A Four Scoter Day in Scotland, Snow in Sweden and Dipping (again) in Suffolk

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!

New Years Birding in Devon

I worked a long day on Monday 7th January and then had the rest of the week off as annual leave, ideal after having survived another Christmas and New Year, and with the kids back to school, perfect for getting out to do some New Years birding especially considering the dry and settled weather.

And so Wednesday 9th January kicked things off with a surprise trip to Topsham, unexpected but with David wanting to have a look around the antiques centre and then visit a friend on Dartmoor on the return journey back to Plymouth I wasn't going to turn it down. It was cold and still and sunny when David dropped me off at Bowling Green Marsh and I started off with a quick look from the first viewing screen at Goosemoor where a greenshank was feeding very close in with a redshank as the tide was receding and a water rail gave some nice if shaded views as it fed out in the open before scuttling back into the reeds.

Water Rail, Goosemoor

Onwards to the hide where the water levels on the marsh were very high and shoveler, teal, mallard and tufted duck were all seen along with a female pochard, 2 pairs of gadwall and a pair of pintail plus moorhen, snipe and lapwing.

Pintail, Bowling Green Marsh

Moving on to the viewing platform and in the field by the path were a feeding flock of wigeon and black-tailed godwits (one of which had plastic bling on its legs) and amongst them were 2 greylag geese, snipe, lapwing, teal and a nice ruff. A female bullfinch, a very tame robin and a male blackbird were feeding in the hedgerow and a stock dove flew overhead displaying while a buzzard watched the goings on from a fence post.

 Black-tailed Godwit with leg rings

 Ruff

 Blackbird

Robin

The tide was quite low but from the platform I found 2 grey plover and a few avocets amongst the redshank, dunlin and black-tailed godwits, while from The Goatwalk avocets were more numerous and much closer allowing for better views.

Avocet from The Goatwalk, Topsham

From The Goatwalk a distant flock of around 200 golden plover were roosting on the mudflats along with a large group of brent geese, while from Topsham Quay 2 male and 3 female red-breasted mergansers were seen along with 2 black swans. However it was soon time to meet David for lunch and then head on up to Dartmoor - but not a bad couple of hours birding.

 Black Swan, Topsham Quay

 Black-headed Gull, Topsham Quay

Black-headed Gull, Topsham Quay 

Thursday 10th January and we drove to Burrator Reservoir on Dartmoor for a walk on another cold but still and sunny morning.  Mallard, just 1 white farmyard goose, a grey heron, 4 cormorant and a black-headed gull were seen on the reservoir while the woods held good numbers of great tits and blue tits with coal tits, long-tailed tits, goldcrest, jays, nuthatch, a mistle thrush and 2 treecreepers also seen. Overhead 4 ravens were calling noisily while displaying and tumbling.

I could hear siskins calling in the trees and briefly heard a crossbill flying over but finally in the pine trees by Lowery Barn I managed go get some good views of siskins, coal tits and at least 6 crossbills feeding on the pine cones. The crossbills were easy to overlook and I only got on to them when the called, the views were difficult too as they were mostly obscured by branches and were feeding right at the top of the very tall trees but there were at least 3 male and 3 females present with 1 female giving some very good views and flashing off its very yellow rump as it fed on the pine cones.

Friday 11th January and I caught the early bus to Slapton Ley, alighting at Torcross at 9:15am after leaving Plymouth at 7:30am, and it again was cold and still but mostly cloudy with occasional sunny spells.

A Cetti's warbler gave some brief and obscured views in the undergrowth by the tank but 2 female reed buntings were much more showy. I found the male ring-necked duck amongst the tufted ducks but it was near the opposite shore so the views were a little distant but 2 male and 5 female goldeneye, 2 male and a female pochard and a black-backed grebe gave closer views along with coot, gadwall, mallard, great-crested grebe and cormorant.

 Black-headed Gulls, Torcross

Goldeneye, Slapton Ley

Out at sea gannets and kittiwakes were feeding with a few coming in close to shore including a smart juvenile kittiwake and auks were buzzing around offshore but too far out to confirm ID. A great northern diver was close to shore while a red-throated diver further out flew off towards Start Point, doing its occassional distinctive head lift as it went.

 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Herring Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull

I walked along the Ley and then along the path at the back of the Ley to the quarry and after a bit of a wait and a few brief and obscured views a firecrest finally gave itself up and showed very well along with goldcrests, long-tailed tits, a mistle thrush, a jay, 2 chiffchaffs and a male blackcap.

I then met up with David and we enjoyed lunch at The Start Bay Inn at Torcross before heading back to Plymouth - a very successful day out and with my year list now on a nice 100.

River Exe Boat Trip and Wembury Water Pipit Revisited

Tuesday 30th January and a sunny but cold and frosty morning saw me travelling across Dartmoor towards Exmouth with Mavis and Mike for our regular birdwatching boat trip on the River Exe with Stuart Line Cruises. We headed off a little later than planned due to my bus from Plymouth to our rendezvous at Yelverton being delayed by 40 minutes by the ongoing nightmare roadworks around Derriford Hospital and the roads to Exmouth were busy too but the drive across Dartmoor was stunning. On arriving at Exmouth we didn't have time for a full cooked breakfast at The Docker café but the bacon and fried egg sandwiches we ordered instead were quick and very tasty before we boarded the boat for the start of the trip.

It was beginning to cloud over as we sailed offshore for a look around on a very low tide with extensive sand banks and rocks on show along with the usual birds - brent goose, common gull, curlew, shag, oystercatcher, carrion crow and a very smart adult Mediterranean gull developing a black hood. A grey seal briefly popped its head out of the water too to see what all the fuss was about as we sailed by.

Back in the estuary off Exmouth Quay a great northern diver showed very well close to the boat and at one point gave a brief mournful wail and red breasted mergansers were busily diving and displaying to each other. 

 Great Northern Diver, Exmouth Quay

 Male Red Breasted Merganser

Exmouth

Mist and murk and mizzle duly arrived as we sailed upriver with occasional heavier bursts of rain but it didn't dampen our spirits and we saw a good selection of birds despite the dull light - 2 male goldeneye together at Topsham Quay were very smart looking, Herbert the Slavonian grebe showed well off Cockwood and there were plenty of good views of black tailed godwit, avocet, dunlin, grey plover, redshank, turnstone, oystercatcher, bar tailed godwit, lapwing, curlew, golden plover and 3 greenshanks.

Male Goldeneye, Topsham Quay

Avocets

Teal. wigeon, mallard and shelduck were also seen but a feeding flock of around 150 pintail on the water off Lympstone were a great if distant sight.

Pintails, Lympstone

A quick look off Exmouth Quay after disembarking the boat and there was no sign of the recently reported Bonaparte's gull which had been coming to bread despite a birder busily throwing Co-Op white slices out into the water but an immature male eider bobbing around in the river channel was a bonus.

Heading back towards Plymouth and we stopped off at Topsham Cemetery to look for hawfinches which have been seen here recently but it was getting late and it was dark and gloomy and mizzley and there was no sign of any but we did see goldcrest, coal tit, chaffinch, redwing and buzzard before we decided to call it a day and drove home.

Friday 2nd February and I decided to visit Wembury again to look for the water pipit that I had brief views of back on January 13th. It was dry and bright for a change but the footpath was still a complete quagmire although work is being done on the path by the horse fields to widen the path and lay down some hardcore. 

Wembury Footpath Work

I quickly found the water pipit feeding on the beach near the sewage pipe with rock pipits and meadow pipits but it was very active and mobile and flighty due to the continuous disturbance from dog walkers along the beach. It regularly flew off but I always managed to refind it and at times I had some nice views and even managed a few of my now infamous record shots.

 Water Pipit

Water Pipit

Water Pipit

Water Pipit

Also seen along the beach were 3+ chiffchaffs, 2 grey wagtails, pied wagtails, dunnocks, linnets, chaffinches and stonechats while a raven and buzzard were seen flying overhead and a pair of mallard and a curlew were on the rocks with the oystercatchers. At least 2 song thrush were busily singing away, a sign of spring to come, and 7 little egrets feeding amongst the cattle on the hillside did a good job initially of looking like cattle egrets before it was time to head home and prepare for a dreaded night shift at work.

Tree Sparrows in Suffolk and a London Stopover

November 2nd and again I thought I could hear a firecrest calling in the back yard as I was about to leave the house for the walk to the railway station and the train journey to Ipswich to visit family. A quick look in the bushes and sure enough there was a firecrest feeding in the still leafy lilac tree next door before it flew off towards the park, a garden tick for me in what has been a firecrest autumn this year.

The train journey was hassle free and very pleasant with mostly sunny skies but occassional foggy patches. We travelled via Bristol and Swindon to London and so had good views of the Uffington white horse as we sped past and I managed good views too of many red kites between Swindon and London as they soared overhead in the sunny and calm conditions.

November 3rd and another sunny and calm day and so we drove out to Ampton in the Suffolk countryside on the way to the antiques and garden centre at nearby Risby. I visited Ampton back in 2015 where a feeding station attracted many tree sparrows to it and I wasn't disappointed again this time with tree sparrows easily seen on the feeders as soon as we arrived at the site. They were a little skittish and flighty but I managed some great views as they fed alongside greenfinch and goldfinch and a lone redpoll while a brown rat fed on the dropped seed underneath them.

 Tree Sparrow

 Tree Sparrows and Greenfinch

Tree Sparrows

I checked out the nearby fields where pheasents and red legged partridges were feeding but a scan through the chaffinches didn't reveal any bramblings. A flock of around 40 fieldfares flew over before doubling back and dropping down into the tree tops, surprisingly my first of 2017, and amongst them was a single redwing before they all flew off and disappeared from view.

We continued onwards towards Risby but stopped off along the way at Lackford Lakes, a Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve that I have only briefly visited once before. We enjoyed hot chocolate and cake at the visitors centre, sitting outside on the benches and enjoying the warm sunshine while common darters flew around us before Mum and David headed off to Risby leaving me behind to explore the reserve.

Lackford Lakes

Lackford Lakes are like a rich mans Stover, a large site with a collection of lakes, reed beds, damp woodland and fields and numerous hides along the paths but without yummy mummies power walking their offspring in strollers and canine lovers emptying their dogs. There were however the ubiquitous photographers with massive camera lenses clogging up the hides with all their photographic equipment but I had a very enjoyable 90 minutes wandering around before Mum and David arrived to pick me up.

It was good to see numerous pochard out on the lakes, an increasingly rare sight here in Devon, along with tufted duck, teal, mallard, gadwall, shoveler, wigeon, a male goosander and 3 goldeneye (a male, a female and an immature male). Lapwing looked stunning in the sunshine and snipe showed very well feeding in the grassy and boggy areas, a marsh tit flew through the alders and a Cettis warbler belted out song in the wet undergrowth. A kingfisher was heard and greylag geese, Canada geese, coot, moorhen, a little egret, a grey heron, cormorant, a little grebe, lesser black backed gulls, 2 great crested grebes, a flyover buzzard and a yaffling green woodpecker were also noted before I had to leave but I was very impressed with the reserve and my sightings.

Immature Male Goldeneye

The next day was cold and grey and wet so no birding for me, instead we went Christmas shopping in Ipswich which was the joy it always is, and that evening we went to see Alison Moyet in concert at the Regent Theatre which was absolutely brilliant.

Sunday 5th November and it was time to head back to Plymouth by train but with a stopover in London for a few hours allowing me time to visit Hyde Park for some birding and David time to go shopping. It was another beautiful day with sunshine and blue skies but a biting cold breeze and I arrived at The Serpentine in Hyde Park at around 12:30. Unfortunately it was a sunny sunday and so the park was extra busy but I managed some good and close sightings despite the crowds and disturbance as the wildlife is quite used to us humans.

I quickly found 3 male and a female red crested pochard sleeping on the water underneath the overhanging tree branches on the opposite bank where I saw them back in 2014. They occassional woke up and looked around before going back to sleep as they floated around amongst pochard and tufted duck and a nice (plastic) year tick for me. Also on the water were mallard, shoveler, a pair of gadwall, a little grebe, 4 great crested grebe, cormorant, Canada geese, greylag geese, 4 Egyptian geese, a grey heron, coot, moorhen and gulls (herring, common, black headed and lesser black backed).

 Red Crested Pochard

 Red Crested Pochard

Red Crested Pochard

 Tufted Duck

 Tufted Duck

 Shoveler

Shoveler

 Egyptian Goose

  Egyptian Goose

 Grey Heron

 Grey Heron

Common Gull

Common Gull

 Common Gull

 Lesser Black Backed Gull

 Black Headed Gull

Black Headed Gull

Ring necked (or rather rose ringed) parakeets were very noisy and obvious as they flew around and fed from peoples hands and I joined in the fun when somebody gave me some sunflower seeds, getting some great views of the birds as they nibbled away in my palm - love them or loathe them, they are great looking birds and are doing very well but at what cost to our native wildlife? They were certainly popular with the assorted crowds and maybe can help spark an interest in wildlife in some of those present?

 Ring Necked Parakeet

Ring Necked Parakeet

Ring Necked Parakeet

Ring Necked Parakeet

Ring Necked Parakeets

I had a look for the little owls in the chestnut trees but without any luck. I did meet Ralph who writes a very good daily blog with some good photos all about the varied wildlife in the park (www.kensingtonandhydeparkbirds.blogspot.co.uk) but he was not very friendly or open or forthcoming about the owls and quickly scurried off although his blog has 2 lovely photos of 2 of the little owls he saw that day - I guess he was having a bad day or maybe my scary countenance spooked him? (!).

Other birds seen were a nuthatch, a dunnock, robins, blackbirds, long tailed tits, great tits, blue tits, feral pigeons and jackdaws before I walked over to the Natural History museum to meet David and have a quick look around before walking back to Paddington to catch the train home to Plymouth - a busy few days away but a very enjoyable time with 3 year ticks to add to the list.

 Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum