Oxfordshire seems to be on good form at the moment. After my two recent local sorties in my previous post, I now have a couple more to describe. The first is a long-staying first winter male Black Redstart that has been hanging out on the southern face of Christ Church College overlooking Christ Church Meadows. This site has hosted several previous Black Redstart so it wasn't a great surprise to hear that one had again taken up residence. However, rather than the usual female type, this one was a very smart first winter male so I made a mental note to try to pay a visit.
A stunning photo of the stunning 1w male Black Redstart courtesy of Thomas Miller
The general consensus was that early mornings were the best for seeing this bird. Despite this, Wednesday of last week I had an early afternoon meeting in the centre of town so I thought I would go on to try for the bird. It was a very gloomy afternoon where the light was so poor that it was hard to see anything. Myself and a young couple put in an hour or so of watching to be rewarded with some very brief views of a bird that was behaving in the right way as it briefly fed on the creeper that clung to the college wall. I only saw it face on and it didn't have the striking black face mask of the target bird and I hadn't seen it well enough to see it's tail. On the views I had had, I couldn't rule out a Dunnock so I left disappointed.
That same Friday, after several days of gloom, it was finally forecast to be bright and sunny so I thought I would get up early and have another attempt. I was on site at 8:25am where, in the company of DL, we spotted the bird leaving its roost in some trees just by the college wheelie bins, before, to our surprise it flew off across the path and disappeared on the flooded grass of the Meadow. Hmmm, that had not been what we were expecting. DL and AF (who had joined us) elected to walk down the path to try and find it while I decided to stay at the college facade and the bins. The others eventually returned with no luck and a few other people turned up. Before too long the bird was back, showing rather distantly on the side of the college and also in the large tree in the college garden. It then moved to the roof top where I was finally able to get a photo.
A rather distant photo of it perched on the roof of the college
I kept watching the college facade as the bird appeared from time to time. On one such occasion I noticed that it wasn't the usual male on the side of the wall but instead a female type. So there were now two birds! In hindsight, what I'd seen a couple of days ago and had dismissed as a Dunnock was probably this second, more infrequently seen bird. I hung around for a while longer enjoying watching these charismatic birds feeding in the bright sunshine before heading back home. The first winter male is still around a week later and the female type is seen occasionally though much less frequently.
The female type Black Redstart courtesy of Thomas Miller
The county's purple patch continued when on the following Sunday, in the teeth of Storm Darragh, EU managed to find a Purple Sandpiper on the shores of Farmoor Reservoir. This is a fairly rare county species. Indeed, apart from a couple of birds in August 2021, you have to go back to 2011 for the last county record. So, along with a number of other county birders, I braved the storm to take a look. The wind was so strong that, despite the bird being very approachable, I didn't linger long after taking some photos. It was a shame as it's was a lovely that showed very well at close quarters. After no more than fifteen minutes in its company I beat a hasty retreat back to the car.
Being a land-locked county, Oxfordshire isn't normally blessed with a plethora of rare birds. While places such as Norfolk, Cornwall & Shetland bask in heaps of top draw national rares, here in Oxon we have to be content with more modest fare. From past experience, good county birdage tends to go in fits and starts with some years producing nothing of real note at all while other years have rich pickings. This year there has been nothing of national import within the county apart from maybe the near miss with the Berkshire Booted Eagle that was seen in south east Oxon briefly on a couple of occasions. Still there have been a couple of decent "supporting cast" birds that have been interesting enough to tempt me away from my local patch.
The first of these was a pair of Velvet Scoters that turned up in the unlikely location of Grimsbury Reservoir up in the north of the county in Banbury. As this wasn't a county tick for me, having seen one at Farmoor Reservoir back in December 2013 I didn't drop everything to go and see it. I was very much expecting them to depart overnight but when they lingered for several days I decided to go and pay a visit. After all, the reservoir is pretty small so the views should be pretty good. So it was on a rather murky Saturday morning I pulled up in the car park and headed off to see them. Predictably, I picked the wrong bank to view from to start with and spotted them right on the opposite bank half way along the shore. So I had to walk all the way around, stopping for a brief look at a Dunlin that was posing nicely along the shore.
It was a shame that conditions were so murky. That and the fact that there was a wire netting fence in the way meant that conditions were far from ideal for my superzoom camera but the photos came out passably enough. Certainly these were far far better views of this species than I'd had earlier in the year when I was at Musselburgh dipping the Stejneger's Scoter.
Above and below, the two Velvet Scoter
The confiding Dunlin
The two Velvet Scoter ended up staying 13 days in total, an amazing record for an inland county such as ours.
The second good bird of note happened on Thursday when, just after 2pm news dropped of a Snow Bunting on Farmoor causeway. Now, I'd half jokingly predicted to TM that we would have one this month. This was largely based on the fact that my only county sighting hitherto happened in this month at Farmoor back in 2009.
With nothing else to do that afternoon I decided to go and twitch it and so battled through the traffic (and a closed-off slip road that warranted a detour up through Cumnor) to arrive at Farmoor just after 2:50pm. There had been no news of the bird since the initial report so I wasn't sure if I was going to have to refind it myself. I met up with BS and we started searching along the causeway together until we got news that it was still present at the far western end of the causeway. We hurried on to find it feeding happily on the main causeway road being watched by just a handful of county locals.
By going down onto the reservoir edge and peering up over the wave wall it was possible to get nice close views of what is usually a pretty confiding species anyway. I love Snow Buntings - they are very attractive and appealing birds that are always a pleasure to see. I remembered that earlier in the year I had been watching a family party up on the summit of Cairn Gorm - very different surroundings from today! I took some photos with my superzoom but in the gloom in the end I opted to take some video footage, balancing the camera on the wave wall in order to try to keep it steady.
The Snow Bunting
and some video footage
Oxon's finest (and me) paying homage to the Snow Bunt, courtesy of Thomas Miller
After while it was starting to get dark so and we all started to leave. As the reservoir café was still open we ended up have a cup of tea and a good natter about all things birding. It had been a very pleasant local twitch.
Any birder with their finger anywhere near the pulse of the national bird scene will be aware that there have been some good birds in Yorkshire recently. The star was of course the first UK twitchable Pale-legged Leaf Warbler at Bempton but there has been a pretty impressive supporting cast as well. Naturally my interest was piqued though, when the PLLW was first found, a combination of illness and work meant that I wasn't free to have a try for it. Judging by the photos of the scrum on the first day, this was no bad thing but I decided to clear my schedule for Friday and make a sortie up to the Yorkshire coast, hoping that at least some of the assembled goodies there would remain. Sadly the Leaf Warbler departed but there were still some good birds to be had. And so it was that on Thursday late afternoon I sallied forth in the Gnome-mobile on the long slog up north. My plan for the trip was first to visit Spurn before relocating to Flamborough, hoping to connect with some good birdage in both locations. The journey was difficult with various stoppages and traffic jams combining to add an extra half an hour to the predicted journey time. So it wasn't until sometime after 8 pm that I arrived at my AirBnB in Patringham, which was less than 20 minutes from the birding Mecca that is Spurn. The BnB was very comfortable and situated in a very quiet location and I spent some time chatting with my genial host before turning in for the evening.
The next morning I was up at 6 a.m. and after showering and breakfast I was out the door as the sun was rising at around 7 a.m. The forecast was for a lovely sunny day with little wind and there was some mist along the road towards Spurn. I arrived at the gate near the Warren with just half a dozen other cars there and parked up. My main initial target was an Arctic Warbler which was located "at the Narrows". This was a bit of a bogey bird for me and was the last of the fairly regular phylloscs that I still needed. As I was setting off I met a local coming the other way so I asked him where on the Narrows it was. He said that he thought it was near the high tide shelter and that he was going to take a look later on himself as he'd not yet seen it. So off I yomped on the 20 minute walk along the narrow strip of land south of the Warren towards the high tide shelter. There was no one else in sight on this beautiful morning and I was feeling optimistic as I covered the ground. This feeling was further bolstered by a tweet from the Spurn Bird Obs account saying that the Arctic Warbler was still present "at the Narrows" - most encouraging!
I finally arrived at the shelter and took stock of the situation. Hmmm, this might be tricker than I anticipated. There was a clump of Sea Buckthorn right by the shelter. However, there were lots of clumps all spread out along either side of the path as well as plenty of cover towards the sea on the east side and the estuary on the west side. What's more I was the only person there - this could be difficult. I fired off a tweet back to Spurn asking for a more detailed location but there was no reply. So I wandered about, hoping to connect somehow though I was now starting to feel less optimistic.
Looking towards Spurn Point from near the collapsed road
Eventually a couple of locals turned up on their e-bikes. These e-bikes turned out to be a "thing" at Spurn with lots of the locals using them to cover the long distance across the Narrows in a hurry so as not to miss anything good should it come up on the short-wave radio that they all use. At last, re-inforcements! What's more they seemed keen to see the Arctic Warbler themselves so we joined forces. I asked if they knew who'd seen it that morning and they radio'd the person in question to ask him. The answer came back that it had been seen briefly as it flitted off the ridge down one side that morning somewhere between the shelter and the collapsed road. That at least narrowed it down and we began systematically to search. A flock of four Whooper Swans flew over - a nice year tick for me. On the estuary were Brent Geese, Shelduck, Redshank and Oystercatchers. Had I not been stressing over trying to find my target bird I would have been revelling in the beautiful surroundings.
Some of the Brent Geese on the estuary
After about half an hour with no luck, my two companions decided to give up and head further south towards the Point. This left me back on my own again and by now starting to feel despondent. Fortunately new reinforcements arrived in the form of SB and a companion, both from Oxfordshire. This proved to be the first in a long line of Oxon meet-ups that I was to have over the course of my trip. I filled them in on the target area and we all started searching again. While we were looking a Lapland Bunting flew over calling. This tallied with the report of that species flying over the Warren a little while earlier. Another birder joined us so that there were now four of us. During one pass along the ridge the last newcomber and myself spotted a small bird flitting out of the bushes and down the slope on the estuary side. We hurried over to peer down into the deep shade of the cliff. It was still there at the bottom though partially hidden. We scrutinised it closely - it looked promising: a small dark phyllosc with a super that stopped before the forehead. And yes, there was the wing bar, it was our bird! Excitedly, we called the other two over and tried to track it as it rapidly worked its way along the bottom of the cliff. In the end I decided that it would be easier viewing from the shoreline and scrambled down the steep slope. My companions were somewhat more circumspect about getting down but eventually found their way down too. The bird was working its way rapidly along the scrub in the side and base of the cliff. It was easy to follow but always moving rapidly. I tried to take some superzoom photos though it was moving too quickly so in the end I tried to video it instead. None of it came out though there were a few frames of video from which I could salvage some record shot grabs. This would prove to be another theme of the trip - all my photos ended up being remarkably crap! Not that I cared - at last I'd seen an Arctic Warbler! We followed in for a while until it nipped off somewhere.
Above and below, some blurry video grab record shots of the Arctic Warbler
The Arctic warbler (Phylloscopus borealis) normally inhabits either pure or mixed Birch forest, usually near water and breeds in Fennoscandia and the northern Palearctic. It is strongly migratory and winters in south east Asia. Apparently it also breeds in Alaska in North America. It is pretty much annual to the UK though is classed as a Rare, rather than merely a Scarce on RBA.
With my birding plans already somewhat thrown out by the length of time it had taken to convert the first target I decided not to linger but instead made my way back north towards the Warren. I'd been following the bird news that morning: a Dusky Warbler at the Warren (which would probably take too long to connect with given how skulky they are), a Little Bunting near the Canal (ditto) and a Barred Warbler at Easington (maybe worth going for). Hmmm, maybe it was time to head straight for Flamborough. I pondered this as I walked back along the beach. Near the Warren there was a huddle of birders and it turned out that a locustella had been seen in the scrub. So a net had been set up into which and they were trying to flush it. We all watched with excitment as the ringers worked their way through the scrub. Sadly they got to the end with no sign of a bird at all so they had to give up. Oh well, that could have been a wonderful bonus bird but it was not to be. So I headed on to the car, had a celebratory cup of tea and a snack and then fired up the Gnome-mobile and headed off towards Flamborough.
The failed locustella flush
After a tortuous 1.5 hours along endless back roads I finally arrived at my next location of Holmes Gut. Here another bogey bird of mine, an Icterine Warbler, had been lurking for a few days now. Could I finally connect with a second bogey bird in one day? I headed off to find a bunch of people staring at a Hawthorn tree intently - this looked promising. There I met two more Oxon birders: CM and CO. It turned out that CM had last seen the bird just 5 minutes ago as it dropped into the aforementioned Hawthorn. Could it be this easy? I watched and waited intently. However, as the minutes dragged by it started to looked like the bird had ducked down the other side. In any event the light was terrible: we were looking straight into it up a slight slope so it was very hard to make anything out that was hidden in the depths of the trees. Gradually the crowds drifted away and my two county companions also left. I decided to give it a while long and started to bird the 150 yard length of the narrow valley.
There was a small sewage treament bunker at one end surrounded by Sycamores and some Sallows. At the other end was a little wooden footbridge and lots of deep cover. In previous days the bird had been reported anywhere between these two landmarks. By way of compensation there were a couple of Red-breasted Flycatchers near the sewage works and, although furtive, they eventually offered some great views - actually the best I've ever had of this species. I even managed yet another blurry record shot.
Not a "classic" photo by any means of a Red-breasted Flycatcher
Apart from that there was an interesting Acro warbler that was never seen well enough to get any detail on. There was also no sign of my Icky at all. After a couple of hours (usually my tolerance limit for these things) I decided to go and try to see some of the other stuff that was nearby and to come back later on to give it another try. First stop was a drive of a couple of minutes towards the caravan site where an Olive-backed Pipit was lurking. A walk of a few minutes took me to a small group peering into the dark underbelly of a small copse of trees intently, looking for this skulking ground-feeding pipit. There I met NT and his wife (yet another Oxon connection). He told me that it had been showing well that morning but was now skulking right at the back and hadn't been seen for half an hour at least. So I gave it about three quarters of an hour or so but without it being seen at all. In the end I got bored (I've seen several already) and decided to nip over the Bempton to try to tick the 1w (presumed) Daurian Shrike that was there.
So it was back in the car and then a 10 minute hop to the car park of Bempton. I tooled up and asked for directions from a member of staff, to be told it was half way along the Nature Trail just a few minutes walk away. I could see the crowd of birders by the hedge and hurried to join them. There I was told that it had last been seen about 10 minutes ago so I settled down to wait. At that moment an RSPB staff member turned up and asked us to move back onto the path. The twitch group had been standing on part of the meadow area of long grass in order to give the bird enough space. We grudgingly complied though this now meant that we were really too close and it was hard to see the bird on its usual perch at the back of the hedge. We all waited and waited but the bird seemed to have disappeared. Eventually I headed to the coast path and tried to look back up the other side of the hedge but I couldn't see it at all. In the end I gave up and decided to come back later on. It was all rather unsatisfactory and meant that I was now 1 for 4 in terms of my Flamborough birds with just the RB Fly converted.
I headed back to Flamborough and to Holmes Gut. I gave it a good while longer searching for the Icky though with no luck. Eventually I gave up again and headed off for another try at the OBP as that had been reported again on the news services. There I found that there had been one very brief sighting a while ago but it was still not cooperating. I gave it a little while before deciding I'd had enough for the day and headed off to Bridlington where I'd booked a hotel for the evening. This was where I'd stayed last time I came up to Bempton to see the Albertross and the Turkestan Shrike. It was fairly basic but I quite liked it. I had dinner there and then turned in for the night, hoping that things would work out a little better tomorrow.
The next morning, I was up bright and early. I had breakfast alone in the dinning hall as it didn't officially open until 7:30 a.m. which was too late for me. I was out the door just after 7 a.m. and headed back the short distance to Holmes Gut to try one last time for the Ickterine Warbler. Now that it hadn't been seen since CM saw it a few minutes before my arrival, it was looking increasingly likely that it had gone. Still, it was worth one more try. I arrived to find just one other birder there. There was a brief moment of excitment when we thought we had it, though it turned out to be the elusive Acro from yesterday and on our brief views we weren't able to make out anything more on it. One RB Flycatcher was still around and occasinally giving good views but that was about it.
Again, I managed half the Flycatcher
We birded the valley intently as the sun gradually rose though to no avail. Indeed the Flamborough news feed seemed a little quiet this morning and it rather felt like there'd been a clear-out overnight. The OBP came back negative (though would eventually turn up again much later in the day), there was a Red-flanked Bluetail near South Landing, the Daurian Shrike was back and a Grey Phalarope from yesterday evening was still present in Bridlington harbour.
Eventually I gave up and headed back to Bemptom to try for the Shrike again. It was in a similar location to before though this time was showing as I arrived. The RSPB had also relented and allowed some limited encroachment onto their meadow. The bird was sitting with its back to us at the back of the hedge so I took a few shots though, predictably, it was partially obscured by a twig and the results were poor.
Yet another obscured photo! This time of the 1w presumed Daurian Shrike
There was quite a large crows present (it was Saturday after all) and I didn't linger but soon headed down to the coast to peer at the sea briefly (just some Gannets) before heading back to the car.
The crows of twitchers for the Shrike at Bempton
Time was marching on and I had a lunch rendezvous in York with my eldest daughter and my son. He has just started his first year undergraduate Mathematics degree there and I wanted to see how he was getting on. I just had time for one more bird and decided to do the Bridlington Grey Phalarope as that should be rather straight-forward. It was a 20 minute drive to the harbour where I found the bird right at the far end in the entrance mouth to the harbour, being tossed around on the waves. On the one hand, it was nice to see a Phalarope in their natural habitat bobbing about on the sea. However, it meant that the views were less than crippling of what can often be a most confiding species. Still, it was nice to see and I was pleased to have made another connection after yesterday's dippage.
The Grey Phalarope was rather distant though the light was good enough for a photo
For context, this it the mouth of the harbour. You can just see the white dot that is the Phalarope in the water near the harbour entrance under the turquoise boxes
Then it was time to head off to York. As I had feared, there were huge traffic issues, trying to get into York. Even using the excellent Park & Ride, the jams around the ring road were tedious. However, the bus service into the city centre was excellent and I had a lovely lunch with my children. Then we had a wander around the city for a while including along the city walls. It was all very picturesque though absolutely heaving with people.
York cathedral looking very nice in the sunshine
Late afternoon I decided that I had to head off so we all said our goodbyes. The journey home was fine though I had to stop at a service station a couple of times for a reviving cup of tea and in one case a quick power nap. On the way back I reflected on my birding break up to Yorkshire. In the end I'd seen some decent birds and came away with one bogey bird at last having fallen. I could have seen more if I'd connected with everything but on the other hand it could have been a lot worse and on balance I was contented enough with my trip. I arrived home just before 9 pm, fed the cat and then relaxed at home after my big Yorkshire Adventure.
Regular readers of this blog will know that quite a few of my more distant birding trips are based around ferrying my various children to and from university. Having recently retrieved my younger daughter from far away Aberdeen it was now the turn of my son to start the next generation of this process as this autumn he is begining his first year at York University, studying Mathematics. As usual, in the weeks leading up to our departure I was keeping a keen eye on the birdage in the North East. Indeed, the start of September hosted a great period of classic east coast birding with loads of goodies being dumped there by the prevailing easterly winds. However, in the two weeks leading up to our departure the winds switch round to westerlies and there was precious little to excite me as I looked around for something to go for. In the end, given the lack of tempting goodies, instead I offered my eldest daughter and her fiancé a lift back to Newcastle where they now live and decided to stay there and do some birding based around that location.
Day 1 York & Newcastle
There is little to report on the first day, in terms of birding at least. My son seemed to be taking remarkably little up to Uni with him so there was enough room for my daughter and her fiancé, who live in Newcastle but who had been staying with us for a few days, to come along for the ride as well. We set off at around 9 a.m. and arrived at York a little after midday. I had feared an unruly scrum given that so many people would all be arriving on the same day but in the end it all went surprisingly smoothly. We had soon got all his belongings installed in his spacious and comfortable room (with an en suite no less!) and said our goodbyes. As with my other children, it was surprisingly emotional saying goodbye and leaving him there after all these years of having him constantly around. Not that he seemed that bothered - he was too excited and preoccupied with all the impending freshers events.
Next it was on the Newcastle where my eldest now lives. The journey was uneventful and we arrived late afternoon and after a walk to stretch our legs after the journey, we settled in for the evening.
Day 2 Dunbar
There was remarkably little on offer in terms of target birds in the immediate North East area so in the end I decided to take the train up to Dunbar where a certain Steppe Grey Shrike was in residence. This subspecies had at one stage been elevated to full species status before being demoted again, pending a thorough review of the whole Grey Shrike complex. Still, it would certainly count as a Gnome Tick at least on some level and was by far the rarest thing around to go and take a look at. It turned out that the train journey, at only 1.25 hours would be significantly faster (and a whole lot more pleasant) than the drive up there and since the bird was a mere 20 minutes walk from the station, it was a bit of a no brainer to "let the train take the strain" (for those old enough to remember that slogan).
So I got up reasonably early and walked the 20 minutes from the house down to the station, pausing to watch a flock of calling Pink-footed Geese fly over the city. The train journey along the Northumberland coast was very picturesque in the sunshine and I enjoyed the luxury of not having to drive to my twitch target. I think I'm right in saying that this was actually the first time I've ever twitched by train. I arrived in Dunbar at around 10 a.m. and took in the sights and sounds of the town as I walked northwards towards the coast where the bird was located. As I left the station another flock of calling Pink-foot flew overhead.
I had wondered how easy it might be to find the bird as the RBA instructions were a bit vague and the ariel Google Map pictures hard to interpret. I needn't have worried - as soon as I turned into the park I could see a dozen or so birders in the distance and as I walked up to them I could see the star bird itself, perched nearby on a stone wall and evidently completely unphased by its admirers. In fact "unphased" is a bit of an understatement as it seem oblivious to any birders whatsoever. It casually went about its business of hunting insects on the closely mown lawn by the wall without any concern for those standing nearby who were papping away. It seemed to be finding plenty of food and would regularly fly down from its perch to nab some unsuspecting beetle or fly. Sometimes it would hop about on the grass itself, and occasionally walk around to pick up food. All in all, its behaviour was surprisingly un-Shrike-like.
The Steppe Grey Shrike "porning it" on it's favoured wall
The Steppe Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor pallidirostris) is native to Central Asia and parts of northern China, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Formerly considered either a species in its own right or a subspecies of the Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis) complex, it is now classified as a subspecies of the Great Grey. The pallidrostris tag means "pale billed" a trait which this first winter bird had though adults have the usual black bill.
I set about taking some photos with my
Superzoom camera as the bird showed off to everyone. I must admit that
after a while I started to get a bit bored. It had been so easy and the
bird so showy that I soon felt that I had got my fill. There's something
to be said for having to earn your tick - it's somehow more satisfying
than just walking up to it and seeing it immediately.
Hopping around on the mown grass in a very un-shrike-like manner
By way of a diversion, I decided to walk along the coast path a bit to see what I could find. On the sea there were streams of distant Gannets, a few Eider and Cormorants but little else. Roosting on the rocks were various waders, including Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Redshank, Golden Plover, Curlew, Oystercatchers and Turnstone. Further along, by a golf course, there was a flock of Wigeon on the sea and along the beach I found a Wheatear. By the cliffs Rock Pipits came and went. It was all the usual stuff but all pleasant enough in the warm sunshine none the less.
The Dunbar coast was looking very pretty in the sunshine
A Dunbar Redshank
I wandered back to the star bird which was now feeding on the seaward side of the wall but still offering crippling views. I sat on a bench and watched it as I ate my packed lunch and took some more photos. At one stage it went into a bush on the cliff side - in this kind of habitat it started to look less out of place and somehow more Shrike-like.
Above and below, in more suitable habitat for a Shrike
Some video footage of the bird
Eventually it was time for me to make my way back to the station to catch my train . On the way I found a single Knot roosting on the rocks with some Turnstone but apart from that there was nothing else of note. The journey back was uneventful and I took advantage of not having to drive by having a little nap on the train. Then it was back home to my daughter's where we caught up on each other's news and settled in for the evening.
Day 3 Blacktoft Sands
I had been wondering what to do on my way home. I'd been hoping for some kind of decent rarity to turn up at least vaguely en route but there turned out to be very little on offer. I looked to see what route Google Maps was proposing to get home and saw that it was suggesting a little dog leg along the M62 East to meet the M18, thereby avoiding the traffic jam that is the A1(M) after it splits off from the M1. I remembered that this would take me very close to RSPB Blacktoft Sands, a nice little reserve where I'd seen the White-tailed Lapwing a few years back. There was a juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper there that was commuting between Blacktoft and Alkborough Flats nearby. Given that there was little else about, it seemed like a reasonable plan to drop in on the way to take a look. After all, the weather was lovely and sunny and I didn't have much else to do. And so it was that a little after 9 a.m. I set off south, turning up at the reserve in due course at around midday. As I tooled up I could hear some calling Pink-footed Geese from the nearby fields.
Upon enquiry, the warden there told me that the Pec Sand was still at the Singleton hide - the furthest hide to the east, some 400 metres away so I duly headed off. A whole succession of birders passed me the other way before I twigged that this was probably a bad sign so I finally asked one who told me that the Pec Sand had been flushed by a Sparrowhawk and had flown off. I decided to check for myself and entered the hide to find that the pool in front of it was indeed almost completely empty apart from some sleeping Teal and a single Green Sandpiper.
Somewhat disappointed I decided to work my way back, stopping in at the various other hides before returning later to see if it would return. The next two hides were just as empty. One thing I noticed was that the water levels were really low. The warden later told me that the extra high tide due later in the week was expected to reflood the pools. As I was walking between the hides a flock of noisy Tree Sparrows flew into the hedgerow from the reedbed. I'd been wondering where they were as they were usually on the feeders as you enter the reserve but there'd been no sign of them this morning.
The last hide I visited was the Marshland Hide where there were actually a few birds to look at. On a distant island of rocks were half a dozen Snipe, a similar number of Ruff, a Black-tailed Godwit and another bird tucked up asleep that looked interesting. Once I got my scope on it I could see that it was in fact the Pectoral Sandpiper. Given that there were quite a few other birders in the hide I was somewhat surprised that they'd not already picked it out but they all had cameras rather than scopes so maybe that was why. I called it out and put it out on RBA as others might be looking for it. I'd been told that up until now it only ever frequented the Singleton Hide so for it to be here was a change in behaviour. I took some video footage though in the heat haze the quality wasn't that great.
Some rather hazy digiscoped video of the bird
Apart from the target bird there were a few loafing duck, a hidden singing Cetti's and the occasional call of some Bearded Tits (though I never actually saw them). There were quite a few Swallows hawking over the pool and the occasional Stock Dove went over. I sat for some time just enjoying the peace and quiet and watching the Pec Sand sleep, then wake up to preen and finally start to feed. It was all very pleasant.
The view from the Marshland Hide
Eventually I decided that it was time to more on. I went to grab a quick cup of tea and a snack from the visitor centre and chatted with the warden while we looked out of the window. It turned out that he used to work at Didcot Power Station back in the day so he knew Oxforshire quite well. I was looking to see if I could see any Bearded Tits though it was getting a bit late in the day for them and all we saw was a Marsh Harrier overhead.
With time marching on, it was time to head back to the car and start the long slog back down south. There is little to say about it other than it was long and rather boring though I had Radio 4 to keep me company. I arrived back late afternoon for a welcome cup of tea and a chance to catch up with the family. It had been a good first run up to York Uni and with three years of it still to come
Daughter #2 has just finished her Masters degree in Pyschology at Aberdeen University. For the last couple of months she has been diligently working on her dissertation that was the culmination of her year long course. So, with the hand-in deadline set for the end of July it was time for me to make the long slog up to Aberdeen to fetch her back. Naturally I was thinking that it would be good to take advantage of this opportunity for another sortie up into the beautiful country that is Scotland. Therefore, in anticipation of this trip I'd been keeping a keen eye on bird news as well as doing some research into what else might be around at that time of year that I would like to see. On the bird front there was a Black-winged Pratincole which was very much en route that I was hoping would stay though it disappeared in the week leading up to my departure. However, by way of compensation a Greater Sand Plover turned up in Northumberland as a most tempting alternative. With the long staying Stejnegers Scoter up at Musselburgh as another obvious target, those two were very much on my trip wish list.
In terms of what to see while up there, there was the matter of one of the few UK orchids that I've yet to see in the form of Creeping Lady's Tresses which, as it happened, would still be in bloom at this time of year. This, like its southern cousin Autumn Lady's Tresses, is the last flowering species in the orchid calendar year and fortunately it tends to be in bloom for a long period of time so would still be around at the end of July when I was visiting. On the odonata front there was Northern Emerald which I still had yet to see though it would be right at the end of their flight period. So, the plan was that after hopefully picking up my two bird targets on the way up to Scotland, I would spend a few days over in the Cairngorms area before heading over to pick my daughter up from Aberdeen. We would head down to Newcastle to stay with Daughter #1 overnight and then bring her down south as well with us back to Casa Gnome for a family gathering at the weekend.
Day 1 Newbiggin & Musselburgh
With everything planned, I set off at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning for the first leg of the journey, the long slog up to Northumberland, hopefully to see the Greater Sand Plover. The bird was reported regularly en route on RBA as I drove northwards so it was with a high degree of optimism that I navigated the numerous sections of 50 mph speed limit all the way up the M1 (when will those ever end?) before turning off onto the A19 to head towards Newbiggin. The heavens opened as I reached the north east and it was a very showery last leg of the journey. The Tyne Tunnel was partially shut for some reason so there was a 20 minute delay in getting through via the single lane contra-flow there. Finally I was out the other side and eventually pulled up in the main car park at Church Point at Newbiggin. I spoke to some returning birders who said that the bird had just been flushed though it didn't look like it had gone far. I quickly got tooled up, including all my waterproof gear, given the regular showers, and hurried off.
I wasn't entirely sure which way to go and there was no obvious stream of birders heading off to follow so in the end I chose to go north around the caravan park and down to the sea there. There was no one else nearby but in the distance I could see a few birders scanning from the other end of the caravans. I gingerly made my way towards them over the slippery seaweed-strewn rocks that had been exposed by the low tide. I could see a flock of small waders nearby and eventually got to a good enough vantage point to be able to look through them. They were mostly Dunlin, Sanderling and Ringed Plover and were partially obscured by some rocks. Suddenly an unfamiliar head popped up over the rocks. Bingo - there was the Greater Sand Plover! I headed towards a better vantage point where there were a few other birders and spent some time viewing this striking looking bird. Larger than the Ringed Plover, it looked very "leggy" and also very pale with surprisingly bleached feathers. It had a faded dark eye mask and a really chonky bill and a reddish brown breast band. Altogether it looked most exotic! I'd read up that the best way to distinguish Greater from Lesser Sand Plover was the ratio of the bill length to the distance from the base of the bill to the back of the eye. They are about equal for Greater but for Lesser the bill length is shorter than the bill to eye distance. I could see from my views that, using this criteria, this bird clearly qualified as a Greater Sand Plover.
Above and below a couple of heat-hazy digiscoped images of the Greater Sand Plover
Some digiscoped video of the Greater Sand Plover
The bird was surpringly close and I was regretting leaving my superzoom camera in the car. Instead I had to make do with digiscoped images and video though the quality wasn't that great. I spent a little while taking some footage before deciding that I'd more or less got as good as I was going to get. After that I started to look around and take in the very pleasant vista. On the shore were Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Oystercatchers, Turnstone and Redshank along with the odd Curlew and Grey Plover. Overhead were lots of noisy Sandwich Terns along with a few Common Terns and some Roseate Terns. These latter were particularly nice to see and after a while I wandered further up the beach to look through the mixed flock of roosting Terns to pick out some more Roseates on the deck. Offshore were a few Gannets and Fulmars along with lots of hunting Terns including more Roseates. It was all very pleasant! As the sun came out I got to chatting with some fellow birders and I couldn't help but think how very nice all this was. I was in a beautiful area, surrounded by nature and lots of different birds, including of course the GSP and having a very nice chat with some friendly strangers about birds and birding.
Newbiggin shore line
Eventually I had to tear myself away as I had to get up to Scotland for my accommodation for the evening. So it was back to the car and I reset the Sat Nav for Musselburgh and headed off along the familiar roads northwards up and across the border into Scotland. With my first target already under my belt and several hours of daylight still available I was hopeful of getting my rare Scoter as well in order to make a two tick day. But would I connect?
After an uneventful journey with relatively little traffic, I parked up in the familiar Musselburgh residential area and headed off along the sea wall to try and find the Velvet Scoter flock, hopefully with it's rarer Scoter easily visible within it. However, whilst I could see the Velvet Scoters out in two large flocks, they were so distant as to be "un-doable". I met with a fellow birder by the first bench and we tried together to winkle it out but it was hard. Quite often they were asleep with their heads tucked in, or preening or diving. It was only really when they were purposefully swimming in one direction that it was possible to get a good profile view to try and find the Stej. Apart from the distant Velvets, there were a few Common Scoters and large flock of red-head Goosander with a single red-head Merganser in amongst them. There were no divers to be seen but plenty of Eider loafing around close in shore. It was all rather pleasant apart from the lack of definitive rare Scoter views. My companion had come up from south Wales and was in two minds whether to stay over and to try again tomorrow morning. In the end he went for this option. For my part I gave up for the evening and headed off to my accommodation for the night at Haddington, some 15 minutes back up the main road. There I scored a rather tasty chinese take-away before settling in for the evening. Hopefully tomorrow would bring more success on the Stej front.
Musselburgh sunset, looking towards Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh
Day 2 Musselburgh & the Abernethy Forest
The next morning I was up bright and early and arrived back at Musselburgh at 7 a.m. I walked along the sea wall looking for the Scoter flock. However, I couldn't even see them at all! I ended up going the entire length of the sea wall up until the end of the lagoons where I eventually found a dozen Velvets which were reasonably close in. Close enough to tell that there was nothing rarer in amongst them sadly. I headed slowly back towards the river mouth where I met up with my companion from last evening along with a couple of other people. The Scoter flock had appeared again - I guess they were just too far out to see earlier on. However, they were still too far to do-able and we all struggled in vain to pick out our bird. A team of birders from Yorkshire arrived and I tagged along with them. We all searched in vain until midday when I decided that, after five hours, I'd had enough. So, accepting defeat I headed back to the car and navigated through the traffic around Edinburgh on my way towards the Cairngorms. I'd just crossed over the Firth of Forth bridge when news came on RBA of the Stej as "still present though distant". Gah! The Yorkshire team must have managed to find it in the end. For one brief moment I contemplated going back but the truth was that they would have left and it would just have been me stuggling again with a too-distant flock so there was no point. Anyway, it was getting late and I had a fair way to go yet. So I accepted my dip with as good a grace as I could muster and headed on in the pleasant afternoon sunshine towards the Abernethy area. Late afternoon I arrived and headed straight towards the Loch Garten area to look for my Creeping Lady's Tresses orchid tick which I found soon enough. I'd been given a specific location for them but, once I'd got my eye in, they were easy enough to find and I found them in quite a few more places during my visit to the area.
Creeping Lady's Tresses
Then I spent some time at the various dragonfly ponds, looking to see if I could score a Northern Emerald but no luck there. One revelation was the "new" pond in Nethy Bridge. I say "new" as I remember when it was first being dug but by now it was looking very nice with lots of vegetation in and around it. There were plenty of Damselflies around it including a couple of Northern Damselflies and some Emerald Damselflies. Interestingly enough, at the usual "Nothern Damselfly pond" there had been none on view at all - I don't know what was going on there.
Northern Damselfly at the "new" Nethy Bridge pond
...and one of many Emerald Damselflies
Eventually, I started to feel tired and headed back to my hotel situated
in Boat of Garten. After checking in and rustling up something to eat
in the self catering kitchen, I went for a walk in the forest behind the
hotel where I found a feeder being frequented by a Crested Tit. I had forgotten just how wonderfully peaceful the forest is and I spent some time just soaking the quiet up after a long couple of days getting up there. Then it was back to the hotel and time to turn in for the night.
A Crested Tit at a feeding station
Day 3 Cairn Gorm & the Abernethy Forest
One of my goals while I was up in the area was actually to climb Cairn Gorm itself. Despite having visited the area a number of times now, I'd hitherto never been up the mountain and as a fairly easy Munroe to bag, I thought I would give it a go. The only trouble was that I was relatively unfit after a prolonged period of low level illness (a sort of Long Covid) had meant that I'd not been well enough to exercise. So I was wondering how well I would rise to this challenge. Upon asking at the Ranger Station, I was told that the easiest route up was just to follow the cinder track upwards which I duly did. It didn't look that great, apart from this man-made track there was loads of ski machinery and the fernicular railway (closed for summer maintenance) so it was hardly stunning mountain views. It was also bloody hard work! A keen wind has sprung up and it was a struggle to put one foot in front of the other in places. Eventually I found myself at the Ptarmingan café which was situated just at the foot of the final ascent up to the peak.I pushed on and made it all the way up where, mercifully, the wind had dropped and it was rather pleasant. Right by the summit cairn was a family party of Snow Buntings inclusing a couple of downy youngsters as well as an adult bird. I fed some of my packed lunch to them which seemed to go down well.
My summit photo
Juvenile Snow Bunting enjoying my lunch offering
I did have a little wander around to see if I could find a Ptarmingan but only gave it about twenty minutes and I wasn't successful. Then I descended by a different route down, feeling rather pleased with myself for having made it up but wondering how well my knees would fare on the way down as in the past they have got really sore when descending hills. Fortunately, thanks to some trekking poles and some knee braces, it wasn't too bad and I made it down again with only some minor twinges towards the end.
I next decided to head back into the Loch Garten area to spend the afternoon looking at the various pools in the hope of getting my Northern Emerald. I'd been given some gen on a hidden pond where someone had seen a Northern Emerald a few weeks back but when I arrived there it was very cloudly. I patiently waited until the sun came out and then staked out the pond for quite a while without seeing any odonata at all. Eventually I gave up there.
A Raft Spider at the pool was all I could muster
At the "Nothern Damselfly Pond" there were still no Northern Damselflies, only half a dozen Four-spotted Chasers and a brief fly-over Common Hawker. I toyed with the idea of going to Nethy Bridge to try at the "new pond" but decided just to head back to the hotel and to relax instead. There I treated myself to one of the hotel dinners and a lovely chat with my hostess. Then it was back to my room to do a bit of proof reading of Daughter #2's dissertation before turning in for the night.
A rather battered Four-spotted Chaser
Day 4 Uath Lochans & Insh Marshes
One of the Uath Lochans
I realised that it had been pretty full-on for quite a few days and with two long days of driving ahead of me for the next couple of days I decided to take things easy today. So it was a local trip to Uath Lochans to look for Northern Emerald, followed by a visit to RSPB Insh Marshes which was nearby. It was a reasonably sunny day and I turned up at the beautiful forested area of Uath Lochans in some state of optimism about being able to see some Odonata. However, it turned out to be rather breezy and this meant that they were mostly skulking in the bushes. I donned some wellies and went for a tramp along the shoreline of the two nearest lochans. In the process I did manage to see a few Common Darters, a few Four-spotted Chasers and some Common Blue and Emerald Damselflies but not my hoped for target. Still, in the bright sunlight it was all very beautiful and despite not finding my quarry and disovering that there was a massive hole in one of my wellies which left me with a wet foot, it was was still a pleasant visit. On the way to my next target I managed to spot some Creeping Lady's Tresses by the roadside. I felt rather pleased for having found these entirely by myself.
A Common Darter at Uath Lochans
My next stop was RSPB Insh Marshes which I was interested, partly just as somewhere to visit and partly because I happened to know that there was a good wildflower meadow nearby which I wanted to do some reconnisance on for future reference. I parked up, hung up my two wet socks on the car bonnet to dry in the sunshine and set off for the nearest hides. This looked out over a vast expanse of reeds and sedge grass with some marshy pools in places. I guess at the right time of year it's probably teaming with birds but at present I couldn't see any at all! I next decided to head off on the furthest trail which incorporated Tromie Wildflower Meadow in it at the end. The walk was pleasant enough through Heather and Silver Birch habitat. The meadow itself was situated right by the River Tromie which was beautifully clear and fast flowing. A few Golden-ringed Dragonflies were hunting over the river. I also thought I heard a Dipper though didn't manage to see it. I had my picnic lunch by the river and then set about exploring the meadow. I already knew that I was too late in the year to see any of the orchid species there but I did manage to find a few Heath Fragrant Orchids that had completely gone over but were still recognisable by their jizz. There were some fenced-off enclosures which turned out to contain a couple of Downy Currant bushes, apparently a rare species only found in the north east of England and Scotland.
The rare Downy Currant, fenced off to protect it
Heath Fragrant Orchid, completely gone over but still (I think) recognisable
On the return trail I started to see a few birds and came across a family of Spotted Flycatchers as well as a parent Tree Pipit with a beak full of food for some hidden fledgling somewhere nearby.
Spotted Flycatcher
There were lots of butterflies on the wing with Scotch Argus and Dark Green Fritillaries the main species. All in all, it was a very pleasant low key visit - just what I needed!
Dark Green Fritillary above and Scotch Argus below
I headed back to the hotel arriving mid afternoon. After some refreshment I read through the rest of my daughter's dissertation - it all seemed good to my untutored eye. I then opted for some self-catered pasta in the kitchen that evening and as I was feeling rather tired I turned in early.
Day 5 & Day 6: Back Home
There's not much to say about the last two days, at least as far as is worth posting on a nature blog. The following morning I drove over from Boat of Garten to Aberdeen which took a couple of hours. There my daughter and I loaded up the car and I lounged about on the cloistered lawn of the main college building while she said her final farewells to her best friend there.
The university area of Aberdeen was looking very picturesque in the sunshine
Then it was the long slog southwards. Part of the A1 was shut due to an accident so we were diverted along some back rounds through the heart of Northumberland before finally arriving in Newcastle for the evening. The next day we carried on south with Daughter #1 in the car as well and made it back to Casa Gnome by late afternoon. All in all, it had been a good trip up northwards. Whilst I'd not managed to see everything I'd hoped for, I'd seen enough to be reasonably happy and I still had an appetite to want to go north of the border again to see more stuff. I guess that will have to be next year now.
.jpeg)
