Scotland Trip Day One

On the evening of the 10th April, we flew up to Inverness for a short trip to Scotland (my first visit).

Early the next morning, we headed along the Aberdeenshire coast to the small seaside village of Portsoy. On the way, I saw my first Hooded Crow in Britain in a roadside field with a large number of Carrion Crows and some messy Hooded-Carrion hybrids. Several large skeins of Pink-footed Geese were heading north over the road and a few others were feeding in the fields.

We arrived at Portsoy at about eight o'clock and immediately set about trying to find our target bird- the White-billed Diver (also known as Yellow-billed Loon). Offshore were about 70 Long-tailed Ducks, which was a great pleasure to see, along with a large number of Eiders, Guillemots and Razorbills. A single Sandwich Tern flew past in the atrocious weather.

Eider, Portsoy

After some time, I eventually located a single Diver offshore. It turned out to be a Black-throated Diver, but it gave me some much-needed incentive to keep looking. Soon, several more Divers appeared, mostly Black-throated, but with two Great Northern and a single Red-throated. I then found a very interesting bird, with a much paler bill distantly offshore. It dived under before I could get a decent view, but after an anxious wait, it reappeared. It was the White-billed Diver, my first ever sighting of this Arctic vagrant, which has started to become quite regular off the Aberdeenshire coast during Spring (up to 12 were reported as being seen from a boat recently). It was too far offshore for me to find it my camera, so I tried to photograph it through with my phone through the scope. I think this counts as a record shot!

White-billed Diver, Portsoy. I shaking violently with cold at the time, so I was pretty pleased to see that I had actually managed to get the bird in the picture! Needless to say, views through the scope were much better than this!

We then headed inland to Lochindorb in the Highlands, where we hoped to find the juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard that has spent the winter there. Red Grouse were abundant here, with many making their fantastic croaking noise from right next to the car as we searched for the raptor.

Red Grouse at Lochindorb. This was a fantastic place to see my first of this species.

I soon had my third lifer of the day, as we surprisingly flushed two Black Grouse from the roadside. This was not a species I was expecting to see here at all and it was very enjoyable to watch them for some time.

Black Grouse, Lochindorb. Two males and one female were present.

Finally a raptor appeared. For the first time in my life, I was disappointed to find it was just an Osprey in my binoculars, but the disappointment soon wore off as it gave some magnificent views close to the car.

Osprey, Lochindorb

Soon, a pale-looking Buzzard flew past the car. Sadly it turned out to be just that- a pale Common Buzzard. A four-hour search brought about 12 Common Buzzards, several Kestrels, a single Goosander, numerous Iceland Greylag Geese and Common Gulls and what was possibly a second Osprey. But no Rough-legged Buzzard. We then headed off to the River Spey, hoping to find some more local specialities.

A Swallow flew overhead as soon as we arrived, and not long later we found two Common Sandpipers and my first Siskin of the year. A Dipper showed very well briefly, but had flown off before I could take a picture. Goldeneyes were very common on the river, while we also had a distant view of a female Goosander.

We then made our way to the Tomintoul, where we parked. We were then taken deep into the Glen Livet estate to our overnight accomodation:

Basic, to put it mildly! The tiny 'tents'- they were not attached to the groundsheet, which caused large amounts of water to pour in- provided me with one of the most uncomfortable and the most cold night of my life. It was an experience that made me glad that I'm moving to Australia!

By the morning, the same area looked like this:

Two inches of snow had fallen, and I had woken up with my feet (admittedly in a sleeping bag) outside of the tent. The tents were covered in ice and a pool of melted snow was around my head.

On the way to the 'tents', I had spotted this fantastic roosting Tawny Owl:

Tawny Owl, Glen Livet

Before the blizzard hit us, we had been surrounded by the fantastic sight and sounds of numerous Curlews and Lapwings calling all around us, as well as four Golden Plovers, two Snipe, two Redshanks and a single Merlin that flew through.

Our main reason for spending the night here had been to enjoy fantastic views over the Black Grouse lek early the next morning. We were certainly not disappointed, as I enjoyed one of the most fantastic nature experiences of my life. That shall be covered in the next post!

Spring is here!

On the 3rd April, my first two Swallows of the year flew through Hilfield in amidst some impressive Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail passage. Besides the many calling Chiffchaffs, however, no other Spring migrants have reached here quite yet, but it shouldn't be too long before they do.

This morning, I decided to take a break from my revision to go and search for some Spring birds. I started at Portland Harbour, where I found my first Sandwich Tern of the year, along with numerous Red-breasted Mergansers and Great Crested Grebes, but very little else.

I then headed to Portland Bill. There was a great deal of activity in the Observatory garden, with numerous Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers clearly having arrived, as well as lots of Linnets, Meadow Pipits and Goldfinches overhead. I also saw my first Blackcaps of the year- the female that has spent the entire winter, along with a freshly-arrived male.

This female Blackcap has been eating apples at Portland Bird Observatory since November.

There was also a decent passage of Hirundines, which was very pleasing to witness, with decent numbers of Swallows and Sand Martins (but sadly no House Martins) passing through.

After a long wait, I finally caught a glimpse of a Firecrest, Britain's smallest bird, flitting about the garden, only my second sighting of the species in Britain. I soon saw another, along with two Goldcrests. These really are fantastic birds.

A brief sea-watch at the Bill yielded no more than a decent number of Gannets, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Razorbills and Guillemots.

I then headed to Abbotsbury Swannery, where I found the Black-winged Stilt that was found two days ago on the Meadow Pool (the same pool on which I saw a Green-winged Teal in March). It was very distant, but as always an absolute pleasure to see.

Not the best picture, but a distant photo of the Black-winged Stilt at Abbotsbury. Hopefully 2015 will be as good for the species in Britain as last year was!

I was pleased to finally see the Long-tailed Ducks here as well. It's taken me a very long time to see them at the Swannery this winter! Unfortunately, there was no sign of the earlier-reported Garganey pair, but hopefully I will see some of this great duck species later on in the summer on the Somerset Levels.

Meanwhile, I am heading off to the Highlands next week for the first time ever. I can't wait to see what wildlife I can find up there!

Radipole, 30th March

I was in Dorchester for the morning of the 30th, so I decided to make the short(ish) detour to Radipole before heading home. I quickly found the bird I was searching for:

Bonaparte's Gull, Radipole Lake RSPB. This species is a regular vagrant to Britain from North America, and a very pleasing new bird for me.

This birder was too busy checking his camera to notice what a fantastic picture he could have taken of the Bonaparte's Gull right in front of him!

Meanwhile, Spring migrants seem to be in very short supply at the moment. One year ago yesterday, I had this fantastic Redstart appear in the garden: http://gregorsbirdblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/redstart-in-garden.html, followed my a Blackcap on the 30th and my earliest-ever Swallow on the 31st. It really doesn't feel like there will be a repeat this year, though a decent number of Chiffchaffs are in song around the garden. Hopefully, a few more Spring migrants will be joining them soon!

This very nice pair of Red-legged Partridges have been spending a lot of time in the garden recently.

Maiden Castle

A Snow Bunting that has been showing well at Maiden Castle has been tempting me all week, and with a free morning on Sunday, I decided that the short journey to the castle would be well worth making.

The bird was showing fantastically well, feeding in a stubble field right next to the car park.

Snow Bunting, Maiden Castle. It was fantastically well-camouflaged.

It was fantastic to see such an awesome bird so close to home at such a cool location. The bird is quite rare in Dorset (this is the only record of the bird in the county this winter other than a couple of fly-over individuals on the coast), and an inland record is rarer still. It really was a great experience to see this Arctic species with the backdrop of an ancient castle. 

Meanwhile, the Chiffchaffs are back in song at Hilfield, Last year, I had seen Swallow, Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Common Redstart here by the end of the month, so hopefully a few more Spring migrants will be arriving here soon!

14-15th March

As I was in London on the 14th March, I decided to visit Hyde Park, mainly in search of the Scaup that has spent the winter there, but also to see some of the park's other waterfowl that often show at very close quarters.

Sadly, I discovered that my camera had run out of battery before arriving at the park. I was, however, able to enjoy fantastic views of the very tame Mute Swans; Canada, Egyptian and Greylag Geese; Coots; Moorhens; Mallards and Tufted Ducks. I was really pleased to find a female Goldeneye skulking around the base of the reeds on the Serpentine. This bird is extremely likely to be wild as no collection is kept at the park. Eventually I found the Scaup, bizarrely coming to the bread someone was feeding to the numerous Coots, Ducks, Geese and Gulls. I couldn't quite believe that it was a Scaup- how on could this species, usually found on the sea in Britain, or alternatively on large lakes and reservoirs, be so tame?!! I really wish that my camera was working, though I did try to take some pictures on my phone (which, to make things worse, I later discovered had a dirty lense.).

Scaup, Hyde Park. These photos, taken with my phone's dodgy camera really don't do justice to the amazing sight of this remarkably tame Scaup (the bread it was being fed can be seen in a couple of these pictures). The bird was literally no more than three feet from me at times!

Before coming across the Scaup, I had found five Ring-necked Parakeets squawking around the park. These birds really are completely out of place on a cold, grey London day, but nevertheless an enjoyable one to see.

I was determined to find my first summer migrants of the year on the 15th. I headed down to Portland Bill, where I quickly found a group of five Wheatears. More Wheatears continued appearing, as I saw at least 25 in total. The arrival of Wheatears at Portland has been one of my birding highlights of every year since I have been living in Dorset, and with this my last March in the county, there was a touch of nostalgia to the occasion today.

Wheatears, Portland Bill. Without a doubt, this is one of my favourite British birds.

Five Fulmars passed the Bill, the first of the year for me, but there was very little else of note around the Bill. As always, Rock Pipits were everywhere:

Rock Pipit, Portland Bill

Razorbill (top left) and two Guillemots, Portland Bill. It was very nice to see the seabirds back on their nests, though sadly I couldn't find any Puffins.

I then headed to Avalanche Road, followed by Reap Lane. I saw nothing of any real note at either place. Then, I went to Portland Castle, where I found at least six Chiffchaffs.

Chiffchaff, Portland Castle

Next stop was Ferrybridge, where I finally found my first Ringed Plovers of the year, with eight present. I then continued on to Lodmoor. I sadly failed to find any hirundines, nor any waders, though a Marsh Harrier and these two Spoonbills certainly made the visit worthwhile.

Spoonbills, Lodmoor. They seemed to be performing some sort of mating ritual (which can sort of be seen in the top picture). Perhaps they will stay and who knows what may happen??

Finally, I headed to Radipole, where again I failed to find any Sand Martins (the cold, overcast conditions certainly weren't conducive to finding this species). A few Chiffchaffs and a single Snipe that flew overhead were the only birds of any note on show.

Shelduck; Black-headed, Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Radipole

Meanwhile, with five additions in the past two days (Scaup, Ring-necked Parakeet, Wheatear, Fulmar and Ringed Plover), my year total has moved onto 130- just 370 left to reach my target of 500 birds worldwide this year!

Topsham area 8th March

As I was visiting my grandparents in Devon today, I decided to head down a little early to visit two of the RSPB reserves in Topsham.

My first stop was Darts Farm RSPB, where I hoped to find the magnificent Penduline Tits that have been spending the winter there. Arriving at the bird hide, I was pleasantly surprised to see the rather uninspiring-looking miniature reed bed teeming with birds, most Reed Buntings, Wrens and Blue and Great Tits, along with the occasional Goldfinch, Meadow Pipit and Chiffchaff (about seven or so). Sadly, however, no Pendulines. I waited for over an hour, before deciding that it would be worth visiting the nearby Bowling Green Marsh RSPB, after which I would check Darts Farm again.

There was a great number of birds present on the marsh, with large flocks of Wigeon, Shelduck, Mallard, Teal and Canada Geese, along with several Pintails, Pochards and Tufted Ducks. A large wader flock contained both Black-tailed and Bar-tailed (my first of the year) Godwits, Curlews, Redshanks and a single Avocet. Moving on to the viewing platform, I was pleased to find a Spotted Redshank in amongst the more common waders.

Spotted Redshank, Exe Estuary

Nearby, it was awesome to find three Water Rails creeping about the edge of a flooded field, along with a Snipe.

I then headed back to Darts Farm. Again, the Pendulines were not on show, though seeing a Water Rail just in front of the hide was a brilliant surprise.

Water Rail, Darts Farm RSPB

A pair of Egyptian Geese that flew over were my first this year.

I decided at this point to head to my grandparents' house. On the way, I checked the beach at Sidmouth. I was pleased to find a large number of Oystercatchers and Turnstones here, but best of all were four Purple Sandpipers.

Turnstone and Purple Sandpipers, Sidmouth

I decided that I needed to check Darts Farm one more time before heading home. Fantastically, the two Penduline Tits had reappeared and they were showing brilliantly in the early evening sun.

These awesome birds look kind of like miniature Red-backed Shrikes I think.

Penduline Tit, Darts Farm. The species is still a rare vagrant to Britain, despite expanding its breeding range into Western Europe in recent decades.

The Pendulines were no further than three metres away from me, and like Bearded Tits, they seemed completely unaware of my presence. Without a doubt, watching these birds was one of my favourite birding experiences in the UK, it was just brilliant. I could have stayed all evening, but suddenly the birds flew off and hid themselves deep within a willow tree and so I headed back to Dorset. What a great day!

The Fleet area, 6th March

On the 1st March, I visited Wyke Down in the east of Dorset in search of some of the special birds of prey that spend the winter there. Sadly, seven Buzzards and three Kestrels were the only raptors that showed- no Red Kites, Hen Harriers, Merlins or Short-eared Owls... Two Corn Buntings, a dozen or so Reed Buntings and truly enormous flocks of Black-headed Gulls and Redwings made for great spectacles.

Four days later, I was lucky enough to stumble upon my first Tawny Owl this year that was flushed by a Blackbird from its roost in the garden. This was my first daytime sighting of this awesome species.

On the 6th, I decided to explore the area around Abbotsbury. Starting at the Swannery, I was disappointed that I was unable to find any Scaup or Long-tailed Ducks, but I had (extremely) distant views of the Greenland White-fronted Goose that has spent the winter in the area, my third sighting of this bird. The only ducks I could find were Shelducks, Wigeon, Teal and Mallards.

I then moved on, visiting Rodden Hive. Here, I hoped to find the flock of Barnacle Geese and some of the waders that have been seen there regularly this winter. Being high tide, there was very little exposed habitat available for waders, though a flock of Redshank and one Oystercatcher were present. On top of that, four Little Egrets and several Ducks and Coots were present, but presumably the Geese have moved northeast to their breeding grounds.

I then went to Ferrybridge, hoping for some waders or perhaps an early Wheatear or hirundine. Sadly, once more, I drew blank, with just a single Curlew, several distant Oystercatchers and a single Little Egret present. The dog walkers strolling across the beach can't have helped things. 

Hearing news of what-would-be a new bird for me present at Abbotsbury Swannery, I headed straight back. Looking onto the Meadow Pool distantly from the road, I quickly found the Greenland White-fronted Goose again, and a little later, a fantastic Green-winged Teal in amongst a large group of Common Teal, Wigeon and Shovellers. This species is a regular vagrant to Britain from its usual range of North America and it was awesome to see a bird that has travelled so far. 

I finished the day at West Bexington, where I had been hoping to find one of the Cirl Buntings that has spent the winter there. Sadly, I didn't see any, but a magnificent Barn Owl hunting over the fields made the trip very worthwhile.

Barn Owl, West Bexington