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!

Istanbul - Part I (September 23rd - 26th)

Saturday 22nd September and a wet and windy day saw us driving up to Heathrow Airport for the start of our holiday to Turkey and Macedonia. The weather precluded any views of red kites along the way but I did see a small covey of red-legged partridge in a field by the side of the A303 somewhere in Wiltshire.

We flew to Istanbul on Sunday 23rd September and arrived to blue and sunny skies and the first birds I saw as we landed were hooded crows, magpies, jackdaws (some showing distinct pale half-collars of the eastern race soemmerringii) and yellow-legged gulls all feeding on the grassy areas by the runways. It was getting dark as we arrived at our hotel in Beyoglu (the very lovely Pera Palace Hotel) but the next morning a look out from our balcony added house sparrow, laughing dove and Alpine swift to the bird list.

With sunny skies and pleasant temperatures we had a walk around some of the sights of Istanbul and along the way I saw a lesser whitethroat with great tits in pine trees at the Mosque of Selim I, a brief view of a flyover white stork, shags fishing by the Galata Bridge as we enjoyed a beer as the sun was setting and a pygmy cormorant flying high up The Golden Horn. Butterflies were also flitting about too - red admiral, southern comma, mallow skipper (?), blue sp. and white sp. - and it was good to see a few hummingbird hawkmoths too.

 Lesser Whitethroat

 White Stork

Shag

 Southern Comma

 Mallow Skipper?

Mallow Skipper?

The next day was a complete contrast with grey skies, spells of heavy rain and wind but we carried on regardless and caught a ferry up The Bosphorous to Kanlica on the Asian side of the city. The trip wasn't long enough at just over an hour but I did get some good views of black-headed gulls and cormorants and also the bird I really wanted to see - Yelkouan shearwaters - which were moving up and down The Bosphorous in small straggly flocks. Yelkouan apparently means wind chaser in Turkish which really sums up shearwatering well but the dull light and distance meant I could only get some poor record shots.

 Yelkouan Shearwaters

Yelkouan Shearwaters

Despite the weather we had a good day, visiting the Khedives Villa at Kanlica for lunch, enjoying some delicious yoghurt for dessert at a Kanlica cafe right by the waterside while watching Yelkouan shearwaters passing by and marvelling at the beauty of the Beylerbeyi Palace.

 Cormorant

Yellow-legged Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

Wednesday 26th September and another cool and grey day with the odd shower didn't hinder our plans again and we visited the very beautiful Dolmabahce Palace where starlings were feeding on the grassy areas in the gardens, Alexandrine parakeets gave brief flight views between trees and variously aged and plumaged yellow-legged gulls loafed around on the waterfront including a delightful 1st winter bird munching on a drowned rat.

 Hooded Crow

 Yellow-legged Gull with a drowned rat for lunch

Yellow Legged Gull

Despite the weather we had a great time in Istanbul but it was time to head back to Ataturk airport for the next stage of our trip, a flight to Skopje in Macedonia.

Hawfinch in Germany

Our annual pilgrimage to the Christmas markets in Germany began with a drive to Heathrow Airport on Saturday 29th November. From the car I managed to see a red kite near Stonehenge, a covey of around 10 red legged partridge feeding in a field close to the road and 2 roe deer. Unfortunately I also saw the usual dead mammals (fox, badger, rabbit) and dead pheasents along the side of the road.

Arriving in Hamburg and it was very cold and grey but at least it was dry and it stayed that way for most of the trip. The Christmas markets were very good and as usual we ate and drank far too much. Best bird in Hamburg was a grey wagtail around the hotel buildings one morning. Coot, mallard, tufted duck, common-, black headed- and herring gull, blackbird, house sparrow, cormorant and carrion crow were also seen around the city centre.

Common Gulls (1 with a leg ring), Hamburg



A day trip by train to nearby Celle and I saw lots of buzzards flying over the fields as we sped by, the few I saw close to the train were definitely common buzzards and not rough legged. Groups of roe deer were feeding in the fields and I had a brief and distant view of what looked like a great white egret feeding along a water filled ditch but I couldn't be sure. A walk around the park in Celle and I found the star birds of the trip, around 6 hawfinch feeding in the tree tops near the castle in the same area where I saw them on my trip 4 years ago. They were very flighty and mobile and kept high up in the trees but I had some nice views despite the very grey and dull light.

Hawfinch, Celle



Hawfinch, Celle



Hawfinch, Celle



Travelling by train to Berlin on December 3rd and I saw more buzzards and roe deer. I had a brief and distant view of a herd of around 50 large white swans spread out across a grassy field, presumably whooper, but I didn't get a view of any beak colour.

Berlin was very interesting and with a much better atmosphere than I felt on my trip in 2008. The Christmas markets were much improved too and again we ate and drank too much. There were lots of hooded crows around especially at dusk when groups were flying in to the small parks with jackdaws to roost in the tree tops. It was odd to see hooded crows in Berlin and carrion crows in Hamburg.The two cities are only around 300kms apart but there is obviously a line of demarcation somewhere between the 2 cities and the 2 species, a situation echoed in the UK with hooded crows in Scotland and carrion crows in England.

Hooded Crows, Berlin



A short toed treecreeper was seen creeping around the brick work of a ruined church in the city centre, looking most bizarre and eventually  being chased off by a great tit. A sparrowhawk was also seen flying low over trees at dusk, Berlin has quite a significant population of goshawks which can be quite confiding but it was definently a sparrowhawk that I saw due to its small size.

Black Headed Gull, Berlin



And so we had a great trip as usual, Germany is a really nice country to visit and the Christmas markets are always very fun and festive. I managed to see around 30 species of bird without even trying, not bad when visiting 2 of the largest cities in Germany on a non-birding holiday. We also managed to see our fifth and final Egyptian temple rescued from flooding by the construction of the Aswan Dam - the Kalabsha Gate. Unfortunately it is currently being poorly displayed in an enclosed space in a museum of surreal art but will be moved to a new wing of the Pergamon museum in the centre of Berlin in a few years time.

 Kalabsha Gate, Berlin

Nefertiti, Egyptian Museum, Berlin - a sneaky photo!



Amazing lobby of the Radisson Hotel, Berlin as seen from our room!