Targets for 2019 (1 Viewer)

April 26th

Great drive down Loch Ness on Friday morning, bit of a crawl through Fort William, and arrived at the Corran Ferry just as the boat arrived, so it wasn’t too long before we were bowling along on the correct shore of Loch Linnhe, then peeling off across country to the head of Loch Sunart, where we stopped, in squally weather, to scan the shoreline on the off chance of maybe a wader or two. No dice in the poor weather, so we pressed on, arriving by the upper bridge over the river in Strontian a few minutes later and clocking the Black Duck almost instantly! Not what I had been expecting given this bird’s reputation for being tough to connect with over the years. Perhaps now he’s middle-aged he’s become a bit more settled in his ways. I can imagine he’ll be harder to spot once the foliage on the overhanging trees fills out, but for now he is extremely showy (although kudos for anyone who can spot him in the pic of the boys). In much improved weather we spent quite a while with the Duck (having come all this way would’ve been rude to dash off) and had Cuckoo over calling while we were there, but eventually we decided to explore the area further. Not for the first time Gordon Hamlett’s vade mecum was pressed into service, as a result of which we headed first to the Garbh Eilean Hide. No Eagles or Otters in our brief visit, but nice views of Common Seals, a few Hooded Crows & a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers.

Next up was Ariundle Woodland, a beautiful spot, horribly marred by what looked like a recently laid down hardcore vehicle track which had enabled heavy plant to cart off timber from a recently felled area of conifers. A Grasshopper Warbler reeled for a bit from by the track shortly after we left the car, but soon shut up, and after a while we passed the extent of the forestry road and found ourselves in a quite wonderful, light, mossy woodland, boughs dripping with epiphytes, choruses of Willow Warblers and Chaffinches belting it out. A couple of Redstarts sang too, just long enough to indicate their presence without actually revealing their location, and a Tree Pipit staked its claim from a pathside perch. This is a site which I really feel we weren't seeing at its best. Nice though it was I'm sure that a visit earlier in the day, or better yet a little later in the season, would be so much more fruitful. A quick lunch in the Ariundle Craft Centre (very agreeable bacon & fried egg roll, decent coffee too) and then off, although we couldn’t leave without another session with the Black Duck, still showing ridiculously well, bird of the year so far!

Straight onto the Corran Ferry, no waiting, again, a crawl through Fort William, again, and then we were on our way, heading east. One of the great pleasures of Scotland trips is driving through glorious scenery on mostly empty roads. Frequently cars would pull over or slow to let us pass when we caught them up, and we always made sure to pay the courtesy forwards (which if I’m honest happened less frequently). General Wade’s Military Road was a new one to me. According to Wikipedia General Wade constructed a series of roads linking various Scottish garrisons in the middle of the eighteenth century, which adequately accounts for the state of the A889 between Laggan and Dalwhinnie. We were booked into a Travelodge near Perth for the night, and I had initially planned to maybe pop back into Loch of the Lowes on the way, but as we were quite a bit ahead of schedule I decided to try and squeeze in a detour up to Glenshee. The weather was not appropriate for an assault on the Cairnwell, particularly not this late in the day, but ever the optimist, thinking that Ptarmigans would probably still have a decent quota of white in their plumage, and recalling that I’d scoped them from the car park before, I was hoping to take advantage in one of the reasonably frequent breaks in the rain to score. Unfortunately the last decent break was about two minutes before we arrived, and after forty minutes of waiting in the car in the battering rain we had to concede that our year tick Red Grouse behind the café was as good as it was going to get. A quick, uneventful call in to Loch of the Lowes and we were done for the day.

April 27th

So, all three targets hit, plus a few other goodies, just a matter of how to liven up the journey home. No prizes for guessing what we went for (you can probably tell just from the thumnbails), but we nearly didn’t go after tuning in to weather forecasts warning of gale force winds, heavy showers, storm Hannah and the like. The rain was certainly happily splattering down as we bid farewell to Broxden Junction but, as Edinburgh drew closer things changed; the rain abated, patches of blue appeared in the sky, credible claims of sunshine were made… and on arrival at Musselburgh, barely a zephyr and a glass calm sea! Get in! (And if you’re wondering why the Scoters aren’t included in the trip’s targets, well, the White-winged wasn’t on the menu when we laid plans and booked our accommodation.)

Departing birders imparted positive news, and after a fair old walk we were there, receiving directions and getting on to a sleeping American White-winged Scoter. Brilliant! We spent the next half hour splitting our attention between the White-winged and three Surf (two drakes) also present (pic 5 is a three-Scoter pic, none of them Common!), and then another half hour birding our way back to the car, with splendid views of Reed Bunting, a wee mixed flock of roosting waders and plenty of dapper Eiders. And that was that, time for home, a long drive, most of it in the rain, which kicked in shortly after leaving.

A very short half term now follows, with plans already in place for a Whit road trip, as well as a cheeky little bank Holiday Monday next week, which I’m actually off for. Happy hunting everyone!

You had better luck than we ever had with the beep black duck!
We had a decent weekend. Saturday afternoon saw a family outing to the Fife Ness area for a smattering of scarce migrants in a Fife context. A very showy pied flycatcher at the lower end of Kilminning was followed after a bit of hard work by an equally obliging lesser whitethroat at the top end. We then had very nice views of the wood warbler in Denburn wood (only about 1 a year in Fife).

Rob

Exactly what Edenwatcher said. except I would add an extra bleep.

Have been five times in three trips over the last four years to try and nail this beastie. (and its a long, long way from Leicester). Think I would have more luck trying to find that other Scottish lake dwelling myth. On one trip we did see a couple of his offspring but never the daddy.

We've also seen the offspring.
Sunday saw the family divide. Sue and Andrew went off into the hills and climbed a couple of Munros - birding highlights were golden eagle (white-tailed as well for Sue) and ptarmigan.
Daniel and I headed for the Lothian coast. We started at Musselburgh for the scoter fest. Really good views of both the white-winged scoter and surf scoters with the highlight being getting 4 scoter species in a single scope view!! A singing whitethroat was our first of the year. The fabled midden between Torness and Skateraw was full of life(!) - male yellow wagtail, at least 3 white wagtails, 2 tree pipits and a wheatear. However nearby Whitesands quarry and Barns Ness where a disappointment with no sign of either glaucous gull or any grasshopper warblers, both of which would have been lifers for Daniel.
On the way home we stopped off at a few Fife sites without seeing anything terribly unusual. Over 75 species seen in the day without too much effort however.

Rob

Its a long weekend this weekend, and the Black Duck is currently co-operative. Do I have to draw you a diagram? :t:

John

Sadly Daniel does not get the Monday off. We will be up there again later in the year...

Rob

edenwatcher said:

Sadly Daniel does not get the Monday off. We will be up there again later in the year...

Rob

Click to expand...

Yeah, but it won't, not after the breeding season. Come on Rob, its a day trip from where you are!

John

May 2nd

Apart from anything else, once the foliage fills out it will become harder to spot even if it stays where it is. In the mean time, a few more pics for you, and whenever it is any of you manage to get back up there - very best of luck to you!

Arch year ticked Swift on his way to school yesterday, I'm still waiting for my first of the year. I went on a bit of a recce this morning while the boys were in school, so I now have local sites lined up for Garden Warbler, Whinchat & Pied Flycatcher, ready for when I get a chance to head out with the boys (Lord knows when though, what with all their various other extra-curricular pursuits).

Then had excellent views of Hobby on the walk back from school with Arch, as well as Dipper on the Alyn.

Much less predictable in summer certainly. I had considered it - in combination with the pied-billed grebe - as a day trip.

Rob

Yeah, was kind of tempted by the Grebe too, but it would have been a lot more driving in an already pretty full on itinerary, plus the walk. Some other time.

Farnboro John said:

Its a long weekend this weekend, and the Black Duck is currently co-operative. Do I have to draw you a diagram? :t:

John

Click to expand...

That's as may be. unfortunately my weekend is already planned out for me. As this includes packing in readiness to fly off to the Camargue for a full weeks birding next Saturday I don't mind too much. There's always next year

May 6th

A nice low octane day out today, over to Anglesey to pick up a few of that island’s specialities. First birds of note were the two long staying Hooded Crows lifting off from the roundabout in the A55 next to Holyhead’s McDonalds, and a few minutes later we were parked up by the harbour where careful scanning revealed a few very distant Black Guillemots out by the end of the jetty. South Stack next (the boys' Great Great Grandfather was lighthouse keeper here), hordes of Guillemots covering the cliffs, Razorbills lower down, both liberally scattered on the sea below, which is where we eventually picked out a single Puffin bobbing about. A few Chough were kicking about too, including fantastic point blank views of one feeding on the turf by the car park that we watched from the car before setting off for Cemlyn.

At Cemlyn we were greeted by excellent views of White Wagtails by the pool by the car park, and then settled to watch the tern colony for a while. Mostly Sandwich, some Common, and a couple of Arctic. At least three Med Gulls too. Back at the car park there was a single Golden Plover in an adjacent field, a long staying injured bird (limping severely), hence its reluctance to migrate. While photographing it my SD card hit capacity, so on the way home we stopped off at Tescos in Bangor to pick up a new one.

Checking the news here we learned of a possibly Slaty-backed Gull nearby at Rhos. Hmmm. Bird had flown off, so no need to dash off or anything, better to stop and consider a course of action over a quick lunch in the café. First off, what the hell do first winter Slaty-backed Gulls even look like? Wonders of modern technology, quick google and… ah, as I suspected. Looks just like all the others. Well, there was no way I was going to spend the afternoon grockle-dodging my way along a bank holiday North Wales coast looking for a feathered turd on legs, but no harm remaining in the environs. So we headed up Conwy Mountain for a poke around, loads of Stonechats facing off against each other, quite a few Wheatears, Mipits & Whitethroats but not much else. Fabulous views though, and a nice walk. No news on the Gull when we got back to the car, so we headed home, finishing off the day mid-afternoon.

A fairly quiet weekend with a few highlights. On Saturday I went down to my old stomping ground of the Eden Estuary. I soon picked up a nice drake garganey, and shortly afterwards a second! Text messages sent and Sue and Daniel came down to join me. Other notable species included 4 little egrets and at least 5 whimbrel.
On Sunday afternoon 3 of us (Andrew in teenager mode again) headed to Fife's prime whinchat location. We found 2 males without difficulty, also 3 stonechats (one startlingly bright) and a couple of ravens. Returning via various Fife wetlands was rather unproductive. A garden warbler that refused to show was the most notable record.

Rob

May 11th

This morning’s programme was to track down Wood Warbler & Redstart for my year list, as well as to help the boys catch up on the Pied Flycatcher, Garden Warbler & Whinchat that I had scoped out sites for at the beginning of the month, if they decided to join me. I opted to start off with an early morning visit to Loggerheads, and was quite surprised when Arch was keen to join me, in spite of the pre 06:00 wake up call. Sam stayed in bed. Loggerheads Country Park near Mold holds three of our day’s targets, Wood Warbler, Redstart & Pied Flycatcher, although I don’t think I’ve ever managed all three in one visit! Today Wood Warbler was the one we wanted most, with the other two usually fairly easy at World’s End, where we would be going later, so we made our way straight to where we’d had one singing last year. All quiet, so we slowly zig-zagged our way through the woods until eventually we tracked down a flighty and restless, but fortunately very vocal, individual on the southern edge of the Hanson Quarry. Neither Pied Fly nor Redstart were audible, so we headed home for something to eat.

After a leisurely breakfast we set off up to Waun-y-Llyn Country Park, where I’d had a Garden Warbler singing the other day away past the lake. No need to leave the car park today though, with one singing from the hawthorns between the car and the road, showing reasonably well for a Garden warbler too. On then to World’s End, where we bumped into a Cuckoo to kick things off; it had been sitting up on the phone wires, but was unfortunately mobbed away up the slope by a Meadow Pipit just as we came round the corner and clocked it. Wheatears & Skylarks along the road, and then a fine ringtail Hen Harrier off to the left just as we approached where Offa’s Dyke heads off on the right. We kept pace with it for quite a way, until we reached the valley on the right where we would be looking for Whinchat. We could hear one singing as we got out the car, but it took a while to get visual lock. No Black Grouse on their regular patch the other side of the valley, so we headed down, over the ford, and into the valley bottom, to look for Pied Flycatcher & Redstart.

Stopping first at my Pied Fly spot from the other day we instantly found a
Treecreeper gathering bugs in a roadside tree, and could hear a bizarrely out of habitat Sedge Warbler singing from a hedgerow across the field. Hope he manages to get his bearings, because he’s on a hiding to nothing up here. Didn't see any Flycatchers, in spite of hearing one singing a couple of times, so we headed further along the valley to Rock Farm to look for Redstarts; we could try for Pied Fly again on the way back. Very quickly found a Redstart singing from a hawthorn bush, then another from by the river as we relocated back for Flycatchers. This time we almost immediately got onto a very active, vocal showy male Pied Flycatcher. Brilliant! Clean sweep! Steven Tyler would have loved it!

Currently deliberating whether to head over to East Yorkshire tomorrow, but whatever we decide it’s been a great day today.

JWN Andrewes said:

Currently deliberating whether to head over to East Yorkshire tomorrow,

Click to expand...

Didn't go in the end. Judged the Flycatcher to be a flight risk, and with Brown Shrike records seeming to be steeply on the up I'm happy to wait for another. Quiet family morning at home, might pop out this afternoon.

Arch's year list currently on 184, way ahead of previous best at this point two years ago (168). I'm a little ahead on 192, the best I've done for over a decade!

We're also achieving the strike rate to hit 300 on the boys' UK list by the end of the year, just need to keep it up!

4 British ticks for Daniel this weekend (even one for me)! More later.

Rob

May 12th

edenwatcher said:

4 British ticks for Daniel this weekend (even one for me)! More later.

Rob

Click to expand...

Oooh! Tenterhooks!

Burton Mere Wetlands is kind of our go to for a bit of laid-back duding, so it was no surprise to find ourselves there this afternoon (particularly as I’d noted over lunch that a Wood Sandpiper had decided to drop in, although we would have ended up there regardless). In spite of the large numbers of people who come to the reserve these days (compared to the olden days when I first started visiting) it never felt too crowded, as we headed out to Inner Marsh Farm Hide where the Wood Sand had been showing. No need to stake out the Lesserthroat or Garden Warbler that had been seen earlier (although we at least heard the former), got them sorted already, but we did stop at the head of the spur to Marsh Covert Hide to year tick a tree top Spoonbill. On arriving at IMF Hide we quickly clocked the Wood Sandpiper, only the boys’ second, on the far shore of the pool, but frequent checking of the Border Pool failed to reveal Black Tern; the bird of the previous few days seems to have moved on.

After Burton Mere Wetlands we took as stroll along to Burton Point, but didn’t get much; a Wheatear, Sedge Warblers, Whitethroats, a Marsh Harrier. The boys enjoy playing at the point though, so gave me a chance to sit and chill for a bit though, before heading home.

After school on Friday Daniel and I went out to Wilderness(!) - an abandoned gravel working. Here we added common sandpiper to the yearlist and shortly after had brief views of our target - a wood sandpiper an overdue British tick for Daniel. A better viewpoint revealed 3 of these elegant waders (never seen so many in Fife), plus some tardy winter visitors in the shape of a whooper swan, 3 pinkfeet and a goldeneye. A garden warbler sang invisibly. Walking back along the road gave nice views of one of the wood sands plus a black-tailed godwit. On the way home we stopped off at Mountcastle where we encountered several blackcaps but failed again on garden warbler.
Yesterday Daniel went on an outing to Edinburgh zoo for a friend's birthday. We stopped off on the way to the station and added sedge warbler to the year list and saw a nice whitethroat. He picked up his first swift for the year from the train.
Today Sue and Andrew were out in the hills again. They didn't see much apart from an immature white-tailed eagle. Daniel and I headed north...

Rob

The original plan for Sunday was to head up to Aberdeenshire for our annual appointment with the king eider, terns on the Ythan and the chance to catch up with some cranes. However with Elvis still not settled I was in two minds about this. The alternative was to head to the Angus glens for a range of summer migrants plus some characteristic upland species. With various goodies around Loch of Strathbeg, including dotterel, garganey and spoonbill I opted for the ambitious notion of trying to combine the two!
The day began with garden goodies such as tree sparrow, siskin, bullfinch and treecreeper. Driving through Dundee I got my first swift of the year (rather distant, better views were had at Fettercairn). Heading into the glen, at our first stop a cuckoo was immediately audible. Sadly it was out of sight just over a ridge. However a spotted flycatcher was on the road side wires. Daniel picked up a roadside red-legged partridge, another year tick and we soon saw two more. Other birds on the way into the glen included many song and mistle thrushes, a great spotted woodpecker plus sand and house martins. Further up three red grouse were close to the road. A stop to look for tree pipit and redstart was unsuccessful but a woodcock flew up from the verge. The car park at the head of the glen was full, limiting our options, so we retraced our steps. Wheatear was the only notable addition to the day's tally.
TBC

Rob