Fantastic February

With the major crash in Oil prices, exploration survey work is at an all time low so I have not had any pelagic birding work for some months. Instead of moping about at home I have decided to use my time and savings to catch up with some new birds for my Scottish list. Financial constraints have meant greater use of hostels and buses that although sometimes inconvenient, have still allowed me to get a few ticks. Following several dips over the past few years I finally got to see a cracking bittern at Montrose basin. The bird kept me waiting for 30 minutes or so but it was well worth the wait when it eventually flew past the hide.  The memory of a major dip after sitting in a hide for 3 days at Kinnordy loch last year were almost forgotten! 

Bittern, Montrose basin.

Five days later I successfully twitched an Avocet on the Kyle of Tongue and also grabbed a self-found Great grey shrike near Laxford bridge on the way up.  Although I have seen a few GGS in Scotland before it always feels good to find your own birds!

Avocet, Kyle of Tongue.

Great grey shrike, Laxford bridge.

Following reports of marsh tit on bird track I managed to get some specific site details from a good birding friend in lothian. As this bird is so rare in Scotland there was a fair bit of interest in a cost sharing twitch, so I headed down with two other Highland birders and successfully saw two birds. A report of Caspian gulls near Torness meant that we also got to find a 1st winter bird near Dunbar land fill site so amazingly I got two Scottish ticks in one day! 

The Northern Harrier on North Ronaldsay proved difficult and took two trips and nine days of effort including the travel days. We finally got the bird at last light on our 4th 'field day' By then, seeing the bird resulted in feelings of relief rather than excitement for this recent addition to the British list. The next day we scoped the bird for over 40 minutes as it sat in the rain and although always distant it was a very good bird to catch up with. 

Northern harrier, North Ron.

Aside from new 'ticks' it was also good to get self-found common crane and smew in addition to great views of lots of commoner species. A great birding month! 

Common crane, North Ron.

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!

Montrose, Angus.

Recently, with widespread violent storm force winds and perilous sea states throughout most of the British and Irish sea areas, my vessel, - like many others, ran for shelter in whatever harbours and inshore waters provided a safe haven. We obtained a berth in Montrose harbour for a few days before heading back out to Lunan bay, followed by further weather standby time in St. Andrews bay when the wind veered to a more southerly direction. I took the opportunity to enjoy a few hours birding around Montrose- primarily along the stunning beach but also a few hours around the excellent Montrose basin. Winter birding highlights included a dozen or so grey plover, a handful of very smart sanderling, tree sparrows, yellowhammers, purple sandpipers and in St Andrews bay a very nice raft of circa 40 little auks and 4 velvet scoters. At a personal level it was quite satisfying being able to boost my BTO 'bird track' year list to 75 species- a very small consolation for missing my much needed Ivory gull- that has been frequenting my local home patch for some time- hmmm- I wonder if it will stick until I will be able to get home and catch up with it? - probably not. 

grey plover

grey plover

sanderling

Montrose basin

Lunan Bay, Angus.

With Beaufort storm- force 10 winds and potentially dangerous sea states forecast for much of the North sea, our vessel left the Forties field for the shelter of Lunan bay in Angus, just south of Montrose. As soon as I heard the location of our refuge I had a smile on my face with the prospect of a couple of days spent on the deck working through flocks of scoters and watching auks and divers. Unfortunately the only flocks of scoter were a couple of miles closer to the shore so I had no chance of picking out a rarity! I have not seen a single diver during the 3 days spent in the bay and assume that they too are closer inshore. From a birding perspective I have consoled myself with seeing a handful of little auks and two sightings of a dark morph arctic skua- both good birds to get on my fledgling year list that now stands at a very unimpressive 14! At least it will get a boost once I'm back ashore. The only other sighting of interest has been a couple of close passes by the resident bottle-nosed dolphins. The weather seems to have moderated significantly overnight and we will soon be heading back offshore- at least until the next Atlantic depression stirs things up again!