The Great Storm of 2013

Early on Monday the biggest storm since 1987 came.... and went... 

I'm not saying it wasn't bad, because it was, but it lasted only a couple of hours, and by the time dawn came the wind had already shifted to the west and skies were clearing. It actually turned into quite a nice day!  We were actually true victims of the storm, as a rather large branch landed on Jess's car and caused this...

Armageddon!

The sea on Monday really was disappointingly poor, with a juv Kittiwake along the beach early on being the only 'storm driven' bird noted. The highlight of all the sea watching wasn't even a bird, but a Grey Seal that appeared for a few minutes close in.

The Estuary and valley were equally poor, with a second Tufted Duck at Lower Bruckland Ponds getting 'bird of the day' award!  

Does this qualify as a flock??

Although the wind has made the news, the mildness hasn't. With the exception of today, it's been so warm for late Oct. As a result I'm still seeing many Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters, and more amazingly, on Monday 28th this Common Blue Damselfly...

Sorry it's a bit out of focus!

Tuesday was much calmer, and as a result there was a bit of vis mig. Best of all being my first Brambling of the autumn west over, along with two Lesser Redpoll and plenty of Chaffinches.  Also saw my first 'vis mig' Wood Pigeons and Starlings of autumn 2013. Also had a Swallow flying around over the Estuary later in the day.

This morning was much quieter for vis mig, with the only notable birds being on the Estuary; a late Curlew Sandpiper with five Dunlin and the lingering Ruff and Spotted Redshank.

With the amount of good birds turning up in the south west at the moment there's got to be a chance of something good appearing.  Ideally I'd like a few more year ticks before November begins, oh - that's the day after tomorrow!  Just where has this autumn gone... This year in fact...

I'm Home!

Well I have been home for several days now, but just haven't had time for this update. Here it is though...

Firstly I will just mention the only worthwhile sighting since my return home. On Monday I was very surprised to hear Crossbills calling whilst in the front garden, and looked up to see three flying over. I wouldn't have been so surprised if it was Sept/Oct. Even July/Aug would be ok for migrants, but early June? Must be local birds surely?

Also I would like to say thank you to anyone and everyone who signed the Buzzard petition. It worked! See here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/30/buzzard-trapping-plan-abandoned-uturn

Ok, so where have I been? NORFOLK! It wasn't a birding trip at all, just a relaxing few days away with Jess, and it was superb - we had so much fun in this beautiful part of the world. The drive back was a bit of a nightmare though, not only was the traffic horrendous, but this happened whilst driving on the M25...

Oh dear! AA did a temporary fix, but am still waiting for a full repair

It didn't dampen our spirits though as we had such a great few days. I have got hundreds of scenery photos, but I won't bore you with all of them. Just four to give a taster...

Makes me feel relaxed just looking at them

Just being in Norfolk meant we saw plenty of birds - but we did visit Titchwell, Holkham Gap and Cley once or twice whilst here.

I actually managed a UK lifer on this trip! On Wednesday a Great Reed Warbler was found at Cley, and late afternoon I managed some brief views of it - just a pity it wasn't singing when I was there. In the Cley/Salthouse area I also saw a Wood Sand, some excellent views of Bearded Tits (the photo doesn't do the views justice), very brief views of a raptor that flew in off which I hope was just a Hobby (it was either this species or a Red-foot), and stacks of Avocets...

A family of Bearded Tits in the reeds

We even saw some chicks wandering about too. They were too far to photograph though, unlike the above adults!

Titchwell produced a nice bunch of 1st-summer Little Gulls and two Little Ringed Plovers. And Holkham Gap gave a Cuckoo.

On Wednesday we went on a seal trip in Blakeney Harbour. Great views of masses of seals (I took about 100 photos of the Seals, but don't worry I'll post just three here), but bird wise it was also enjoyable with a fly over Spoonbill being a surprise, loads of terns (4 species, incl. loads of Little), a couple of adult Med Gulls and 3+ Marsh Harriers. A lone Brent Goose I presume was an injured or sick straggler.

They really are funny looking things!

Just driving about and stopping now and then also showed plenty of birds. We saw numerous Marsh Harriers (the males really are so stunning, never seen an adult male on the Axe), several Barn Owls, Grey Partridge all over the place and a lone Corn Bunting near Choseley Drying Barns...

These were everywhere!

But these weren't, just one Corn Bunting - this photo was taken some time after 9pm, hence why it is so dark. He was still singing away though!

We stayed in Wells, and ate out every night. The best meal I think we had was in the Victoria, at Holkham. The service and dinner was brilliant, but it was the desert that really did it for me...

Called 'Tasting of Strawberry'

Unfortunately the two days I had set aside for possible Swallowtail searching were much cloudier, with Thursday being quite wet. So in the end we didn't make the drive down to the south of the county to see this butterfly. That's ok - just means we will need to come back again some time soon!

Back to work again now though, and back to 'the norm'. Now spring is over, it's time for me to knuckle down and get stuck into DBR 2011...

Scotland Trip - Day Five

The final day...

Day Five - Thursday 14th April

After breakfast, we loaded up the trusty Corsa and said farewell to Glenan Lodge at about 9am. I can highly recommend this B and B, it is good value, the rooms are very comfortable and the breakfast very yummy!!

We all wanted one last look at a summer plumaged Black-throated Diver, so this was the first port of call. It didn't take us long to find a pair of these stunners showing very well indeed...

Just stunning!

Also on the loch were a summer plumaged Red-throated Diver and a pair of Wigeon. Yet again Red Grouse were all around us!

We then headed north (yes I know - even further away from home!), and soon stumbled upon a surprise male Black Grouse...

It appeared to be displaying to itself - unless there was a female hiding somewhere nearby?

After about 50 minutes driving, we'd reached Nairn where we wanted to do a bit of sea watching from...

Looking north from the harbour car park at Nairn

It didn't take long to pick up three Long-tailed Ducks, several Eider, Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser and Sandwich Tern - then a fine summer plumaged Red-necked Grebe appeared out of nowhere.

A Goldeneye flashing!!

Also here, there were at least 50 Turnstone, a couple of Ringed Plover and a Hooded Crow.

We took to the road again, and headed around the coast (for over two hours!) to Rattray Head - this is where a King Eider had been reported on a couple of days within the past week. Whilst driving here, a singing Corn Bunting and several Yellowhammers were 'trip ticks'.

We got to Rattray - then began to drive out to the head. We hadn't gone far before I just HAD to pull in...

Grey = Geese

There were thousands and thousands of Pink-footed Geese feeding in road side fields, what a sight!! A look through them revealed a couple of sandy brown leucistic Pink-feet, and singles of Greylag and Barnacle Geese.

On the other side of the road was a huge Ley - this had plenty of diving ducks and Great Crested Grebes on. A couple more Corn Buntings were singing here too, though remained annoyingly invisible!

We eventually got to the car park at the end of the track, and walked out over the sand dunes past a flock of over 200 stunning mostly summer plumaged Golden Plover.

Rattray Head beach and lighthouse

There was no sign of the hoped for King Eider, but there was just so much to look at it was fantastic! On the beach were Sanderling, Redshank and a surprise Ruff. About 100 Eider were loafing about just offshore, and behind them AT LEAST 210 Great Northern Divers!! Also 6+ Red-throated Divers, and auks were constantly flying past north, with a few Kittiwakes and Gannets also noted.

A quick check of Birdguides on my Blackberry showed that the/a King Eider had been seen on the Monday just gone on the Ythan Estuary. As this was south of where we were, and on the way back home, we thought we may as well stop off here...

A quick check of the Estuary from a few stopping places on the A975 showed the Estuary was heaving with birds. Pintail was the only bird added to the trip list here, but if we had more time to look closer I'm sure we would have unearthed a few more 'trip ticks'.

We arrived at the golf club car park, and made our way to the mouth of the Estuary. The sight and sound was just absolutely spectacular as several hundred Eider were 'loafing about like Mallards at Radipole!'...

Stunning!

There was no sign of the drake King Eider - much to our annoyance - but another bonus here was the impressive seal colony...

There were loads of them!

Here's a short video too...

if you turn the volume up you can hear the Eider calling

The time was now 17:00 - and we still had an at least 11 hour car journey ahead of us to get home!!! We followed the Sat Nav (which all week had been a god send), and it took us right through Aberdeen City Centre at rush hour!!!!

We finally came out the other side of Aberdeen and began headed purposefully south. Apart from a quick fuel stop, and an hour's stop at a Little Chef near Sterling (where I ate the nicest burger EVER!) we made good progress.

We got back to Bristol at about 3am, and I got back home to Seaton for just before 5am.... I was bloody shattered!!!

I had such an enjoyable five days, in which time we clocked up 115 species of birds, saw some great mammals, stunning scenery and most of all, had a cracking good laugh! I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Bun, Nick and Karen for their company, and everyone who gave us 'gen' to ensure we got the most out of our trip.

From the moment I took this photo on the Farr Pass, I knew this was the photo I'd finish this review with. Thank you Scotland for such an enjoyable birding break....

The 'Famous Grouse'

Well I hope you have enjoyed reading my rather drawn out trip report!? I'm pleased to announce that normal service will now be resumed on Axe Birding...