Critical time for 'spring' migrants

Spring is woefully late and very unpredictable in the NW Highlands this year. Last week saw a trickle of migrants finally arrive and although numbers have been worryingly low it has been good to record my first wheatears, chiffchaffs, and willow warblers. By putting in a ridiculous amount of field time I have also recorded single singing tree pipit and blackcap and a couple of common sandpipers. A few days of mild temperatures and strong sunshine last week made my world of birding seem reassuringly 'normal', with my local patches full of calling tits and finches. Forward a few days to 'Take 2' and as if a harbinger of poor weather, I have been seeing good numbers of redwing, pink-footed geese and a couple of iceland gulls- it feels more like early March than late April!

guess the month!

snow at circa 15 metres above sea level

The last couple of days have witnessed tumbling temperatures- I had to use de-icer early this morning and it has been snowing intermittently for most of today. Although normal to get falls of snow on the hills and mountains at this time of year at this relatively high latitude, it is a nasty surprise to find snow lying at sea level. 

pink footed geese

My local patches include a couple of sheltered, wooded glens and river courses that provide some cover for resident and migrant birds alike, but today everything was bitterly cold and miserable and awfully challenging for the smaller passerines. There are no flying insects to support the newly arrived migrants and it was rather disconcerting to see several willow warblers and chiffchaffs stirring up leaf litter in an attempt to find invertebrate fodder this morning. I don't recall ever seeing leaf warblers in falling snow before. Some of the birds are looking sluggish and bedraggled and making no attempt to sing as they concentrate on maintaining their metabolisms. The softer, water soaked pastures are full of flocks of passage wheatears and meadow pipits, again desperately probing for nourishment, when normally these birds would be frenetically moving up the coast. My chances of recording a swallow must be about the same as winning the lotto- and I don't even buy tickets. As for redstarts, whinchats, sedge warblers and groppers I can only hope that good numbers are backed-up down south. I'm badly missing spring on the Lizard!! 

A selection of 'happy' shots from last week:-

singing chiffchaff

common sandpiper

tree pipit

wheatear in hailstones

Sleepy North sea

Just back from a five week stint in the North sea. I had hoped to start seeing some visible migration as we got into early April but with low temperatures, predominately NW airflow and plenty of fog, bird numbers were very low with just two robins, two meadow pipits and a stonechat recorded on and from the vessel.  Seabird numbers were also low, although that was not unexpected for the time of year. Highlights included a few puffins and a tatty looking Iceland gull that didn't look sharp enough to be an adult with the main features of the plumage and bare parts leading me to conclude that it was most likely a 3rd winter- hopefully a larophile will point me in the right direction if that age is incorrect.

Aside from that a brief port call to Montrose allowed a couple of hours strolling around the coastal plain  where I got a shot of a an interesting leucistic oystercatcher. Spring feels a long way off!

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

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

Slow spring, scarce migrants.

Little to report from the NW - the air temperature is still way down and 'spring' migrants are few and far between- a few sand martins, the occasional willow warbler, chiffchaff and wheatear, a very occasional swallow and a single singing tree pipit. With white-winged gulls still sticking around at Achnahaird it still seems rather wintery, although one or two of the resident great-northern divers are starting to look good in their summer plumages. A pair of merlin sat on the salt marsh was a bonus as was a fly-over white-tailed eagle. Today the first white wagtails tipped up so it is very much a transitional period at the moment. Hopefully we will get a good twitchable migrant before too long- preferably on the mainland or else I'm gonna have to go for the serin…………

glaucous gull

Iceland gull

great northern diver

merlin

white wagtail

white-tailed eagle

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

A 'first' for Bulgaria!

Fantastic news today as I received an email from the BNRC (Bulgarian national rarities committee) to say that the Black-throated accentor I recorded in the Black sea late last year has been accepted as a first for Bulgaria! (see post 'siberian stunners' 21.10.2013 for photos.) I have never considered the possibility of being fortunate enough to record a country first so it is an excellent result. The BNRC have also asked for descriptions of the Pallas's and yellow-browed warblers that I recorded during the autumnal migration as apparently they are rarities for Bulgaria too. 

In fact this January has been a really good birding month for me, with the BTO bird track system telling me that I have a year list of 111- that in itself is a bit of a result for the highlands and islands at this time of the year and with some pretty difficult weather conditions.

Highlight birds early on included glossy ibis and American coot. these were followed by a trip to North Uist where I caught up with the marvellous marsh sandpiper that had been frequenting the shoreline at Kyles Paible. A birding friend also took me to a hen harrier roost where I was lucky to see two ringtails and an adult male bird. Also at the site were greenland whitefronts and a snow bunting. I also saw white-tailed eagle and corn bunting on North Uist although I failed to get decent enough views to 'tick' the Pied -billed grebe at Balranald. 

Kyles Paible, North Uist- during the months only hour of sunshine?

approaches to Uig, Isle of Skye

It has been a good month 'locally' for gulls, with the ring-billed seen briefly in Dingwall and a lovely  little gull seen at Brora. I also managed self-found glaucous and Iceland gulls on a couple of local patches- other 'good' finds have included brambling and velvet scoter- both species being surprisingly scarce on the NW coast of Scotland. 

Iceland gull- Achnahaird

Little gull- Brora