A Pleasant Late Autumn Afternoon

On what was a very bright and dry early winter day, I took the new DSLR up to Cathkin to attempt some shots of the woodland. I am slowly beginning to learn about some of the camera's functionality and am keen to put some of it into practice. I have been learning that the camera has several focus points and if you don't tell it where you want it to focus it is likely to pick the nearest point. I also learned a bit about exposure lock, that basically means taking an exposure reading from a small area of the scene, locking it, recomposing the scene without the camera being able to adjust its exposure again. Basically, I am on a very steep learning curve !



 Whilst blundering about with the camera a Crossbill flew over calling.

Also today at least 2 Fieldfare and only 1 Snipe seen at the marsh. I still need Jack Snipe for the year. should get it between now and 31 December.

Nice Day for Photography.............. Shame about the Photographer.

Some images from a beautiful day at Caerlaverock:

Splendid Pallid Harrier in Ayrshire

Successfully twitched a splendid juvenile Pallid Harrier at Garnock Floods near Irvine this afternoon !

I had initially missed it just before 10am and had to wait over 2 hours for it to show again. It was relocated initially perched on a fence in the old munitions site just north of Bogside. On reaching for the camera I found that the battery was completely dead, I had omitted to charge it after Scilly believing there still to be plenty of juice. Obviously not ! In any event it flew off almost immediately and I doubt I would have got anything even if the battery had not been flat.

Anyway my overall impression of the bird was that it was very slim with warm brown tones to the underparts and a very obvious contrasting neck collar. Its flight was light and easy, very akin to what I remember from Monty's Harrier and completely different from Hen that is an altogether much bigger bird.

Whilst waiting for the Harrier to reappear, I had my first Fieldfares of the Autumn, 3 Sparrowhawks and c6 Crossbill.

Photo Review of Scilly 2011

Black Redstart

Bluethroat

Bluethroat







Lesser Yellowlegs

 

Northern Waterthrush

Northern Waterthrush

Pec Sand

Red Throated Pipit

Rose Coloured Starling

Sub-Alpine Warbler

Upland Sand

Wilson's Snipe

The Final Day

The boat was not until 4:30 pm and as such there was plenty of time to continue birding.

A Radde's Warbler had been found in the Pine Walk but was not rediscovered again. Whilst supposedly looking for the Radde's my attention was drawn to a Brent Goose viewable in the Roads along with 2 Shelduck and a Spoonbill.

A crowd had gathered by the football pitch where the female Sub-alpine Warbler was showing very well off and on:

View over St Mary's Harbour from the Garrison on the last morning:

1st Winter Med Gull, at least 6 Bonxies and a Minke Whale from the Scillonian were all notable.







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Bluethroat Day

The day dawned foggy again with continuing Easterly winds. On the Western side of the Garrison a Ring Ouzel "chacked" over head and dropped into the Woolpack Battery. A Black Redstart had also taken up residence in the Battery this one having a particular fondness for a window in one of the turrets:

Black Redstart

2 Turtle Doves were in the Pine Walk and a brief Yellow Browed Warbler was in a Sycamore near the football pitch.

My first Skylark of the week was over the Garrison whilst viewing the Spoonbill distantly on Sampson Flats. Another Black Redstart was at Star Castle:

Black Redstart

After a refuel at the Deli where I can recommend the cappuccino and scones I headed towards Porthellick seeing nothing until another brief Yellow Browed on the Loop Trail. On Porthellick beach the Bluethroat was showing very well:

I spent some time in the Seaward hide hoping for some shots of Water Rail but none ventured close enough. 2 Greenshanks and a Raven were also notable.

Later in the afternoon another Yellow Browed showed a bit better in Carig Dhu gardens.

A Change in the Weather

After a run of South Westerlies, the change to South Easterly winds today accompanied by fog obviously had the effect of bringing in more birds.

On the Garrision there were lots of Pipits, far more than there had been in previous days. There also appeared to be more Chiffchaff and I saw my first Blackcap of the trip. Best however, was the female Sub-alpine Warbler in the Pine Walk. This bird has been around for at least 10 days but had become very elusive over recent days. It was to show incredibly well later in the week.

A Spider's Web on a Foggy Morning on The Garrison



By lunchtime the fog had reduced visibility to less than 100 yards at times but had cleared a bit by the time I entered the ISBG hide on Lower Moors. My timing was absolutely perfect and coincided with a reappearance of the Waterthrush. It is just a pity about the fog spoiling the pictures :

You can clearly see the ring on this one

Water Rails continued to show very well here and at the Shooters Pool. A large Brown Rat also showed well at the latter site, clambering around in the trees ! Another Blackcap and a Garden Warbler provided more evidence of passage migrants.

I also heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a scare bird on Scilly, from trees close to Shooters Pool.