Gairloch pelagic- the Minch.

A boat trip in the Minch is always fun and with recent reports of Orcas and Sabines' gulls to whet the appetite I jumped at the chance of a place on the Hebridean whale cruise 'Orca 1'- a large fast RIB designed to cover big distances at speed. The weather and sea conditions were ideal- flat calm with good visibility although the light was very flat due to the hazy conditions. Within 15 minutes of setting sail we were surrounded by a pod of circa 500 common dolphins that obligingly played around the vessel providing outstanding views. A short while later we watched a minke whale- the first of 5 encountered during our trip. Harbour porpoises seemed to be every where. Birds were not as abundant as I had hoped but we recorded sooty shearwaters, manx shearwaters, an arctic skua, a possible long-tailed skua and 3 pomarine skuas. Great skuas were abundant as were over 50 storm petrels. Unfortunately no orcas or Sabs. were seen but we also saw a pair of bonus white-tailed eagles on the return leg and a flock of 28 black-throated divers. 

sooty shearwater

sooty shearwater

common dolphins

common dolphin

common dolphins

minke whale

white-tailed eagle

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

Sou'westerlies slow North sea vis-mig.

A couple of weeks ago swifts and common terns could be seen heading south on a daily basis. Along came 'ex-Bertha', followed by nearly two weeks of Beaufort F6-F7 winds from the SW and migration has visibly stalled. With lighter winds swinging around to the North and North-east things are slowly picking up. I'm now witnessing a steady procession of sandwich terns, the occasional Arctic and Pom skua, a few flocks of dunlin, turnstone and probable GP's. A grey heron did a bonus flyby today and on the deck I have seen a few pied wagtails, two garden warblers and a solo reed warbler……I'm eagerly anticipating every day now as the autumnal delights of the birding world start to move south for their winter retreats. 

sandwich tern

garden warbler

garden warbler

reed warbler

reed warbler

Ghost fishing- a maritime tragedy.

I was first made aware of the problem of ghost fishing decades ago as a (much) younger undergraduate. In those days I was nowhere near as cynical as I tend to be now and naively thought that with more public awareness and education amongst the worlds' fishing fleets, the frequency of such dreadful waste could be reduced or even eliminated. Having seen so much discarded netting and long-line over the last couple of decades I am no longer sure. Encounters of dead and injured cetaceans, seabirds, sharks and turtles on the high seas appear to be just as prevalent as they ever were. I guess all we can do is to keep highlighting the problem and hope that with time the message will eventually get through to those that indiscriminately dump old fishing gear.

gannets- one dead and one dying 

On a more positive note, below are a couple of shots to highlight the truly majestic nature of these wonderful seabirds and to show them as they should be seen.

Patch treat

Not often I get the chance to see a real quality bird without considerable travel so seeing a red-backed shrike in the NW highlands is a real bonus! The bird showed well (although was always a little distant) and put on a show of doing what shrikes do- sitting on a perch, dropping down to predate a beetle or grub, then returning to its' vantage point to eat its prey. A real treat for me as although I have seen a couple of 1st winter/female types in Scotland over the past few years this is my first adult male since seeing a Breckland bird in the early 80's! 

Rose tinted birding

At last a bird has been reported in Highland that could be considered a local twitch- only a 50 mile round trip to try and catch up with a rose-coloured starling at Achiltibuie. Friday evenings' attempt turned into a dip despite careful scrutiny of the area around the piping school cafe and surrounding crofts over a near 3 hour search. A return on Saturday morning resulted in a rather nervous second attempt with the bird taking nearly 2 hours to show- but when it did it proved worth the wait- I had not seen an adult before and it was certainly an attractive individual. I also saw a helmeted guineafowl walking along the verge- obviously an escape but interesting to see. 

Cutting edge birding!

No- unfortunately I have not come up with a new wing formula for tricky warblers or new bill dimension criteria for crossbill sp. - but I did rescue two tawny owlets from a horrible fate! 

Yesterday, whilst walking on a highland estate I came across a tractor with hedge trimming/grass cutting equipment bolted on the sides. As cutting operations were ongoing I decided to follow an alternative loop to avoid the general disturbance and noise- not much use for woodland/riverside habitat birding. Anyway, a couple of hours later having done some very pleasant birding, I started the return leg when I became aware of two birds calling in deep vegetation just off the track. I was unfamiliar with the calls which immediately raised my excitement level as it is not often I do not recognise bird calls. Further investigation revealed two owlets emitting what I assumed were begging/contact calls. I admired the two birds before commencing my walk along the track- until I realised with some horror that the two owlets were in the path of the ongoing trimming operations that were now some 400 metres or so further down the track and likely to trim the owlets in an hour or so! With plenty of daylight remaining I guessed that the owlets would remain in situ for some time. Now I'm well aware that we should not touch or interfere with recently fledged birds and chicks but on this occasion I knew that if I did not intervene the owlets would certainly meet with a grisly death- so reluctantly I returned to the birds locations and after much beak clacking, blinking of large blue eyes and flexing of sharp claws, I managed to lift both birds to a safer location further into the vegetation and between trees where no cutting blades could reach. Fortunately a passer -bye managed to capture a shot on my iPhone of me holding an owlet -job done as they say!

tawny owlet in cover

Later that day breaking news of a Citrine wagtail near Durness prompted a plan for the following morning that allowed me to twitch a much needed lifer- just reward methinks! 

part of the trimmed verge- not good for owls- or much else!

a lovely little bird carefully relocated out of harms way!

Summer stroll

We have a fine spell of weather in the NW highlands just now, so it  is a good time to spend an evening or two strolling around Achnahaird. Few birds of note with the exception of the long staying glaucous gull, a few passage dunlin and two pairs of lapwing. Nature is in full swing now with the salt marsh covered in thrift- the pink flowers providing a very pretty carpet for the ringed plover to forage in. A few puffballs are putting in an appearance and the bay gave up some fantastic sand ripples at low tide. 

dunlin

long staying glaucous gull

view of Achnahaird bay

stunning sand ripples

puff ball

a carpet of thrift