First Green Sands of the Autumn

Autumn here already ? What happened to Summer ? The former heralded by 3 Green Sands at Baron's Haugh this afternoon.

Green Sand

Also 9 Snipe and 150-200 Lapwings. A good selection of ducks including Shoveler & Gadwall.

Grey Heron - In front of the Marsh Hide

Tenerife..........Hot, Hot Hot!!!!!!

Just back from Tenerife where we enjoyed an 'all inclusive' deal, staying in the Playa Olid Hotel for 11 nights in Costa Adeje on the Southern side of the island. After our disasterous 'Summer' in Scotland it was good to see the sun. However, temperatures in excess of 30 degrees made moving around a bit of a chore.

The beach at Costa Adeje

We had decided that it was going to be a chill out holiday and as such car hire was not envisaged and from a birding point of view this was limiting. On reflection I wish I had hired. Car hire for 3 days would have cost around 120 euros and we would have seen far more of the island and possibly some of the endemics such as Blue Chaffinch.

As for all inclusive I had visions of bulking up on chicken nuggets and diluting juice. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The food range was excellent and the quality overall was good. My only grumble was that the eating environment was somewhat akin to a canteen. We could easily have been in the refectory at Hairmyres Hospital as opposed to a hotel.

The room itself was good although at times a smell of sewage from the bathroom was a little disconcerting. With no air conditioning sleeping at night was a bit of a trial. The morning ritual of sunbed bagging showed how sad some people can be. I cannot believe that you would ever resort to queueing for a sunbed but that is what I witnessed every morning prior to breakfast.



View from the balcony at dusk



Bird life around the hotel was somewhat limited but included small parties of Plain Swifts, frequent Kestrels, lots of Collared Dove, Spanish Sparrow and a Peregrine on one occasion. Canary Islands Chiffchaff were also present. Calling frequently but quite frustrating to see as they kept low in shrubbery most of the time.

Canary Islands Chiff



Kestrel - Very Common on Tenerife

Kestrel Prey

One of the closest birding spots that I had read about prior to going was Costa Adeje Golf Course.
This site provided me with at least 2 Southern Grey Shrikes, 4 Barbary Partridge and Berthelot's Pipit.



Berthelot's Pipit

Costa Adeje at night is busy with many bars and restaurants. The harbour area is especially bustling but allowed some experimentation with slow shutter speeds with interesting effects:

 The harbour is also the leaving point for some of the whale and dolphin cruises that are advertised. 18 euros for a 2 hour cruise on which both Bottlenose Dolphins and Pilot Whales are guaranteed. Being a committed eco tourist I felt compelled and went armed with my big lens. Both species showed well. However, photographing Cetaceans from a small moving boat proved well beyond me. Cory's Shearwaters were a bit easier:

Cory's - up to 20 birds seen in 2 hours

Bottlenose Dolphins - from a 'big' boat off Mallaig

Other birds of interest seen on the trip included several Canaries, Sardinian Warbler and Canary Island Blue Tit.

Canary Islands Blue Tit

Lack of Enthusiasm

I find July very boring and find it difficult to motivate myself for any birding at all. Indeed I hadn't been out in over a month !

However, I finally dragged myself out to Baron's Haugh this afternoon. It was as I expected quite quiet, but at least it was good to at least see something rather than sitting in the house.

Best was Kingfisher, seen on 2 occasions and possibly up to 5 Common Sands. Lapwing flock building with at least 30 birds present.

Common Sand

Male Sparrowhawk in Garden

Looked out of the window this morning to see this immediately below the birdtable:

Male Sparrowhawk plucking a House Sparrow 

The Small Isles

Back in the 1980's I spent 2 nights with the Glasgow RSPB on Rum in the Inner Hebrides. The weather was absolutely superb, and ever since then I have been promising to do what is adversed by Cal Mac as "The Small Isles Cruise" which is basically a 7 hour non landing cruise round Eigg, Muck, Canna & Rum.

So nearly 30 years on, I finally got round to doing it. I had been telling the family for years that it was good. The trip is however, very much 'weather dependent' and as such I had been watching the forecast since last Sunday. Despite a developing low in the South of Scotland, Mallaig would be dry and as such we were good to go. We left Glasgow in the pissing rain on Saturday morning & by the time we got to Fort William it was dry still pissing! However, once we started to head West towards Mallaig, the skies started to clear and by the time we got to Mallaig at 1pm it was dry.

We dropped our bags at the pre booked B&B and after a sandwich we headed for the boat. Soon we were seeing rafts of Manx Shearwater and Guillemots, Razorbills and the odd Puffin. A Bonxie was also noted:

Manx Shearwater

Bonxie

First stop was Eigg and then onwards to Muck where the Veery was last year:

Muck

Black Guillemot

Onwards past Rum I was increasingly scanning for Eagles and we were rewarded with a single Golden Eagle over Canna:

The harbour at Canna

Church on Canna

Bottlenosed Dolphins also put in an appearance:

You never know when they will surface so despite them being close to the boat getting images isn't easy!

Heading for Rum there were increasing numbers of Manxies:

Manxies

As we turned towards the landing site on Rum, I got my eye on a male Hen Harrier coming across the hillside. 

Kinloch Castle, where I had stayed in the 1980's:

My digs were in the Hostel round the back

The 7 hours had passed all too quickly and the ferry was soon back in Mallaig. We had prebooked evening meal in the Cornerstones Fish Restaurant in Mallaig from where we caught a brief glimpse of 2 Otters 'playing' in the harbour.   

 

Ullapool Weekend

In a quest to add to my year list and in particular to fill a large seabird gap, my initial plan was to take in the Isle of May. However, the boat was full and therefore a change of plan was required. With Patricia & the girls at Jamfest in Liverpool all weekend I had an opportunity for a night away myself and so a trip to Handa was decided.

 Out of the house at 03:45, I reached Tarbet by 09:45. The small ferry is advertised as starting at 10:00 but its willingness to sail is apparently often dependent on it being full.  However, despite there only being 3 passengers at that hour in the morning it nonetheless departed.

Common Gull in Tarbet Harbour

I spent about 5 hours on the island and got all the seabirds including a few Puffins. Skuas are a major feature, with Bonxies in particular never far away. Some images:

Arctic Skua

Bonxie

Fulmar

Kittiewake

Oystercatcher & Sea Pink

Razorbill

Wheatear

Wheatear Juv

Other notables included Arctic Tern & Common Sandpiper. The journey back on the boat also produced 2 Black Guillemots.

I cannot remember the last time I saw a Golden Eagle, but I estimate it was back in the 1980's. Back on the mainland however, conditions looked quite good for soaring raptors and indeed nearing Ullapool I caught sight of a large raptor from the car. Fortunately, the road was quiet and I was able to stop and scope a cracking adult Golden Eagle.

After finding a B&B in Ullapool, I tried before dinner for Sea Eagle on Gruinard Island. Unfortunately, I was looking into the light and there was no sign. There would however, be another opportunity tomorrow.

After breakfast I was back at Gruinard for before 10, but in 2 hours there was absolutely no sign of Sea Eagle. Up to 10 Great Nothern & 2 Red Throated Divers in Gruinard Bay was of some compensation. At least 4 Red Kite over the Black Isle on the way home was also notable.

Nuthatch

Spent some time in the Dalziel Estate in Motherwell on Thursday morning attempting to add Nuthatch to my year list. It took me well over an hour to locate any but eventually I had at least 2 calling birds in Addersgill Wood.

Also spent some time in the Marsh Hide at Barons Haugh. C10 Lapwings, 2 Shoveler and calling Water Rail were notable.