Black Grouse

A week in the Cairngorm National Park and on the Moray and Nairn Coast gave us some excellent birding, with a couple of life ticks for me, but with very few photographs for the blog. The problem was the weather, it was just too good, warm sunny days, calm seas and virtually no wind. The sea ducks, that we had hoped to find sheltering in the coastal harbours, were long gone or were far out to sea and the geese also seemed to be starting their migration early.

We did manage to see one hundred and sixteen different species over the week. That included  White-billed Diver, Black Grouse, Crested Tit, Twite, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Ptarmigan, Iceland Gull, and Surf Scoter. However most were a long way off and the scopes got more use than the cameras. 

The notable missing bird for the week was the Snow Bunting, which is normally present either on the coastal sand dunes or around the car park at the Cairngorm ski lifts. We could not find them anywhere although there was one reported the day after we left.

Fortunately we had stopped off at Seahouses Harbour before we crossed into Scotland and the Eider we found there proved to be the only close encounter we had with sea ducks all week.

Eider

Female Eider

The harbour also had a few Great Black-backed Gulls, this one with the remains of a crab.

Great Black-backed Gull and crab

First stop in Scotland was at Musselburgh. Lots of birds including Velvet Scoter, Long-tailed Ducks, Goldeneye, and Bar-tailed Godwits but no Surf Scoter that we could see and no opportunities for photographs. So it was onwards to our base for the week at the Grant Arms Hotel at Grantown on Spey.



It was nice to find the Black Grouse. This is a bird I used to see regularly when I was out walking on the hills, but it seems to be a lot rarer these days. This is  actually the first I have seen since I started keeping records four years ago. The pictures are poor but this is not a bird that is easy to approach when out in the open. We did not want to spook them so we took our pictures at a distance, hence the massive crop, and left them in peace.

By contrast the Red Grouse is a much easier bird to photograph. These shots were taken at Lochindorb where the birds were close by the road.

The last of our target birds in the Grouse family was the Ptarmigan. Dismissing the soft option of the Cairngorm Funicular we trudged up the route to the northern corries. Last year we had seen a number of birds around there but this year, with the snow line higher, we found only one. Dave heard it calling and after a search he found it, distant, on the other side of a deep snowfield. Last year the birds came close but this one was staying put, happily feeding on the heather shoots.

Ptarmigan

They are a great bird to find, the walk may have been hard work but the celebratory beer that evening tasted all the better for it.

We had two visits and spent about a day and a half looking for Eagles in the Findhorn Valley. Slim pickings is probably the best description for the birds found. On the first visit we had one decent flyby from a juvenile Golden Eagle from which I failed to get any decent pictures. My best efforts are shown below.

There were a couple of other distant views of Golden Eagles and one possible sighting of a White-tailed Eagle but it was to far off to be able to confirm the identification.

The shot below shows the closest we got on the second visit.

It's taken using a 500mm lens and 1.4 extender with the birds at least a mile away. Blown up a bit bigger you can identify the lower bird as a juvenile Golden Eagle. The upper bird, Dave identified using his scope, as a peregrine which was one of a pair harassing the eagle.

There were Dippers in the river but they did not show for a picture so to keep me occupied I ended up photographing a Mistle Thrush and a Pied Wagtail that kept us company on our vigil and a couple of the local Buzzards.

Not quiet as tuneful as a Song Thrush but better than nothing

Pied Wagtail

 

Buzzard

Buzzard

More to follow in part two of the blog headed as Crested Tits.

Caspian Gull

If you have read previous blogs you will know that Dave and I have been on a mission to spot a Caspian Gull. Neither of us were confident in our ability to identify a Caspian. We had studied the identifying features and knew what to look for  but theory and practice are vastly different when you are faced with a large flock of Herring Gulls.

Our favoured approach has been to visit Dungeness where there are two juvenile Polish colour ringed Caspians and we could play hunt the colour ring rather than hunt the Caspian.

Today we were down at Dungeness again for another try. Our initial search drew a blank and somewhat discouraged we headed off in search of other birds. We had a good day and had just finished photographing the Smew at Burrowes Pit and were about to head for home when we realised that we still had a loaf of bread left. Rather than waste it we decided to head back to the beach for one last look for a Caspian.

This time our luck was in, when a local gull expert told us that there was an adult Caspian in the gull roost. Unfortunately he was just driving away so we had to find it for ourselves. Knowing one is there is a huge advantage but we still had the challenge of locating it.

Some time later and having studied every gull in the roost it looked as though we were going to miss out again. We had one gull, that looked significantly different from the Herring Gulls and showed some of the features we were looking for but it had a yellow eye so could not be our Caspian. We were left with one gull that was asleep with its head tucked back so that we could not see its features. We waited, our confidence slowly draining away, then it moved and a black beady eye appeared.

A Caspian at last - please don't anyone add a comment telling me that it is some form of hybrid and doesn't count.

The pictures are not good. It was getting late and the light was failing. Then on top of that I was admiring the shots on the back of the camera when the bird took off and I missed getting a flight shot. See Dave's Blog for some flight shots.

Caspian Gull

The identifying features I was looking for and think I can see are:-

Small black beady eye
White head with no streaking
Small head compared to a Herring Gull
Legs thinner, longer and paler grey than the Herring Gull
Bill long and narrow
Long neck - not really visible here

It looks good and I am claiming the life tick.


We had a good day at Dungeness but it started slowly. Our initial search for the Caspian drew a blank and the ARC hide, for once, had little to offer, although we were told later that a Bittern had shown well and close just after we left.

We headed back to the Power Station to look for the Black Redstarts that are often present there. The sewage treatment area in the south east corner supports a good colony of midges and a number of birds can usually be found feeding in the area.

Black Redstart

Good supply of food 

Pied Wagtail

We also had a visit from armed police to check out what we were doing taking pictures so close to the Nuclear Power Station. There is no restriction on taking photographs but in this day and age they take no chances. It was a bit annoying but they were only doing their job and trying to keep us safe so it is best just to co-operate. Anyway he had a machine gun so I wasn't going to argue.

Just as we were packing up to move on an alert came through for a Long-eared Owl close to the RSPB Visitors Centre. It was buried deep in the bushes at the other side of the pond and very difficult to spot but we did at least get a picture.

Long-eared Owl

I have only ever seen one Long-eared Owl out in the open and I doubt that I will ever get better pictures than on that occasion. Have a look at this blog if you are interested.


We were on a roll, so we walked round to the Scott hide to have a look for the redhead Smew. They had not been showing last time we were there. This time we were a bit luckier, showing but very distant. Lets hope the male comes in to visit them before the winter is out.

and getting further away all the time

One life tick  and one year tick. Not a bad days birdwatching. The past month has been very slow on the bird photography front. It was nice to come home feeling we had achieved something.

Black-throated Diver

On Thursday evening there were some superb pictures of a summer plumage Black-throated Diver posted on the web. They were taken at Farmoor Reservoir near Oxford. Now I may not be into "twitching" or keen on travelling long distances for a bird, but I will travel for a good picture and these were too good to ignore. So Friday morning, I was in the car early and off to Oxford full of anticipation for the show stopping shots I was about to get.

Great plan but the execution was not quite as good. Nobody had told the bird to co-operate. Just before I arrived it had been feeding at the edge of the reservoir but it had been flushed by one of the anglers boats and when I arrived it was sitting out in the middle of the water and there it stayed.

I walked around the reservoir a couple of times. Somehow they always looks closer to the far bank but they never are once you walk round there. It was probably going to come in closer to the bank to feed at some stage but I had to get away about three o'clock to get home for an evening commitment.

This was my best shot. Its a big reservoir and with a 500mm lens, 1.4 extender and 1.6 multiplier in the camera this was the best I could get.

Distant Black-throated diver in the centre

You can blow it up in Photoshop but it's never going to give you a good picture and cannot compare with those taken the day before when the people had it ten to twenty feet from the camera. It just gives me an idea of what I missed.

Heavy crop of the shot above.

Still it was not a wasted trip. As well as the Diver, I saw my first Yellow Wagtails of the year, although I did not stop to photograph them as I was so keen to get to the Diver.

There was also this odd couple sitting on the reservoir causeway. They seemed inseparable and were not at all phased by the walkers, birders and photographers coming within a few feet of them - not me of course.

Dunlin and Sanderling

Summer plumage Dunlin

Summer plumage Sanderling

I went back to look for the Yellow Wagtails but they were gone. The best I could manage was a Pied.

Pied Wagtail

It was a long drive home with the thoughts of the missed opportunity but at least I came away with a couple of year ticks.

A Few Quiet Days Birding

Its all been very quiet on the birding front lately. I have been out plenty of times but its just the usual suspects around, I have not managed to see anything new or unusual. I have had some target birds in mind, Turtle Dove, Flycatcher, Little Tern, Osprey and they are about, if only in small numbers, but so far not visible when I am there. Still it's great getting out into the countryside early in the morning, it really makes you feel alive. I know my luck will change soon, I just need to go birding even more often to make it happen!

The following pictures are the best from the past weeks birding and where better to start than the ubiquitous Whitethroat.

Whitethroat - Seaford Head

Linnet - Hope Gap

Another Whitethroat - Hope Gap

Rye Harbour looked like giving the best chance of seeing the Little Terns and at first I thought I was in luck, but you start to get suspicious when you realise they are not moving.

Perhaps if I added a bit of blur in Photoshop ......

Plenty of Common and Sandwich Terns there and a few Mediterranean Gulls on the edges of the Black-headed Gull colonies.

Sandwich Terns nesting amongst the Black-headed Gulls

Sandwich Tern

and in flight

Common Tern with half a fish

Mediterranean Gulls

I also called in on Arlington Reservoir. There are Turtle Doves around there somewhere and I often hear them calling but I have yet to see them. The Osprey did drop in whilst I was there but unfortunately I was off investigating the river just below the weir which is usually a good place for Damselflies and I missed it.

I did get to see a Great Crested Grebe trying to swallow a large fish. It took about a quarter of an hour to get it down as the bird was getting tired and the fish kept slipping out. It did succeed in the end but as it sailed off into the distance it still had the end of the fishes tail sticking out of its mouth.

Great Crested Grebe with its catch

Just a quick swallow

Proving a bit harder than expected - keeps slipping out

All gone - nearly!

 Do birds suffer from indigestion?

Nice to see so many so many fledglings about as well. This Pied Wagtail was busy trying to keep three hungry youngsters happy.

Already bigger than its mum.

And to finish off a nice sunset shot of a Sanderling in full summer Plumage.

Sanderling