Tern around… every now and then…

Photos from a recent trip to the Farnes to catch up with some pals (and the Bridled Tern).

DIY MV Robinson trap and recent round up...

In preparation for National Moth Night I’ve built me a new Robinson MV trap. I still need to fashion some baffles and a rain guard but it’s looking good. A test run over a couple of hours last night drew in over 50 moths. The whole thing came in at under £100, which isn’t bad considering similar ones are £300+ new. The plastic tub I ordered was a little larger than I expected though…


Bird news…

Breeding birds

Seabird season is in full swing with plenty of young birds now around.  A few hours on the cliffs last night revealed that one or two Guillemot chicks have began jumping. I also recorded my first Shags as having fledged this week. Kittiwakes now have chicks and Fulmars won’t be long behind. Although it’s early, figures are hinting at a productive season.

 

Migrants

It’s been fairly quiet recently besides a few skeins of Greylag and Canada Geese heading north. Recent seawatching has been slow and the only notable birds have been Manxies and Common Scoter.

Damsels, Dragons, Moths and Butts…

Huge numbers of Blue-tailed and Common Blue Damselflies have emerged around the Mire Loch and it seems like big numbers are being recorded elsewhere in the borders.

Over the last month we have seen the emergence of Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Common Blue and Northern Brown Argus. Dark-Green Fritillaries and Graylings won’t be long now. Several Hummingbird Hawk-moths have also been reported on the headland but I'm still to connect.

Shrike 1!

What's happening at St Abb's Head...

 

Breeding Birds,

Peak seabird season is fast approaching and many of the birds have eggs (Shags already have young). It won’t be long now until the first Guillemot chicks hatch and the cliffs get even louder.

Migrants,

Migrant birds have been few and far between despite the seemingly good conditions. Since the dashing double act of Subalpine Warbler and Collared Flycatcher things have been very quiet with stuff mostly turning up further down the east coast. Today brought an end to the dry spell (in more ways than one) with a female Red-Backed Shrike by the Mire Loch. Spotted Flycatcher and Stonechat were also fresh in this week.

RB Shrike

Other,

Butterflies currently on the wing include, Small Copper, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Wall, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock. A Speckled Wood was also reported last week, only the 7^th reserve record.

Small Copper

Flowers,

Wild flowers are currently in fine bloom with Spring Sandwort, Purple-milk Vetch, Rock-rose, Birds-foot Trefoil, Thrift, Tormentil and Sea Campion all putting on fine displays.

Spring Sandwort

Purple-milk Vetch

 

Roe buck... taken though the kitchen window.

COLLARED PIECATCHER!

Quick update.

So I’ve finally got a new phone line installed at the cottage. What an ordeal, I’ve had several men up my pole, my router forgot to be sent out and all sorts of other crap... long story short I’m finally back online.

After a month of being offline I’ve come to realise just how much I rely on the internet… mainly for bird news.

Anyhow. I moved back to St Abb’s at the end of March for another year as ranger here. I’ll now be here till January 2015.

Spring migration had a slow start here and only really began to pick up in the last week or two.

Star birds so far this spring have been a Wryneck last week and a decent smattering of Ring Ouzels, Redstarts and Lesser Whitethroats.

Lesser Whitethroat

That was until yesterday…

Yesterday 28/04/14 proved to be one of my best days birding ever. An early morning ramble around the Mire Loch revealed a few lingering Lesser Whitethroat, a Ring Ouzel and the first Whinchat of the year. I also caught a very fleeting view of a black and white ‘flycatcher like’ bird in flight by the boathouse. I struggled to relocate the bird and gave up after half an hour as I had to start work. I presumed it to be a Pied Fly and told several people this during the day.

 

I later got note of a male Subalpine Warbler at the north end of the Mire Loch so after work I headed down and managed to catch up with the subalp, surprisingly high up in the trees. After getting a few distant snaps the bird went quiet and 15 minutes later I moved on, in the hope of relocating that ‘Pied’ Fly.

I found the bird in almost the same place I had first seen it during the morning. As I put my bins up, to my surprise I was met by a pied fly with a ‘BIG BROAD WHITE COLLAR’. Hmmmm! With such a big bold collar it could really only be a COLLARED FLYCATCHER! A few minutes later I managed to get a visiting birder onto it and after a few drawn in breaths I managed a few record shots. The bird was double confirmed by a quick check of the Collins and the news went out... Adult Male Summer Collared Flycatcher. A few local birders arrived on the scene and we enjoyed great views from all angles as the bird dipped up and down in the trees and even called at one point.

 

Both Collared Flycatcher and Subalpine Warbler were still around today (29/04/14). Also reported from around the Mire Loch today were both Tree and Richards Pipits.

When visiting St Abb’s Head please park at the NTS visitor centre and walk in. Do not park in passing places. The road to the lighthouse is restricted for disabled persons only. If people continue to ignore access information then rare bird records are likely to be supressed in the future!

More updates soon…

Quick Update...

Just returned to Yorkshire after spending a couple of months helping out on the Isles of Scilly Seabird Recovery Project. The project aims to remove invasive rats from St Agnes and Gugh and should provide much needed safe breeding habitat for Manx Shearwaters and Storm Petrels. My work mainly involved baiting and monitoring for signs of rat. The project is going really well and with no rat signs for about 13 weeks things are looking good.

Bait Station

I had a fantastic time working with a great bunch of guys. It will be nice to revisit the islands in a few years to see the results of the project. For more information about the project visit... www.ios-seabirds.org.uk/  

 

St Agnes

I would have included a few more photos with this blog but the weather was pretty rough and I didn’t get chance to take many. 

Bird highlights at this quiet time of year came in the form of several Glaucous Gulls, Iceland Gull, numerous Great Northern Divers, Siberian Chiffchaff and an elusive female Bullfinch. 

Record shot, Sib Chiffchaff

I’m now looking forward to heading back up north to St Abb’s Head… just in time for a few cheeky migrants. First though, a quick week walking/climbing/camping on Arran.

Mental Mega Trip (part 3) Ushuaia and south

After arriving in Ushuaia we spent a day relaxing and mostly just wandering along the waterfront near the hotel. Just outside the hotel we found Black-faced ibis, Magellanic steamer duck, Crested duck, Chimango and Crested caracaras, Magellanic and Blackish Oystercatchers, Austreal Negrito… etc. Not bad at all!

Crested caracara

Crested caracara mobbed by Southern Lapwing

It was interesting to note in Ushuaia that a massive amount of effort has been put on outlining that the Falklands (what they call Las Malvinas) is part of Argentina… all tourist maps have Las Malvinas marked with (ARG)… oh they also claim about half of the Antarctic as well.

We departed Ushuaia on the 22nd Dec and entered the Beagle Channel, here we got our first glimpse of species such as Black-browed albatross, Southern giant petrel and Cape petrel. We then visited the Falklands and South Georgia before dropping down to the Antarctic Peninsula. (I would go into more detail but photo's speak better than words and waffle).

Cobb's wren

Falklands

Falkland flightless steamer duck

Long-tailed meadowlark

Highlights of the trip included; 5 species of Albatross in a single day, Light-mantled sooty albatross at the nest, 5 Species of penguin (many on the nest), Antarctic petrel (18+ at one point), Snow petrel, Blue Petrel, Antarctic and Slender-billed Prions, Wilsons, Grey-backed and White-bellied Storm-petrels, Ruddy-headed, Upland and Kelp Geese, Rufous-chested Dotterel, Brown-hooded, Dolphin and Kelp gull, Blackish Cinclodes, Dark-faced ground tyrant, Grass and Cobb’s wren, Austral thrush, Long-tailed meadowlark, Black-throated finch and Black-chinned siskin… plus a few more.

Light-mantled sooty albatross

King penguins and scavenging skua

South georgia pintail (a carnivorous duck!!!)

King penguin youngsters

Antarctic petrel

Chinstrap

Snowy sheathbill

Gentoo

Cetacean highlights included; Orca, Strap-toothed beaked whale, Comerson’s Dolphin, Peale Dolphin, Dusky Dolphin, Fin Whale, Sei Whale, Humpback and Southern Minke Whale.

Elephant seal

Fin whale

Weddell seal

Antarctic shags

View from porthole

Avin a brew in t'antarctic!!

After returning to Ushuaia we decided to team up with a few guys from the big boat and attempted to locate White-bellied seedsnipe without success… still a nice walk up the glacier and with distant views of Condor.

We then spent several days relaxing and exploring the Tierra del Fuego National Park racking up species such as Great grebe, Ringed kingfisher, White-crested elaenia, Rayadito, Austral parakeet and Fire-eyed diucon (like a Sardinian warbler times 10). We were also lucky enough to find 3 Magellanic woodpeckers, a single male and a pair which came to within 5 meters at one point.

Rayadito collecting nest mat

Habitat!!

Fire-eyed diucon

Trip!

We returned home on the 16^th Dec. A 14  plus hour flight home and we were back in Edinburgh.

JOB DONE!     

oh yeah.. happy new year!