Little Buntings & American Wader Fest

Sunday 10 th October dawned with bright sunshine and a much reduced easterly wind.

After breakfast I went over towards Porthloo. 4 Wheatears were recorded including a good candidate for Greenland. A Whimbrel was seen as well as Oystercatcher and Turnstone.



Oystercatcher on Porthloo Beach




















No sign of the Dotterel on the golf course, apparently relocated to the airfield.

A Whinchat was present at Telegraph and round towards the riding stables male Blackcap, 3+ Redwings and a further 2 Wheatear.

My 1st Redstart of the year was at Normandy and it or another one was perched on bean poles at Carn Friars Farm. Little Buntings are often present in October on Scilly and often at Carn Friars but are usually buggers to see. So on news of up to 3 I was pleasantly suprised to find at least 2 "showing extremely well" in the fields adjacient to the farm.

Little Bunting (1 of 3 present) keeping low in the grass

Onward to the airfield for American Golden Plover, Buff Breasted Sand & Short Toed Lark. Again I was pleasantly supprised to find the first two very close to the windsock although the latter was across the other side of the runway. The Dotterel was back on the golf course !

American Golden Plover

American Golden Plover

American Golden Plover

American Golden Plover & Buff Breasted Sand

Buff Breasted Sand

European Golden Plover (outnumbered by the Yanks !)

There was also at least 2 Wheatears on the airfield:

Northern Wheatear

Northern Wheatear

By late afternoon, the light was still excellent and a RB Fly showed briefly in Old Town Churchyard. The light was slightly against at Lower Moors but a Jack Snipe was seen along with a Common Snipe and a Greenshank

Common Snipe

Common Snipe

Common Snipe

Greenshank in evening light at Lower Moors

Jack Snipe

Western Black Eared Wheatear

Saturday the 9 th of October dawned with a strong easterly wind, low cloud and a very obvious sea swell. I dropped off my bag at the quay and wandered along the promenade to have a look at the Jubilee Pool. There were about 15 Turnstone but no Purple Sands.



Penzance sea front with the sea crashing against the sea wall



























The Scillonian set sail at 10:45 am with the captain describing sea conditions as "moderate to rough". However, the fact that the wind was behind the ship meant that it was not nearly as bumpy as I had expected and it was perfectly okay to remain on the deck.

Birds during the crossing included at least 3 Bonxie, 1 Manx Shearwater and Kittiwake, Gannet & Guillemot.

Mega alert on the pager notified of a Western Black Eared Wheatear on St Mary's and as the ferry passed the Garrison there were a number of birders already enjoying the bird.

The ferry docked at around 2pm and it was a quick drop off of the bags and a race round to the Garrison for another UK lifer. The grassy cliff edge made it difficult to get the tripod stable and the poor light and wind made photopgraphy awkward. But here are some attempts:

Female Western Black Eared Wheatear

Female Western Black Eared Wheatear 

Female Western Black Eared Wheatear

An obviously small sandy brown Wheatear with a narrow black terminal tail bar and much white on the rest of the tail .

Scilly Season

It was time once again for my now annual birding trip to Scillies. After a relatively poor year in 2009 hopes were high for a more fruitful trip this time.

I dropped Rachel at school at 9am on the 8th of October and headed south.

As last year I stopped off at Martin Mere in Lancashire. Aside from the several thousand Pink Feet that had arrived and a female Marsh Harrire it was fairly quiet.




Female Pintail

 



Female Shoveler

 




Teal

  





Female Pintail

   



















I left Lancashire in the late afternoon and headed south again reaching Penzance by about 1am. The wind was strong Easterly and made for a potentially interesting crossing on the Scillonian the next day.

1st Redwing of the Autumn & Wildfowl Numbers Start to Build at Hogganfield

My 1st Redwing of the Autumn was over Cambuslang on Saturday 2nd October. A sure sign that we are moving closer to long dark winter days.

I went to Hogganfield on the afternoon of Sunday 3rd October. A single Swallow was a reminder of Summer but overall the emphasis is now very much on Autumn and the first signs of wildfowl moving in for the winter.

There were 2 Wigeon present, a female and what was probably a young male. Gadwall numbers were now 23+, there were also 20+ Goosander (all females) present. Little Grebe numbers were at least double figures. A single drake Ruddy Duck remained.

Some images from today:

Female Wigeon

Juvenile Great Crested Grebe

1st Winter Drake Tufted Duck

1st Winter Black Headed Gull

Well Chuffed on Islay

Iain & Liz were on Islay for a fortnight & very kindly invited me over for 3 days to stay in their cottage at Port Charlotte & chauffeur me around.

I left Glasgow at 3:30 am on Friday 24 th September to catch the 7am ferry from Kennacraig to Port Ellen. After a very welcome full Scottish breakfast in the ferry's cafeteria I went out on deck for some birding and to take in the scenery:

Just left Kennacraig



Paps of Jura in early morning light



Mid Channel

C 15 Manx Shearwater were seen, together with 3 Black Guillemot, several Common Guillemot and Kittiwake & Gannet.

Arriving at Port Ellen at 9:15 am:



Port Ellen



























Iain was there to meet me and we headed over to Port Charlotte for some coffee and to drop off my bags. On the way we stopped at Garloist at the head of Loch Indall and scanned the bay. 6-7 Bar Tailed Godwit, C7 Pintail and a large flock of Wigeon were noteable.

After coffee we headed to the fields just above the village to where the Buff Breasted Sand had been for a couple of days earlier in the week. It appeared to have gone. A Sparrowhawk was little compensation.

We moved round to the shore at Bruichladdich that is often a good site for waders. There was little of interest apart from 2 Red Throated Diver in the bay.



Ringed Plover at Bruichladdich

We stopped briefly at Loch Gruinart to see if anything was new in on the island. There were C10 Twite in trees close to the centre.

On the way to The Mull of Oa we had a brilliant view of a male Hen Harrier at Glen Machrie as it quartered the rough grassland close to the car. The Oa was quite windly but a stubble field close to the car park held upwards of 100 Twite and Linnet and the occasional Greenfinch.

Twite

Stonechat



Stonechat





















Close to the Mull we scanned the ridges for Golden Eagle but none were seen. There were several Hooded Crows, Ravens and Kestels present and we had another splendid view of a Hen Harrier, this time a female. Back near the car park we had up to 2 Merlins hunting the large Twite/Linnet flock.

A Golden Plover showed well by the roadside going down towards Lower Killleyan and at that location we had 2 Chough and another female Hen Harrier and several wild goats.

Heading over to Ardnave via Gruinart we had yet another female Hen Harrier and at Ardnave we had 5 Tufted Duck, Mute Swan and a single Yellowhammer.

The light was fading by the time we stopped at Bruichladdich again to check the waders that included both Turnstone and Dunlin.

It had been a very enjoyable 1st day and we retired to the Port Charlotte Hotel for a meal and a few drinks.

Saturday the 25th dawned with much more cloud and it was quite cold in a brisk northerly wind. After breakfast we did the South West corner of the island in the hope of connecting with Crossbill near Octofad but drew a blank. On the way we had descent views of 2 Chough feeding on the ground near Kilchiaran and yet another female Hen Harrier.

A brief stop at Frenchman's Rocks produced C30 Manx Shearwater. By lunchtime we headed up towards Sanaigmore where we connected with 2 Peregrines and 2 Sparrowhawk. In addition one of the small lochs held 4 Greenland Whitefronts with a flock of Greylags and 3 Snipe.After lunch we explored the South East end of the island and stopped at the Ardbeg Distillery that is a good Otter site but we were out of luck.



Pied Wagtail on the roof of Ardbeg Distillery
























Up towards Ardtalla we again dipped on Otter at another reliable site but we did connect with Red Deer and Grey Seal:



Red Deer Hinds




Loafing Grey Seal





















We had hoped for some divers off the East coast but there were none and we had to be content with 2 Black Guillemots and several Red Breasted Merganser. On the way back to Port Charlotte we had a Grey Plover at Loch Indall.

It had been another good day. Our Hen Harrier total had now reached 8 including 6 females.

The final morning (Sunday 26th) was bright and sunny and much warmer than the previous day. We decided to do the Oa again in the hope of connecting with Golden Eagle. Despite spending over an hour scanning the headland we were not to be rewarded. A further 2 Choughs were seen and heard. We headed in the direction of Port Ascaig for the ferry and stopped at a small fishing loch on the way. A drake Scaup was good as well as 7 Tufted Duck and 6 Little Grebe. There was also both Siskin & Redpoll present.

To end up we walked up the River Sorn and connected with Dipper.

The ferry left Port Ascaig at 3:30 pm. There was no sign of the reported White Tailed Eagle on the shoreline south of Port Ascaig and I had a possible Eagle over Jura but it was far too distant to be sure.

All in all it had been a very enjoyable few days birding in good company.

Hogganfield Again

A short visit fitted in around shopping on a dull drizzly morning.

Little had changed from yesterday, the Black Tern has definitely gone.

2 Teal were on the island, at least 4 Gadwall were present and the 3 drake Ruddy Ducks remained.

Drake Ruddy Duck

Hogganfield Black Tern Gone

Had a notion to have a look at Gadloch near Lenzie from the point of view of would it be worth keeping a check on by visiting on a regular basis ?

Have to say it is a resounding no ! At the end nearest Bishopbriggs, the access is poor and it had the appearance of some kind of a private fishing loch where 'intruders' would not be welcome. At the end nearest Lenzie the access appeared to be non existent. So I'll keep an eye on Hogganfield instead.

The juvenile Black Tern appears to have gone (it was reported yesterday). Both Great Crested & Little Grebes showed well:

Great Crested Grebe

Little Grebe (Summer plumage)



Little Grebe (Acquiring Winter Plumage)





















Still both Swallow & House Martin around in small numbers.

A few Gadwall around at the top end and c40 Tufted loafing near the car park.

Drake Ruddy Duck (3 drakes today)

Female Goosander