to the visitor centre straight away but headed to the north side of the Loch. Here two separate flocks of 30 Whimbrels were seen, which were lovely to see and was of course was a very useful year tick. Also at the north side of the Loch up to 8 Wheatears were seen and 4 Corn Buntings, the latter of which was a year tick. Rattray was also checked but nothing of note was seen here.

By mid afternoon we arrived back at the Visitor Centre, where we found a good number of birders all with their eyes on a particular species of bird. ‘What now?’ I thought to myself excitedly.

“Whilst you were elsewhere on the reserve,” said one of the wardens that had seen us earlier, “A Green-Winged Teal joined the teal flock. It’s easily viewable through the bins and scope just in front of the hide with the other teals here. It’s a drake, and is easily recognisable from its commoner relatives by a white stripe down the side of its body. You’ll see it there once you get set up.”

Green-Winged Teal was yet another lifer, and when I looked through the scope at the teal flock I could clearly see the white stripe down the side that the warden had mentioned. Quite frankly it wasn’t a lot different from the teals, but was a beauty of bird to watch as the Common Teal is a fine-looking bird in its own right. It was mostly roosting but at one point it did show its face and stood by the other teals. That was now two life ticks in a day plus a Little Ringed Plover. It was a fantastic today so far, it really couldn’t get any better. Or could it?

“It’s been a great day here at Strathbeg,” said one of the wardens, “On top of this teal and the GW Egret there are two Snow Geese and a Pectoral Sandpiper at Tower Hide as well.”

‘This is just surreal!’ I thought, ‘How can it get better than this?’ With this news we headed straight to Tower Pool Hide. Once we arrived there we met once again with the photographer who had been photographing the two Snow Geese for the past hour or so, and checked the Pink-footed Geese flock (still sizeable for the time of year at over 200 birds) for the Snow Geese. With help from the photographer, we soon found them nestled at the core of the flock. They were outstanding things, one being a blue morph and the other a white, and were both together contentedly feeding with the Pink-footed Geese. This was the third ever time I had seen Snow Geese in Scotland, and the first time at Strathbeg. Most of the time we watched them they were just on the ground, but it was some sight when they took the air with the other geese as a Marsh Harrier sent them up. It was interesting when in flight actually, as they stuck close together and never strayed apart from one another. It was rather lovely actually to watch them in the skies together, both the blue morph and the white morph together. After a good look at the Snow Geese we turned our attention to the reported Pectoral Sandpiper that was also in Tower Pool Hide. Pectoral Sandpiper, unlike Snow Goose, was actually a lifer for me. The photographer told us that he hadn’t seen it for a good hour or so and that it had flown off, and that if we wanted to see it we would have to be patient. That wasn’t to say it hadn’t flown back in, however, so we had a careful check of the whole area for it. However after 15 minutes solid searching there was no such luck, so we continued to look at the Snow Geese and other birds, with one notable bird being a fine female Spotted Redshank. Having spent well over an hour in Tower Pool, we were about to head off back home for the day when all of a sudden the photographer said:

“Ok, the Pectoral Sandpiper has just flown in roughly in front of the Savioch Tower.”

Sheer delight! Using the scope, I managed to locate the Pectoral Sandpiper amongst a small flock of Dunlins. A fine looking bird it was too, clearly that bit larger than the Dunlins with a short, slightly decurved bill that was slightly paler than the Dunlins, a grey-brown back and grey, streaked breast that extends further than a Dunlin’s. I also noticed a prominent, creamy supercilium grey breast is sharply demarcated and stops at the centre of the breast, leaving the belly a pure, unmarked white. All the above is characteristic of a Pec Sand and is essential for differentiating them from Dunlin’s in the field. The Pec Sand generally seemed a lot paler and a good bit bigger than the Dunlin’s. If I had been the first to see it they would be the two main grounds to my conclusion. The views of this Pec Sand could have been better but it wasn’t exactly distant, and it was a nice looking wader.

By the time I had left Tower Pool and started to head home it was about 5pm. It had been the most ridiculously good birding day ever, and really an unforgettable one. I had 3 lifers that day: Great White Egret, Pec Sand and Green-Winged Teal, as well as my third sighting ever of a Little Ringed Plover, two Snow Geese, 30 Whimbrel, 3 Marsh Harriers, 4 Great Crested Grebe and a female Spotted Redshank. As a result of this day the year list was now over the 100 mark on 105 species. It was absolutely unforgettable! Would future days in the year beat the quality of 2nd May?

On the 11th May my first Swifts of the year were seen outside the house, and a walk by the River Dee on 17th May provided me with a useful amount of year ticks including Garden Warbler, Dipper, Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Pochard and Whitethroat. On the search for a possible Pallid Harrier the weekend afterwards at Forvie Sands near the Ythan proved unsuccessful but did produce me with a cracking migrant in the form of a Lesser Whitethroat. I ended the month on a respectable 113 species. This cracking month was just a taste of the great birds I would see in the coming months of the year.

June:

June was host to a full two days of birding in succession of one another during a weekend, starting on the 13TH. At the start of the first day I headed back up to Strathbeg to have a look at 3 Spoonbills which had been showing well in front of the Visitor Centre. These wouldn’t be my first Spoonbills, as I had seen two previous to this. When we arrived there we located these birds instantly. The views were astonishing at no more than 20 metres away. All of the birds were in fine adult plumage, and spent a majority of time roosting in the summer sun. However the best moments of viewing these birds was when they stopped roosting and started walking around the place, with one bird ‘spooning’ using its extraordinarily fine spatula-shaped bill. We spent the whole of our time at Strathbeg watching these birds, and also came across a Little Gull, an unexpected year tick that was clearly much smaller than the Black-headed Gulls it was beside. The rest of the first day was spent down by the cliffs at Bullars of Buchan in search of Puffins. After a good walk and a good deal of searching we managed to find 6 of these birds, 3 of which were on the water close to the cliffs and 3 wedged amongst the far more abundant Guillemots and Razorbills. After a nice first day, the second day of the weekend was spent in the countryside west of Aberdeen in search of moorland species. Spending most of our time in the Clachnaben and Cairn O Mount area, Cuckoo was both heard and seen, and 3 Spotted Flycatchers and a Whinchat near the top of Clachnaben were pleasant surprises. A family of Red Grouse shooting up through the heather at Cairn O Mount was also a good and needed addition, and my second party of Redpoll of the year was also seen. These two days were the only two birding outings of the month but had proved very useful, and took the year list up to a nice 137 species.

July:

As I had joined Birdforum and made a blog on the site you can get more information on the happenings of two attempts I had at looking for the Little Bittern at Ham Wall via the link at the end of this monthly account. If you want to know more about any other details from this point in the year onwards they will also be linked. The monthly accounts will also be shorter as the actual days have been blogged.

July of course is the month in which Spring truly comes to the end and the birding world quietens down slightly. However this July was a cracking month for me and a good month for Aberdeenshire with some top quality birds seen. On the 8/7 a mega rarity in the form of a Stilt Sandpiper was spotted by warden David Parnaby at Loch of Strathbeg. The Stilt Sandpiper is a very rare vagrant from America and had only been recorded 17 times prior to this bird in the UK, so as soon as the weekend came (10/7) we headed up to see it, and were successful. Lots of people were there to see it and were obliged with fantastic views of the bird. This Stilt Sandpiper really looked most like a mixture between a Curlew Sandpiper and a Snipe. I noted a rufousy head to bird, clear diagonals down back a striped belly, and an overall brown impression. It had a habit of stretching its neck upright in which it revealed its curled bill, but most of the time it was just roosting and feeding quite happily. Even better was that at points it was feeding beside a Pectoral Sandpiper which was also present on the reserve, my second ever. Comparing these two waders, I concluded that the Pectoral Sandpiper was actually a good deal bigger than the Stilt Sand, suggesting that Stilt Sandpiper isn’t as appropriate a name as it might suggest.... Of course, like with any mega-rarity that one sees, I felt a feeling of immense satisfaction and pride at seeing the Stilt Sandpiper. It just felt sensational to see a bird that had only been seen 18 times ever in the UK! Not only that, but it was great to see it beside the Pectoral Sandpiper, a bird I had only first seen back in May. On the same day as the Stilt and Pectoral Sandpiper, Manx Shearwater was added to the year list when visiting Rattray and at the Ythan a cracking Little Tern was seen. Unfortunately the day after we saw the Stilt Sandpiper a Caspian Tern made a brief appearance for a couple of hours at the Ythan, showing very well in front of a handful of serendipitous observers that happened to be in the area at the time. A link to a picture of the Stilt Sandpiper is below.

http://www.birdguides.com/iris/pictures.asp?f=212669

A few days after seeing the Stilt Sandpiper I found myself back down in Roadwater, Somerset for the second time that year, this time for a much longer period of time than before, thus not only giving me the chance to look for some of the typical English woodland species that you don’t get in Scotland and also allowing me to have a couple of days at Ham Wall RSPB, where a long-stay Little Bittern was being seen and twitched by many people. Several walks in the countryside round Roadwater were very useful and managed to provide me with Nuthatch and Green Woodpecker, my main targets in the woods round the area. A Tawny Owl also flew across the road one night on the way back from a nice pub dinner. Searching for the Little Bittern at Ham Wall RSPB did prove to be unsuccessful, but amazingly I managed to see 4 life ticks, all of which were bogey birds. These were a Bittern, Cetti’s Warbler, my first ever Kingfisher (which was so relieving as it was my most embarrassing bogey bird at that point!) and a stunning Water Rail. Reed Warbler was also a useful year tick here. As I had joined Birdforum and made a blog on the site you can get more information on the happenings of two attempts I had at looking for the Little Bittern at Ham Wall via the below link. If you want to know more about any other details from this point in the year onwards they will also be linked. I ended the month having had a total of 5 lifers and the year list on the total of 149. I must admit it was a fantastic month, and was incredibly satisfying!

http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=2004&goto=prev

August:

A few days into the month a trip up to Strathbeg provided me with a good amount of new waders for the year, most notably Wood and Green Sandpiper, as well as Common Sandpiper and Snipe. Hooded Crow was also seen here. I was not out again until very late in the month due to arriving back at school and other plans. I went just a couple of days after my 15th birthday on 27th, and had a couple of real birthday delights. These were my first ever views of the juvenile White-tailed Eagle that had been hanging around in Strathbeg for the past year and had hitherto eluded me. Seeing it was the most breathtaking experience I had ever witnessed (read more on link), I even saw it taking a wash! Not only this but I had slightly distant views of a definite marsh Tern that turned out to be a White-winged Black Tern but was originally thought to be a Black Tern. The latter would have also been a lifer but I was very glad to hear that it was actually a White-winged Black Tern! A link to the account of the latter day, which I’m sure will interest you more than the first, can be seen below. By the end of August the year list had reached 159 species.

http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=2042&goto=next

September:

September, of course, is known to be one of the best months of the year for birds, with migrants flooding in from the continent elsewhere with the odd rarity amongst them. However, this is providing the wind conditions are right, or in other words in an easterly direction. I was out a lot that month to maximise my chances of seeing migrant passerines/whatever else may turn up, but the winds were in the west for the whole month, meaning it was pretty quiet! Grrr! I had to really eek out birds, and those new birds for the year that I did see weren’t any species of passerines. It really was an appalling month for the little blighters! On the 5th my Dad and I managed to spot 2 Curlew Sandpiper and 3 Little Stints at the Ythan, two very useful birds for the year. However these were the only new year ticks that day. I was next out on the Scottish Birdforum Bash, where Birdforum members from across Scotland (and sometimes England) meet up in a certain Scottish location and spend a few days birding together. Where they meet is decided on Birdforum itself, and it was decided that this Birdforum Bash would be held in Aberdeenshire. As I had now been a member of the forum for two months I pounced on the chance to go as I was eager to meet the people. Also the more people, the more chance there would be of seeing some good birds. The outcome of the weekend (12/13th September) in terms of birds didn’t consist of anything overly amazing, but we managed to tot up a total of 104 species in two days, which wasn’t bad. Also it was lovely to meet each and every one of the Birdforum members. The highlights of these include fabulous views of Red Kites at Loch of Skene, good views of the White-tailed Eagle at Strathbeg and a Pale-bellied Brent Goose at Ythanmouth. For more info on the day see these two links (each day of the Bash has its own entry):

http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=2183&goto=next

http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=2232&goto=next

From this point onwards I wasn’t able to make any full days out as I was very busy with school work, but I was able to make it down to Girdleness on a good number of occasions after school for some sea-watching. On these trips I managed good numbers of Manx Shearwaters, Brent Geese, and other things each time, but unfortunately nothing rarer than those two species. If you go back to go back to my first post on this blog (linked below) you can read more if you wish:

http://aberdeenshireyoungbirder.blogspot.com/2009/10/autumn-birding-so-far-in-aberdeenshire.html

The month ended rather disappointingly and I hoped October would be better. By the end of September the year list had risen to a respectable 166 species.

October:

October was probably the best month of year, but in far different ways in usual. I spent very little time birding in Aberdeenshire that month, as in the October Holidays I first spent a week in northern Suffolk, taking a day’s birding in North Norfolk, and also spent a week in Corsica. Before all this though, I went to see a cracking Glossy Ibis that was in a field just outside the village of St Combs near Strathbeg. This bird was a juvenile, and showed very obliging at less than 20 feet. It was my 11th lifer of the year.

The week afterwards I was down in northern Suffolk, and visited North Norfolk on the 15th. Here I visited Cley Marshes, West Runton, Holkham Pines, Thornham Harbour and Holme Dunes. The day was fantastic with a cracking 3 lifers (Short-toed Lark, Grey Phalarope and my first Barn Owl, the latter of which was a real bogey!) as well as a cracking Black Redstart, several Bearded Tits, a Cetti’s Warbler and a Spotted Redshank all at Cley and a ringtail at Thornham Harbour (plus much more!). It was an unbelievable day and was one of the best days of the year. After this visit to Northern Suffolk my Mum and I then headed abroad to the mountainous island of Corsica where I stayed in a hotel just outside Calvi on the north-west coast of the island, where I spent a week. Each day was spent birding, and for the trip I was in search of specialities such as Marmora’s Warbler in the abundant maquis shrub of the island, Lammergeier, Golden Eagle, Audouins Gull, Corsican Citril Finch, and most importantly the endemic Corsican Nuthatch. In the end I managed to fail on seeing all the aformentioned species but I saw some really lovely birds including absolutely loads of Red Kites, 4 Black Redstarts, Dartford and Sardinian Warbler, Eurasian Crag Martin, and a world lifer in the form of two cracking Cirl Buntings in Asco village. Despite missing out on the target birds the sights and places I saw were just breathtaking and such fun, and I saw some great birds anyway.

Arriving back in Aberdeenshire after what had been a brilliant two weeks away I found that I had missed a fall of rare passerines. This was very frustrating, as I managed to miss the biggest fall of Firecrests ever recorded in Aberdeenshire, as well as quite good numbers of commoner rarities such as Yellow-browed Warbler, Pallas’s Warbler, Red-breasted Flycatcher and very annoyingly a Radde’s Warbler at Girdleness. How ironic could it be that all the passerines turn up when I’m away? However, on Halloween I was very happy to go down to Girdleness and see a Richard’s Pipit that had been spotted there. This bird showed well and was yet another lifer for me. It made me feel better as it meant that I hadn’t missed all the migrant passerine activity! I ended what had been a fantastic month’s birding on 173 species for the year (which of course is minus all the birds I saw on Corsica!). What a month in comparison to September! I won’t forget October 2009, that’s for sure! If you haven’t read about it already, go the Archives here on my blog for more information on October’s birding, including a full account of the Norfolk Day and all 7 days spent in Corsica.

November:

When November arrives the hecticness of the autumn dies down and turns gradually into winter. Throughout November I could feel the winter weather coming and the birding world starting to lie low. However November was a great month in its own right. I managed to get out birding on two occasions, and one of these, as you will have probably read, I was involved in the case of the misidentified Dove that was first thought to be an Oriental Turtle Dove but actually ended up being a Turtle Dove. Despite the dove not being the rarer species, I was incredibly happy to see the Turtle Dove as it was only my second ever, and my first in Scotland. It was a very valuable year tick too. On the same day as this Dove I got fantastic views of 8 Snow Buntings at Girdleness and a Black-throated Diver was a welcome addition. On the latter of the two outings that month I simply went in search of some Twites in the dunes at Ythanmouth and was successful, seeing a flock of up to 30 of the birds. It was getting very hard to see new birds for now, and I had now reached 178 species for the year. My aim for the year was 180, would I reach it?

December:

The last month of the year also just had two birding outings but each day was pleasurable in there different ways. The first was spent at Strathbeg in search of Long-tailed Duck, a bird I hadn’t seen that year. I unfortunately didn’t see this species there but did manage to see my second Kingfisher and Water Rail ever, getting fabulous views of the latter species. As Christmas passed my Dad and I could only find one way that we could achieve our aim for the year. There had been a King Eider reported in Burghead, Morayshire, about 95 miles north-west of Aberdeen. We decided, on the 27/12, that we would take a day trip and go up to see this bird. Long-tailed Duck was also more or less guaranteed here. I’m delighted to say that on our arrival we saw both of the two targeted species, getting unimaginably good views of the King Eider and seeing several Long-tailed Duck! That was the last time I got out that year, and I had managed to achieve my aim to the exact number 180! It couldn’t have finished better for me!

Conclusion:

Overall, I must say 2009 was my best birding year on record so far. I recorded a total of 17 lifers, a phenomenal record for me, (18 plus the Cirl Bunting in Corsica) and saw such a wide range of fabulous species from all different sorts of habitats. Visiting Corsica, Ham Wall RSPB in Somerset and North Norfolk all contributed immensely to the year total and were all beautiful places too, particularly Corsica, which was just astounding! However, in terms of the best birding place I went this year it had to be Strathbeg. Time and time again that I went it produced quality birds. I managed to see 8 of the 17 lifers that year there alone. The Ythan and Girdleness also produced some lovely birds too. Which bird though, really stood out for me that year? And what was the best day of the year?

It’s obvious that the rarest bird I saw was the Stilt Sandpiper. Well, I enjoyed seeing a lot of birds that year. Some lifers were less exciting than others (take Pec Sand, WWB Tern and Green-Winged Teal) The Bean Geese were great to see early in the year, as were the Waxwings in the garden (waxies weren’t lifers though), and the two ringtails I saw through the course of the year. The Snow Geese (also not lifers) were also fantastic to see, as were the Lesser Whitethroats at Forvie Sands, the 3 Spoonbills at Strathbeg, the Stilt Sandpiper of course, the Water Rails that I saw, the Bittern, the White-tailed Eagle sightings, the Glossy Ibis, the Barn Owl and Grey Phalarope in Norfolk, the Richard’s Pipit and the King Eider... But it must be said, out of all those birds, there was only one bird that really stood in terms of the joy I experienced in seeing it and the views I got, and that goes to the Great White Egret. It was just such a beautiful, elegant bird, and the views were just so close! Yes, the experience of first seeing the White-tailed Eagle ran it close, but it didn’t quite have enough to beat the pleasure of the Great White Egret sighting! As for the best day of the year, well there can only be one winner. Yes, the day on 2nd May, where I saw Great White Egret, Snow Goose, Green-Winged Teal, Pectoral Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover all within one day! It was just a phenomenal day and was completely unforgettable. The Norfolk Day was definitely the runner up, but it didn’t quite have the joy and sheer chaos of the day at Strathbeg in early May. I will leave you with a few stats and a link to my full 2009 year list. Thanks for reading what has been a long Review of the Year!

Aim: 180 species (TARGET ACHIEVED)
Bird of the Year (Rare): Stilt Sandpiper
Bird of the Year (Most enjoyable year): Great White Egret
Number of Lifers: 17 (18 + Cirl Bunting)
Day of the Year: 2nd May (Highlights: GW Egret, GW Teal, Snow Goose, LRP, Pec Sand)
Year List - http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=146699

Early to mid-winter birding in Aberdeenshire and the end of the birding year

2010-01-25T19:18:00.010Z

As the month of November progressed the weather gradually became more wintery. The days were colder and shorter, thus meaning less birding time. However, I did manage to get out for a few more birding trips that winter, the first of which was pretty minor. On the morning of 21st November, I headed down to the dunes at Ythanmouth in search of a flock of Twite that I had seen there in the previous two years, thus why I was presuming that this was a reliable spot to see the species in the winter and that they were almost guarenteed. Here are a few pictures of the dunes and the area in which I was looking for this flock of Twite.

The first picture shows the particular area in the dunes where I have seen the Twite flock on previous years. Its a longish walk, but has been worth it in the past. It was certainly worth it this time too. Once again, we managed to locate the flock right in that area without much difficulty, flushing them up with in a couple of minutes. Twites, of course, aren't the most beautiful of birds, but quite tricky and therefore very satisfying to see. I was actually caught by surprise when I spotted them, as they rose from the ground right in front of me (where they had been completely camoflauged) very abruptly, calling their sweet but rather worried sounding call of 'Twite' as they rose to the air all together. There was about 35 of the birds, and they appeared flightless and restless. We had to do quite a lot of walking to track them down, and flushed them up several times, only for them to move to other parts of the area. Eventually we were fortunate enough to see them feeding on the ground, although we had to be very quiet so as not to scare them off. The views were fantastic as we were incredibly close, no more than a few feet. I clearly noted the buff breasts and pale bills on many individuals, and they appeared very dark and grey in comparison to a Linnet or any other finch. I tried to get some pictures, but unfortunately they flew off when I moved to get the camera out... oh well! Nonetheless they were nice birds to see, and bought my 2009 year list to 178. They were the only notable birds that I saw on that brief morning outing.

3 weeks later, on 12 December I was out birding again after what had been a rather busy period of studying for school. Winter had really now. It was very cold (at best a few degrees above freezing) now, and all water sources were basically frozen. Ice was also at large too, so it was quite tough to walk about the place without feeling as if you were going to slip over. Anyway that winters day I planned to spend the majority of my birding time in Loch of Strathbeg, as I hadn't visited the reserve since seeing the Glossy Ibis all the way back in early October and I knew the winter waterfowl would be in abundance. I was particularly keen to see a Long-tailed Duck, a bird that was managing to elude me that year. I had discovered a few days earlier that this species had been reported on the reserve, so there was a good chance of seeing them. Strathbeg wasn't my only port of call, however. I firstly stopped off at the Ythan Estuary, which was actually really worth it.

Before going to the main part of the Estuary, my Dad and I took a brief stop at the edge of Newburgh, where the aforementioned village opens out into the countryside and the beginning of the estuary. On most of our trips to the estuary my Dad and I will stop off at this little beginning part of the Estuary, not normally for long, but it sometimes proves useful, as it did that December day. As my Dad and I were watching some waders, we heard a high pitch, loud whistle. This call I had only heard once before, back in July at Meare Heath, Somereset; the whistling 'Ziii!' of the Common Kingfisher. It was instantly recognisable, and as we heard it our attention was instantly turned towards locating the bird. Sure enough, pretty close in, there was the beautiful, jewel like azure flash of a Kingfisher. It was flying incredibly fast, and because we were in the car, we could only turn so far before it went out of view. We maybe only saw it for about 10 seconds, but nonetheless was a brilliant sight though. You can rarely beat a glimpse of a Kingfisher; in my opinion its one of the greatest bird spectacles to observe. This was my second Kingfisher ever (and my first in Scotland), with my first being down in Somerset as I've said. For a long time it had been a bogey bird, but you'd be surprised that they're not so common in Scotland. Also at the Ythan of note was a group of 5 Little Grebes and good numbers of winter ducks. You don't normally see Little Grebes on the actual estuary itself, so I presumed that these grebes, as well as the Kingfisher, had been brought down to the estuary due to the hard weather.

From the Ythan we headed up to Strathbeg. Arriving at the Visitor Centre I could sense that the place was abandoned. There was no-one watching the area. However this was rightly so. The pools in front of the Visitor Centre were completely frozen and devoid of birdlife; nothing at all. I had never seen the area like this before. My Dad and I concluded that all the birds would be on other parts of the Loch, so we left the Visitor Centre and headed to the hides round the main part of the Loch. And we were right. Arriving at Bay Hide, there were big concentrations of winter wildfowl of which you couldn't see at the Visitor Centre, including many species of duck, 2 species of Swan and 4 species of geese. I was interested in noting the amount of birds in this concentration of wildfowl. I managed to come to the conclusion that there were well over 400 birds in the goose flock (a majority of them Pink-footed with a couple of Barnacles amongst them), 20 Greylag geese, 300 Wigeons, 100+ Teals, 50 Mallards, 5 Goosanders, 20 Tufted Ducks, 15 or more Pochards, a few Pintail, 30 Goldeneyes and up to x60 Whooper Swan, the latter of which was probably more common that day than Mute Swan which was also present in fairly large numbers. However, there were no Long-tailed Ducks presebt amongst this mass of wildfowl. Despite Long-tailed Duck's absence however, it was lovely to sit there watching all these birds as they communicated to each other and got on with their lives, the loud whistle of the Wigeon and the whooping of the Whooper Swan particularly prominent. As I watched these birds I could think of no other location that matched the sheer density and variety of bird species of Strathbeg. It was just fantastic! After spending a good hour or so at Bay Hide, we decided to go over to Fen Hide at the otherside of the Loch for a different perspective on things. Here the big concentrations of winter wildfowl remained. I managed to get a better look at the goose flock which had been distant at Bay Hide. A few days earlier a couple of Snow Geese had been reported amongst the flock, a fairly regular visitor in the early/later months of the year, so I was specifically looking for these now I had a far closer view of the flock. Unfortunately, despite a good scour of the flock, there were no Snow Geese to be seen. Futhermore there were no Long-tailed Ducks at this side of the Loch either. However, I was about to see something that would make my day that bit more enjoyable than it already had been.

As I sat munching on my slightly late lunch, I heard a bird call like that of a strangulated pig coming from the reeds right in front of the hide. To any birder this is an unmistakable call. It was that of a Water Rail. Because the call was coming from the reeds right in front of us we knew the Rail was in there, and were eager to locate it. We had to be patient; we even heard it scuttling in the reeds as we waited, but we got our reward. Eventually the small, plump, long-necked form of a Water Rail appeared from the reeds, walking slowly and cautiously across the ice no more than a few feet away from us, its distinctive long grey neck and red bell showing beautifully in the winter sunny. It was just great to watch it! Coincidentally, the first Water Rail I had seen was also at Meare Heath, Somerset in July of that year just like that of the Kingfisher, and was also my first for Scotland and my second ever. This pretty little bird stayed out on the ice for a half a minute before suddenly taking to the air in a low weakish flight across to the otherside of the reedbeds, where it disappeared again. The beauty of me and my Dad seeing this bird was partly the experience of watching it alone. It truly felt like our bird. Not only that but I think Water Rails are the most striking and nice-looking of the rails and crakes, excluding that of the Corncrake. The others tend to be rather more dull I think. Not long after the Water Rail had disappeared did a couple of other birders come along. We told them of our sighting and they were eager to see it. However by the time we left it hadn't appeared again. We spent the rest of that day just looking around other parts of Strathbeg. By the time we were finished it was nearing sunset, so we headed back home. It had been a lovely winter days birding.

By the time I was out birding again Christmas had passed (bird-wise for Christmas I'd got a cracking Moleskine pocket notebook to write my birding days out in and a subscription to Birdwatch magazine). My Dad and I had chosen the 27th December to go on a trip in search of one particular bird; a rare bird that had been reported for the duration of December at Burghead in Morayshire. This bird was a drake King Eider. I had seen two King Eiders before at Girdleness back in 2006, but they were both females. Seeing a drake would be an entirely new and exciting experience for m, although we'd have to drive a long way to have any chance of seeing it. The nearest big place to Burghead is Elgin, which is about 95 miles or so north of Aberdeen. Its a long drive, and would take even longer to get to due to the snowy weather that took place over that period. The hope really of this day trip to Morayshire was to reach 180 species for the year, which happened to be my target. If I saw the King Eider the list would go up to 179, and from there Long-tailed Duck (good numbers are seen from Burghead and up and down the Morayshire coast) would then make 180. That was the aim really, and of course to get fabulous views of both species. So, early that morning we left for the long drive up to Burghead. On the way we decided we'd stop off at Peterhead where 2 Iceland Gulls had been reported in the harbour there. Iceland Gull in actual fact was a bird I hadn't seen before, so seeing it at Peterhead would not only be an extra bird for the year list, but would have the satisfaction and exciting feeling of being a bird I had never seen before. At Peterhead Harbour we had a good scour for these two gulls but unfortunately despite the huge amounts of herrings and black-headeds there were, we couldn't find two white-winged gulls amongst them. We even went round towards Battery Park and the Ugie in search of them, but still only the more common gulls were present. This was a tad disappointing, but it wasn't our main stop for the day and it was still possible that I'd see both the drake King Eider and Long-tailed Ducks at Burghead.

The drive to Burghead was annoyingly long at an hour and a half from Peterhead (a good 50 or 60 miles). We took a small and quite snowy route towards Elgin which made us take longer. The weather was generally pretty good though and there was a clear melt in the snow of the previous week or so; it was more icey now really. It was around midday when we reached Elgin, and Burghead was about 10 miles north-west from there, so arrival time was at about quarter past 12, leaving us with plenty of time to birdwatch. The small town is basically built on a Peninsula which projects north-westwards onto the Moray Firth. To get to where the King Eider has been seen you have to progress through the town until you get to what appears to be a dead end. At this dead end however, there is a small track which you take down to the waterfront, and then a track from there that takes you to a place where you can park the car and look out at sea. My Dad and I didn't have much trouble finding this, but getting across the small track without the car slipping off the road due to the ice was difficult. Eventually we managed to get across however, and managed to start looking for the King Eider. 'If it is there' I thought, ' Then it should be fairly obvious'. Like all previous records of King Eider in Britain, this bird was being seen amongst a flock of Common Eiders. Once we found the Eider flock, it was either a case of it being there or not being there. And oh, it couldn't have been more satisfying! The Common Eider flock was very close in, no more than 50ft away, and amongst them was one of the most stunningly colourful ducks I had ever seen, the drake King Eider, showing absolutely superbly! It couldn't have been better for us! We didn't have to put any effort into finding the bird whatsoever, it was just there for us to see, and we didn't even have to get out of the car either. We had fantastic views. Just seeing it through the bins gave great views, but seeing it through the scope was just undescribably brilliant. As I watched I made notes of the birds stunning plumage. It had a scarlet bill, pale grey nape and almost black back, the latter of which was distinctly different from that of its common relatives. I also noted that it didn't have the sloping forehead of the Eiders. What really struck me though was how small it was in comparison to the Eiders. It was no bigger than a large Velvet Scoter, and the Eiders looked proportionally massive in comparison. Some of the time when watching it had its back to us, but regularly you could get perfect views of the whole of the bird in the slanting afternoon sun. Watching it through the scope was like being right beside the bird! It was just a magical experience. At one point it flew a little way, and during the time of absence (yes, it hadn't gone far but we really couldn't be bothered getting out of the car due to the bitterly cold weather!) we had a look out for other birds at sea. I had a possible Great Northern Diver a long way out, and, I'm very happy to say, we had a flock of 4 Long-tailed Ducks, which meant we had achieved the target of 180 species for the year! Eventually the King Eider returned and the small portion of the Common Eider that had flown off with it returned to where they had originally been, yet again giving superb views. I couldn't have been happy with the outcome of the day! After an hour or two of watching from Burghead we decided to have a quick check off the beach at the nearby village of Findhorn. Here the only birds of note really were 4 Golden Plovers in the car park and a single male Stonechat. I was absolutely delighted with the outcome of the day and went home happy and feeling that it was worth the drive all the way to see it. I wasn't expecting the fabulous views I got of the drake King Eider, so it was well worth it for that reason! Here is a couple of pictures I took when I was at Burghead, one of which you can faintly see through my camera the Eider flock the King Eider was amongst. I also have a beautiful picture of the actual King Eider itself, courtesy of Marcus Conway ebirder, who took the photo. Thank you very much for the photo Marcus!

And that, my friends, took me up to the end of the 2009 birding year. It had been absolutely fantastic year. I had achieved my aim to the exact number, and seen some quality birds! In the next entry I will be doing a Review of the Birding Year explaining just why it was so fantastic, and then after that, will get on to talking about this years birding so far. Yes, I'm slowly getting up to date!

Thanks for reading folks,

Joseph

The Halloween Richard's Pipit and The Case Of The Dove

2009-12-31T17:14:00.012Z

Saturday 31st October 2009. Or, in short terms; Halloween. A week earlier, it was my last day in Corsica and I had been looking at Dartford Warblers and Sardinian Warblers in the lush maquis shrub. But now I was back in Aberdeen, and had been so since the 26th. I didn't find it hard to settle back in to Scotland and Aberdeen, despite the drastic differences between it and Corsica, and I didn't feel at all 'birdwatched out', so to speak. In fact, I found myself out birding that next Saturday. However, this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't have been lured out by a particular species of bird....

Whilst I was in Corsica I was very disappointed to find that, due to a horrific spell of heavy rain and stormy weather, that I had missed the biggest fall of Firecrests in Aberdeenshire to date, with maybe up to 10 birds present in coastal areas of the county at one time, with birds at the Ythan, the nearby town of Collieston, Rattray Head, Longhaven... the list goes on. Not just that, there were also good numbers of Yellow-browed Warblers, a couple of Red-breasted Flycatchers and Pallas's Warblers, and a Radde's Warbler all reported, the latter species reported in the battery at Girdleness, a location I had been searching meticulously all year for passerines! To know I had missed all this got me annoyed. My Dad, despite being in Aberdeen whilst the birds were reported, wasn't able to see any of them either, and by the time I had arrived back all the birds reported had cleared off. However, that Saturday morning when I checked Birdguides, I was in for a surprise.... A Richard's Pipit had been reported at Girdlness. After a year thus far pretty much devoid of any rare passerine species at Girdleness, my Dad and I thought it only fair to go down and see this bird. Not only that, but we had missed the Richard's Pipit at West Runton in October, making it even more justifiable to go down there.

The bird was reported at roughly 10:45am, seen flitting in the long grass beside the golf course on St Fitticks road. This long grass was near to a derelict building and a purple burger van. Obviously readers that haven't been to Girdleness won't associate with this particular area, but if your wondering, here was where it had been seen. Yes, its not exactly the nicest area to behold, but still!

When we arrived we saw around 6 birders with their eyes on the area pictued above. We walked up to them, and got some information as to the pipit's exact whereabouts.

"It's in the long grass towards the wall and the fence at the back there," said one man, " Its hard to see through the bins but with the scope you should be able to see it. Its a bit flighty, and may occasionally go up onto the wall too."

Excitedly I set up our equipment and focused on the area where the bird had been seen. For a minute or so I couldn't find the bird, but eventually, and to my delight, I saw the head of a bird pop up above the long grass. It was the Richard's Pipit. There really was no mistaking it. It was a very large pipit, looking bigger than something of Skylark size, with long legs and a very long tail (almost wagtail length tail). I noticed some markings on the breast but generally the bird was very pale.The lorals were black, and the characterstic stance with the head turned upwards was one of its main giveaway features. I also noticed a very prominent, creamy supercilium on the bird. Here is a picture of the bird. This is not my own, it is Ken Hall's, who saw it on a different occasion from me. I thank him for giving me permission to use his photo.

The pipit stayed in the long grass by the derelict building for a good half an hour. On a couple of occasions it flitted up on to the wall, giving better views than in the grass, but it generally spent most of its time in the grass, meaning we weren't watching it constantly for half an hour, just every couple of minutes appear above the grass. When the bird did show it was so satisfying to watch; it was my first rare pipit ever, and its general behaviour and plumage patterns were interesting to study. It was funny to think that it had come all the way from Siberia, and was now flying about just outside Aberdeen! Presumably it had also been brought in by the nasty weather that had occured that week. When a group of boisterous children dressed up in their halloween costumes waded through the grass, shouting their heads off, the pipit took to the air. It stayed in flight for a while, but was tracked by each and every birder until it landed on the other side of the road. Watching it whilst in the air was interesting. The flight pattern was undulating, yet another similar feature it had to wagtails. In flight the longness of the tail was also more prominent, and it really just looked like an oversized wagtail. It was a good distance away when it was re-located (on the grass near a muddy pool on the other side of the road from the derelict building and the golf course) so views weren't really as satisfactory as before, despite the bird not being concealed by the long grass. But you could still see it there. Eventually a few impatient birders decided they were going to try and get closer to it for some record shots and better views. This was a bad move, as they managed to scare off the bird, and from then on it wasn't relocated that day. Overall I was very happy to have seen the Richard's Pipit, and it was great just to hear the bird reported and drive down to see it straight afterwards. It was also a life tick for me. I guess you could call that outing twitching, but hardly extreme twitching when it was basically in my local patch just a 15 minutes drive away and a few miles from my house in the centre of Aberdeen! The pipit would later be seen by other observers, and stayed around for another few days after my sighting.

So, that was my Halloween basically, nothing else went on! A few weeks later, or to be precise 14th November, I was out again for my first proper birdwatch since I had returned from Corsica (the Richard's Pipit experience was basically just a pop down to see it and then back home again, not really a proper birding day!). I planned to check all three places that I regularly visit: Girdleness, the Ythan Estuary and the Loch of Strathbeg. We started out at Girdleness, where we particularly hoped to pick up a flock of 8 Snow Buntings that had been spotted in Greyhope Bay car park near the lighthouse. From reports from previous observers of this flock, we found out that they were showing very well there, and were feeding on birdseed presumably put out from them by a mystery individual. After a little look round the corner at Nigg Bay and the golf course on St Fitticks Road (just in case the Richard's Pipit was still present!), we headed to Greyhope Bay. When we arrived there, sure enough there were the Snow Buntings, feeding busily at the far edge of the car park. Beside them a man was kneeling, camera in hand and taking pictures of the flock. This man we soon discovered was Andrew Whitehouse, who I'd been acquainted with in September at the Scottish Birdforum Bash. We quickly greeted, and then he left to check the rest of the Ness. At this point I went with the camera to approach the buntings, which had flown to the otherside of the car park when a member of public had driven off. This time I managed to get wonderfully close to them without scaring them off, maybe 5ft away from them. Picture-wise however there was just one problem. It was horribly windy, and as I tried to picture the birds the image was horribly blurry and at times shot nowhere near the actually birds. I decided to wait for a while until the the wind died down a bit, and took the chance to just look at the birds, which was just fantastic! They were all winter plumage birds, each with superb colourations; generally very pale and white, but with a mottled pale ginger, blackish and white above, and pale ginger and white below. 7 of the 8 birds were female, with the male clearly standing out from his female companions with quite a lot more white visible in his plumage. The views of them really couldn't have been better, and it was just magical being right up close to them, being able to experience what its like being that close to nature. It was just brilliant. The wind did eventually die down a little, enough for me to get some shots. They're pretty crappy pictures of a flock of birds that were maximum 10ft away from me, but its the best I could do in the conditions I was facing and with the limited technology I have! Here are some of them, the first of which is probably the best.

I sat there by the birds for half an hour, just admiring them. I must admit they are one of my favourite species of passerine. My Dad watched them from the car whilst looking for other things in the bay. I eventually joined him in the car, where he pointed out a Black-throated Diver pretty close to the shore, a good year tick for us. There were also a few Red-throated Divers close in shore (the Black-throated clearly much darker than these birds), the albino oystercatcher known to Ness birders as The Freak, and a count of 18 Purple Sandpipers. We decided, having had very satisfying views of the Snow Buntings and having checked the rest of the area that we would push off from Girdleness and get on with the rest of our day as we'd planned. However, just as we were leaving, we saw Andrew again. As he saw us, he walked over to the car. He had something to tell us. What was it?

"A Rufous Turtle Dove has just been reported at Collieston"

'Rufous Turtle Dove?!' I thought to myself in excitement, 'Now that's seriously rare!'

" Feel free to hop in Andrew," replied my Dad, " We were going up that way anyway!"

Rufous Turtle Doves are otherwise known as Oriental Turtle Doves. There are just 8 records of this species in the UK, and when Andrew told us of this bird being reported I knew that we were possibly in for an amazing day's birding! With keeness we headed up to Collieston. On the way, I had a look at what the bird looked like in the Collin's Guide, and to me, it wasn't that much different from a European Turtle Dove; just browner, a bit bigger and with more rufous on the wing. This Rufous Turtle Dove was reported to be of the subspecies Streptopelia orientalis meena, or in shortened terms, meena. The other subspecies is Streptopelia orientalis orientalis. The latter is seen in Siberia, whilst meena is seen in parts of Central Asia. On the way the three of us basically discussed the bird and its characteristics, and Andrew gave us the exact location of the bird, saying that it was in a garden towards the Sand Loch, which is a loch just outside the village and is part of the Forvie National Reserve. As we arrived in Collieston we were slightly confused as how to get to this location. However, we were lucky enough to bump into a man with binoculars walking down the villages main road. This man happened to be the spotter of the bird (I will leave his name anonymous). He kindly gave us directions, and we soon found a place to park and were advancing to where the bird was being watched. As we left the village behind us and the land opened out into the rolling Aberdeenshire countryside, we saw a good number of birders in the distance, all with scopes and with their eyes on a stubble field. We approached them.

" Is the Dove showing?" I asked one of the birders excitedly as we joined the group.

" Not right now....," he replied, " Before you arrived it was showing well in one of the trees in the garden of the house nearest to us looking awfully bedraggled and exhausted. The horrible weather must have nearly killed the poor thing... But yes, it has flown into this stubble field ford food and is at present not showing. Its been seen a couple of times since its been in there though, and is close to the top of where the field rises slightly. If you have patience it should eventually show, considering how many of us are here trying to see it."

With this information the three of us set up our equipment and waited. The weather, however, made it difficult to be patinet. It was just foul. Earlier in the day it had been sunny, but by the time we reached Collieston it had gone grey. The wind, as it had been earlier was still very strong, but it was much colder than before. Having the incredibly strong wind beating against your face constantly and being cold was not by any means a pleasurable experience, and you had this sort of tendency to want to retire back to the car. However, in the end, patience paid off, when a birder made an ejaculation of delight:

" Its showing again! Towards the top of the dip like before!"

At the time I was using the scope, and I was quickly onto the bird. Above the stubble, you could see its head and the upper part of its body. As I watched it, it struck me as hardly that different from an ordinary European Turtle Dove. It was clearly one of those birds that had very subtle differences from a related species (e.g. Pacific Golden and Golden Plover). Despite the bird bearing very little difference I was still delighted to watch it. I didn't have a clue that I'd be seeing something of such rarity! It stayed in view for 30 seconds, and then popped out of view again. From watching the bird for that short period of time I drew a few conclusions. It did appear more dusky, dark and brown in comparison to a Turtle Dove, especially on the neck and belly. I also noticed a few rufous feathers on the upper back and wings which were quite prominent. A couple of minutes later, it showed again, but for hardly as long, maybe for 15 seconds max. This, for me, however, weren't good enough views. I would have much preferred to have seen it in the garden before, when it was showing well rather than briefly. Having shown twice, we all waited for it appear again..... but it didn't. 20 minutes or so passed, and a lot of us were getting concerned. Had it gone over the dip in the field? None of us really wanted to enter the field as we thought it would be private property. Also, the horrible weather conditions were continuing to get to us all. What to do now?

Eventually, the spotter of the Dove appeared and he told us that it should be ok to enter the field. With this confirmation, a mass of us entered the field in the hope that we'd flush it up. It was a rather comical sight, watching up to 15 birders trudging through a field in search of a single dove, but how else were we going to re-find the bird? The whole of the field was covered, and a few birders including Andrew checked the adjacent fields for the bird But nothing.... Where was it? We all congregated back by the garden as we had done originally, with those that had had good views of it in the garden heading home. How much longer could we stand before we too would head off? Would that be the last we'd see of the bird? We were nigh on giving up when all of a sudden there was another shout:

" Here it is. Its just flown into the shelter of a bush on the otherside of the road from the stubble field!"

Relief, immense relief! That's what we all experienced. Having tried to re-locate it for a good hour and a half in the bitter weather conditions, this was our reward! The views were excellent, at maybe only 10 feet away, just perfect for pictures. You didn't even need to look at it through the bins. Andrew got a picture, and he has very kindly let me use his picture for this blog. Thanks very much Andrew!

As you can see here though, the bird was fairly knackered, all fluffed up in a ball like shape, looking very sleepy. Now I could see its whole body it was clear just how brown it was; it was way darker than any Turtle Dove I had seen previously. It stayed there for a good half an hour, with many people getting record shots of the bird. Unfortunately my camera was out of battery due to all the faffing about I had to do to get pictures of the Snow Buntings I had seen earlier that day, so I wasn't able to get any pictures of my own. Eventually, it took off from its shelter area and headed seawards. Having now had much better views, we decided it was time to head off, as it was near to getting dark. The original plan for the day, which was to check all three of my patches, had clearly not gone through, but for good reasons. Seeing that the Rufous Turtle Dove I was watching was a mega rarity and the 8th bird to ever have turned up in the UK, it was well worth staying to see the bird at Collieston, despite the amount of time that was wasted looking for it! I also love doves in general. I think they are beautiful birds, with some exquisite plumages. It was just brilliant watching it as it was a lovely looking bird and I knew it was the rarest bird in the country at that point So, very satisified, we headed back to Aberdeen, dropping off Andrew at his home in Torry on the way.

That evening I logged on to Birdforum to see what people's reaction to the Rufous Turtle Dove's arrival. I read the whole thread on the bird, and most people's reactions seemed to be surprised and rather jealous of the bird. Some people all the way down from England were willing to come up and twitch it, and a lot were eager to see pictures of the bird. Eventually the first picture was shown. This picture was the start of huge controversy.... It was now being doubted whether this bird was a Rufous Turtle Dove at all... On the thread loads of complex and in depth discussion took place, with people giving their opinions on the bird and giving comparison pictures of definite Rufous Turtle Doves. Post by post, I watched what was happening on the thread, and each time I was getting more worried... Most people were saying that it was a Turtle Dove, and very few people gave evidence to how the bird could be a Rufous Turtle Dove....

The next day it was concluded that the bird was actually a Turtle Dove, with a major world birder giving his say elsewhere on the Internet that it was a Turtle and the local county bird recorder Paul Baxter and well known aberdeenshire birder Andy Webb also giving their opinions, stating that the horrible wind and rain had caused a false impression, making it seem a lot browner and different than a normal Turtle Dove. Obviously, if the dove isn't accepted by the county bird recorder then it isn't a Rufous Turtle Dove. This did annoy me to be frank, as I had been deprived of what would have been the rarest bird I had ever seen, and I had spent all that time looking for it. I am sure quite a few of all the birders that went to see it would have felt similar to me. However, even though the dove was confirmed a Eursian Turtle, I was still pretty happy. Turtle Doves are basically vagrants in Scotland, and there have been very few records of them in the country I imagine. I also had only seen two Turtle Doves prior to this bird, with both being seen in South-east England, so its very rare for me to see them anyway! It would definitely be a first for Scotland for most that went to see it, so it was still good to have put in the effort to go there. I guess everyone conclude that it was an 'educational' bird, and certainly one that most have learnt from. If you're interested in looking at the topic in which all this controversy over what species the dove was took place (if you haven't already), see here:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=156767&highlight=Rufous+Turtle+Dove

I am now that bit closer to getting up to date with my blog. Eventually I will make it!

Anyway, thanks for reading this entry,

Joseph

The Two Weeks Away: The Last Two Days

2009-12-19T20:11:00.005Z

When I first woke up the morning after my day in the Asco Valley the blinds were still drawn. But I could hear a sound; a sound which disappointed me... The sound of heavy rain... the first rain I had seen on the whole of the trip. As my Mum opened the blinds I looked at the mountains surrounding the hotel. Huge batches of cloud loomed over them, and as I looked at my surroundings disappointedly, I knew the clouds weren't going to shift in a hurry; and they didn't. It poured with rain for the majority of that morning, and my Mum and I were confined to staying in our apartment, where the wasn't a great deal to do. When you are in a foreign country you have this desire to want to explore it; to see its beauties, and in my case, its avifauna. But with this desire, you know that you have limited time to explore, and that weather is always a potential obstacle. It certainly was an obstacle that morning! However, at midday the rain stopped for the first time, and it became a little brighter. We took advantage of this change in weather, and set out.

We planned to spend the afternoon in Le Foret de Bonifato, one of the most well known areas of forest in Corsica, popular especially amongst walkers. We knew that going to the forest even if it did start raining again wouldn't be so bad as we would be to a degree protected from the rain, so that's why decided to go anywhere else rather than anywhere else. Before going to Le Foret de Bonifato though, we decided to get some lunch, heading to the nearest supermarket. We ate this lunch (which consisted of baguette and chocolate) down at Calvi Beach. This was my second visit of the holiday to the beach, and I was eager to see if the rain had managed to bring in some seabirds. So after lunch, we went for a walk down by the sea. The sea was rough, just perfect for a wandering Cory's or Great Shearwater, but despite a good 10 minutes seawatching, no luck of such birds. A few gulls were present not far offshore, but these were just Yellow-leggeds, not Audouins, my target coastline bird. A Cetti's Warbler, however, was seen briefly flying above the reedbeds in the shoreline forest however, and a Sardinian Warbler called. There were also plenty of Hooded Crows and a couple of Red Kites. We then headed to Bonifato, arriving at around 2:00pm.

There were loads of walks you could take from the parking area at Bonfato. We took the shortest, which was actually quite long. The route was called the Boucle du Calatoghiu, and was supposed to take 1hr 30mins if you walked at a good pace. But were we really going to walk so quickly? No! Other walks were between 3-6 hours long, which of course we were never going to take. The countryside surrounding Bonifato was quite like the forest part of the Asco Valley, but at a lower alititude. The mountains were hardly as high, but they shared that more rocky and jagged appearance, and pine forests were dotted on them, presumably Corsican Pines. The walk we took was basically a climb through these beautiful pines. Eventually you'd reach a clearing with fantastic, expansive views looking down towards Calvi, and then, after a small traverse across the top, starting to descend, eventually ending up where you start. The walk was very pleasant and refreshing, and it was lovely to experience the views at the top and be amongst the Corsican Pines. Unfortunately, there weren't any birds seen on the walk, due to the weather. For the majority of the walk, it was raining lightly, enough to have to use the lens cover on the bins and put them under my waterproof. I did hear a good number of species though. There were at least two Great-Spotted Woodpecker calling, plenty of Goldcrests, and a weird call which I later found out in the Collins Guide was that of a Corsican Citril Finch! It was pity that it was raining, otherwise I may have been able to see Corsican Citril Finch, which would have been another target bird seen and my second life tick of the holiday! But alas, I wasn't able to see one and the rain didn't push off... Here are some pictures I managed to take on the walk. The first couple are on the way up, and the very last is of when we're descending. The pictures in between of course are of the views from the highest point, which would have been a lot better if the weather hadn't been so bad!

And really, our walk at Le Foret de Bonifato was our main activity of the day; a day annoyingly deprived of birdwatching because of the weather. There was now only one day to go before we would leave Corsica altogether, and on the morning of that day (24/10/09) I knew that if I was going to see any of the target bird species that were still within reach, namely Audouin's Gull and Marmora's Warbler, then it would have to be then. The weather had very much improved from the previous day, with the sun shining and blues skies. Before breakfast, which we would have in Calvi, I took a brief trip into the maquis at the other end of the department, as I knew that I would have to be persistent with the maquis if I was to have any chance of Marmora's Warbler. Whilst I was out there the maquis was teeming with Sardinian Warblers (I saw a total of 5 birds in that brief stop), and I spotted a small group of 3 Corn Bunting sitting on a bush when I heard one of the birds calling. There were also Dartford Warblers calling, but no Marmora's. After this brief look in the maquis, we headed to Calvi for breakfast, eating at a typical French cafe which had the most beautiful tasting croissants and baguettes. In Calvi I had another look for Audouin's Gull, but despite looking thoroughly for them once again on my third visit to the town, there was none. However, I got a pleasant surprise in the form of 2 female Black Redstarts together down by the marina, making it a total of 4 birds that I had seen on the holiday.

We planned to spend the rest of our last day in Corsica just relaxing at the hotel. However, I needed to give the maquis one last thorough search before the day came to a close. After a game of tennis and a swim in the morning, that afternoon my Mum and I took a different path into the maquis than we had done previously, heading a bit further away from the apartment. It just so happened that this different route and particular adventure into the maquis was the best yet. In the space of the hour and a half that I spent searching the maquis, I managed to total a number of 13 Sardinian Warblers, 6 Stonechat, a single (and my only) Meadow Pipit, 7 Red Kites, 1 Grey Wagtail and 3 Dartford Warblers. I was particularly pleased by the number of the latter species that I saw, and the views I got of them. It seemed that the Dartford Warbler I had seen on my previous adventure into the maquis had got me familiar with the species, and having learnt its call was a big help too. The three birds I saw were all seen at different times, with my best view of one being the first bird I saw, a cracking which was down to 20 feet and was perched on top of some maquis, its tail cocked in that characteristic way. The last of the three birds seen was spotted in flight, whilst the second was seen from quite a distance away also perched on top of some maquis. But still Marmora's Warbler wasn't present; I hadn't even heard one on the holiday! I had lost all hope of seeing the species, until all of a sudden I heard a fairly quiet, croaky, monotone call coming from the maquis as I was on the way back to the apartment. When I heard that call, I knew it was a Marmora's Warbler, and now I just had to track the bird down and try and flush up. It wasn't coming from very far away, and was coming from the maquis heading westwards towards Calvi. I was determined, excited and eager to see the bird, so I headed straight into the maquis to roughly where I thought I had heard it. It called again once I was some way into the maquis. The call seemed louder now, and it felt much nearer. I continued, eventually arriving to where roughly I had heard it the second time. I then stopped, and looked around me, waiting for the bird to call again.... But it didn't.... All hope was now lost. Either it had flown when I wasn't looking, or it was just keeping very quiet. Whatever stopped it from calling, it didn't call again, and thus I wasn't able to get any closer to tracking it down. Exasperated, I gave up and rejoined my Mum, and together we walked back to the hotel... I was so close to seeing a Marmora's Warbler, but in the end, not quite! My time for birding was now up.... That was the last bit of birding I did in Corsica. The next day we would take an early flight from Calvi Aiport to Marseille, and from Marseille to Gatwick. From Gatwick we would then drive up to Aberdeen, taking a stop in Durham overnight (where a couple of days earlier an Eastern Crowned Warbler had been spotted, but by that time it had disappeared!).

Overall, if I had to reflect on my birding experiences in Corsica, I'd say they were overall beneficial. I learnt a lot from my experiences; I learnt of the challenges that foreign birdwatching hosts and how persistence and dedication can get you a long way, but there are some birds that always escape you, such as the Golden Eagle, Corsican Nuthatch and Corsican Citril Finch in the Asco Valley, and of course the Marmora's Warbler, Rock Sparrow and Audouin's Gull. I also became more experienced with mediterranean warblers when in Corsica. When I go to the mediterranean again, I will now know how to fully identify a Sardinian Warbler and be able to differentiate them from any different species of warblers. Yet despite the trip highlighting the difficulties of seeing foreign birds and me failing to see most of the real target birds and specialities of the island, I really, really enjoyed what I did see. I particularly admired the abundancy of the Red Kites as it allowed me to see them really well for the first time, to study their beautiful plumages and every other aspect and feature of them. The two Cirl Buntings I saw in Asco probably come second to Red Kites in terms of the most enjoyable birds of the holiday. They were my only life tick of the holiday, and were such exquisite birds too, with absolutely beautiful plumages. The few Dartford Warblers I saw were lovely too, as prior to the Corsica trip I had only had brief views of one in Dunwich Heath, Suffolk. As for the places I went in Corsica, they were all lovely. Calvi is a great town, with great things to see, a beautiful beach, and scrumptious food. I also admired Calenzana and the many other villages in Corsica such as Montegrosso and Asco for their continuity of tradition and how they seemed relatively untouched by tourism. As for the countryside itself, I will never forget the height and beauty of the mountains, whether they aren't so high such as in the lush Regino Valley or are hugely high such as the jaw-dropping Haut'Asco. And, on top of all the birds and sights I saw in Corsica, there was my very productive and enjoyable day in Norfolk. In all honesty, I couldn't have hoped for a nice couple of weeks birding and holiday! Thank you very much for reading about my two weeks away during my October break, I hope you've enjoyed reading about it, and I will now try and get up to date with birding in Aberdeenshire. I leave you with the full list of birds I saw in Corsica. Once again, thank you!

Yellow legged Gull, Black Redstart (x4), Red Kite (many), Hooded Crow, Spotless Starling, Cetti's Warbler (a couple seen and heard), Great Spotted Woodpecker, Collared Dove, Grey Wagtail, White Wagtail, House Sparrow, Town Pigeon, Goldfinch, Linnet, Greenfinch, Robin, Grey Heron (on migration), Jay, Blackcap, Wood Piegon, Buzzard, Kestrel, Great Tit, Raven, Goldcrest, Blackbird, Sardinian Warbler (many seen and heard), Eurasian Crag Martin, Blue Tit, Stonechat, Dartford Warbler (x4 seen and several heard), Coal Tit, Cirl Bunting (x2 at Asco), Long-tailed Tit, Meadow Pipit, Shag, Corn Bunting

Total = 38 species

Sincerely,

Joseph N

The Two Weeks Away: The Asco Valley and Haut'Asco

2009-12-05T17:03:00.020Z

Before I left for Corsica, I was determined to find out what speciality species you could get on the island. With the help of people on Birdforum, I found out there were a few birds I could see there. The list of these birds is seen below, and these were the birds I would be aiming to see during my holiday.

Corsican Nuthatch - A species of Nuthatch endemic to the Corsican Pines in Corsica (c.2000 pairs)

Corsican Citril Finch - Once an endemic subspecies of the Citril Finch, it is now regarded as a seperate species as its vocalizations and morphology from that of the Citril Finch. They can be seen in the Corsican Pines and at high levels all around the island.

Lammergeier - With just 8 or 9 pairs on the island, this massive vulture can only be seen on the very highest mountain tops. That is if you are patient enough!

Golden Eagle - A rare bird on the island that too can only really be seen at very high altitude

When I found out these birds were present on the island I asked on Birdforum where the best place to go to have good chances of seeing the above four species would be. The area they reccomended to me was the Asco valley and Haut'Asco.

This map depicts the route we took to get to the Haut'Asco area. The route is actually rather annoying, as if you venture south east of Calvi Haut'Asco, our main destination, isn't actually a huge distance away from where we were staying. Just one problem; there's no road heading in that direction! Instead you have to take the N197 past L'Ile Rousse, and continue on it for some 90km before arriving at Ponte Leccia (circled in green). Just as you reach Ponte Leccia you take a right, and down that yellow coloured road going off from Ponte Leccia is the Asco Valley, with the skii station of Haut'Asco at the highest point and dead end of the road (marked in red). It is very beautiful and montainous, as you'll see in the pictures I put on this blog entry. Birdwise the Asco Valley and Haut'Asco are really the only places in the north-west of Corsica that you have any chance of seeing Corsican Nuthatch (which is of course endemic), Lammergeiers, and Golden Eagle. The main reason for me going to this area obviously was to see if I could see the three aforementioned species, as well as Corsican Citrl Finch. Wintibird of Birdforum also mentioned that in Asco village itself, which is about halfway through the valley, there is a good chance of seeing Cirl Bunting. With knowledge of these birds being in Asco I thought it only right to make them target birds for the holiday. So, which of these species would I see, if any? Please read on if you want to know how I did.

That morning (22/10/09) we drove to the Asco Valley, both excited about what we would experience and see in the hours to come. The journey to Ponte Leccia and the start of the Asco Valley was about an hour and a half, so having set out at around 9:30 we arrived at about 11:00am. Hitherto I'd been birding in coastal maquis shrubs and the chesnuts and oaks of the Regino Valley. However that day we would be much further inland, our surroundings would be entirely different. When we first turned off onto the Asco Valley road the land seemed quite soft, with low-lying and gentle green fields and the typical Corsican bushes still remaining, but we could see the very high mountains ahead of us, and as I looked at the mountains I felt a feeling of exhiliration; the fact that it was in these mountains that I'd spend the day and possibly be seeing Golden Eagle and Lammergeier on their peaks was an exciting prospect. Here is a picture taken from the very start of the Asco Valley. As I took this picture 3 Red Kites were circling behind me.

We continued to drive along beside the lush, low lying fields and bushes for a good 10 minutes. The road seemed to be positively straight, and we were wondering when we'd start to ascend. Eventually we came to a bend, and round this bend our surroundings changed completely. We crossed a small bridge, and all of a sudden the lush countryside disappeared, to make way for a steep sided rocky gorge cutting in towards the mountains. At the same time the road narrowed considerably and we started climbing, being pressed up right close to the sides of the gorge. As we climbed and twisted round the many sharp bends of the narrow road, the drop to the other side of us,down into the gorge and the river below, became increasingly steep. This drop was nerve-wracking as, despite us not being at great altitude thus far, it was very sheer and to exacerbate our anxiety there were no road barriers to protect vehicles from falling off the edge and very few passing places, so whenver an oncoming car passed there was barely room to get passed. We had to reverse to let a few cars through and there was always the sense that an accident was waiting to happen (especially my Mum)! However, we managed to let those cars we did meet pass. A good way through our climb up the gorge we took a stop where there was a place to park, and I carefully took a scan of the peaks for any birds of prey. I focused mainly on the highest peaks, and to my excitement I managed to instantly catch my eye on a bird of prey raising up into the sky. However, no sooner had it caught my eye than it dipped out of sight, not coming up again for the entirety of the stop. For the split second that I saw it I must say it wasn't looking awfully big, definitely not a Lammergeier and it probably wasn't even high enough altitude for Golden Eagle. However, my view was brief and I didn't see the bird circling, so you never know. I was annoyed that it had managed to elude me, and I wished that I had seen more of it, but it was a sign of hope and possible things to come.... On the stop I also had a look for any higher altitude birds such as Blue Rock Thrush and Rock Sparrow, but no such luck; just a few Coal Tits and a party of Long-tailed Tits. Here are a couple of pictures from where we stopped. You can see that there is a road barrier in the first picture, but it is, as you can see, very small and although there is a line down the middle of the road there was no way room for two vehicles!

There were no other places to stop as we drove through the gorge, so I wasn't really able to look for any raptors. Luckily there wasn't any that I could see; if there had been we wouldn't have been able to stop for them due to the narrowness of the road! After a good 15km or so we emerged from the gorge, and we entered the small village of Asco. The scenery round it was lovely, but Asco itself was a remote village which seemed kind of closed up. It didn't seem to have any life to it; very few people seemed to live there, although we did see a few peasants tending to a litter of cats and a cow was left to wander on the road. Asco didn't even seem to have any shops; I asked the peasants if there was a boulangerie anywhere and what I understood from the reply was that a van goes all the way up the valley to deliver bread to the locals. That's how little contact the village had with elsewhere! Here is a picture of the view down towards the gorge from Asco and a couple of pictures of the village itself.

As we were heading back to the car after an exploration of the village, I found an area of bush that was full of birds. They were calling strangely; a call I wasn't familiar with at all. I scanned the bushes to see if I could clap eyes on any of the birds. I did, and oh my I was absolutely delighted! There, sitting on a bush, was a superb, adult summer CIRL BUNTING. This was the first Cirl Bunting I had ever seen, a life tick for me! I had been told by wintibird of Birdforum that I had a chance of seeing them in the village, and now I had seen one! It had a beautiful plumage, a lovely contrast of yellow, black and russety brown. The top of its head was mostly grey, and it had a wee crest. Its breast was a lemon yellow. Its face too was mostly yellow, but with a black neck and a black stripe right through its eye. The rest of its body was a russety brown/reddy colour. It was later joined by another bird of the same gender. Watching the two birds together was an experience I would never forget, not just the feeling of happiness I had from seeing them for the first time, but they were such gorgeous birds; the colour of their plumages were so defined, so perfect! The two birds eventually flew off, and that was the last I saw of any Cirl Buntings. I was almost positive there were more Cirl Buntings flying about in those bushes, but I didn't have time to look for any more as my Mum was waiting in the car, ready to take the final leg of the journey up to the skii station at Haut'Asco. Now we had gone through Asco village we were at a much higher altitude than we had been when we were driving through the gorge. A little way after Asco we took ta brief stop to take a picture of a beautiful view ahead of us, where you could see a high mountain covered in snow white cloud in front of us. I looked for a flock of birds that I had seen take off from the road. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to track down these birds. However, a male Sardinian Warbler and a pair of stonechats were seen in the bushes on the slopes, 2 Red Kites were circling above me, and a couple of Ravens flew by.

5 kilometres or so after leaving Asco we started climbing a lot higher, and the road considerably widened. Still following the river, we soon entered the beautiful Corsican Pine forest known to you or I as Le Foret de Carrozzica, one of the few places that the endemic Corsican Nuthatch has made its home. Not long after we entered the forest, we parked up, and I entered the forest in search of this endemic species. I knew it wasn't going to be easy at all. I had been told on Birdforum that Corsican Nuthatches were very hard to see in the late Autumn months. Not only that, but I was told that if I was to have any goodish chance of seeing a Corsican Nuthatch I must have a playback the Corsican Nuthatch's call on my camera, but unfortunately I didn't have this, so this again lessened my chances. But I was still hopeful, so I stood there patiently, watching for any bird that scuttered up the many tall pines that surrounded me. As I waited Coal Tits were constantly calling, I heard a single Common Crossbill (I didn't add this to the 'Holiday List' though as any bird I added had to be seen), there were at least 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers calling and one, maybe one of the two birds I had heard, was seen in flight. However, for the entirety of the 45 minutes that I scoured that particular area of forest, there was no Corsican Nuthatch to be seen. Climbing up the constantly winding road towards Haut'Asco a good way, we stopped again for another look for Nuthatches. This stop wasn't as long, maybe around 20 minutes. Much the same birds I have mentioned were present again, with the addition of a Dipper darting through the river. Yet again though there were no Corsican Nuthatches. I now realised how dependent a lot of birders were on the playback of its call, and I was starting to think that I had very little chance of seeing one at this point, despite the possibility of seeing them at Haut'Asco itself and on the way back down. Of course, I was a little disappointed, but I knew my chances were minimal. Having given the forest a good look, we then continued our journey. Here are a few pictures taken whilst climing through Le Foret de Carozzicca. Just from the forest iself the views were astounding.

At the time I took the last of the last picture the road was winding incredibly high, and all of a sudden, just a couple of kilometres later, there was a man made clearing and the road came to a stop. We had arrived at Haut'Asco! It was an absolutely beautiful location; I had never been anywhere so high or with such brilliant views in my life. We were right up amongst the rocky and jagged peaks of the mountains. It was like being a bowl, we were completely surrounded by them and from the car park we could see absolutely miles down the valley towards the gorge. The mountains felt overwhelmingly huge, wherever you looked they seemed to be looming over you. Some peaks were higher than others, and some even had snow on them, this was due to the much colder weather, which was understandable at an altitude of 1422m (4665ft)! One thing for sure, this was the perfect location for Lammergeier and Golden Eagle! I'll let the pictures show you just how spectacular it was up there! The following are taken from the car park at the skii station, which was pretty much abandoned due to the time of year.

After getting use to the sheer beauty of our surroundings we headed away from the skii station in order to find a place to sit and scan the mountains for any bird of prey that decides to venture above the mountains. We didn't have to walk far when we came to a clearing, with closer and greater views of the peaks than we had before. It was here that my Mum and I would spend the afternoon looking for Lammergeier, Golden Eagle and Corsican Nuthatch. Here are some more pictures taken from the clearing, and a link to a video I took of the landscape.

http://www.birdforum.tv/members/action/viewvideo/1777/Haut_Asco/ - Video

Once we got all set up, I started to scan the peaks. My mum had a book to keep herself occupied. I sat there patiently for a good hour, unfortunately with the result of no birds of prey seen, despite me looking as carefully and keenly as I could. A party of 4 Ravens did fly over however, croaking in that typical Raven way as they went, and a Great-spotted Woodpecker was present, its call reverberating throughout the mountains and the only sound to be heard in the deadly silence of the place. The area seemed annoyingly devoid of birdlife, nothing was calling at all apart from the Great-spotted Woodpecker every now and then. So once that hour had passed I decided I was going to have one last look for Corsican Nuthatch, my Mum coming with me and us walking and climbing a little higher than we had been for the first hour. We went a good way, yet there were no signs of any bird whatsoever, let alone any Corsican Nuthatches. Another hour or so had passed with my final search for the Corsican Nuthatch, and we arrived back at the clearance in the forest. I was now starting to think that I had little hope of seeing any of the target species for the day.... I spent a total of two more hours scanning the peaks patiently. I had tried my utmost, but there was nothing I could do.... No majestic raptors rising above the mountains and no little bird scuttling up the great Corsican pines. Evening light was creeping in, and it was time for us to leave....

If I had to be frank with you, Haut'Asco could have been better. That was my reflection of the place as we drove back through the forest, Asco village and the beautiful gorge. I spent many hours of meticulous searching up there, yet with literally no results and barely any birds apart from the Ravens and Great-Spotted Woodpecker near the beginning, and I had been denied of seeing any of the target species apart from the beautiful Cirl Bunting in Asco village, not out of inpatience, its just the way it was. I guess it really highlights the challenges of searching for such birds. But it was very understandable why I didn't see any raptors or endemics. I mean, Corsican Nuthatches have 2000 pairs in the whole of Corsica and are hard to see in October, whilst with the Lammergeier is extremely hard to see in Corsica with a maximum of 8 pairs on the island. The Golden Eagle is too a rare resident on Corsica. So I guess I shouldn't feel too disappointed about the day, my chances were fairly low anyway of seeing the target species,. Anyway, it was beautiful being in the Asco Valley and at Haut Asco anyway. I had seen some beautiful sights of which will stay forever fresh in my mind, and the general experience of being up there was very pleasing and lovely! Seeing the two Cirl Buntings was also a memorable experience for me too, and the fact that I'd never seen them before made me ever more proud and happy about my sighting.

And so the day ended... it had been a tiring one, and I slept well that night. My birding in Corsica wasn't completely over either, I still had a couple days left on the island. In my next entry you can read about the birds I saw and what I did on those last two days. Thanks very much for reading!

Joseph

The Two Weeks Away: The Mountainside Villages and the Maquis Search

2009-11-21T17:04:00.008Z

My day in the Regino Valley had provided me with an achievement of sorts. This achievement was seeing my first Sardinian Warbler on the island. This sighting meant I was able to identify Sardinian Warbler on call and was now able to make comparisons with the other warblers present on the island. As you know, I checked the calls of Dartford and Marmora's Warbler in the Collins Guide that night, and the next day I would attempt to see both those other species. With my comparison with Sardinian Warbler intact, would I suceed? Well, this entry will tell you if I do or not, as well as a number of other things.

That morning I woke earlier than I had done before because my Mum planned to have a typical French breakfast in the nearest mountainside village to us, Calenzana. Calenzana was about the same distance from our hotel as Calvi, and about a 10 minutes drive. After a cup of tea to wake us up and me taking the briefest of looks in the area of bush in front of the apartment that I had made my patch, we headed out to Calenzana. In my brief look I was lucky to get some close and cracking views of two male Sardinian Warblers, which was a gorgeous sight.

Calenzana is a charming, traditional little village with a very mediterranean feel to it. It is embraced by the high Corsican mountains and has many winding, paved alleys and squares. Its basically the closest settlement to Calvi at just 12.5km south east of it, but despite this short distance, it feels like you are in a whole different world from the seaside glitz of Calvi with its yachts and beaches. Calenzana feels much more rugged, remote, but in its way more charming than Calvi, more traditional; more unspoiled. You get a better feel of Corsica at Calenzana than in Calvi. The other thing about Calenzana is that a lot of tourists tend to bypass it, which allows a wider appreciation of its traditional, untouched quality. We spent a couple of hours in Calenzana, having a delcious breakfast of croissants and baguettes before exploring the village itself. Here is some pictures I got of the village. The last picture is of the view down to the coast from Calenzna, and the second last is the church tower in the town square. Bird-wise in Calenzana there wasn't much apart from the commoner suspects (Spotless Starling, Great, Blue and Coal Tit).

After our exploration of Calenzana, we came to the conclusion that we'd spend the morning exploring a few of the other mountainside villages within the arrondissement of Calvi, and then spend the afternoon doing things around the hotel. Our main port of call village wise was Sant Antonino. However, we planned to see some of the villages on the way to San Antonino. So we made our way into the beautiful, lush Corsican countryside, entering the steep, winding roads with astounding panoramic views once again. Our first village stop was at a place called Montegrosso, a village quite similar to Calenzana. However, Montegrosso was perched on a hill, had better views than Calenzana, had bell tower as its defining feature and looked slightly more rugged than Calenzana. Montegrosso wasn't bad for birds either; zipping around the bell tower (see pictures below) were loads of Eurasian Crag Martins, maybe about 50 birds in all. Some were constantly zipping round and round the bell tower, whilst others decided to sit on the bell tower itself. Also sitting on the bell tower were up to 10 Spotless Starlings. Meanwhile, in the trees round the village there was a small party of Long-tailed Tits amongst the common Blue and Great Tits, and a single Sardinian Warbler was heard calling. Surprisingly no Red Kites were seen from the viewpoint at Montegrosso or flying over the village itself. Here are a few pictures of Montegrosso (one is from the viewpoint).

From Montegrosso we slowly made our way towards Sant Antonino. What interested me as we made our way there was that there we no villages between Montegrosso and San Antonino, and it was basically just countryside. We took stops where we could to admire the countryside between Montegrosso and Sant Antonino, although the roads were steep and dangerous. One stop was particularly intriguing bird-wise. It was the first stop, and at this point we weren't as high as we would be on later stops; low enough to bear warblers, which is why I thought it would be a good idea to stop at that particular place. When I got out of the car to have a look for these warblers, my eye was instantly attracted to a sparrow/bunting sized bird sitting on a telephone wire not very far away from me. Looking at it through the bins, it wasn't anything I instantly recognised. Quietly, I creeped closer towards it, trying to get good views of the bird; however poorish light disabled me from making a positive ID. It was a very brown bird, with very apparent streaks all over its body. It lacked bulk, which bunting wise ruled out Corn Bunting, so as I was watching the bird I was thinking it could have been either a juvenile Cirl Bunting or a Rock Sparrow. It wasn't small enough for any finch you could get on the island, far to small for Corsican Citril Finch or European Serin. Eventually I got too close to the bird and a result it flew off, not calling as it flew. I was annoyed that I wasn't able to make the ID, but there are always birds that escape you and bamboozle you in this world. Its something we have to put up with. ID wise I was generally leaning towards juvenile Cirl Bunting, but as I checked the Collins Guide when I got back into the car I couldn't be certain. I continued to think about the bird for a while, and eventually decided to let it escape me. Also during this stop, I interestingly saw up to 10 Kestrels flying together at once (I had never seen so many falcons together at once, let alone . Kestrels), and a few Red Kites were present.

After about 20 minutes of driving, we arrived at Sant Antonino itself. Perched atop a 500m hill, it is known, according to various sources, to be one of the most beautiful villages in France and is the oldest in Corsica. You can't drive through Sant Antonino, as it is strictly forbidden to do so. This, for me, was one of its great advantages. We had to park in a car park just below the village. The views from the car park itself were lovely and very steep, you could see for literally miles and the mountains seemed more embracing than they had ever been before. By the car park was a baroque church, and behind this some heather-like bush, from which I could loads of birds. Before heading up into the village itself I decided to have a look in the heathery area for any birds whilst my Mum had a look in the church. I did so for around 10 minutes. During this 10 minutes I discovered what species of bird was primarily calling in the heather. This species turned out to be Goldfinch. The place was teeming with them, with well over a hundred birds present in just that one little area. There were also a lot of Spotless Starlings, I could hear several Sardinian Warblers calling (one female was seen), and 10 Stonechats in total were seen perching on the tops of the heather. There may have not been any birds that I hadn't seen there before, but the sheer multitude of birds in that one area was astonishing and satisfying. After my mum returned from looking in the church we stopped in a cafe at the very start of the village. If you want to go into the village, you have to walk up it or go by donkey. However we hardly had to walk far from the car park to get to this cafe. Here are a few pictures of San Antonino. I would have taken more, but unfortunately my camera failed me and ran out of battery whilst at the cafe! The first picture is of San Antonino from a distance, to give you an idea of its altitude, the second is from the heather where most of the birds were, the third is a winding street and the fourth is from the cafe. From the cafe I sat and drunk some tea whilst at the same time watching up to 6 Red Kites quartering the hills. It was lovely to see the Kites at this height as from where I was sitting I was basically level with them. One of these Kites was a juvenile; which was interesting as I hadn't seen any juvenile Red Kites up until that point.

Sant Antonino, as you can see, is the cluster of many ancient houses clustered at the top of the hill. These ancient houses border a maze of narrow cobbled streets that ascend to the very top of the village. After our stop at the cafe we walked all the way to the top of the village, passing through those lovely streets. From the top, which is at a great altitude, the views are just astounding, far better than from the car park, you could see a very long way, right down to the coast which was further away than it had been in Montegrosso, as well as all the way down to Calvi, which was a good 25km away, and round the corner to parts of the island you couldn't see from other viewpoints. I wish I had got pictures from there, as it was so beautiful. We stayed up there and admired the view for a good 15 minutes, and then made our way slowly down to the car park again. We were quite tired when we reached the bottom again, as the climb was taxing in its way! After a little rest, we decided it was time to make our way back to the hotel for some lunch, and we did so.

We spent most of that afternoon playing tennis and swimming in the hotel outdoor swimming. However, by the time we had finished both these activities, there was still a couple of hours before sunset. In this couple of hours I set out into the maquis in search for more warblers, as I had been aiming to do. Like before, the maquis was full of warblers. But unlike when the first time I went into the maquis, I now knew the call of the Sardinian Warbler, so any warbler that wasn't a Sardinian I had a good chance of tracking down, although, having checked the Bird Guide the previous night I had found that the alarm call of the Dartford Warbler was very similar to the Sardinian Warblers but just higher in pitch, and I found that the warblers were constantly using their alarm calls, (presumably because my presence was making them worried), so it was going to be harder than I thought. Whilst walking down the path, I could hear that most of the warblers were either Sardinian or Dartford Warblers, as I wasn't hearing the croaky call of the Marmora's Warbler which I had read about. After walking some way down the path and not getting great views of any warblers from it (although I could see lots of them flitting about all the time, a good number of which I could see were Sardinians), I decided to walk into the maquis itself. Here I would maximise my chances of seeing any warbler that wasn't a Sardinian. I walked a long way into the maquis, far enough to not be visible from the path. As I walked through I totalled a number of 15 Sardinian Warblers seen flitting from one piece of maquis to the next. As I kept on going though, I was wondering why I wasn't seeing anything else apart from Sardinian Warblers. And it was then that I saw it. Just as I started walking back towards the path, I flushed up a warbler with a clear wine-red breast. This was my first Dartford Warbler of the holiday! This warbler didn't move far, but just from that one flash of wine-red I could tell it was a Dartford Warbler. When it disappeared out of view, I headed towards where it had landed, and to my joy, managed to flush it up again. Yet again it didn't move far, and even better, this time it briefly perched itself on a piece of maquis. Absolute definite Dartford. As it perched itself on the maquis top its long, tail was cocked, archetypal of a Dartford Warbler, and I could see its wine red breast clearly. It looked generally darker in appearance than Sardinian Warbler. It sat there for about 10 seconds, looking around excitedly, before eventually flying off again as I tried to get closer to it, and this time out of view completely. This Dartford Warbler was a source of great joy for me, it meant I had seen two of three warbler species I aimed to see on the holiday! Not only this, but I love Dartford Warblers, I think they're beautiful birds, and I like they're wine red breasts in particular. And furthermore, this was only my second Dartford Warbler ever (my first was seen in 2006, North Warren, Suffolk). So in the end, I was overjoyed with my spotting of this warbler.

I left the maquis that evening with a sense of satisfaction, knowing that now it was just Marmora's Warbler that I had to see. Obviously this would prove difficult as during that session in the maquis I didn't hear anything that sounded like a Marmora's. However, I would still have plenty of time to find Marmora's Warbler in the coming few days. Overall, it had been a nice day for me. Exploring the mountainside villages was lovely, and the birds I saw whilst I was in these places were very nice, especially the 50 or so Crag Martins at Montegrosso, and seeing the Dartford Warbler was great! Of course, there was the strange passerine species that managed to elude me whilst on the way to Sant Antonino, but these things happen!

Now, the next day would be the most important day birding-wise of all. It would be the day in which I went to the Asco Valley in search of Lammegeiers, Golden Eagles, and the two endemics; Corsican Citrl Finch and Corsican Nuthatch! Would I see any of these birds? Find out in my next entry, which will chart my birding experiences in the Asco Valley!

Thanks for reading,

Joseph

The Two Weeks Away: The Regino Valley and the Second Day

2009-11-04T16:36:00.025Z

On my first day in Corsica, I had really enjoyed myself. I had seen some lovely sights and some nice birds. By the end of the second day (the day in which I will now write about) I would be feeling much the same. Just like on the previous morning, very quickly after I woke up I was checking the bushes just outside the apartment for birdlife. That morning there were a similar variety of birds out there as there had been on the second day, a good number of Red Kites, plenty of Spotless Starlings and many warbler calls of which I was still unable to identify (as well as warblers flitting from bush to bush that I didn't have time to identify), but no Black Redstarts. I also managed to get a Cetti's Warbler on call, two Blackcaps, and a party of finches flew over that I didn't recognise. My suspicsion was that they were Serins, but this was by no means a certain ID, so I just let them escape me. A brief check from the otherside of the hotel produced a Grey Heron at sea. Grey Herons can be seen on migration in Corsica, so this was quite an interesting spot for me. All the mentioned species were seen within the space of half an hour. After this brief birdwatch I had breakfast, and then my Mum and I set out for a day in the heart of the Corsican mountains.

Saying 'The Heart of the Corsican Mountains', however, is rather vague, as Corsica is covered in mountains (in fact it is the most mountainous island in the whole of the Mediterranean). We would be spending a day out in the Regino Valley. As you can see in the map above, I have circled a place called L'Ile-Rousse. Going just a little south from L'Ile Rousse, you will see a small red dot. This is roughly where the Regino Valley is. To get it to it, we would have to take the N197 all the way up to L'Ile Rousse then take a small road inland. The idea of going to Regino Valley came from wintibird (Andre) of Birdforum, not because we had heard about it. In one of his pms to me discussing the birds of Corsica, he told me that the Regino Valley was a good place to go, stating that it takes you through a variety of different habitats and gives you good chances of many of the islands passerines, mentioning in particular that I had good chances of Marmora's Warbler and Rock Sparrow . I was obviously tempted by this, so I asked my Mum if I could go there. She, luckily for me, obliged. So, at around 9:30am that morning we set out in the direction of the Regino Valley. However, we wouldn't be heading straight there. We would first make a visit to L'Ile Rousse, which was a goodish drive from where we staying (maybe half an hour). And on the way to L'Ile Rousse we stopped at the little village of Lumio, which had a nice viewpoint down towards Calvi from it (see picture). In the foliage around this viewpoint, my only two Woodpigeons were seen, and there were a good number of Jays both calling and flying about, as well as the calls of those ubiquitous warblers that I was still unable to identify. The fact I wasn't seeing any of these warblers was really starting to get on my nerves now, and that day I determined to at least be able to identify one of the mystery species. I knew roughly the species of warblers that were in there from having looked up what warblers you get in Corsica, its just I couldn't see them and I didn't know any of their calls.

L'Ile Rousse, like Calvi, is built on a bay. Its name (The Red Isle) refeea to the rocky islets of red porphyry, a type of rock, that are bounded slightly to the north west of the town. Most people visit the town to see these red rocks. However, we didn't visit them, as we were only hoping to visit the town briefly and get some food/money there. To the south of the rocks is an immaculate, white sand beach similar to the beach in the Calvi (but with no pine forests), of which we did visit. Birdwise on the beach there was nothing; just a few Yellow-legged Gulls. I guess this is explainable, as the beach at L'Ile Rousse is literally right in by the town, whilst Calvi Beach is more extensive and continues quite a few kilometeres out of the town. Here is a pictures I took at L'Ile Rousse Beach.

It overall doesn't quite have the beauty of Calvi Beach, and the same can be said about the town. L'Ile Rousse was by no means as nice as Calvi. It didn't have the same feel to it. The town has an old and new part of it; the new town towards the east and the old town in the west. Between these two different areas of the town there is square called Le Place Paoli, named after the founder of the town Pasquale Paoli, a Corsican patriot and leader. This square was arguably the nicest part of L'Ile Rousse, very close to the beach and with some nice architecture and a very typical French market.

So, after a little exploration of both the old and new town, we headed towards the Regino Valley. The change in scene from the town to the mountainside was quick and drastic. Very soon after we left Ile Rousse we started to climb, driving up the foothills on very twisty and narrow roads. We were now in the heart of the mountains that we were seeing from our apartment at Residence Le Padro. As we made our way upwards, I had a very brief stop in search of any mountain bird life. In this stop I saw several flock Red Kites as well as 4 Ravens. We kept climbing and climbing, going through many a typical Corsican mountainside village, when we eventually reached the village of Santa Reparata. Looking down from here we could see just what were we'd be spending the rest of the day; the Regino Valley itself, covered in a mass of beautiful meditarreanean flora that was mostly dominated by chesnut, olive and oak trees, and surrounding it all, high, jagged and rocky mountains, the highest of which were snowcapped. Also from here you could see a big lake and some vineyards, both of which we would be paying a visit to, as reccomended by wintibird and the latter of which we would be visiting first. The prospect of spending time in this beautiful area of countryside was a lovely and exciting thought, so without further ado, we made our way into the valley, creeping down the narrow roads slowly and surely until eventually we were in the heart of the flora. On the way to the Clos Regino Vineyards, as they were called, we took several stops. I obviously seized the chance to have a look for birds on these stops. The first of these stops was the most frutiful. Parking the car on a little layby, we took a walk right into the trees. On this walk I saw around 30 Red Kites, all in one massive flock basically just circling the mountains and the surrounding area. I had never seen so many birds of prey together in the sky before, let alone Red Kites! It was a beautiful spectacle! In the trees and bushes themselves were plenty of warblers, and to my relief and delight I was finally able to see and identify one. My first Sardinian Warbler of the holiday! It first caught my attention when I heard it calling (a loud trilling call, trr-trr-trr-trr-trrr-trrr) nearby, and after a scan through the bins, I found it scurrying about in a bush; It was a beautiful male that was instantly identified with its fully jet black head and red eyes! The view was brief as after about 10 seconds it went out of sight, but it was enough to ensure instant identification. I must say, I was really happy and relieved about seeing this Sardinian Warbler, as from that point onwards I would know its call from having heard it call before seeing it. No doubt there were many more of them in there, and lots of other species of passerines! The area was virtually teeming with bird calls (lots of Sardinians were calling), much more so than anywhere on the island I had been thus far. During the other stops on the way to the vineyards, I didn't see anything new, just a similar variety of birds. Here's a picture of me watching the Red Kites:

So, after all the stops on the way, we finally arrived at the Clos Regino Vineyards. As we were going up the road to the vineyards, we were blissed by the closest view of a Red Kite yet. It was sitting on a post, and I managed to get a picture of it. The fact it was so close gave me the chance to study its beautiful plumage. When my Mum turned on the engine again to drive on it took off on very long wings. Previous to this it had been sitting there proudly with its head turned in our direction, as you can see in the picture. In the picture, you can't see its features so well, but from its outline you should be able to tell its one.

Soon after this pleasant experince we parked up and I alone had a look around the vineyards. Wintibird, in one of his pms to me, had mentioned that Rock Sparrow occured in the vineyards, and this is what I had come to look for. The vineyards weren't looking exactly pretty, as they weren't in season, but the views from the vineyards were the most breathtaking I had experienced yet. It may not look hugely exciting from the picture, but trust me, being there was a different story, it was hard not to admire it!

I searched for Rock Sparrow for about 20 minutes, but wasn't able to find one in the end. But I did have two possibles, which I flushed up from the vines but was unable to identify. They weren't calling and looked Rock Sparrow-sized, but I couldn't guarentee that that was what they were as the light was quite poor. However, there were plenty of other birds here, with several Sardinian Warblers calling, a good number of Goldcrests, a few Jays, and lots of Coal Tits and Blue Tits, as well as a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a few more Red Kites and a Kestrel. I also still had chances of seeing Rock Sparrow elsewhere, so I wasn't too annoyed. After looking for the Rock Sparrows, we then aimed to head down to the lake which wintibird had mentioned was good for all sorts of things, including 5 species of warbler (Blackcap, Sardinian Warbler, Dartford Warbler, Marmora's Warbler and Cetti' s Warbler), Rock Sparrow, several species of finch and Corn and Cirl Bunting. However, we got lost when trying to find the road to the lake, taking a big detour further into the mountains. We took a late lunch (at around 2:30pm) on our detour. A picture is below from where we had it. Here bird wise Jays were shrieking, there were several Ravens and another male Sardinian Warbler showed itself in a beautiful fashion, found without the aid of it calling.

After lunch and a good look at the map of the area, we soon discovered that we had quite obviously gone some way off course, so we set back in the direction we had originally come from in hope that we would find the road to the lake. We did, and it was hardly any distance from the vineyards, so how we had come to miss it was a mystery! Going down this road took us deeper into the valley and more amongst the flora. Eventually, the lake came into view, and we parked in a little area convieniently close to it. When I got out, I was instantly enchanted by the bird life. As soon as I got out, I could see and hear loads of birds. Sardinian and other warblers were calling incessantly, with the occasional Cetti's Warbler bursting into song, as well as many other strange bird calls and familiar British ones such as Robins, Stonechats flew from bush top to bush top (the occcasional pair seen together), and Red Kites were everywhere! It was at the lake in particular that I discovered the sheer abundnance of the Red Kite in Corsica. At one point, I had 12 birds in view at once, with half of them in flight and half proudly perched on tree tops, and this was without scan. I could see silhouttes of other birds of prey in the distance that were presumably also Red Kites. I thought their commonness was so enchanting and so delightful; it really was a lovely sight to see some of the loveliest birds (in my opinion) in such plenitude! And their, high pitched whistling call was really nice too! They were so common that I managed to video a few birds in flight. You can see the video now on this link to Birdforum TV (Blogspot can't load my videos). Apologies though, the camera shakes about A LOT! And also the program I am using doesn't have amazing quality, so apologies for that too. Note that this video takes you directly to the video window rather than opening up a new one.

http://www.birdforum.tv/members/action/viewvideo/1759/

We planned to spend the rest of the afternoon in this area, with my Mum just being left to take in the beautiful scenery whilst I searched the flora and the lake for birds. Considering how much time I had to search the area, I didn't head straight down to the lake. Instead I took a look in the trees and bushes on the other side of the road from the lake. Here the variety of birds there was a distinct variety of passerines; almost all the passerines I mentioned I am sure were present, but I didn't know all their calls and simply didn't see quite a few of the species! However, I did managed to see 4 more Sardinian Warblers, 3 being males (with two males seen together at once) and one female. Stonechats and the birds also common in Britain continued to be abundant, and I had a flock of Long-tailed Tits as well. Looking in the bushes round the lake produced much the same (I had another 6 Sardinians from this side). Of course, I would have liked to know all the unidentified bird calls and seen those birds, but what can you expect from a young, British guy that doesn't have a good deal of experience on identifing bird calls in foreign countries? When my Mum had a walk down by the lake however, I was given a nice surprise. A flock of about 20 Eurasian Crag Martins were flying about the lake, dipping low over the water every now and then after circling in the air. They were identifiable from their very plain, brown plumage, and the fact that they didn't have any white at all on their belly whatsoever. They called as they constantly flew around the lake, their call sounding almost House Martin like (a single noted 'treet'). I continued to see them as we walked. The other reason how I knew they were Eurasian Crag Martins is because they are the only type of Martin you can see in Corsica during that time of year (Sand Martins do summer). This species, however, wasn't a life tick for me. Like with the Spotless Starling, I had seen a good number of Eurasian Crag Martin on my holiday to the Iberian Peninsula at the end of 2008. This didn't stop my enjoyment of seeing them though. Also on the lake itself was a single Cormorant, and two Grey Herons, presumably stopping on migration. Whilst at the lake I took a few pictures. The first two pictures are of the lake itself, whilst the third is a view if you turn away from the lake, and the fourth is a picture of a Red Kite flying over it.

By the time we had finished the walk round the lake, evening light was creeping in, so we decided it would be best to leave so as to avoid driving on the high mountain roads in the dark. On the road back, we took a stop where the view was just amazing. I have yet another Youtube video link for you to watch so you can see just what I mean! Notice there are some Ravens in this video. Apologies again, the quality isn't brilliant.

http://www.birdforum.tv/members/action/viewvideo/1760/

So, overall I really enjoyed the day. I saw some really lovely birds, and got to know the countryside in the heart of the Corsican Mountains. I thought the Regino Valley was absolutely lovely, and if I was given choice to go back there I most certainly would! The highlight species was I guess was Crag Martin, but you could leave it down to the amount of Red Kites or the first Sardinian Warbler I saw. Regardless of the most noteworthy bird I saw, the fact is that I had a lovely day! We arrived back at the apartment at Residence La Padro at around 6:30pm, by which time the lunch was setting. That night, I wrote down all the new birds I saw, and decided to have a look into the calls of the Dartford and Marmora's Warbler. Having read what the Collin's Guide said about their calls, I would set out the next day to see if I could find them. Find out if I saw them in my next entry. Thank you for reading, folks!

Joseph

The Two Weeks Away: The First Day in Corsica

2009-10-31T20:20:00.016Z

A few days after my day in Norfolk, it was time to leave Britain altogether, and to head to Corsica. I would be spending a week in Corsica, just with my Mum, who isn't a birder, so I'd be birding alone. For those of you that don't know, Corsica is an island located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland and to the north of Sardinia. I would be getting to the island via a flight from London Gatwick to Marseille, then from Marseille to the town of Calvi. Calvi is a town in the north-west of Corsica. It is circled in the map below. The report of my birding here doesn't just hope to give you a good idea of the birdlife, but also hopes to show you what the island was like in an interesting and informative way.

Overall, if I hadn't have had to wait for 4 hours at Marseille Airport for the flight to Calvi, the journey would have been just a few hours long. However this wait increased it to 7, and by the time we arrived at Calvi Airport it was dark. Once we had landed we got our hire car, a rather nice Renault Scenic, and set off to our apartment in a hotel called Residence Le Padro. Residence Le Padro was a hotel situated just inland from Calvi (10 minutes from the Airport), and consisted of many, self-catering holiday apartments in the countryside. We chose a yellow apartment at the back of the hotel. Obviously, when we first arrived there we were unable to see the countryside surrounding the hotel, so that night we simply just unpacked. As I lay in bed that night, I became very excited. I was in a foreign country, and tomorrow I would start exploring it and its birdlife! What, in the next week, would Corsica hold? I was well informed on the birds of the island, and the best places to see these birds, so how was I going to do?

The next morning I was woken up at 7:30am, and the first thing I did was open the doors to have a look at my surroundings. The view was just beautiful. The countryside view from this part the hotel consisted of low-lying, Mediterranean bush and fields, and all this was encompassed by rocky, jagged and high mountains. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what the view was like:

The bushes were teeming with birds and calls that I didn't recognise, and I was keen to have a look at what was down there. So, after some breakfast, I headed down to the nearby bushes, finding a convienient place to sit and watch for any birds in them. Unfortunately I couldn't deep into the them, as there was a fence, but this wouldn't prove to be much of a hassle. When I got down there, I noticed that the bushes were alive with warblers; they were calling constantly, and I occasionally saw them flitting from one bush to another. At this point in time, I wasn't sure what species a majority of them were, as I was by no means familiar with the birds of the area and thus wasn't able to make ID's of any of the warblers, although I did come to the conclusion that most of them were Sylvias. I did also manage to find a male Blackcap. As I was trying to figure out what species the warblers were, I had a pleasant surprise; a Black Redstart. This bird was first seen and identified in flight, when I saw the flash of its prominent, rusty red tail. It then proceeded to land on a wall, giving me a chance to put a gender to it (it was a female) and to examine its behaviour. Unlike the migrant Black Redstarts I had seen in Norfolk a few days earlier, this Black Redstart seemed full of life, much like I had expected the Black Redstarts in Norfolk to be. This bird perched upright on the wall, constantly vibrating its red tail and flitting up and down off the wall (presumably in anxiety). I had been watching it for some time when I was distracted from a loud, high-pitched, piping call. I took my bins off the Black Redstart, and looked up to find a big,bird of prey flying towards the hotel. It was a Red Kite. Up in Scotland, I have only seen a few Red Kites; so seeing one in Corsica was quite an exciting experience for me. An adult, it flew on very long wings in a buoyant and leisurely fashion, almost like a crow, as it constantly twisted its rufous, forked tail and continued to fly towards me. Eventually, some Hooded Crows, which seemed to be the common corvids, rose from the ground, and started mobbing it. At this point the Kite's flight changed from slow and leisurely to fast and urgent, wanting to get the crows off its back as they as they harrassed it. The Kite and its harrassers eventually flew right over my head (which was a beautiful sight) and then dipped behind the hotel. This was one of another 6 or 7 Red Kites I would see in that hour or so, thus proving themselves to be the common raptor. Common Kestrel and Buzzard were also seen in that period of time, but they hardly seemed as common as the Red Kites. After seeing the first Red Kite I had a look at the wall where the Black Redstart had been, but it had gone. As I was doing this, a sizeable (but not big) flock of Starlings flew past and then landed on the fields. I was happy to find that they were Spotless Starlings. A lot of them were winter plumage birds, and I was able to distinguish them from winter plumage European Starling from the distinct lack of spots and much darker plumage (the winter plumage starling is very spotty and has hints of brown on by the wing). They called constantly in communication with one another, sounding very similar to European Starling but with a sharper tone to it and stronger and more rolling trills. Spotless Starling has a restricted range in Europe; Corsica is one of very few places in Europe you can see them. However, at the turn of new year I had been in the Iberian Peninsula, where they also occured and I first saw them, so this species wasn't new to me. I stayed out there for around an hour and a half, as my Mum got ready us for a trip to Calvi. Once my time was up, I noted down the species I had seen, and we headed off to Calvi. Here is a picture from where the area of bush that I was primarily looking at that morning.

Before having look round Calvi itself, we stopped off at Calvi beach. The beach was like no other that I had been to. It was long and stretching with silver sand, with views of the mountains to the east, and a view of the town and its 13th century citadel to the west. Fringing this beach was a few kilometeres of beautiful pine. From this pine, you could enter the beach. Here are a couple of pictures taken from the beach (notice the Citadel in the first right of the first picture, and the emptiness of the beach due to it being 'out of season'):

Whilst on the beach, a brisk wind was present, and I had a look out at sea for any mediterranean sea-birds. There seemed to be nothing going past, however, apart from one Shag, this bird of the mediterranean subspecies. A few Yellow-legged Gulls were also present, my first for the holiday. The wind on the beach became a tad annoying after a while, and we eventually headed into the pine forests, deciding to have our lunch in it. Here a few Goldcrests were calling, a Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen, some Collared Doves were present, and I heard the explosive and abrupt call of a Cetti's Warbler in the reedbeds towards the back of the forest. I also managed to have a couple of seconds view of a definite Phylloscopus warbler, but I didn't have time to ID the bird as it very quickly disappeared from view.

So, after this pleasant trip to the beach we headed into Calvi. Calvi is a port which was particularly busy in the Roman era. Its most famous for the Citadel, a thirteenth century fortress situated at the far end of the town. My mum and I were going to visit the Citadel and also have a look at the rest of Calvi. By wintibird (Andre) of Birdforum, I was advised to check out every gull in Calvi for an Audouins Gull, which are a scarce but not rare gull in Corsica. As we were walking through Calvi and up to the Citadel, I did just as wintibird had told me, and checked each gull I saw. However, I was surprised to find that even Yellow-legged Gulls weren't exactly ubiquitous in Calvi, so this made me think it would be pretty tricky trying to find one. However, I wasn't too bothered, as I was enjoying the town, its culture and its architecture. From where we had parked it was about 20 minutes walk to the Citadel. Here is a picture I took of it from Calvi's lovely marina.

Once we were within Citadel walls, we climbed up the cobbled roads, tightly packed with archetypal Mediterranean houses, towards the top. When we got there, there were some brilliant views, with a magnificent backdrop for the red-tiled town below and its palm-tree planted harbour, with the tall, rocky mountains looming above it. Also at the top of Citadel , there was a big cathedral named La Cathédrale Saint Jean-Baptiste (the cathedral of St. John the Baptist, see last picture).

Up here bird-wise parties of Town Pigeon/Rock Dove occasionally flew over, quite a good number of Yellow-legged Gulls circled over it, and House Sparrows were common. The House Sparrows in Corsica are interesting as they are said to either be a subspecies of Spanish Sparrow or a hybrid between the two species, the latter of which I suspect is accurate. After a visit to a cathedral and a full wonder round the top of the Citadel, we headed back down to the town, where I fell upon yet another Black Redstart, this time a beautiful male perching on a the edge of one of the many houses and acting very much like the female I had seen earlier that day. This was the last bird I saw in the town.

It was around 5:00pm when we arrived back from Calvi, and there were a couple of hours of daylight remaining. Now, if you go to the otherside of the hotel from where I was looking that morning, you get an entirely different view of things. Of course, you can still see the mountains, but instead of the countryside being fields with occasionally bushes scattered amongst them, here its basically just low-lying bush. This low-lying bush is called maquis, and when I woke up that morning and saw it I was very happy. The maquis in Corsica is a great place to see warblers and migrant passerines, and I thought that my chances of having it right outside the hotel were minimal and that as a result I would have less chance of seeing warblers such as: Sardinian, Dartford, Cetti's and the scarce breeding Marmora's. But the fact that there was maquis meant that I had good chances of seeing all those species! So, after something to eat, I alone headed out into the maquis for my first look for some warblers. I planned to regularly check this maquis on my trip. I entered the maquis via a small track that presumably went down to someone's house. Here are some pictures of the maquis:

I spent a good hour and a half searching through the maquis, walking through it trying to flush up any warblers. There were plenty of them in there, they were calling regularly. However, I didn't recognise these calls at this point so I didn't actually know what wI was hearing, although I knew that Sardinian and Dartford Warbler were probably present. In my look through the maquis though, I wasn't able to identify these species. I was pretty sure that they were the birds I was flushing up, and I wished that they would show themselves. But unfortunately they didn't. However, despite not seeing these two species, I did find loads Stonechats, a Grey Wagtail, another Blackcap (this time a female), and there were tons more Spotless Starlings. I was also very surprised to flush up a Cetti's Warbler, which I was able to identify when it briefly perched itself on the top of some maquis, its tail cocked and its warm-brown plumage its giveaway feature. 10 seconds later it dipped out of sight. Besides passerines, there were several Red Kites quartering the maquis, as well as a Kestrel and two Ravens.

It was getting dark when I finished looking in the maquis, so I gave up birding for the day, the mountains gradually become silhoutted as sunset took place and then disappearing it finally became dark. Overall, I had a really lovely day; not just getting to know the birds of the areas I was checking, but also getting to know the actual areas themselves. I may not have seen a huge deal, but nonetheless, I was happy, and I would have plenty of time to see more birds! Thanks for reading. If you want to find out what happened the next day, tune in again in a day or so's time!

Joseph

The Two Weeks Away: The Day in Norfolk

2009-10-30T17:24:00.013Z

2 days after seeing the Glossy Ibis at the Loch of Strathbeg, it was time for me to leave Scotland, and head southwards. I would be spending a couple of weeks away from the country, spending the first week in northern Suffolk, England, and the latter week in Corsica. Following this entry, there will be numerous entries in regards to my time in Corsica birding-wise. However, what I am going to focus on now is my birding experience in Norfolk. As it was convieniently close to where we were staying in northern suffolk, my Dad and I thought it would definitely be a good idea to go birding in Norfolk, and decided we were going to have a day trip on the 15th of October, a perfect date for all sorts of migrating birds. Norfolk, as we all know, is one of the best counties for birding in the UK. Would it prove its fantastic reputation on our day out there? We had the help of Birdforum young Bird sim as well, who was texting me the latest news in the county. So surely there was a good chance of us having a great time?

As it would be dark by 6:00pm and we wanted to make the most of our day out, my Dad and I woke up at 5:45am, far earlier than we usually do. We were out the door by just after 6, after a lightish breakfast. Of course, at this point it was still dark, but it was still quite a drive to the North Norfolk coast, where we aimed to spend the day. Our first location, as a matter of fact, was going to be West Runton, where in the few days leading up to our day out there had been sightings of (Greater) Short toed Lark, Richard's Pipit and Barred Warbler, all three which we were wanting to see. The drive to West Runton from where we were staying was around 1 and a half hours, with surprisingly busy morning traffic being one of the reasons why we took this long. By this time (around 7:45) it was fully light. And so the birding day commenced.

The three rarities had been reported in the fields around a disused farmhouse between the small villages of East and West Runton. Leading down to these fields was a track, which was fairly easy to locate from the road. We parked by a few other cars, obviously other early rising birders that had gone in search of the three birds, and got out to explore our surroundings. The bushes round the farmhouse were teeming with bird calls, the commoner migrants such as, Goldcrest, Robin, Blackbird, and numerous species of tits. In these bushes the Barred Warbler had been seen; but we knew that it was going to be hard to locate it amongst all the other birds, so we decided that we were going to have a look for the Richard's Pipit and Short-toed Lark, both of which had been seen in the fields surrounding the farmhouse, and then look for the Barred later. These fields were mostly grass, but there was one stubble field, the closest one to us, and in this three birders stood on the look out. As we were walking towards the field, one of birders suddenly raised whilst watching the ground intently, signalling to us that they had seen something. As we walked to them, we flushed up many Skylarks, these birds being invisible to us as they were hiding in the stubble. When we reached them, one of the three birders said:

" We've just had a view of the Short-toed Lark. It landed about 20 feet away from us."

With this news, we became ever more excited. I asked if we were going to have to flush the bird.

" Yes, but mind a lot of Skylarks will probably take off at the same time, so it may be difficult to locate it amongst them."

We all crept forward slowly towards where it had landed, me feeling slightly tense as we did this. Then, as we expected, a mass of birds took off right in front of us from the stubble, and we raised our bins to see if we could see the Short-toed amongst the hoards of Skylarks. We were in luck.

" I've found it," said one of the birders, " Its one of the first birds to have taken off, and is flying by a Skylark."

And sure enough, there was the Short-toed Lark. There was no mistaking it from the other larks; it was clearly smaller than the other larks, and wasn't calling in the 'chirrup' alarm of the Skylarks. It was also visibly paler than the Skylarks. We watched it intently as it flew left of the main flock with a few other Skylarks, allowing us to make the aforementioned comparisons clearer. Eventually, the Lark flew out of sight, not landing again as we had hoped it might. Obviously, we didn't get satisfactory views, but enough to ensure identification. At this point, the other birders turned to us and said:

"We're going to see if we can re-locate the lark. Best of luck, guys."

And then they were on their way. Their rather abrupt departure was an annoyance to us, as we wanted to know more about the Richard's Pipit. We couldn't do anything about it though, so we decided just to have a look at the other fields in the area. Unfortunately for us, there was no Richard's Pipit in these other fields, and we weren't able to flush any pipits species up in the stubble field on the way back to the farmhouse. This wasn't too disappointing though, as we had seen a Short-toed Lark and still had a chance of a Barred Warbler. The Barred Warbler, on the other hand, seemed to elude us as well, although we did have a possible sighting when a definite warbler species was very briefly seen flying from a tree into the bushes. Seeing the Barred Warbler was inevitably going to be difficult, what with the many other migrants there were in the bushes. Checking the bushes we had several sightings of Goldcrest, Robin, plus more.

It was probably around 9:00am when we had finished looking around West Runton, and overall we were pleased with the variety of birds it held. From West Runton we headed to Cley Marshes; argued to be the 'home of British Birding.' It was around 20 minutes from West Runton to Cley, and when we arrived there the first impression I got of it was that it was very much like the Loch of Strathbeg, but with a tone of softness that Strathbeg fails to have. There were views of the marshes from the road, and there was a big, nice looking building overlooking it with loads of bird related books in it and a cafe. We simply went into this building to pay for our visit (a sum of £4.00), and then headed out into the marshes themselves. Here is a picture of Cley from the Visitor Centre.

Just from our walk down to the hides, we could tell Cley was a great spot to be, with a nice Marsh Harrier being spotted on a post and Bearded Tits being both heard and seen, the latter species not being a common sight in these parts, and there were some Long-tailed Tits too. We spent quite a lot of the time just birdwatching from the boardwalk down to the hides because of this. The Bearded Tits in particular were lovely to see; most of the time we would see them flitting from reed to reed, but we also managed to get some in flight, looking rather like oversized dragonflies as they flew with whirring wing beats across the reedbeds. There were a total of three hides that you could at Cley, all situated very close to one another but each with entirely different views of the marsh. In the first hide, there was a wide variety of duck species, ranging from Shoveler to Wigeon), as well as a view of the Marsh Harrier and a few Dunlin and Redshank. I took a picture from this hide:

The second hide had mostly waders on it; with good numbers of Dunlin and Redshank, along with 2 Greenshank, a female Spotted Redshank, a single Grey Plover and up to 8 Ruff seen. However, these weren't as surprising as the main bird we saw here, which a birder in the hide pointed out virtually as soon as we entered, a hint of pride in his voice.

" There's a Black Redstart just here. You can have a look at it through my scope if you like."

I had a look through his scope, and he was right. On a small, white post, sat a lovely, male Black Redstart. The Redstart wasn't standing up, and wasn't being the least bit flitty like one would expect. It was actually just sitting there, looking kind of like it was fluffed up in a ball, but you could clearly see its face and its other defining features (excluding its flash or red). It stayed on the same post for the whole time that we spent in the hide and never even moved position, which allowed us to have great views. He was perfectly visible through the bins too. This Black Redstart was my second for Britain; it was fantastic to see one again after such a long time. The next hide along happened to be comparatively devoid of birds, but allowed you to get a different view of the Black Redstart. Having checked all three hides, we then headed up to the beach part of Cley. Here we had some nice views of Brent Geese, a Wheatear, and yet another Black Redstart, this time a female, presented itself. Here's a picture of the Brent Geese that we saw (there were many more than this there):

We decided not to sea-watch off Cley, as we had noticed that hardly anything was going past out there and the winds were light. Instead, we went straight to the Wells Woods/Holkham Pines area; an area of coastal woodland with a good record of scarce passerines. After quenching our thirst and hunger (we had our 'lunch' at about 11:20am), and driving through many lovely villages; we arrived in Holkham Pines, having been (embaressingly) unable to find the way to Wells Woods. The woodland in Holkham didn't just look promising for birds, it was also very pretty, with a lovely path with delicate foliage that you could walk up if you didn't want to go down to the beach. We took this path, walking up a fair way, but not quite as far as Wells.

You could tell Holkham was a good place for birds. You could hear the calls of small passerines almost constantly; the same variety of passerines you could hear and see in West Runton, but this time in even bigger numbers. There was also a very nice variety of woodland birds at Holkham, such as a few Treecreeper, 2 large parties of Long-tailed Tit, Great-Spotted Woodpecker and lots of Jays. Amongst these passerines and nice woodland species however, there was nothing more unusual, although I did get a very brief view of a Phylloscopus sp flitting from one bush to another, which could have been something scarce. No doubt there were other warblers in there... On the walk back down the path I recieved a text from sim of Birdforum; who updated me on what was about in Norfolk. The Pied Wheatear was still at Horsey, but that was too much of a drive and we wanted to spend the day on the North Norfolk coast rather than the east, there were a few Yellow-browed Warblers dotted around the coast, the Great Grey Shrike remained at Holme, which we would visit later on, and most to our interest, there was a Grey Phalarope at Thornham. Curious of the whereabouts of Thornham, I texted Sim back and asked him where it was, and lucky he said it was not that far, was on the way to Holme (around 30 minutes drive) and that the bird would probably be in the Harbour. This option tempted me in particular, as I had never seen any species of Pharlarope before. So, thanking Sim, I told my Dad to head down to Thornham.

We had some trouble finding the road to the Harbour, but eventually, we found it. The Harbour itself was hardly a major one and was different from most; it contained just a few small boats and overlooked muddy pools and boggy lowlands. You wouldn't think its the sort of place that people will go to, but that day it was! When we arrived, there were loads of birders there, over 50 people I'd say, all watching the Grey Pharlarope. I hadn't expected such attendance! The first thing I noticed when I got out was a few birders taking pictures of the bird, so I made their way to where they were, as they were probably closest to the bird. I turned out to be correct. The views of this Grey Phalarope were just ridiculous; I swear I have never seen a bird that close before! It was probably around 15ft away from where I was standing; a small, grey-white wader (1st winter bird) moving about hither and tither on the muddy pools in search of food. Of course, its understandable that I was seeing the Phalarope that close, as Phalaropes are renowned to be very tame, which is all the better for such beautiful birds! Not only that, but their tameness allows you to get up close to them, and experience what they are really like! Here are a few pictures I got of the bird:

Just before we left the Harbour the Phalarope took off, and went out of sight. Before we left though, we had a look at the other birds at Thornham Harbour. A Spotted Redshank was one of these birds, and a Grey Plover another, both of which were quite interesting. The highlight, however, was a ring-tailed Hen Harrier, seen very briefly by a handful of observers as it attacked a bird (presumably killing it) and then dived into the reeds. The giveaway features of this bird were obviously its white rump and the fact that it attacked a bird. Not long after this brief ring-tail sighting, the Grey Phalarope returned, but we decided to leave so we would have time to have a good look at Holme before sunset. Holme, of course, is only a couple of miles south of Thornham, so we reached the nature reserve there within 10 minutes. However, unlike Thornham, it had far more of a coastal feel to it. The area was covered in dense, multifarious bush, and beyond the bushes rose some small sand dunes. In these bushes, a Great Grey Shrike had made temporary residence.

" It has been here for the last week or so," said the warden at the Visitor Centre, "But it's rather elusive, and tends not to show itself that often. However, at this time of the day you might be lucky, as its been seen during mid to late afternoon on a couple of occasions."

So with this information, we walked all the way to the bushes (which were some way from the visitor centre), where the Shrike was generally seen. We scoured these bushes for a long time, and even sat down at one point for a while and waited to see if it would appear. Unfortunately though, we had no such luck. However, it was by no means dead, there were lots of Starlings in these bushes, almost certainly migrants that had come to winter, as well as a few Stonechats, and a good number of other common migrants. By the time we had had a good look through the bushes, there was maybe just less than an hour's sunlight remaining. There was no point in going somewhere else, so we came to the conclusion that it was best to stay at Holme, and go to the hide there. The view from the hide was general quite similar to Cley, but the reeds here were generally taller.

My first impression of waterfowl life at Holme was that it wasn't as good as the passerine and coastal birdlife. This was because all there was there was a Grey Plover. For about half an hour, it remained this way, until suddenly I spot a big, pale. sandy coloured, ghost-like raptor flying across the reeds...

"Barn Owl!" I exclaimed.

Now, for many the years the Barn Owl was a bogey bird; and a bird that I had always wanted to see. This moment, for me, was a moment of pure joy! The fact I had finally seen a Barn Owl made me ecstatic! Not only that but I was captivated... Watching a Barn Owl for the first time is an amazing experience; the majestic, the elegant, slow, wavering movements it does whilst its in flight, its ghost like, heart-shaped face as it takes in its surroundings.... This Barn Owl was doing all these things... It was just beautiful... It continued to quarter the reeds for some time, before it eventually landed on a post quite a long way away from the hide. I had to use the telescope to re-find him; and when I did he was sitting there, looking out across the reedbeds, ready to capture and eat any rodent that moved. As we watched him sitting on the post, the sun gradually set, its rays becoming a pinky-red colour and changing the colour of the sky. Eventually, it became too dark to bird-watch, and we headed back to the car. And so the day finished....

Firstly, I give countless thanks to sim from Birdforum, who kept me updated with the birdnews in Norfolk on the couple of days leading up to the day out and whilst we were on the day out. Without you, things wouldn't have gone the way they did! Secondly, if I had to reflect on the day, I would say it was a fantastic day, and definitely worth all the driving! I had 3 life ticks that day (Short-toed Lark, Grey Phalarope and Barn Owl), all of which weren't exactly common. There was also some other very nice birds we saw that day like Beared Tit, Black Redstart, Spotted Redshank and Hen Harrier! All these birds you wouldn't expect to see in the space of 10 hours, and we managed to! The places themselves were also really nice; and I am sure I'll remember and return to them in the future. And finally, I'd definitely say Norfolk lived up to its reputation as a fantastic county for birds, and I will certainly be visiting again!

Thanks very much reading, in the next entry I will account the first day or so of birding in Corsica!

Joseph

The times are changing....

2009-10-11T19:52:00.009+01:00

You may have noticed how critical I was being of autumn here in Aberdeenshire, and how I thought chances of improvement were small. Well, it cannot be doubted that this weekend has proved me wrong, and that I now see things in a different light. All over Britain this weekend, there has been a mass migration of birds, from really quite rare ones to the most abundant ones. This movement has been big enough to effect Aberdeenshire.

Early on Friday morning, the first signs of movement were shown when the first Glossy Ibis to be seen in the county since 2000 landed in front of the visitor centre at the Loch of Strathbeg. This Glossy Ibis would stay in front of the Visitor Centre for a short amount of time and would then fly off. By lunchtime, it had been re-located in a wet field a mile or so away from Strathbeg near a small village called St Combs, and was reported on Birdguides for a second time. When I arrived back from school and heard that this bird had been seen I became excited and hoped, despite the bird not having been reported since around lunch time, that it would still be there the next day, so I would be able to go and see it. The bird wasn't reported for the rest of that day, and I became increasingly anxious. Also that day, there were reports of Sooty Shearwater and Pomarine Skua passing, which also suggested that it was going to be good out at sea too. Saturday arrived, and the first thing I did was check for a report on the Glossy Ibis, and to my delight, it had been reported, in the same field just outside the village of St Combs. So, after me getting my hair cut, we set out towards the Loch of Strathbeg to see if we could find the bird. Also reported that morning had been a Quail and a Hen Harrier, so our hopes were fairly high of seeing some other birds. However, the main focus of course was to see this Ibis.

It was nearing 1:00pm when we were driving down the road towards St Combs, where the Ibis had been seen, and I was searching as carefully as I could through every field I could see. Conditions were dreek; there was a light drizzle outside and low-lying fog covered the countryside with its gloominess. Finding the Ibis would be hard in these conditions. And it was; we drove right down to St Combs, checking every field we could see properly, but failed to find any Ibis looking birds. So we turned round and headed back the way we had come to see if we could see the Ibis from the other side of the road. After a couple of minutes driving down, there was still no sign of the bird, and my Dad and I were becoming frustrated. Where was it?

And just as we were asking ourselves this question I shouted:

"Stop! I think I've found it!"

My Dad stopped the car, and there, just 20 feet away from us, stood a wonderful Glossy Ibis, unlike any bird in the field with it, feeding about in the watery mud. There was absolutely no mistaking it! It was around the size of a curlew, maybe even a bit smaller, and was a chocolate brown colour. Its outstanding feature was obviously its bill, which was massively long, thin brown (with paler brown at the bills base) and down-curved. It stood there feeding busily, looking slightly bedraggled and wet due to the weather conditions it was experiencing but nonetheless focused on its task. There was no actual apparent glossiness to the bird, it just seemed very brown really, which definitely suggested that it was a juvenile. As it stood there so obligingly, I managed to get a few pictures of it, although due to the weather conditions and having suitable equipment they weren't great by any means. Nonetheless, I feel that it is a good idea to show you the best of these pictures. They shouldn't be that hard to distinguish; you don't exactly see the birds face, but you can tell it is definitely an Ibis by form. If you want to see better pictures of this particular bird, you can check out the species file on the Glossy Ibis on Birdguides, where there are a couple of pictures of this particular bird. Anyway, here are the pictures that I took:

This Glossy Ibis will have definitely been from the flock that came from Spain a few months ago and have gradually dispersed all over the UK. It was a cracking bird to have seen, a lifer that I won't forget! After seeing the Ibis, we headed down to Starnafin, the Visitor Centre at the Loch of Strathbeg. The Loch of Strathbeg, despite being 40 or 50 miles away is one of my local patches, and is arguably the best place to see birds in the whole of Aberdeenshire, with a fantastic rarity record as well as a fantastic range of species that can be seen there. Its an extensive piece of land, with the actual loch itself being quite a way from the visitor centre. Also, a short walk away from the Visitor Centre there is a hide called Tower Pool in which you can get better views of more distant birds, and there are some hides close to the Loch which you can access by an obsel There are also some hides near the Loch which you can access via on obselete airfield. Here is a picture I took from the Visitor Centre a few weeks ago:

If you study this picture carefully you'll notice the distinct lack of birds. The day I took that picture it was pretty quiet. However, on Saturday it was a different story. The Visitor Centre was full of birds. A fairly large flock of Pinkfeets were present and amongst them various species of duck (including Gadwall and Shoveler along with the commoner Wigeon, Teal and Mallard) and wader (lots of Dunlin, and Golden Plover, Lapwing and 1 Ruff) were seen. Also, up to 10 Whooper Swan were seen amongst the commoner Mute Swans, and lots of other commoner waterfowl werer around. Surprisingly no bird of prey species were seen on our half an hour check of the Visitor Centre, which is unusual for Strathbeg as it has a fantastic reputation for seeing birds of prey (there is even a White-tailed Eagle that can be seen occasionally that is presumably one of the birds that was released in Fife a couple of years ago). But, even though there was a vast variety of the commoner birds, there were no unusual species, and with the report of a Yellow-browed Warbler down in the bushes down at Donmouth (an area on the suburbs of Aberdeen by the sea), we were keen to head southwards.

Before travelling down to Aberdeen again to have a look for the Yellow-browed Warbler, we decided to have a look at Rattray Head, an area of coast a couple of miles south of the Loch of Strathbeg that has a reputation to be a good place to sea-watch and find migrants passerines. We didn't spend that long there, as time was against us if we wanted to check Donmouth for the YBW, but to an extent what we saw there was significant. Checking the bushes round the old Rattray Hotel, there was a clear fall of the commoner birds, with Robins and Goldcrest present in most bushes, calling and occasionally showing themselves. You could tell these birds were foreign, especially the Robins. One Robin we saw was making the most ridiculous sounding call, nothing like any other Robin. What had attracted us to this particular Robin at first was when we heard it call almost but not completely like a Willow Warbler, and once we had heard this call we saw it on top of a bush. Amongst the Goldcrest, we checked for Firecrest, but despite standing there examining the bush where Goldcrest were most abundant, there was no Firecrest amongst them. We then proceeded to have a sea-watch from the head itself, but this proved rather bad, with only some Gannet passing in the 20 minutes we spent there.

The sun was starting to set when we arrived at Donmouth, and we were worried we wouldn't have enough time to give the area a good look. So we simply set out from the car park and towards the gorse areas towards the nearby Golf Club on the dunes. As the whereabouts of this warbler was pretty vague in our heads, we didn't much else but check each area of gorse for migrant activity, using the pishing technique to see if we could flush anything out. But of course, because I am a novice 'pisher' I didn't flush anything out. After a 20 minute walk in search of the bird, we decided that it was all to ambiguous and that we should get back home. The Glossy Ibis was really enough to satisfy us for the day!

I haven't been out today, but migrant activity has continued to take place, with Firecrest, 2 Yellow-browed Warbler, Ring Ouzel and Snow Goose all seen in the county today. I guess the hope is that this migration period continues here, but for my Dad and I it is kind of ironic that some rarer birds have arrived in Aberdeenshire, as tomorrow we are going away for two weeks. On the first week, I will be spending my time in northern Suffolk with my grandfather. On one of the days I spend with him my Dad and I will have a days birding in Norfolk, which, being a fantastic county for birds, will hopefully provide some exciting stuff! Then the week after that I will be in Corsica (without my Dad but with my Mum), an island off France (close to Sardinia), where I will be doing a lot of birding too, although not seriously as my Mum isn't exactly a birder. In Corsica I am hoping to see some of the following: Audouins Gull, Rock Sparrow, Lammegeier, Corsican Citril Finch, Corsican Nuthatch (endemic), plus more. For Lammegeier and Corsican Nuthatch, my Mum and I will have a day out in an area called Asco, an apparently stunning, mountainous area with lots of Corsican Pine Trees, but both these birds will be difficult as they aren't common whatsoever. So basically, in the next two weeks I will try and see as many birds as I can, and once I get back I am pretty sure I will have a lot to report to you! My october holidays have started in style with a Glossy Ibis, lets hope they end in style with some good birds in Norfolk and Corsica!

Thanks,

Joseph

Autumn Birding so far in Aberdeenshire

2009-10-06T20:15:00.006+01:00

If I had to be frank with you all, birding hasn't been at its best up here in Aberdeenshire, and anyone that lives in Aberdeenshire will know that from the distinct lack of rarer birds that have turned up in the county in comparison to other counties in the UK. And that's not just because the birders in this county aren't trying. I guess you could leave it down to the fact that there aren't enough of us in the county, but that's not completely justifiable. In my opinion the reason this autumn hasn't been so good bird-wise is because of the wind. This autumn so far the winds have either been very light, or they have been westerly or South-westerly, which is not the best for birds. However, I am fairly positive that could change in the remaining few weeks we have of autumn, and that everything could improve.

Anyway, in the second half of September I found myself very busy with school work, and was thus unavailable to go out on a full days birding for a couple of weeks. However, I have been able to pop down to Girdleness after school a couple of times a week, which is basically the closest place to where I live in Aberdeen. Its a headland, and sticks out a long way. It is known to have held all sorts of rarities in the past, and is a good place to both sea-watch and have a look for passerines. I go and birding with my Dad, and he and I usually sea-watch off by a foghorn just round the corner from the lighthouse you can see in the first of the two pictures of Girdlness below.

I have done 'after school' birding down at Girdlness approximately 4 times. The first time I did this happened to be the best day of the lot, although it wasn't great in terms of others day I have had in the past. The date of this day was the 17th September, and a north-westerly wind was present, and having heard of this wind, my Dad and I were eager to get down to Girdlness to see if there was anything out at sea. Within half an hour of returning from school I was out there with my Dad, sea-watching from what is known as 'The Coo' (but is the foghorn I mentioned earlier). I unfortunately don't have my own scope, but I will be getting one in the next few months with a bit of luck, and because I don't have one, my Dad and I have to share his scope. But it isn't too much of hassle, when he is looking through the scope I just concentrate my bins on an area of the sea, et voila, I'm able to sea-watch!

As we weren't going elsewhere and the chances of 'migs' were fairly low, we spent around an hour and a half to two hours watching from the Coo that day. There was certainly more activity out at sea then there had been for a while before that. There was an almost constant flow of Gannets, with an estimate of up to 400 birds seen within the time estimate I gave. These were the first apparent birds to us as we started sea-watching, and are hopes were fairly high of something slighlty more interesting, as with a big passage of commoner birds such as Gannet, there are slightly less common birds. Around 10 minutes into the sea-watch, with me now on the scope, I spotted two pale-phase Arctic Skua, attacking some gulls furiously together before flying rapidly north again. This brought even more hope into our hearts, and we hoped that more Arctic Skua would pass, along with another couple of species of Skua. Soon after this 15 Pink-footed Geese went north, along with 3 Tufted Duck, and 3 flocks, around 10 birds in each, and within a few minutes of one another, wader sp. went past, although it was very hard to tell what they were as they were a long way out. As I was the only one that could really see them properly, I presumed they were Redshank, as they seemed bigger and not as fat as Knot, which I originally suspected when I see the first flock About 45 minutes through the sea-watch, a group of 4 Manx Shearwater passed, flying closely and quickly together, moving their wings from side to side in unison. From this moment onwards, there was a passage of Manxies. They appeared amongst the Gannets every 5 minutes or so, normally in groups of just two birds. As we watched them pass, we were joined by Mark Lewis (Fat Paul Scholes on Birdforum), who would be pleasant company until we left. With Mark in our company, we continued to find little groups of Manx Shearwater, with one biggish group of up to 12 birds passing towards the end of the sea-watch. Also, Mark managed to spot a fine, very close, pale-bellied Brent Goose going southwards, another pale phase Arctic Skua passed, and a couple of Red-throated Diver went north close in too. By the time we had to leave, we had seen, in all a total passage of: 35 Manx Shearwater within an hour (it was around 45 mins into the sea-watch that we first saw them), 400+ Gannet, 15 Pinkfeets, 3 Arctic Skua, 1 Red-breasted Merganser north, 3 Tufted Duck, 35 wader sp (presumed Redshank), 3 Common Scoter south, 1 Palle-bellied Brent Goose and a 2 Red-throated Diver north.

On the other occasions I went down to Girdlness after school it wasn't as lively as this, sea-watching from that day onwards has been generally poor, although last week 22 Pale-bellied Brent Geese did go north, and in a quick bird-watch last weekend 6 Arctic Skuas passed. Apart from that though, that is your lot in the last few weeks. An improvement is indeed needed!

Thanks for reading my first entry,

Joseph