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

Little and large

More raptor action today with falcons from both ends of the size spectrum turning up. This delightful merlin put in an appearance midday and spent a few hours dashing around the ship's superstructure before eventually roosting on the foremast. At least one unwary redstart was caught during this tiny falcon's rounds.

merlin with redstart

Later in the fading light a real thumper came down from the north and briefly landed. I had a good long look at this bird- initially I thought it was a Saker, then I thought it was a lanner. From a plumage perspective it seemed to share characteristics of both species. In the end I relied on the structure of the bird to cinch (I think) the ID as a saker- the tail was very long and extended way beyond the tips of the primaries. I'll be delighted if someone can assist with the ID though.

saker (probably)

Also added yellowhammer, twite, stonechat and goldcrest to the ever-lengthening migrant species list for the trip.

yellowhammer

goldcrest

A migratory, roosting bat species was also a bonus find- desperately trying to shelter from the wind and rain in a coil of line.

bat sp.

Old man of Stoer

Fairly typical summer birding at the moment with things being generally quiet. I briefly considered a big drive south to try and get onto the Bridled tern, but with the bird being rather mobile I really couldn't justify a gamble on that much fuel- ditto the Argyl Ascension frigatebird! After my month at sea I felt the need to enjoy the good weather and stretch my legs, so I spent a few hours on the coast path between Stoer lighthouse and Stoer head. This stretch of coastline is famous for the sea stack known as the 'old man of Stoer', the area occasionally attracts a good migrant or two and can also be good for spotting basking sharks and a number of marine mammal species. There were good numbers of tourists on the coast paths and few birds about, although I did enjoy looking down on the seabird colonies. A few pairs of bonxies patrolled the headlands, there were good numbers of recently fledged wheatears and a colour-ringed twite was probably bird of the day. I also saw 3 summer plumaged dunlin come in off the sea from the NW- I wonder if that signals the start of 'autumnal' wader passage?

old man of Stoer

great skua

guillemots

razorbills

skylark

twite with coloured leg rings

Birdtrack ramble

Spring came and went, the migrants were thin on the ground and I found nothing in the NW to quicken the pulse, with 'local' star attractions limited to wood warbler, ring ouzel and osprey. Now tis 'summer', birds are becoming less vocal and are busy nesting or raising their broods. With a near 300 mile drive to twitch a blue-winged teal the only sort of twitch temptation, I decided to spend some time on a local patch and submit another bird track list. Highlights- well none really unless you count a greenshank, 2 twite and a couple of singing sedge warblers but I had four hours along the coast to the north of Ullapool and managed to record 37 species. I also got a few snaps and enjoyed some lovely scenery and dry, cool weather. All good stuff but worryingly I have yet to record a whitethroat NW of Inverness!

linnet

twite

Ardmair bay from the NNE

greenfinch

rock pipit

mallard & ducklings

The Butt- revisited

manx shearwater

Just enjoyed a few days birding back at the Butt of Lewis with fellow Ullapool birder Richard Rafe in the hope of turning up some migrant species. The ferry voyage over the Minch was quiet with just a few great skuas and a couple of manx shearwaters of note. The Machair at Eoropie held up to 700 golden plover during our 4 day stay, with mixed flocks of lapwings, interspersed with starlings and twite. Birding was rather hard work with cold blustery conditions and a scarcity of birds on the ground, although Port Nis resident birder Tony Marr put us onto a very nice 1st winter red-backed shrike on our first morning so things started well! A number of common redpoll were also good to see.

red-backed shrike

red-backed shrike

Eoropie beach looking North (ish)

The next few days we scoured the area around the Butt of Lewis, Eoropie, Loch Stiapabhat and Port of Ness. Highlight birds included snow bunting, gadwall, whooper swan, lesser whitethroat and hen harrier. On our final day a turtle dove in Port of Nis was a good find. An hour later, on our arrival in Stornoway ferry terminal, Tony rang me to say that he had just seen a barred warbler- one of the target birds of my trip as I have never seen that species in the UK- nothing like dipping out to remind me of the joys of birding! ;)

golden plover flock

golden plover over the machair

who needs house sparrows when you have twite on the roof!

harbour porpoise in the Minch

great black-backed gull- Annat bay, near Ullapool