Targets for 2018 (1 Viewer)

Cheers birdmeister

West Kirby Marine lake is a great site for close-up views of Mergansers.

Next mini-adventure is lined up for Easter hols when we'll be targeting a mammal tick and two or three bird ones. Watch this space!

My goals for this winter were to see, and hopefully photograph, a Crested Caracara. The same for a Short-winged Hawk. My third target was to photograph a Swallow-tailed Kite. So far I've failed on all three and time is running before I have to head back north. My limited mobility hasn't helped.

March 13th

Nice weather, evenings drawing out, perfect. Off to Nercwys Mountain after work to look for Woodcock. Arrived about ten to six, and a quick recce suggested a good area to focus on as it started to get darker, which predictably it soon did. No sign of roding Woodcocks, too early in the year perhaps, but a few Tawny Owls were hooting away, and we got brief flight views of one at about half six. Following this up gave us a silhouette in a trackside bush, followed by two birds sitting up in the pines calling to each other, just visible in the failing light before they launched themselves deep into the forest. Happy with this year tick we were about to head back to the car when a Woodcock sailed over! We got three more flight views against the sky over the next quarter of an hour. Didn't hear any calling, and it didn't look like they were displaying, so we'll try and come back in the next couple of months to see them again, but I am extremely pleased to have finally nailed the last of last year's targets. At last.

Looking for Woodcock at night is one of my enduring memories of my early birding years. Two of my mates and I went looking for them with a teacher (Doc Kershaw) who was a birder. We stood straining our eyes and ears at the edge of a silent clearing in Wareham forest - the three of us staring one way and Doc the other. As the silence stretched Doc let out a huge scream at which point we apparently all leaped foot in the air in perfectly synchronised panic while he nearly fell over laughing. Despite this heart-attack inducing moment we did see both Woodcock and Nightjar for the first time.

Cheers
Mike

March 17th & 25th

Been a bit slow on the updates, soz. Thing is, there's been nothing that exciting to write about. Last weekend the weather was a bit pants, motivation to go birding was low, so we just goofed around doing family stuff. Did manage a short jaunt down to Burton Mere Wetlands, year ticked Avocet & Sand Martin, then clanged out on Short-eared Owls at Neston Marsh for the second time this year, a shame but a long way off being a sleep loser.

This weekend the weather has been glorious, so of course I'm working, but the boys none the less managed to totally grip me with a drake Mandarin on the river behind the house, darn it. Chiffchaff was a year tick this afternoon, bringing the total to 125, a fair way behind last year, just a shade ahead of 2016. Need to get out again. Soon.

March 26th

Off out early this morning, and up to Clocaenog for Great Grey Shrike. The bird showed well, in a beautiful landscape (so long as you kept your back to the radio mast and ignored the distant wind turbines) and glorious weather. No Goshawks unfortunately, but Crossbills on tap, including one with clear faint wing bars, one of those things I'd known about but never actually seen myself.

From here we headed north to try for Surf Scoter at Colwyn Bay, but even though the sea was glass flat we didn't manage to pick any out of the several thousand very distant Common Scoter, and had to settle for year tick Red-throated Diver and Guillemot.

Then on to Llanddulas for Glaucous Gull. Not a year tick, but too nice a bird to ignore while we were in the area, and we year ticked Shag to boot and spent time playing the age old game of throwing sticks into a river and commenting on their progress down stream. We then got wind of an Iceland Gull on the Homebase roof in Mold, pretty much on our route home, but for the hour and a half we gave it before heading home it was absent, although there did seem to be a slow turnover of Gulls on the roof while we were there. Nice to bump into a couple of other local birders there, including an old friend from way back.

A week off looms, need to start getting my motivation back (been a bit lacking of late), and today certainly helped.

April 4th

An unnecessarily early start saw us arrive at Musselburgh at a little after first light to be met by deeply unpromising conditions. All four of us on this trip but given the crappy weather the missus and our youngest opted to sit this one out in the car, and I can’t say they were wrong on that count, this time at least. Strong winds, a heavy chop on the sea and poor visibility were not unexpected having seen the forecast but given that we were heading up for a planned short break in Speyside and this site, currently host to an American White-winged Scoter (presumably the same bird we’d dipped over two days last August further up the country at Murcar), was on the way(ish) I couldn’t not at least try. As it turned out we couldn’t find a single Scoter of any kind and left with nothing more than year tick Eider before our next fool’s errand, seeking out Auld Reekie’s peripatetic Ring-necked Duck. With blanks drawn at Blackford and Duddington (where I nearly went base over apex more than once negotiating the steep slippery slope from the car park down to the loch side) and the rain turning heavy and sleety I decided enough was enough – it was time to head for Aviemore.

Past Perth the sleety rain turned to snow. Past Pitlochry it got heavier. Shortly after Dalwhinnie we were treated to the bizarre sight of thirty odd Red Grouse flying high up in the sky, traversing between heights either side of the wide open valley. Then, as we approached Aviemore, it became quite nice. The snow stopped, the sky brightened, and do you know what, we might get something out of the day after all! First though, lunch, and with the Rothiemurchus café having provided an absolutely top-notch Cullen Skink I settled on Loch Garten as a nice undemanding spot to round off a long and tiring day. On the way we had a quick stop at the picturesque Loch Pityoulish, where some briefly glimpsed white blobs in the first cove had me pulling in at the lay by to double check, and sure enough, as hoped for, it was a pair of Whooper Swans, one of which drifted out onto the loch for splendid, serene views.

So, to Garten, where the corner baited by photographers was on the quiet side, so having membership we decided to head up to the Osprey centre (no Ospreys present) and try there. On arrival we struck lucky, with a Crested Tit on one of the feeders. Brilliant, first tick for the boys down. (Back in 2015, before starting these targets threads, we did a trip to Speyside and managed to score some of the specialities of the region, Capercaillie, Ptarmigan, Mountain Hare amongst the highlights, as well as Harlequin in Aberdeen, and Bottlenose Dolphins up at Chanonry. That trip, so early in their birding careers, also provided the boys with ticks of Song Thrush, Bullfinch and Grey Wagtail amongst others, but Crested Tit was one they didn’t catch up with, not for lack of trying, so it was ace to finally lay it to rest today.) They also enjoyed the super close views you get here of feeding Chaffinches, Coal Tits, Siskins etc. And that was that for day one, with plenty to look forward to on day two after some much needed sleep.

April 5th: part I

Well rested after a good night’s sleep (we were staying in one of the motel rooms at High Grange at the south end of Aviemore. We’d stayed at one of the self catering chalets back in 2015 and found it a well run, well priced outfit, with the benefit of a very nice all you can eat pizza restaurant on site which we had attacked without mercy the night before) we headed off out for breakfast at Glenmore, conveniently situated en-route to Cairngorm, stopping on the way to check out Loch Morlich before it was blighted by ripples. Here we instantly struck pay dirt, with a pair of Black-throated Divers way across the far side from the first car park. Good scope views were enjoyed, all the more so by me now I knew wasn’t going to have to fit in a trip up to Lochindorb!

We spent a while on them before tearing ourselves away, and from the next car park we were treated to even more distant views of a pair of Red-throated Divers, and then, as we were back in the car and I was about to reverse out, Arch called “Crested Tit”. Engine off, window down, and sure enough, in the scrappy lakeside trees first one, then a second, Crestie, studiously working the branches at eye level. I’ll not knock seeing them on feeders, but there’s something undeniable sweeter about these more organic encounters. Anyway, nearly nine, café’s about to open, so let’s go….

April 5th: partII

Whenever I tuck into a Full Scottish I always find myself wondering why it is that the lorne sausage can’t seem to get traction south of the border. The breakfasts at Glenmore have always been good, but we had to wait a little for ours today. I’d been misinformed as to opening time (told 09:00, was in fact 09:30) but at least that gave us plenty of time to enjoy a rather tame Red Squirrel as it scampered to and from the feeders here. Once the café opened and we’d eaten our fill we had a last look at the squirrel, still at the feeders, and headed up to the Cairngorm car park.

5th April: part III

This was something of a revelation to me, never having visited in good skiing conditions, it was very strange to suddenly find myself in the middle of someone else’s subculture! Lots of rugged, chiselled looking chaps, taller than me, or hip teenage danger-junkie types, all wearing fat jackets in primary colours, wearing goggles and carrying a variety of shiny planks. The top car park was full already, so we watched Red Grouse bombing around in the snow from the lower car park while we waited for the shuttle bus. Eventually we made it, but with the peaks shrouded in clouds there seemed little point in joining the long queue for the furnicular and instead we had a scan around from the car park. We soon spotted some picnic tables above the car park where it seemed (relatively) quiet, and from here we eventually found one of the things we were looking for, as a flock of two dozen or so Snow Buntings descended on the look out for scraps. Over the next forty minutes or so we enjoyed excellent views of these while the boys delighted in playing in waist deep snow, and I scanned as much of the surrounding slopes as the weather would allow for Ptarmigans or Mountain Hares, neither of which materialised, although there was no shortage of tracks from the latter. I think that if we find ourselves round here in these conditions again the key will be get up Cairngorm as early as possible before it gets rammed. Having ridden a very full bus up the one that took as back down was almost empty. We left the sporty types to their fun in the snow and headed back down to Aviemore.

That shot of the table is one of the strangest things I've seen in birding. Spuggies, yes, but Snow Bunts??!!

Cracking stuff James.

John

5th April: part IV

We spent the afternoon pottering round Aviemore, with a nice sighting from the High Street of an Osprey circling the Inverdruie Fish Farm for a year tick before preparing ourselves for the evening’s entertainment. Arriving at the meeting point as it started to get dark, via some distant Roe Deer, we were treated to a few nice flight views of Woodcocks before heading down to the Rothiemurchus Hide. After the chat from the guide we settled down to wait, and after a nervous few minutes of hearing “I wonder where they are, they’re usually here by now” sort of comments the first Badger arrived. For the next hour and a half or so we had them as constant companions, hoovering up the peanuts and raisins, up to four of them including one (named Bertie) who climbed the tree to raid the nuts left for the Pine Marten. Unfortunately of Pine Martens there was no sign tonight. It’s a little early in the season for reliable sightings it seems, but the visit was well worth it for the boys to get good and up close to Badgers, as well as seeing the little Wood Mice scampering about. The boys assure me that this is the first time they’ve seen these mice well, and checking back I can’t find record of any sightings for them, so that’s quite an odd one to clock in at past 30 on their UK mammals list (particularly as Harvest Mouse sits at number 4 for Arch, the one species that currently seperates them). Fingers crossed for Martens next time, by which time hopefully I’ll have figured out how best to focus my camera in low light! But for now it’s back to High Grange, tired but satisfied, with the prospect of a long drive home tomorrow.

I'm impressed with how far up the tree that Badger is!

John

Farnboro John said:

I'm impressed with how far up the tree that Badger is!

John

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It's that particular individual's party piece. He looked very comical as he slowly and carefully reversed back down again.

6th April

We picked up some bacon baps from a café in Aviemore for a quick breakfast before heading south. Had we been more successful with the Scoter on the way up the plan had been to go home via Glenshee for Ptarmigan & Mountain Hare with a stop in at Loch of the Lowes too, but as it turned out we had business to conclude down Musselburgh way, so we made that our one and only stop on the way home. Conditions were markedly better that on our last visit, and it wasn’t long before we were year ticking Velvet Scoter and getting distant views of our second Surfie of the year. White-winged proved a trickier proposition, with many Velvets a looooong way off and annoyingly prone to napping. A bimble along the shore soon revealed plenty of Velvets a lot closer in, but no decent contenders amongst them, although we did pick up Long-tailed Duck & Slavonian Grebe for the year, as well as some nice looks at Bar-tailed Godwits down on the mud, and a few Sand Martins buzzing up and down. On our return walk back towards the car our luck changed, with the group of birders gathered along the way on the bird. It still took a while to get properly on it, and swap eyes at the scope so the boys could get looks at the right bird. Relief all round in the end though, with White-winged Scoter in the bag at last! I confess I lacked the stamina at this stage to battle through Edinburgh traffic on the off chance the Ring-necked Duck was hanging around in one place long enough to connect with. Long drive home then, with another fine Scotland trip under the belt.

Good stuff.
All a bit quiet at this end. Sue and I were laid low by a bout of flu but I did get out with Daniel to see a local male goshawk. Had a few days in the Lake District walking rather than birding and saw things like wheatear and raven but not much else. Daniel came with me on my WeBS count on Sunday and we had "all" 3 divers, whimbrel and 2 super white wagtails.
With any luck the next highlight will be a trip on the Gemini Explorer for white-billed divers at the end of the month. With 32 seen on yesterday's trip we have fingers crossed for good weather (our planned trip last year was cancelled - along with all the others!).

Rob

edenwatcher said:

Good stuff.
All a bit quiet at this end. Sue and I were laid low by a bout of flu but I did get out with Daniel to see a local male goshawk. Had a few days in the Lake District walking rather than birding and saw things like wheatear and raven but not much else. Daniel came with me on my WeBS count on Sunday and we had "all" 3 divers, whimbrel and 2 super white wagtails.
With any luck the next highlight will be a trip on the Gemini Explorer for white-billed divers at the end of the month. With 32 seen on yesterday's trip we have fingers crossed for good weather (our planned trip last year was cancelled - along with all the others!).

Rob

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Oh, good luck on the boat Rob. It's strong in the running for next year for us, all being well, what with a later Easter. I look forward to hearing how you get on.

I had visions of you all heading for the American Bittern in Suffolk during the Easter hols. But Scotland seems a good choice. I still need Capercaillie so need to go back sometime!

April 14th

Jon Turner said:

I had visions of you all heading for the American Bittern in Suffolk during the Easter hols. But Scotland seems a good choice. I still need Capercaillie so need to go back sometime!

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The Scotland trip was a prearranged family thing, so nothing was going to derail it. Since then we could have gone for the Bittern on Sunday, but a combination of me still recovering from a bad stomach bug, the bird seeming to be a bit hit and miss in showing, and Suffolk being a long and pricey day trip all mitigated against. If I hadn't seen the Marton Mere bird back in the nineties I might have been more tempted, but as it was we opted for something a bit less ambitious.

So to last Saturday, when the boys, out playing behind the house, found a baby Wood Mouse, less than ten days after ticking the species up in Scotland!
I tucked it out of sight to try and keep it safe from the area's various cats, but the boys reported it as back out again later, so I'd not give much for its chances.

Some cracking birds there James.

Rich