Aberdeen Uni Run - Teeside Brown Booby

All too quickly summer was over and our younger daughter was off to university once more after a few years of living and working from home. After the trip up to Aberdeen in the summer to check things out, now it was time for the real thing. So it was that on Thursday morning we set off once more for Scotland. It turns out that Aberdeen University is actually the northernmost university in the UK and it certainly felt like it on the long slog north. Having last time stopped over in Stirling, this time we decided to stop off in Perth in a basic but functional Air BnB. After dinner in a local restaurant we had a wander around the town. The main point of interest is the River Tay and the main bridge which is lit up at night. By way of some background, historically, Perth is known as a location where the river could easily be forded on foot and the town grew up around this area. It is also close to Scone Abbey where the king of Scotland was traditionally crowned so it was also known as the capital of the country for a while.

Perth Bridge at dusk with its coloured lights

The next morning we set off in for the last leg of the journey up to Aberdeen. It was rather foggy to start with though this soon burnt off. It was about an hour and three quarters to the city. After last time when we had got stuck in a traffic jam at the southern end, we elected to take the bypass around to the northern side where the university was located. Once at the university, the drop off turned out to be far quicker than I had been expecting so after picking up the keys, then driving to her halls of residence, unloading the car and saying our farewells, it was only just after 11 am. Now, finally, it was time to think about some birding!

I had been following what was around quite closely on the week leading up to our trip. The Stejneger's Scoter had been lingering around at Musselburgh for several weeks but with a few days to go before the trip suddenly it stopped being reported. However, there was consolation in the form of not one but two Brown Boobies in the offing. The first was an adult bird that lingered at the Humanby Gap in Yorkshire coast for a day before being tracked northward along the coast The second was an elusive juvenile that was seen in the Firth of Forth on both sides of the river though seemed to be very hard to see and always distant. Neither seemed very easy in the days leading up to our departure. However, the Yorkshire Booby started being reported regularly in the Tees estuary in the Teeside area on the Thursday as we drove northwards, Would it settle down and remain there? To add to the mix an Icterine Warbler had been reported just half an hour north of Aberdeen the previous evening in a small hamlet near the coast. I pondered all this information after having completed the Uni drop-off. What to go for?

In the end I decided not to bother with the Icterine Warbler which turned out to be a wise decision as it was not reported again after the initial sighting. Instead I decided to head south and to see what came up on RBA as I neared the Firth of Forth area. If the Stejneger's or the Scottish Booby should come up then I would try for them. Otherwise I would push onwards for the Teeside one. The Sat Nav was saying that it would be a punishing five and a half hours down to South Gare from Aberdeen which would be a huge slog! There was also another factor to be considered. My eldest daughter was now living in Newcastle and I had promised to drop off some items of furniture for her new house. If I were really keen I could push on to South Gare and then head back up to hers though that would add even more time to the journey. What's more, there was one final factor to consider, namely the weather. After initial reports of the Brown Booby at South Gare first thing, it turned out that thick fog was hampering viewing so it wasn't possible to see it at all. I weighed up all these things as I drove southwards. What to do?

There was nothing locally on RBA by the time I reached the Firth of Forth area so by default I headed on southwards. Apparently the fog was continuing to make viewing impossible at Teeside and as I drove along the Northumberland coast I could see that there was a thick layer of heavy fog sitting on the sea itself though it stopped abruptly at the cliff top where the road was. What's more, I was starting to feel very tired after two solid days of driving so rather than push on to Teeside I decided just to head to Newcastle for the night. Hopefully the Booby would stay for one more day and the weather would be better tomorrow. I arrived late afternoon, exhausted from so much driving. We had a good catch-up, a nice walk around the local area and a tasty take away dinner. After all that I felt much better and fell asleep quickly that night.

My plan was to head off when I woke up to be on site reasonably early "on news". The previous day, viewing had been OK first thing but had got difficult mid morning due to the fog. By heading off quickly I hoped that I would make this viewing window should fog still be a factor. In the end I awoke to "still present" news with no mention of fog at all. I got up and was out the door by about 7am, hurrying southwards towards South Gare along roads that were familiar from previous visits to the North East. News continued to be come in of the bird being present en route to encourage me, though I couldn't help but feel somewhat nervous. After all this driving and having to follow the news from afar, would I finally get my reward? 

I needn't have worried! I parked up along the very busy road leading up to the lighthouse and joined various other birders hurrying towards the end of lighthouse. We soon came across the obvious "twitch arena" with a large crown assembled some fifty yards away. Suddenly someone next to me called out "it's on the Red Buoy 5 right there!" and sure enough there it was, on top of the nearest buoy right opposite where I was standing about 370 metres away (I measured it on Google maps!). It was as easy as that! 

 

In the end, the bird was on show constantly though often rather mobile. In between sitting on buoys it would fly around and often land on the sea to join in the feeding frenzy along with the Guillemots, Razorbills and Cormorants when a small shoal of fish would come to the surface. There were large numbers of Herring Gulls hanging around which would try to get in on the action though it seemed the fish were too deep for them so they would fight for scraps and seemed particularly aggressive towards the Booby, often chasing it too and fro. The Booby didn't seem to mind too much and would just fly off somewhere else. It often roamed all the way up to buoy 12 which was right in the distance (about 2km away) though it usually returned to the buoy right opposite us in the end.

 

The Brown Booby is a member of the Sulidae family  of Gannets and Boobies of which it is the commonest member. It has a pan tropical range where it live gregariously and hunts by plunge diving for fish in the manner I was seeing. They apparently only roost on solid objects rather than on the sea which I guess was why it liked the buoys so much.

The nominate "Atlantic" Brown Booby (pink area) is normally found in the southern hemisphere

After a while some of the local fisherman cottoned on to the idea of making some extra cash by offering boat rides for photographers to get closer to the Booby. We watched as these boats would take a few at a time to a much closer distance. To my mind the distance wasn't too bad though later photos on the internet seemed to suggest that they got a lot closer as the day progressed. The Booby didn't seem in any way phased by this and sat there happily on its buoy as the boat got nearer. Sometimes a boat went out when the Booby was right down the far end so some photographers would have paid their money but not got to see the bird up close at all.

Just some of the many Teeside Twitchers

 

There was not much else of note: a fly-over Red-throated Diver was notable and a few Meadow Pipits were knocking around where we were. One of the locals spotted a distant Eider on the far shore and also an Arctic Skua that I never got onto. There was a Whimbrel and a few Redshank knocking about but that was about it. Eventually I decided that I'd had enough and started to amble back towards the car. I stopped and peered in the various nooks and crannies along the way. I really like this area with it its run down feel and little harbours though it's a million miles from the wildness of the Cornish coastline that I know so well. Back in the car, I started to head off, stopping briefly at the last viewing point to chat with a birder who was scoping out the sand bar there. A flock of Barwits and a few other bits and pieces was all that was on offer. There was no more putting it off, it was time to head off home to Oxford.

A view of the Tees Estuary

 

There was one more factor to consider. As I'd been heading down towards South Gare that morning, news had broken back in Oxon of a Pallid Harrier that had been seen on Otmoor. This was a real county Mega and very gripping! What's more it was twitchable as, after it was first found, it was seen up until 10:30am that morning. Now it was long four and a half hours back to Oxford from where I was. "I suppose I'd better go and have a look for it" I thought. As the day and my journey home progressed there was no further news of it. Whats more, as I headed south the weather got progressively hotter and hotter. It had been a really pleasant temperature at South Gare but it was a humid 30 degrees by the time I arrived back in the county. I certainly did not fancy standing around on Otmoor in that heat so that rather than heading straight to Otmoor I went home instead for a well earned nap. This turned out to be a wise decision as the bird wasn't seen again that day. The next day I did make the effort to get out to Otmoor early doors but without success. One that got away clearly though I had my "booby prize" to console me. I will remember this trip not for missing the Harrier but for the success of connecting with the amazing Brown Booby at Teeside.