Thursday 28th November and it was off on our travels again, starting with a flight from Exeter Airport to Edinburgh. We caught the train to Exeter from Plymouth and as we sped across the Exminster Marshes near Turf I looked longingly at the area where the bluethroat was recently seen and imagined it was still present, lurking in the reed lined ditch by the sea wall on what was a bright and still day. And later that day it was indeed refound and showed very well but has never been seen again (so far) - oh well.
Our time in Edinburgh was great with cold, sunny and still weather and following flight cancellations and rearrangements by Flybe we ended up flying to Edinburgh a day earlier than originally planned which meant I had an opportunity to visit nearby Musselburgh for a birding day on Friday 29th November before friends Julie and Matt arrived in Edinburgh to join us for our stay there.
I caught the train to Musselburgh, just a 10 minute journey away and only costing £3.40 return. It was a beautiful winters day with blue skies, a little breeze and with a chill in the air and I was full of anticipation for seeing some good birds. The train station in Musselburgh was quite a distance away from the waterfront but after 30 minutes walking and a slight detour due to my usual crap map reading skills I arrived at the mouth of the River Esk where a small flock of wigeon were feeding on the grass and goldeneye were diving close in to the sea wall.
I had packed my tripod and telescope which came in very handy as there were rafts of ducks out on the water but there were some closer to shore and I had some nice views of velvet scoters, eiders and red breasted mergansers along with the goldeneyes.
Goldeneyes
Goldeneye - female and male
Goldeneye - male
Goldeneye
Velvet Scoter - male
Velvet Scoter
Velvet Scoter - female
Other birds noted were at least 2 distant Slavonian grebes diving constantly, 2 purple sandpipers feeding on a seaweed covered sewage pipe before it was covered by the rising tide, a black tailed godwit disturbed from the freshwater lagoons by an errant dog along with flocks of teal and lapwing, a female reed bunting sounding quite yellow wagtail like as it called from bushes by the path and a distant flock of 18 long tailed ducks bobbing around on the water. Also seen were greylag geese, Canada geese, turnstone, redshank, curlew, common gull, bar-tailed godwit and mallard.
Curlew
I met quite a few local birders along the path and all were chatty and informative but none had seen the reported male white winged scoter or male surf scoter that morning but eventually I came across a group of local birders intently looking through their telescopes and who had found the white winged scoter while conducting a WEBS-like bird count census. It was very distant and diving amongst a flock of eider and velvet scoter and I would not have found it without their help but I managed some decent views through my telescope and better views through their higher end optics, with the larger white eye flash and different bill shape and colouring of the white winged scoter being noticeable compared to the nearby velvet scoters before it was lost from sight amongst the flock of diving birds.
The birders eventually completed their survey and moved off leaving a lone lady birder behind who very fortunately found the male surf scoter in the same area as the white winged scoter, again very distant but the white nape patch and white forehead patch were very noticeable. She described it as looking like it had bits missing compared to the nearby velvet scoters which I thought was a very good way of describing it in the bright light and at distance.
To complete the scoter set I found a small flock of around 20 common scoter out on the water before they flew off upriver towards Edinburgh, again distant but good to see - and so a four species of scoter day with the white winged scoter being my third UK lifer of the year even though the views were rather distant.
Sunday December 1st and it was time to travel onwards with a flight from Edinburgh to Stockholm in Sweden, a 3 night, 2 day visit with the main purpose of our trip being to visit the Vasa musueum showcasing the Vasa warship which sank on its maiden voyage in 1628, was preserved in the mud of the sea floor and was then raised to the surface in 1961. Over 98% of it is original and it was absolutely fascinating to see it for real, looking like something out of a Pirates of the Caribbean film and housed in a very interesting and informative musueum.
The Vasa
Being city based and with limited time (and day light) there was little birding opportunity but I did manage to see 21 species, all common and familiar UK birds but nice to see anyway in the cold and snow of beautiful Stockholm - hooded crow, magpie, jackdaw, jay, mallard, tufted duck, goosander, goldeneye, coot, blackbird, goldfinch, house sparrow, blue tit, great tit, feral pigeon, grey heron, mute swan, cormorant, herring gull, common gull and black headed gull.
Goosander
Goosander
Hooded Crow
Hooded Crow
Common Gull
Common Gull
Herring Gull
Jay
Stockholm from the Hotel Room
Stockholm from the Hotel Room
Stockholm Chrustmas Lights
Stockholm Christmas Lights
Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm
Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm
Wednesday 4th December saw us flying back to Heathrow in the UK and catching the train to Suffolk to visit my family for a few days and on Thursday 5th December we drove out to Bawdsey Quay with my mum to have a look for a reported rough legged buzzard. Unfortunately when we arrived at the Quay it was very foggy but it eventually cleared, however there was no sign of the rough legged buzzard although I did find a very distant buzzard like bird perched in a tree with a pale looking head but way too far off to call. Eventually it was time to leave to visit nearby Sutton Hoo but before we left I did find 4 avocets and 5 brent geese along the nearby River Deben and a muntjac deer running across some fields. And so another Suffolk dip at Bawdsey (after dipping the shorelarks back in March of this year) and as expected it was seen again 2 days later on the 7th December but never mind.
Sutton Hoo
And so it was a great trip away, tiring with all the travelling and too much food and drink, but as we sat on the train from London back to Plymouth on Saturday 7th December I reflected on what had been a very enjoyable time away as I watched red kites circling overhead. Now all I have to do is survive the approaching Christmas!
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