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.

Bugs life plus

Just finished my survey time off Senegal so here's a selection of some of the fauna that I saw during the voyage.

Grasshopper with a smile!

locust

African Monarch

Pomarine skua

Sudan Golden sparrow

Sei whale

Fraser's dolphins

short-finned pilot whales

A siege of egrets?

I admit I had to go online to find a collective term for egrets. I found that a group of herons are referred to as a scattering, a sedge or a siege- so I assume these apply to egrets too? My ship has been working mid way between Dakar, Senegal and the Cape Verde archipelago- for the past 10 days or so we have been circa 150+ nm from the nearest land and remarkably I have seen over a 100 egrets flying over the ocean. The birds have usually been in small flocks of 2 to 4 birds with a single flock of 8 being the largest group. All the birds have come up from the south and south west and been observed battling their way into the NE F5/6 winds that have been prevalent during my time here. Many of the birds have landed on the ship and taken advantage of the many wind-blown insects that have accumulated on the decks. I can't work out where these birds have come from or where they are trying to get to- I assume they have rounded the 'bulge' of west Africa to the SE having been displaced over the ocean and are desperately trying to get back to the coast of Mauritania or thereabouts. I have identified cattle egrets, a couple of great white egrets and what I think are probably intermediate egrets on account of their greenish lores and dark-tipped bills. All other species observed on migration here from blackcaps, redstarts, kestrels and swifts have all been heading south- as expected at this time of year- so a bit of a migration/displacement mystery to add to the many that I have encountered over the years, but a spectacle to be enjoyed anyhow. 

a chart showing my recent position

probable intermediate egret

probable GWE (left) and intermediate (right)

Cape Verde shearwaters

Some years ago (I'm too polite to say exactly how many) a group of intrepid birding greats including the likes of Tony Marr, Dick Newell, Richard Porter and Robin Jolliffe undertook a series of pioneering trips to Dakar, Senegal. These very capable birders embarked on a series of pelagic trips and recorded thousands of the fabled Cape Verde shearwater (Calonectris edwardsii) in the waters off Senegal. Additional, impressive passage counts of more familiar species such as Sabine's gulls and Pomarine skuas were also recorded. Years later, the immense potential for superb sea watching off Senegal continues to steadily gather momentum. 

Over the past few years I have spent a number of occasions with Tony, sea watching at the Butt of Lewis. During our many birding conversations we often discussed the possibility of me finding the  elusive Cape Verde shearwater, whilst undertaking my numerous surveys off the West coast of Africa. Despite much time scrutinising sea birds off the likes of Morocco, Mauritania and further south Gabon and Ivory Coast I have never managed to find one of these birds. Over the last week I have been working off Senegal and have enjoyed watching Cory's shearwaters on a daily basis- a few birds may have been candidates for Scopoli's shearwater  and I have also seen two great shearwaters and a solitary Manx shearwater. A few days ago whilst studying the Cory's I noticed some 'large shears' that although superficially resembling Cory's, appeared a tad smaller and slimmer (by about 10%?). These birds appeared slightly stiffer-winged, and possibly had slightly faster wingbeats- I'm trying not to string anything here! With better views the birds appeared to have more chocolate brown tones to the head as opposed to the generally diffuse greys of the Cory's. These birds also have more brown on the underwing. In certain light conditions the birds appeared rather 'capped'- something the Cory's never showed. Upon closer scrutiny it was apparent that the birds had thinner, grey bills although this has proven difficult to utilise as a useful field characteristic except when the birds ventured very close in and under very good light conditions. Generally though, the lack of a typical Cory's massive, yellowish bill can be a useful indicator under the right circumstances and with birds that 'cooperate'! With increased practice I have managed to pick up a few birds at greater distances, based on the faster flight action and generally slimmer/darker jizz, although readily admit it is not easy! Having managed a few photographs I was delighted to see that they were indeed Cape Verde shearwaters- a seabird 'lifer' for me. 

Identification is fairly straightforward at these distances! 

SEO migration

I'm back at sea- currently on a survey vessel off the coast of Mauritania/Senegal. I have been busy setting up the project but found time to snap a few shots of a wonderful short-eared owl that circled the ship before alighting and appearing to look for a suitable roosting site. There seems to have been a significant movement of these birds through much of the western palearctic recently, so I assume this is one of those migratory birds heading south to spend the winter in Africa. Wonderful birds.

Hot patch

Firecrest Durness

Firecrest- a patch tick!

As most patch workers will appreciate, sometimes it is easy to go for many a month or even a year or two with very little reward- but still we feed our addiction and keep plugging away in the hope of turning up a good bird on 'our patch'. If memory serves my last 'good' bird on a local patch was a grey phalarope back in 2009! Anyway, this week after getting back into local birding after the autumnal delights of the Hebrides and Northern isles I finally found a new patch bird in the shape of a delightful firecrest! Although not great rarity this is a very significant find in Scotland and particularly in the highland region where it is still a description species on account of it being recorded on less than an annual basis. I have managed to see the delightful bird on 3 of the last 4 days and am hopeful that it may over winter- it is in classic, sheltered habitat that should sustain it through the winter months. Having said that, last night was clear and fine and I couldn't locate it today. By a strange coincidence I had a day birding in the Durness region yesterday where I found another firecrest whilst in the company of Peter Stronach. Two birds, two descriptions and a patch tick! 

Firecrest in Durness

Wilson's warbler, Port Nis, Isle of Lewis

Don't have much to say about this- I was fairly speechless when I saw the bird and although my photos. don't give the bird the full credit it deserves, some of the amazing shots put out on the various bird news services say it all- probably the best best bird I have seen in Britain! 

However, I will briefly thank Tony Marr and Roy Dennis for finding the bird and putting the news out so that others could enjoy it and also express thanks to the owners of the property who so willingly allowed several hundred birders access to their private garden. 

The vast majority of birders on site were incredibly pleasant, helpful and well behaved but I'm amazed at the 60+ year old chap from down south who squeezed through the legs of the patient crowd on all fours to get to the front of the crowd and then stood up in front of us and totally ruined our view and photo. opportunity- cheers mate whoever you are! Why is there always one? ;) Fortunately I stayed around and got better views later in the day when the minority hooligan element had dispersed. 

Shetland phase II

Back to Shetland for some more quality birding. This autumn has been fairly quiet by Shetland's usual high standards. Weather systems were largely benign, with no predominant airflow from either the east or west- just big lumps of high pressure sitting over the Northern isles- beautiful conditions for being in the field but not great for bringing in migrants. The priority for me and my fellow birders was to work habitat in the hope of finding our own birds. Although we worked very hard for a considerable number of days, our 'self-founds' were limited to a bluethroat, a Richard's pipit and a little bunting. The quality of birding was still very good however, and I have to remind myself that seeing Great grey shrikes, Red-backed shrikes, Richard's pipits, OBP and Dusky warbler in addition to heaps of YBW's is not to be sniffed at- especially now that I am back home in the birding 'black hole' of the NW highlands! We cut our Shetland time a day early to dash south for the little yellow gem found by birding friend Tony Marr on Lewis...........  of course that meant missing a red-flanked bluetail and a cattle egret- but I'm sure there will be further opportunities to catch up with those!..........

Barnacle geese over Lamda Ness, Unst.

Bluethroat, Quendale (not found by us!)

Little bunting, Toab

Red- backed shrike, Burrafirth

Dusky warbler, Sandwick