A kind of twitch to Spurn and some special thanks

The main reason for leaving Lewis early was to twitch a Masked Shrike, as well as going to see the Snowy Owl.  So, after trekking for 6 hours to see the Snowy Owl, we then embarked on a car journey of 9 hours to East Yorkshire.  Fortunately, we could share the driving and in between us each driving, we managed some sleep.

We arrived at Spurn at about 5:00am and took the hours before dawn as sleep time before finding the field where the Shrike is currently residing.  The Shrike was predicably sitting on a fence and gave us great views, although distant.  Before any other twitchers arrived, we moved away from the viewing spot and had a look around the nearby area, finding a Pied Flycatcher and a Redstart.

Masked Shrike

The drive back to Warwick seemed to go on for an age but we finally got back safe and sound in the early afternoon.  Now that the holiday is over, I would like to thank Matt for inviting me and for showing me the Snowy Owl and his parents for allowing a stranger into their rented self catering Cottage for a nominal cost - I had a great but tiring time.

Lewis Trip Report Day 6

We decided to leave a day early to try for some mainland birds on the way home and therefore switched our tickets to the Stornoway - Ullapool ferry instead of the Tarbert - Uig crossing.  This proved to be an excellent choice with the best sea watch I have ever encountered.  Final tally of the birds we saw over two hours included 50+ Bonxies, 20+ Arctic Skuas, 2 Long Tailed Skuas, 2 Leach's Petrels, 1 European Storm Petrel, 120+ Sooty Shearwaters, Manx Shearwaters, Fulmars, Gannets and Guillemots.  Cetaceans spotted were Bottlenose and Common Dolphins and a possible Whale sp.

Spot the Sooty Shearwater

Dolphin

Dolphins

Our next destination was the Cairngorm base station, where we parked the car and ascended for two hours to the slopes of Ben Macdui to view the resident Snowy Owl.  This has to go down as one of the best birding experiences of my life and a huge thank you to Matt for taking me to see the bird even though he had only been a couple of weeks before.

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

View from the Cairngorms

Lewis Trip Report Day 5

A typical coastal view on Lewis

For our last day on the island, we decided to stay around the area of the Butt again.  As we topped the hill to view the sea, we got a quick glimpse of a White Tailed Eagle being mobbed by a Raven.  We then came across a Peregine hunting and watched in awe as it tried to take out a pair of Mallards.  Third raptor of the day was a Merlin doing aerial acrobatics as it chased after a Meadow Pipit.  It was therefore no surprise with all these raptors around that the area was devoid of any waders.  A quick seawatch gave us a few Manx Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters and Bonxies and the surrounding fields/machair at Loch Stiapabhat had Ruff, Lapwing, loads of Snipe and some Golden Plover.  We spent some time at Loch Stiapabhat watching a feral ferret going about it's business checking out each Rabbit warren.

Golden Plover

We then drove over to the Port Arnol area again, pausing briefly to photograph a Sparrowhawk sitting in a tree.  We chose to take our time time looking on the beach for waders as well as bashing nearby vegetation for passerines.  This gave us the same species we had previously with the addition of Curlew Sandpiper, Twite, Golden Plover and Reed Bunting.  To keep Étienne quiet we decided to Lunch at Morven Gallery again on coffee and cake before heading back to the Butt for one final walk around.  This time, the area proved more interesing with a tame Dunlin, Wheatear, lots of Meadow Pipits and Skylark and a single Lapland Bunting.  We decided to go back to the house via Dail Beag and caught up with one of the Golden Eagles again, along with a Buzzard.  The final tally of the day for raptors was 1 White Tailed Eagle, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Sparrowhawk, 4 Merlin, 2 Kestrel, 5+ Buzzards and 1 Golden Eagle.

Sparrowhawk

Walking back to the car on the Butt of Lewis

Interesting Snipe with deformed up-turned bill

Skylark

Wheatear

Lewis Trip Report Day 4

The weather forecast for Tuesday on Lewis was to be rain rain rain followed by more rain.  We therefore decided to head to the east coast to Stornoway first thing in the morning before the rain hit there.  First port of call was the causeway which separates the Eye Peninsula from the rest of the Island.  Branahuie Banks is a good area for Black Throated Diver and it was not long before we had a few in our scopes before they drifted out into the bay.

Black Throated Divers

As we were practically on the Eye Peninsula, we thought we would carry on as far as Tiupan Head for a spot of seawatching.  En route, we scanned Loch Ant-Siumpain and found a Slavonian Grebe in with the Tufted Ducks, a great photo opportunity.

Slavonian Grebe

The sea off Tiupan Head was pretty dead, so we then decided to head back west towards the Aird Uig area on the otherside of the Island, which we had been informed was very underwatched, wild and picturesque.  Well, after a long car journey, during which we were battered by the wind and the rain, we turned onto the Aird Uig road and to be honest were not that enthralled, although I am sure it would be fantastic in the sunshine.  As the option to go for a walk was out of the question due to the lashing rain, we decided to drive to the end of the road towards the village of Aird Uig.  Upon reaching the village, we turned round and drove back out again.  We found the place to be run down, with rusting cars and minibuses parked up by the side of the road and prefabricated functional one storey houses with huge square chimneys.  The village itself was the site of an RAF base and full details about it can be found by clicking this link.

Sandwich Tern

The rain continued to fall and we therefore decided to take shelter in a local cafe, which also served as a Museum, Heritage Centre, Primary School and Community Centre.  After a cup of coffee and a mammoth bacon, egg and black pudding roll, we headed out again into the elements.  We decided to take the circular road round Nisa Mhor, as the map showed that the area held sandy beaches.  In a break from the rain, we took a look on one of the beaches at Traigh na Beirigh which proved to be very productive in giving us some more Black Throated Divers, a Red Throated Diver, rafts of Eider, Sanderlings, Dunlin and a Sandwich Tern.

The rest of the day proved to continue to be a wash-out, so we headed back to the house and over the course of the evening consumed some quantities of alcohol, while playing cards.

Lewis Trip Report Day 3

Dunlin

After I had retired to bed (early again) on Sunday night, Matt's old university friend, Étienne arrived to stay the rest of the week with us.  We decided to spend the day around the Butt of Leiwis again and then work our way back down the west coast. As the wind was not in the right direction, we decided to walk the Butt instead of sea watching and managed to find a couple of very tame Dunlin and a Snow Bunting.

Snow Bunting

Golden Eagle

A quick look round nearby gave us Snipe, Golden Plover, Curlew and Lapwing but not much else, so we left Tony Marr to his Seawatching and made our way down to Port Arnol which has sandy beaches with good potential for waders.   Indeed, one of the beaches proved to be very good and we managed good views of Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed Plover and a Bar Tailed Godwit.  As Étienne is a coffee addict, we decided to Lunch at Morven Gallery which does the best coffee and cake.  The coffee fix set us up for the rest of the birding day with the highlight being amazing views of two hunting Golden Eagle near Dail Beag.

Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle

Lewis Trip Report Days 1 & 2

In August, I was contacted by fellow Warwickshire birder, Matt, offering me a space on a trip he was doing to the Outer Hebrides this September.  After some juggling, I managed to secure the week off work and started researching the birds we were likely to see during the trip.  Top on the list were Great Shearwater and any american vagrants.

The 19th September arrived quickly and soon myself and Matt found ourselves immobile on the M6 not relishing the prospect of a further 11 hours of driving ahead.  As the rush hour subsided, we started to make progress without any incidents except for a stationary car facing us on the same side of the carriageway, a scary moment.  After crossing our way over the border of a non-independent Scotland, we joined the A82 near Glasgow and drove around Loch Lomond.  The first birds of the trip during this part of the journey were 2 Tawny Owls as they flew across in front of the car.  We also almost knocked over a possible Pine Martin as it dashed across the road.  As we carried along the A82 past Loch Lomond and onto Glencoe, the driving became more hazardous with many Red Deer at the edge of the road, we must have seen at least 30+ animals.  The drive across Skye was easier and we arrived at Uig Ferry terminal in good time at about 6am.

At dawn, as we still had a couple of hours before our ferry, we decided to do some birding round the harbour and nearby gardens.  During this time, we managed to clock up a good number of species, including:- Eider, Lesser Redpolls, Pied Wagtails (100+), Meadow and Rock Pipits, Ravens, Buzzards, Black Guillemot, Red Breasted Mergansers, Common Gulls, GBB Gulls, Oystercatchers, Curlews, Robins, Chaffinch and Reed Bunting.  The ferry crossing itself to Tarbert produced a Bonxie (Great Skua), Kittiwakes, Common Scoter, Fulmars, some Manx Shearwaters, Guillemots and a Razorbill.

For the rest of the day, we investigated the area around Harris, which has a variety of habitats from mountains down to sandy beaches.  After just leaving Tarbert and near East Stocklett, we had fantastic views of a Golden Eagle as it took off and soared above us.  We then searched the Sound of Taransay for rafts of Common Scoter to see if any held Surf Scoter but alas that proved fruitless and only produced a few Common Scoter, Red Breasted Mergansers, Eider and Greylag Geese.  We gave the edge of the vegetation round Horgabost a good bash for passerines but could only find, Hebridean Wren, Goldcrest, Blackbird and Coal Tits.  The area around Seilebost and Losgaintir was very good for Stonechat with several birds seen.  Losgaintir proved a great place to view the Sound of Taransay and the Estuary for waders although, by this time tiredness was beginning to set in.

We decided at 14:00pm to make our way to the self catering cottage in West Lewis.  The drive along the A859 from Tarbert to Stornoway gave us our first Hen Harrier for the trip and the area near the cottage at Tolastadh Chaolais had Hebridean Wren and Hebridean Song Thrush.  The Dunnocks in the surrounding gardens appeared much darker than the ones we have in the south.  At 21:00pm, after being up 38 hours and with tired red eyes, I collapsed into bed.

Matt finally emerged the following morning (these young birders need all the sleep they can get to keep up with us middle-agers) and we headed over to Stornoway to have a look in the woods around Stornoway Castle.  This area is massive, with a nearby golf course in the middle.  Rareities have been found in the woods in the past but lost again quite quickly, and I can see why. After an hour, we managed to find a large tit flock with lots of Blue Tits, Goldcrests, 1 Great Tit, Treecreepers, 1 Blackcap and 2-3 Chiffchaff.  The golf course had a large number of Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails and some Jackdaws nearby.  Despite an extensive search, we could not find any other birds and decided to head to the nearby Estuary to have a look for waders instead.  Unfortunately, upon arrival, we found that the tide was out but did manage to find some Redshanks, Greenshanks, Curlews, Ringed Plovers and Turnstones before they were flushed by a local dog walker.

After lunch, a message came up via Birdguides of Sooty and Great Shearwaters being seen from the Butt of Lewis, so, we decided to head up North.  We parked near the lighthouse and spied a birder, the first we had seen for 2 days.  The birder turned out to be local birding legend Tony Marr, who was thrilled to see us and have the company for his seawatch.  He informed us that we had missed a Great Shearwater just minutes before...darn it.  We spent the rest of the day with Tony and managed to see many Manx Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters, Bonxie and Arctic Skuas as they passed by.  He then took us for a walk near the Lighthouse and we managed to find Golden Plovers and about 6 Snow Buntings.  Tony then showed us some other sites nearby which are good for waders, including a local nature reserve at Lionel (Loch Stiapabhat) where we had great views of our second Hen Harrier for the trip.  We then swapped mobile numbers so we could stay in touch for the remainder of our stay Lewis.

Musings...........

As we are nearing the end of the 3^rd quarter of the year, I thought I would review my year of birding to date.  Besides the odd twitch here and there, a couple of weekends away and my week in Spain, I have been trying to stay as local as possible.  I estimate that although I have been staying as local as possible, I have amassed the same kind of mileage as I did last year due to the frequency of my birding.  The main down point is that even though I have done the same mileage as last year, the rewards are way down on the number of species I have actually seen in comparison.

Local birding has not been that rewarding for me and while I have honed my skills even more on common species, I feel that I have trailed behind on those birds not often seen which leads me to believe that twitching in moderation to see a new bird and specifically to watch it and it’s behaviour is not a bad thing as it improves one’s skills in the field.  Anyway, this brings me onto thinking that it could just be that the 5 mile radius from my house is a genuine birding black spot which very rarely may cough up the odd unusual bird like Golden Plover, Waxwing and Brambling in the winter but nothing of much interest any other time of the year.  This then would mean in order to find any birds, I would have to extend my local birding to a 15-20 mile radius which then doesn’t really count as local does it?  So, I may as well resort to what I did last year which is drive to where the birds are, which is either to the North of the County or completely out of the County.  A bit sobering and depressing really.  Well, I have 3 more months of the year left to try and keep it local but don’t hold out much hope.  Of course, it could that I may be wrong and birds are falling out of the sky around me which would leave me to believe that (1) I am a crap birder and can’t see things in front of me (2) there are more birders in the area than I am aware of, who basically do not communicate their findings and suppress (3) there is definitely good habitat in the area but I have not yet found it despite scouring local maps (4) there are some rarer breeding birds in the area but those sites are quite rightly kept quiet to avoid disturbance.

I do love birds and birding, but it is always refreshing to see different birds from time to time which helps keep the interest more alive.  So, whether I am right or wrong on the lack of birds near Warwick, I expect my birding habits will be changing again next year (unless I can find a decent patch close by).

South Warwickshire and across the border

Tree Pipit

After a few quick visits to the Race Course recently which rewarded me with Wheatear and Whinchat, I finally met up with Matt and Dan again last night and we paid a visit first to Balscote, which was pretty dead then onto the Edgehill Escarpment for some vismig.

Things were a bit slow for the first 15 minutes but we were soon rewarded by a few Goldfinch and Linnets and then about 200 hirundines.  Other birds passing through were Meadow Pipits and within them were a couple of Tree Pipits.