Whistle-stop Highland tour with White-winged Scoter

White-winged Black Scoter - File image

Phone-scoped image (Cliff Smith)

A view of many thousand ducks

Real Scotland

Findhorn Valley

Crested Tit

Crested Tit in moult

Whiskey time

Mountain Hare

Not bad hand held

View from the top of Glenshee

Fancy a ride

Red Squirrel

No blog for a few weeks as there is only so times you can write about Green & Common Sandpipers. on top of this I've has large project finishing involving me working all the previous weekend. 

This weekend however was very different as I took up the chance to team up with the Captain for a weekend of birding north of the birder. The plan would be to try and find the White-winged Scoter for a day then move into the Highlands whether we had seen the Scoter or not.

Leaving home at 3am we landed just before midday with the weather looking stunning & sea flat we were hopeful rather than confident. We came across another five birders who has been looking since first light with no avail. What we under estimated was quite the huge amount of ducks that would be in the bay. There were thousands & thousands of Common Scoter, Eider & Velvet Scoter & the bonus of two Surf Scoter. The views were just fantastic but there were so many to search through. It was painstaking but we stuck to our task well. We took a break around 4pm as we were hit horizontal rain giving us a real Scottish drenching. After a quick break we took up our positions again teaming up with three London based birders. One of those birders had a brilliant x100 telescope which he used to great effect to find the American Scoter, then kindly giving us all a view before we located it ourselves. The crescent eye was the most distinct feature & the extra knob on the beak the other. The bird showed well twice for about 4/5 minutes each time. The relief was ecstatic. Our twitter tips from Cliff & Steve were right in terms of approximate line & how it associated with Velvets rather than the Commons. Red-throated Diver was added to the day list along with a passing dark morph Arctic Skua & Bronxie.  

Next morning we headed east into I what deem the real Highlands, rolling hills and amazing views. Our targets of the day were agreed to be Crested Tit & Golden Eagle. Some close up views of Red Grouse (Raven & Red Kite over) broke up the journey until we reached a spot the Captain had seen Goldies on previous visits. Just as we were munching our mid morning stack I picked a White-tailed Eagle flying east, spitting crumbs everywhere we got great scope views & then the bird past again going the direction it started from about twenty minutes later. No Goldies so we headed towards Nethy Bridge. 

At a quiet corner of the forest I picked up a single Crested Tit, buoyed we held our position and waited & with some patience two Crested Tit going through mouth landed very close by allowing us to see the birds at close quarters. Now this was going well, time for Findhorn Valley. We picked up some lunch on route & set up at our favoured spot. It's a place sometimes you are scratching your head with nothing happening which nothing did bar a couple of routine Buzzards. As I was watching a pair of Oystercatchers on the river the Captain picked up a pair of Golden Eagles above one of the ridges circling high on the thermals. To find this pair within a hour was very satisfying giving us change to add an extra site to the day. To get there we took the famous Farr road, very few passing places & single track for seven miles. Once over the road we were quickly parked at Loch Ruthven where we added Slavonian Grebe to our trip list. A great finish to an epic day. 

A wonderful meal was served by the team at Grant Arms Hotel including Haggis which was followed by a number of the local whiskeys.

With a big journey home a tight schedule would be needed so we were out before breakfast where we accidentally flushed a roosting Capercaille whilst watching two Spotted Flycatchers & the cheeky Red Squirels. Not bad before breakfast.

Our route back would take in Glenshee where do took the ski lift to try & find any Ptarmigan. However a local shoot had taken place on Saturday & the birds had moved to a different location. We had to satisfy ourselves with some Mountain Hares which was a first for myself.

A brilliant action packed three days ! Thankfully our tactics of waiting for new of the Portland Yellow Warbler paid dividends as it wasn't seen all day. 

Great White Egret is Sunday treat

I wrapped up a good weekend of birding with a couple of hours at Upton Warren which included some splendid views of a Great White Egret in the Broadmeadow lagoon.

Over on the flashes a flock of 10 Black-tailed Godwits were present among other waders including Curlew, Lapwing, LRP’s, Avocets, Green & Common Sandpipers.

The day of the Common Sandpiper

Sundays start time couldn’t have been better timed as Jon & I had a male Hobby hunting a House Martin over Pophills giving us outstanding views. The species which stood out during the visit was the Common Sandpiper, 11 were counted no doubt brought in with the heavy showers.

 

Other highlights recorded were 32 Little Grebe, 2 Cormorant, 1 Grey Heron, 10 Mute Swan, 172 Greylags, 93 Canada Geese, 14 Gadwall, 2 Teal, 143 Mallard, 3 Shoveler, 4 Pochard, 56 Tufted Duck, a Red Kite, 182 Coot, family of 4 Oystercatcher (doing well), 5 Little Ringed Plover, 20 Lapwing, 3 Green Sandpipers, family of LBB Gulls (two young), 35 Black-headed Gulls, 2 Common Terns, 1 Kingfisher, 50 Sand Martin and a Yellow Wagtail.

Another day another Sandpiper

A bumper number of Shearwaters flying through Devon on Friday tempted me however for a weekend twitch I stuck to my original plan & headed to Kilsea Wetlands as soon as the first report of the White-rumped Sandpiper came through on the phone.

Twitching a flighty bird with a 3 hour journey was always going to have an element on risk involved but It would be worth it if I could pull it off. Confidence increased as it was reported again when I was just an hour away. Safely parked I was literally skipping round to the hide only to be greeted with “It’s gone mate”.

Feeling like a burst balloon I decided to make the most of the location and have a good nosey around recording Sandwich, Common & Little Terns, some fantastic coloured Red Knots, Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin, Little Egrets, Common & Green Sandpipers.

With the chance to get back to watch the second innings of local cricket I then headed out of Kilsea when the Squire reached me in a rare mile of reception to tell me the White-rumped was back. I quickly turned back along the ten minutes of lanes to park and sprint to the hide. There at last was the target bird of the day. The bird was very distinguishable as it was very pale compared to the Dunlin flock it was with & also smaller. The long primary projections were a feature that really stood out.

 

From a earlier moment of despair the afternoon drive home went very smoothly and to make the day even better I hadn’t missed any cricket due to heavy rain in the midlands.

A slow burner at the pits

 Sparrowhawk above the main pit

Proud parent

 Distant Dunlin

 Common Blue

 Ruddy Darter (Possible Red-veined Darter)

 Downy Gulls

Comma

 Black-tailed Godwit

Mute Swan take off

Brown Argus

 Destruction continues

Like most places there are signs of Autumn migration starting but generally it's been very slow with the weather being not so very British, warm & sunny for prolonged spells.

On the wader front we had a single Black-tailed Godwit for two days before being joined by an additional two. Five juvenile Little Ringed Plovers have been recorded marking them as a continued success whether they continue to flouish would be in doubt for future years as the restoration is now back in full swing. Two Ringed Plovers & a Whimbrel flew through on Sunday morning. A single Common Sandpiper remains but no Green Sands which is unusual for this time of year. A full summer plumage Dunlin stayed for four days leaving on Sunday and there has been regular sightings of the Little Egrets.

John bagged the sites first returning Redstart on Sunday (our second for year) & a Kingfisher. 

Our two Lesser-backed Gull & Oystercatcher chicks continue to do well under close protection of their parents. With mid-week rain forecast we could get something new coming through. 

Thanks to Mark Clarke for forwarding a couple of great shots from in the week. Also thanks to the Jon, Squire, Mike & Terry for forwarding sightings.

Kent jolly for Marsh Sandpiper

 Spot the Marsh Sandpiper ?

 Small groups of twitchers were present

Touchdown Kent

 This chap was too close to see anything

The Squire short-cut !

With the cricket season in full swing I've been preferring to do the patch in the morning and watch the lads play than go out twitching on a Saturday. Then when set for a Sunday jolly out nothing is around to go and see. The same scenario looked to be happening again as both potential Sunday targets gave indications on Saturday it would be better waiting for news before travelling.

Thankfully my and the Squires tactics paid off as the Caspian Tern we'd considered seeing disappeared yet again whilst we headed round the M25 to Cliffe Pools in Kent. Safely parked up the walk took a good 30 minutes on a very uneven surface to reach the viewpoint. 

Once set up it took around ten minutes for the bird to show well as it had been embedded in the reeds making it very difficult to see. Whilst the views were distant you could comfortably pick up its features including thin straight beak, very delicate build and long legs. This eastern European juvenile seemed pretty comfortable most of the time however there were a couple of times the local Avocets and Black-winged Stilts gave the bird a gentle reminder who was in charge.

The RSPB's local ground work has again worked wondered for the Black-winged Stilts as  four juveniles could be observed. Breeding attempts by Stilts has increased since the early 2000's but productivity has been very low. Between 1983 & 2016 only three of the 21 nesting attempts has fledged young. 

The journey back took us an extra thirty minutes as the Squire seemed determined to get us in the channel tunnel bound for the Tour de France. After a detour we also avoided the Silverstone Grand Prix traffic.  The Marsh Sandpiper was a great bird to add to the life list as they only seem to come around every couple of years. Hopefully that pesky Caspain Tern may reappear close to home as that species continues to be elusive. 

Oystercatcher success

Oystercatcher family

 Distant Greenshank

 Swimming Deer

Greenshanks

 Not a bad place when the sun is out

Sunday morning bike ride

The continued warm weather looks to be giving us every chance of some quality wader movement this autumn, we just need some kind winds now. Friday evenings visit confirmed that our Oystercatchers have bred for the first time for four years. Two chicks were showing well on the main island throughout the weekend. 

Six Common Terns greeted us on arrival on Saturday but they were the only sighting of any note. On Sunday I opted for a four hour plus cycle ride before I headed down to the patch. Two swimming deer were a bizarre observation & a new Little Ringed Plover chick looked to be doing well. Before leaving, a Greenshank landed to take advantage of one of the new islands & seemed comfortable with our flock of Lapwing that are growing by the day.