Harlequin Duck

Monday 9th March

Monday and the weather looked far from promising for birding. A deep low was coming in and winds of eighty to ninety miles per hour were promised with a strong possibility of snow. But we had to get to Aberdeen.

For the weeks before we travelled to Scotland we had been monitoring the Harlequin Duck in Seaton Park. It was to be one of our key targets for the holiday. Then the week before we travelled it disappeared. We assumed that with the weather warming up (a bit) the bird had left and we had given up hope of seeing it.

I don't know where it had been for the previous seven days but Sunday night a report reappeared on Bird Alert and Monday morning we were heading for Aberdeen, whatever the weather had to offer.

First winter drake Harlequin Duck

From Seaton park we walked up the river to where the duck had last been reported but could not find any sign of it. Fortunately heading in the opposite direction we soon came across a small dark duck swimming with a couple of Mallards and we quickly confirmed it as the Harlequin.

It's a duck of fast flowing rivers that is rarely seen in the UK and there are only eighteen accepted sightings on record. It would usually be resident and breeding in Iceland and Greenland.

A dark duck, in dark water, under dark trees, in low light levels, does not make for brilliant picture opportunities, particularly as it favours fast flowing water giving a lot of movement, but in the end I got three decent pictures out of the forty or so I took.

We headed back around the coast avoiding the high roads. The Ythan Estuary looked a great place for birding but when we opened the car door to take a look we saw Goosander, Greenshanks and other birds disappearing into the distance. Perhaps it's still a little too close to the shooting season.

Distant shot of the Greenshank

Coming back along the coast we visited Macduff, Banff, Buckie, and Spey Bay. Despite the gale force winds the ducks were still out on the sea although we did find a couple of Eider in Banff harbour and a Shag just outside Macduff harbour.

Eider - water still rough inside the harbour walls

Shag - scaring all the little children

A great days birding despite the gale force winds

Twite

Sunday 8th March

Early Sunday morning and we headed over the hills towards the Moray and Nairn coast to look for Divers and Sea Ducks. We spotted a few Red Grouse on the way but with the sun barely up it was not worth stopping. There were plenty of the ducks just off the coast but the divers were in short supply. I think we must have been a couple of weeks late as we only managed to see one Red-throated Diver all day.

Starting at Nairn Pier we found Oystercatchers, Knot , Curlew, Turnstones and then crossing the river roosting Redshank and a Grey Wagtail.

Redshank

Moving east, the tide was out when we got to Findhorn Bay. There were a good number of waders out on the mud but the real find was a mixed flock of Linnets and Twite close to the village. I know the difference between the two but spotting individual birds in a mobile and fast moving flock was hard work. Once I was sure that I had a yellow billed  Twite safely in the camera I resorted to photographing anything that offered a good picture opportunity with the intention of sorting them all out later.

First the Linnets, throat streaked, grey bill, greyish head with pale patches above and below the eye, strong white edges to tail, male with red just starting to show on its breast.

The Twite are more of a buff colour with no grey on the head, bills are yellow outside the breeding season, there is no streaking on the throat, and the male has pink on the rump.

Twite foraging along the tide line

Head and body same uniform buff colour

No streaking on throat

No pale patches above and below eye

Lacking strong white edges to tail

Male Twite showing pink on the rump

We checked out the harbours along the coast hoping that the high winds would drive some of the ducks into shelter but we could not find any. The closest views were found at Burgh Head where Common Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Eider, Long-tailed Ducks, and Gannet were all present as well as a Rock Pipet and Hooded Crow. Burgh Head also had the advantage of being sheltered from the bitterly cold wind.

Long-tailed Ducks

Eider

After a brew we moved on to Lossiemouth. There was nothing to look at in the harbour but the East Beach and estuary area had a few birds and we were able to sit in the car and observe them in comfort. It looked like the usual gulls, Redshank and Widgeon with a few Bar-tailed Godwits, until Dave spotted a small flock of Snowbuntings on the opposite beach.

A great find but it meant that we had to walk round to the beach. The wind was still strong and bitterly cold, the sand was being blasted across the beach and to top it all we got caught in a rain squall just as we reached the birds. Still once it cleared we had great views of the Snow Buntings and were able to get a few pictures.

Even the Snow Bunting were trying to shelter from the wind

With the day drawing to a close we called in at a hide on Loch Spynie. It was in a great spot sheltered from the wind with good views out over the loch and lots of feeders around it to attract the small birds and Red Squirrels.

On the drive back along the coast we finally managed to connect with a small flock of Pink-footed Geese. It was a bit of a relief as we had been searching for them all day. Of course once you spot one they all come along and we had two more small flocks before we got home and flocks of thousands by the end of the holiday.

Laughing Gull

Friday 6th March

The start of a much awaited, weeks birding in Scotland, based in the Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown on Spey. Best of all I had a guide to take me around as Dave had made a number of previous visits to the area and had all the best birding sites mapped out.

First stop was on the way up when we diverted off the M6 into Cheshire and visited New Brighton to look for the juvenile Laughing Gull. On arrival it looked a bit disappointing with no sign off the bird on its usual Marine Lake pontoon and no other birders visible. A quick search along the front located it at the model boating lake about 400m away where it was happily bathing with a few Black-headed Gulls. Unfortunately it then took off and disappeared from sight.

Another search and we relocated it on the beach where it seemed happy to pose for pictures.

First winter Laughing Gull

The Laughing Gull is a rare vagrant to the UK from America where it breeds in Mexico, the Caribbean and around the south and east coasts of the USA. There are usually two or three sighting a year in the UK mostly of juvenile birds but they do not occur every year.

This is a bird that is never going to go hungry!

With the Laughing Gull in the bag we decided to pay a visit to Burton Mere RSPB. I hadn't expected much but it turned out to be an excellent site with some decent hides, lots of viewing screens and great staff. You actually felt that they wanted to give you decent views of the birds instead of what seems to be coming the norm of focusing on the shops and restaurants and keeping you as far from the birds as possible.

We only had an hour before the car park closed so it was a quick dash round to look for the Long-eared Owl. I had to ignore all the feeders and attendant birds and the viewing screens to make sure that I got back to the car before the gates were locked. It was great to see the Owl but it was the usual view of a Long-eared, buried in a bramble bush in the darkest place that it could find. Then to make it even worse it had leaves over its face.

How do they get into these roosts without tearing there feathers to bits?

Views through the bins were a lot darker than this but the camera over exposes assuming an 18% grey image to give a much clearer picture.

There was no way to improve on the picture and I was not going to disturb the Owl so I grabbed a few shots and headed back to the car.  This is definitely a site that I will be coming back to. Perhaps a week on the Wirral should be my next birding trip.

If you want to see better views of a Long-eared Owl have a look at the shots here that I took of one out in the open at Pagham Harbour.

We stayed over at Lancaster that night and continued on to Grantown the next morning. Musselburgh gave us good views of Eider, Common, Velvet, and Surf Scoter, Red-breasted Mergansers, and Goldeneye, but few were close enough for pictures. These Goldeneye in the river mouth gave the only photographic opportunities
.

Female Goldeneye

Male Goldeneye

Surf Scoter

I haven't put many blogs up lately but then I can sum up February as six days spent dipping the Little Bunting at Old Lodge, three days spent dipping the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at Mark Ash Wood, and a couple of half way successful days standing outside a sewerage farm photographing Siberian Chiffchaffs. All made worse by the fact that on day one of looking for the Little Bunting, it must have perched right in front of me, without my being able to identify it. Dave standing next to me managed to get a picture of it.

Today brought an improvement, a Surf Scoter had been reported yesterday in Stokes Bay just to the west of Gosport. We waited for confirmation that it was still about then set of for Hampshire through the heavy rain. We couldn't find it at the reported location of being off Elmore car park but then driving further east we found it back in yesterdays location of the second car park in Stokes Bay.

A quick look through the telescopes confirmed the sighting of one Surf Scoter and two Common Scoter and also left us soaked through and cold from the driving rain. We then sat in the car for three hours watching the Scoters fishing out in the bay and at the same time watching the weather radar on the web waiting for the rain band to clear.

The birds were always distant and with rough seas and poor light the pictures were never going to be brilliant but any shot of a Surf Scoter on the south coast has got to be worth having.

This is the view through the big lens - about equivalent to a 10x50 binocular

Digitally enlarged on Photoshop - reasonable quality

Overdone, pixels starting to show but it gives a clearer view of that multicoloured beak and the white patches on the nape and forehead.

February has improved but I still need to get that Little Bunting. Even my wife is encouraging me to have another go. Don't let it beat you she said, it's only a little bird - but she was having difficulty stopping herself laughing whilst she said it.

Slavonian Grebe

I seem to have spent most of the past week at Old Lodge trying to get a picture of the Little Bunting. I think I have seen it, both perched and doing a flyby, but I haven't got a picture and I haven't been able to confirm the sighting. Dave, standing next to me got the picture. Click here to have a look. This is getting to be a bit of a habit on his part. He calls it luck but it's starting to happen too often for that. Even my wife is suggesting that he may just be a better bird photographer than I am!

All I managed to get at Old Lodge were a few shots of the Woodlarks that were busy displaying over the reserve.

Woodlark

For a time it looked as though there would be no pictures for the blog but fortunately the Slavonian Grebe at Arlington Reservoir took pity on me and stayed around long enough to give me a few good pictures.

Slavonian Grebe

The grebe was busy feeding and did not seem to be at all bothered by my presence. In the time I watched, it caught three fish and was still actively feeding when I left. It makes you wonder how many it can swallow at one sitting.

The only problem that I had was its annoying habit of turning its back to the sun when it surfaced with a fish. Trying to get the exposure right on the face, then gives you problems with the neck and tail burning out. I am not sure if this was just bad luck or if the grebe does this deliberately to give it better visibility of its prey.

Other pictures taken over the past week include the Kumlien's Gull at Littlehampton. I am just hoping that it returns next year as a third winter.

Kumlien's Gull

and a selection of Chiffchaffs from Steyning and Coldwaltham Sewerage Farms. There must be a Siberian in here somewhere.

Is that a splash of yellow on its side? - not Siberian if it is

Definitely buff coloured but what about its back and wings?

Looks like the best prospect.

Some good pictures but I didn't get the Little Bunting. Having missed the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker the week before, I am starting to build up a list of places and birds that I need to return to. Lets hope we get some decent weather.