Winter wanderings

I'm sure that to many birders it is starting to feel like a very long winter. This is certainly the case in the Scottish Highlands with frequent bouts of gales interspersed with rain, hail, sleet and snow. The sun has rarely been seen and the short daylight hours provide scant opportunity to get in the field. Trying to photograph birds has been very frustrating with generally dreadful light levels. Despite the challenging conditions I have managed to scrape together a year list of 116 and also got to see a few decent birds including a couple of white-winged gulls, two tundra bean geese, a handful of snow buntings, a water pipit, a jacksnipe and a small flock of scaup- all pretty tame in a wider British context but very welcome birds in this part of the world at this time of the year. This morning at Ardmair I saw a couple of displaying ringed plovers and there was a mini fall of 4 pied wagtails and a meadow pipit- signs that birds are returning for the as yet very distant spring! 

Bean geese (tundra) at Ardmair

Iceland gull (Achnahaird)

distant Scaup at Alturlie point

wintery scene on Slioch overlooking loch Maree

Summer stroll

We have a fine spell of weather in the NW highlands just now, so it  is a good time to spend an evening or two strolling around Achnahaird. Few birds of note with the exception of the long staying glaucous gull, a few passage dunlin and two pairs of lapwing. Nature is in full swing now with the salt marsh covered in thrift- the pink flowers providing a very pretty carpet for the ringed plover to forage in. A few puffballs are putting in an appearance and the bay gave up some fantastic sand ripples at low tide. 

dunlin

long staying glaucous gull

view of Achnahaird bay

stunning sand ripples

puff ball

a carpet of thrift

Highland spring?

It has been a fairly poor run of weather this 'spring' in the Highland region- a few days of sun here and there but generally much of April and May has been chilly and damp. Migrants have been slow to arrive and with pink- footed geese and white-winged gulls hanging about, it still seems like late March! I have managed to twitch a couple of good birds further south including a subalpine warbler and collared flycatcher at St. Abbs- unfortunately I did not manage any photos. of those beauties! Redstarts and spotted flycatchers are just back on local territories and hirundines remain scarce. Hopefully things will improve soon!!

pinkies- Achnahaird

Iceland gull with common gull- Achnahaird

twite- Mellon Udrigle

Highland coo- Mellon Udrigle

Bluebells- Loch Broom

The case of the phantom white- billed diver.

It is great to be home and I had a great half day birding on one of my 'local' patches today- Achnahaird beach/salt marsh/dunes- a 25 mile drive north of Ullapool. I had planned a trip to the hebrides and although the rooms were booked the ferry was full. Plan B- check out the recently reported 'white-billed diver' - one of two reported, with another further up the coast at Lochinver. As is so often the case with WBD reports in the north and west, this one turned out to be a waste of time- either the birds in this part of the world are incredibly mobile and have moved on by the time I arrive or visiting birders are often duped by pale-billed great northerns- unfortunately an annual occurrence . Of course, with a number of experienced birders visiting this part of the world too, some birds turn out to be genuine white-bills, but unfortunately nowhere near as many as the various reports on the bird news services suggest. On arrival I saw a nice Iceland gull sitting on the loch alongside the approach road. From the car park I scoped 5 great northern divers- four with black bills and a lone pale-billed individual. A single black-throated diver was a nice bonus. The bay also held cormorants, black guillemots and a couple of razorbills. On the beach with the common, herring and great black-backed gulls was a magnificent glaucous gull- this bird allowed for some of the best views I have ever had of this species in Britain. Other notable birds included a splendid snow bunting- my first record at this site since November 2010 and a pair of shelduck- another unusual record for the north-west coast. Two sand martins were my first true spring migrants of this year. Singing skylarks and calling lapwings and snipe coupled with displaying ringed plovers made for a very enjoyable birding session- and it was so refreshing to have to wear a beanie and gloves! ;)

glaucous gull

glaucous gull

Iceland gull

common gull

snow bunting

shelduck

Rock thrush twitch

Last thursday I was out on a local headland doing some birding in order to update my BTO bird track submissions. I was about 2 hours walk away from the car when I got the 'mega alert' sms from RBA telling me that there was a rock thrush near St. Fergus in Aberdeenshire! As it was already after 15:00 I knew that going for it immediately was not an option so after getting home and making a plan with another local birder I went to bed for a few hours before leaving Ullapool at midnight. At 04:30 the following morning we got on the bird and enjoyed it to ourselves for the best part of an hour with not another birder in sight! At that time of day the light was poor and I struggled to focus my camera properly but got a couple of 'record shots'. I spent the rest of the day dipping on everything else- roseate tern and little egret at the Ythan, spoonbill, bearded tit, reed warbler, ruff and marsh harrier at loch of Strathbeg but did finally get 6 or 7 seconds on the St. Fergus red-backed shrike- another wretched photo attempt before the bird went back to skulking out of sight in the hawthorn! 

Closer to home I have been closely watching a few local patches as wader passage appears to have started and I am ever hopeful of turning up my own rarity- for now however I am making do with dunlin! At least I got acceptable photos. of these critters!!

rock thrush- 1st summer male @ St Fergus

red-backed shrike- female, St Fergus

adult dunlin- Achnahaird beach

juvenile dunlin-Achnahaird beach

Patchwork

wheatear

Visited a few local haunts over the last few days picking up the likes of redstart, ring ouzel, grasshopper warbler, cuckoo, twite and snipe. Migrants are still woefully scarce on the ground so finding anything has been challenging. Went to one of my favourite sites today- Achnahaird- saw 4 GND's, a few golden plover and a colour-ringed ringed plover.

golden plover

colour-ringed ringed plover

Achnahaird with Stac Pollaidh in the distance