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

Easterlies bring on the migrants.

A few days of light easterly winds in the southern North sea have brought a steady, albeit light passage of passerines. Yesterday I recorded between 50 and 60 individual birds on and around the main deck. Species composition was varied and interesting although no scarcities have turned up- yet! Below is a cross section of snap shots of the more appealing individuals. Fortunately there is also a substantial population of flying insects around and on the vessel, allowing most individuals to refuel before continuing their push south. 

Wheatear

Pied flycatcher

Redstart

Spotted flycatcher

Tree pipit

Whinchat

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

vis mig flurry

It has been quiet of late with just the terns obviously flying north. Today was better with a kestrel, 2 turtle doves, 2 collared doves, a very nice garden warbler and a pipit sp. I think it is probably a very worn and abraded (from the desert sand) tree pipit? The pink bill looks right and the hind claw is relatively short but in truth I struggled to ID this one. I often struggle to ID birds on a ship- the habitat gives no clues!

I have been at sea for sixty days and am due off in 2 or 3 days time- can't wait for a cold beer and the chance to get back to the British isles for some quality spring birding!

16.04 update- thanks to Kriss Webb (Scilly spider), and Paul Stancliffe (BTO migration blog) for IDing the pipit as a Tawny

garden warbler

Tawny pipit

turtle dove

collared dove

kestrel