Blending Of The Seasons

An astonishingly hot and summery day spent birding on the coast yesterday produced a pleasant mix of winter visitors and early spring migrants. Temperatures were said to have reached 22.8 celsius at Fyvie Castle in inland Aberdeenshire – the highest ever March temperature recorded in Scotland. It was certainly at least 20 on the coast, making for very pleasant conditions to bird in and seeing the more wintery birds feel oddly out of place!

I started by paying my first visit in a few weeks to the isolated lagoon at Strathbeg. In the surrounding fields a good 500+ Pink-footed Geese were present, one group containing a couple of smart Barnacle Geese. As we got out the car a miniature raptor zoomed overhead; a female Merlin. This little beauty proceeded to land on a fence post not far off, where I got the crappy digiscoped shots below before it started chasing an understandably distressed Skylark. Always a nice bird to see, this was my second Merlin of the year and a year first for me in NE Scotland. There was nothing on the actual lagoon save four Shelduck, but a plethora of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks in relentless song flight provided a sweet harmony to the serene surroundings and reflected the joy we too were feeling in the lovely weather.

crappy digiscoped shot of a female Merlin, Strathbeg Lagoon (25/3/12)

We popped in to the Visitor Centre where it was nice to catch up with Gus from Angus and to my pleasant surprise a young birder called Matt who I got to know when I stayed on Fair Isle in 2010 – it was fantastic to see them both again. We headed into the Visitor Centre, where 3 Black-tailed Godwits were on the closest pools, my first of the year. In terms of species diversity, it was pretty quiet here with no more than the usual commoner duck, wader species and other usual suspects. To liven things up considerably, the GREATER YELLOWLEGS made a brief appearance from here, saving the walk round to Tower Pool Hide and showing at closer quarters than it had done on occasions when I first saw it. It was on show for about 5 minutes, hurriedly feeding for a while before disappearing behind juncus. It was very nice to see it again; always special to see a species that’s been recorded under 30 times in the UK.

'top quality' digiscoped shot of the Greater Yellowlegs, Loch of Strathbeg (25/3/12)

We soon headed round to check the loch itself, starting on a low when Gus text me within minutes of my arrival stating that the elusive Bittern – a bird I annoyingly still need for Strathbeg and the NE – had just flown across Fen Hide into the reeds at the back. We spent half an hour there but the bird in question did not materialise; there’s always another time. It was extremely quiet from Fen Hide, whilst Bay Hide was a little better with 2 Great Crested Grebes swimming about not far out and a pair of Pintail. As we headed back to the main road along the airfield, a Stock Dove was flushed, my first of the year.

We stopped off at Annachie Lagoon and Scotstown Head, a few miles down the coast from Strathbeg near St Fergus. I don’t often check the site and have seen very little there before, but yesterday it pleasantly surprised me. A group of 20 Sandwich Terns were amongst a mixed group of commoner gulls, and not far off a group of 5 Black-tailed Godwits were feeding together. With the Sarnie Terns screeching away and the Blackwits feeding nearby – one which was in the first stages of developing its summer plumage – in the glorious weather it felt very spring like and was a nice reward for the half a mile walk. I had a quick check off the sea back at Scotstown Head, which held a nice drake Long-tailed Duck and 3 Red-throated Divers offshore. A pleasant and worthwile trip to this underwatched area.

some of the 20 Sandwich Terns at Annachie Lagoon (26/3/12)

Annachie Lagoon with the not so picturesque backdrop of St Fergus Gas Terminal

As the fest will soon be over, I popped into Peterhead for a bit of white-winger action for the first time in a good while. It was certainly a contrast to the birding at Annachie, with 3 Iceland Gulls – two second winters and a beautiful adult – present in the twenty minutes I was there. The adult was doing a constant round flight circuit by the lunar factory, which was very entertaining as it kept on flying right overhead. I was interested to see that it had a missing central tail feather, as shown in the photos below.

adult Iceland Gull, Peterhead (25/3/12) . Note the missing central tail feather/retrix.

one of the second winter Iceland Gulls (25/3/12)

On the way home we briefly passed through the Ythan, checking a very quiet Meikle Loch and the similar quiet estuary itself which was unfortunately at high tide; 10 Red-breasted Mergansers from Inches Point was about the best of it. The final stop of the day was Blackdog where I had a quick look offshore. Only 15 Common Scoters were amongst the Eiders, whilst 4 Red-throated Divers were dotted around and a massive congregation of gull was taking place a long way out. Things ended nicely, with a pair of Stonechat flitting around the reeds by the footbridge; my first in the NE this year and always delightful to see considering the battering they’ve had in recent winters. Once again a very enjoyable days birding, although it was pretty quiet aside from the stand out birds.

Thanks for reading,

Joseph

Winter Birding At Costessey House Private Estate

As I will soon be down in Norfolk I thought I’d do my first post on Costessey House Private Estate, my newly adopted occasional patch for when I’m down there. I have several different pages in the sidebar dedicated to Costessey House Private Estate, and in this post I will be referencing the different parts of the site, so if you wish to know which part I’m referencing please click on the page entitled ‘Costessey House Private Estate’. For information on the birds seen there, see both ‘Birds of Costessey House Private Estate’ and ‘Costessey House Private Estate list’. If you wish to find more about the patch, it is useful to read these.

Costessey House Private Estate is basically an area of woodland and meadows surrounding the cottage which my mother stays in just outside Norwich between the suburbs of Costessey and Drayton. It is privately owned area but residents and anyone visiting them have access to the estate whilst they’re staying, thus meaning I have access when I stay with my mother and that there is very minimal disturbance as no-one else is around. The habitat is varied and has already proved to hold a diverse range of species, hence why this winter I deemed it as an occasional local patch. I plan to visit at least 5 times a year for around a week or more a time; the next time being in a couple of weeks. I have recorded 39 species so far in 6 visits. This post chronicles my three winter ramblings around the site when I was down over the New Year. To give you a taster of what it looks like here is Mill Meadow.

Mill Meadow, taken in October 2011

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29th December 2011: This was the day I officialy deemed the area as my occasional local patch, and it proved to be quite productive. I devised a route round the patch which would take roughly 45 minutes, which is as follows (see Costessey House Private Estate to view glossary of different areas of the patch):

• Walk up Mill Lane from the cottage, checking Mill Field and Mill Meadow in the process.
• As Mill Lane veers right continue straight over the stile and proceed round Fishermen’s Trail until you reach a style near a bridge at the top.
• Take this and walk across Fishermen’s Field back to the stile used to cross onto Fisherman’s Trail
• Walk up Mill Lane, taking you through Drayton Woods before emerging into Drayton Meadows.
• Walk alongside the river at Drayton Meadows until gate stops you from going any further.

On first impressions, not much was in Mill Meadow or Mill Field. 15 Redwings flew east over Fishermen’s Field, shortly followed by 3 Fieldfares. The former appear to be quite regular winter visitors, seen on each occasion I went out that visit. A 2cy Common Gull was also sat here, a species that can be seen in small numbers each visit. As I walked along Mill Lane through Drayton Woods, a flurry of activity took place. Two Roe Deers bounded their way along the path before disappearing, two pairs of Pheasants gave me a bolt from the blue as they exploded out of the undergrowth, as did a number of the regular Jays. A stunning male Bullfinch showed well in a bush here, my first at the site. As I continued onto Drayton Meadows I was surprised and delighted to come across the two Egpytian Geese I thought were flyovers during my visit last October. They showed well by the River Wensum with the regular flock of Black-headed Gulls and were watched for some time. To discover that these Egyptian Geese were resident to the area was fantastic and undoubted highlight of the check; it will be interesting to see if they breed in the future. As I progressed up the meadows I caught up with one of the Grey Herons, the Mute Swan family (2 adults and 5 reasonably well developed cygnets) and 3 Moorhens on the Wensum. On the way back to the cottage I had a male Kestrel over Drayton Woods and a fine flock of 4 female Bullfinches in the tree tops at the start of Mill Lane by the cottage. This was an ideal first day and provided the inspiriation for me to make this my patch.

1st January 2012: I kick started my year by doing the same route round the patch. The Egyptian Geese pair were on Mill Field alongside the Mute Swan family, all roosting together. As I progressed on to Fishermen’s Trail a party of 6 Long-tailed Tits were scuttling around in the silver birches by the Wensum, a pleasant surprise and my first for the site. Once again a couple of juvvy Common Gulls were on Fishermen’s Field, and a 3 Redwings flew west over. One of the Grey Herons was flushed from Mill Meadow, rising high in lumbering flight above Drayton Woods before dipping out of view. 4 Moorhens were spread out across the Wensum along Drayton Meadows. The highlight of the day was a Cormorant in flight high above Drayton Meadows. It certainly contemplated landing, but decided the terrain wasn’t good enough and headed back in the southerly direction it had come from. This was an unusual sighting as there aren’t many areas of freshwater in the area; however with Costessey Pits and other areas of water being close by it was probably a bird from one of these areas. It will be interesting to see if I see Cormorant again here or if they will become a patch rare. I ended the session having seen 27 species, with 2 patch ticks.

3rd January 2012: The 3rd January probably hosted my best bird at Costessey House Private Estate so far. Much the same lot of birds were around from previous visits. The Egyptian Geese were alone on Mill Field, the Mute Swan family and 2 Moorhens were along the Wensum at Drayton Meadows, an adult Common Gull was with Black-headed Gulls on Fisherman’s Field, a couple of Redwings were in the bushes along Mill Lane. A female Bullfinch was also along Mill Lane. The first bird of real interest was a female Sparrowhawk being mobbed by Rooks above Drayton Woods, my second at the site. This was shortly followed by a Snipe flushed from an area of boggy vegetation at Drayton Meadows, which proceeded to rocket into the sky and fly rapidly away from the area. This Snipe represents my first wader species at the site; whilst the habitat at Drayton Meadows looks good it is likely that this will be a scarce species at the site, as with all waders.

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Overall, these few checks have given me great faith in the site and I am very much looking forward to patching it again in the next couple of weeks. As spring approaches the chances of my first warblers on the patch are high and hopefully a number of other species. High on my want list is a Barn Owl that my mum tells me is frequent and very obliging. When I am down there, expect regular updates from my ramblings around this new and promising patch of mine.

Thanks for reading,

Joseph

Birding The Aberdeen Area

Last Saturday (17th) saw me birding closer to home than usual. Often I spend most of the day birding Northern Aberdeenshire. For a change, I birded a number of sites within the vicinity of Aberdeen before checking the Ythan Estuary, the latter which is no more than 10 miles north of the city.

I started the day at Girdle Ness. It was a gorgeously sunny day, so I made the most of this by walking along the North Bank as far as Greyhope Bay. It was very quiet, the best I could muster being a single Dunlin feeding on the second breakwater with Redshanks and a female Red-breasted Merganser near the largest breakwater. The Eider congregation by Skate’s Nose (first breakwater) numbered over 45 birds. I was semi-hoping for the first early migs of the year, perhaps a Wheatear or a Sand Martin, but my hopes were not fulfilled. The rest of the Ness was similarly quiet, although there was a substantial congregation of Guillemots and Razorbills off Greyhope Bay and a pair of Red-breasted Merganser in Nigg Bay.

I made the transition from the south to the north side of Aberdeen, stopping off to have a check of Donmouth at Bridge of Don as the tide receded. I did not walk up to the sea, instead scoping the close shore towards the Bridge of Don itself. This was relatively productive, holding a possy of 20 Teals, 15+ Dunlin, and an adult Lesser Black Backed Gull. The most surprising bird here though was a winter plumaged Sandwich Tern, roosting amongst a group of Oystercatchers. This is by far the earliest date I’ve seen this species in the region, and with it being so early it was delightful to see. I assume this record relates to a bird which was first seen at Girdle Ness on 8th March. It was then seen the next day after my Donmouth sighting back at Girdle Ness, so it is clearly quite a mobile bird.

Sandwich Tern, Donmouth (17/3/12)

Blackdog was our next stop to catch up with the Scoter flock. The flock in question numbered roughly 50 Common Scoters, but no Velvet Scoters. Providing further entertainment were a pair of Wigeon with Eiders, 2 Red-throated Divers and a smart Great Northern Diver, the latter quite regular in the region at this time of year.

The majority of the afternoon was spent comprehensively checking the Ythan Estuary, which was largely quiet but held a few items of interest. A healthy number of 30+ Bar-tailed Godwit were present on the upper reaches of the estuary towards Logie Buchan bridge, as were similar numbers of Dunlin. An astonishing number of Pink-footed Geese were around, both in the fields by the estuary and further inland; there was at least a few thousand spread out across the area. Amongst the flocks closer to the estuary were at least 25 Barnacle Geese, but no visible signs of any Beans or Whitefronts. A degree of success was had later in this respect when 2 European White-fronted Geese were picked out in a large flock by the road near Meikle Loch. Meikle Loch itself was quiet, as was Collieston although it was nice to see the Kittiwakes back on the cliffs. Finally, we checked from the Snub car park where the highlight of the day was swimming about in the form a redhead Smew. It was with a group of Goldeneye and was diving almost constantly, making a digiscoped photo too difficult to get. Nonetheless it was a lovely bird to see and a valuable Ythan Estuary tick; its hard not to get a kick out of these superb sawbills.

So all in all, a nice day’s birding relatively locally despite it being largely quiet. On other bird news, I have continually been seeing T:224, the colour ringed male Herring Gull, at school during break and lunch times; he seems to be a regular.

Thanks for reading,

Joseph