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

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

Gyr delight

The essence of arctic birding for me is the mighty gyr falcon (Falco rusticolus)- huge, powerful and very elusive! I have seen distant birds on several previous visits to Greenland but this had not prepared me for a close encounter that I experienced a couple of days ago, when two of these magnificent falcons came over a ridge and flew over me at 50 metres! The light was against me and the speed of the birds made it difficult to focus but I'm well happy with these shots!

Gyr falcon

I spent 3 hours walking around the island of Upernavik enjoying some lovely scenery and great birds including raven, Canada goose, snow bunting, Iceland and glaucous gulls. 

Atlantic Birch ii in Upernavik

coastal scenery

view inland to the east

typical Greenlandic dwellings- Upernavik

snow bunting

raven

Canada goose

After joining my ship we had a lovely moon rise as we headed out to sea.

Musk Ox

Another hours stroll today turned up more redpolls, heaps of lapland and snow buntings and a couple of rutting Musk ox!

Lapland bunting

musk ox

rutting musk ox

heading back to Kangerlussuaq

Arctic circle birding

Arrived in Kangerlussuaq this morning following my flight on Air Greenland from Copenhagen. I have a few days of briefings and meetings before heading NW to join my ship on Monday. A chance to build my Arctic circle birding list- raven, snow bunting, lapland bunting and redpoll sp. all showed up but all remained distant and elusive. No real opportunity to get good shots of anything with the exception of a snow bunting. Nice to see some different scenery however!

typical willow scrub habitat

downtown Kangerlussuaq

snow bunting

view of the local hills

airport hotel with Greenlandic flag- a representation of sunrise over the ice cap.

Hopefully I will get a chance to get some more bird photos before I leave this unique place!