Barnacles

My wife and I were just on our way across to South Ronaldsay this afternoon to see some friends. As we got to the bottom of the hill from our house I could see there was a large flock of around 200 Greylag Geese in the field just across the road from the junction. The field itself isn't in my patch but can easily be seen from the road that forms the boundary between my patch and the field so under the Challenge rules anything I see from my patch even if it is outside of my patch counts. Not that I would get that excited by a flock of Greylag's as they are everywhere up here and they are already on my patch list for this year.

As I turned onto the main road and started driving past the field some movement in the middle of the flock caught my attention and straight away I could see at least three slight smaller birds with black and white markings. I drove past the field did a quick U-turn and headed back up the road so that the field was on my side of the car. Pulling over I grab the bins and a quick scan of the flock confirmed my suspicions, there in the middle of the Greylags were three Barnacle Geese.

I countinued back up to the junction at the bottom of the hill and turned onto the road marking the patch boundary (the main road isn't on part of my patch) and took another look quickly relocating the birds and adding species number 48 to this year's patch list and giving me my sixth new species for the patch list. It was also a new species for my Burray list.

I then tried to ring my birding friend Barrie but couldn't get a mobile signal. As he lives in the village I popped round to his house to give him the head's up as they were also in his patch. He hadn't got this species on his 2014 list so I gave him the location details and as I set off to continue my journey he was busy getting his boots and coat on. Hopefully he managed to find them as I did a quick check on my way home after seeing my friends and they were still in the same field.

So I already have 10 species more than I had at the end of January last year and there is still a few days left to go, will I manage to get to 50 by the end of the month. Chances are probably not as the weather forecast for the coming week isn't looking to good for birding and I'm off the island for the last week of the month.

Diver and Dunnock

After a busy morning working yesterday I was about to have a late lunch when the phone rang. It was my birding friend Barrie down in the village who informed me that the White-billed Diver that was seen over at St Margaret's Hope, just across the bay from Burray, last Saturday was now in the bay and visible from Barrie's house.

This was worth popping down to take a look for as it would be worth 4 points on the Patchwork Challenge. So I popped down to take a look and after about 10 minutes of scanning the bay I eventually found it closer in than where Barrie had seen it.

There were also a few Long-tailed Ducks, Eiders and Red Breasted Mergansers out in the bay and a Kestrel also flew past.

Then while having a quick chat indoors with Barrie and Linda I spotted a Dunnock amongst the Sparrows and Greenfinches feeding outside his living room window.

So that was another two species added to this year's Patchwork Challenge list.

A quick twitch and some more patch ticks

While doing some sorting out in the garden after my patch stroll this morning I was treated to a fly past by a male Hen Harrier as it flew over the field to the rear of the garden.

After lunch my good lady and I decided that we would head over to Veltigar in Tankerness and take a look for the Glossy Ibis that had appeared after we had headed South for Christmas. It sounds like there are at least three of these birds in Orkney. The first one appeared in Swannay on the West Mainland, then there is the one in Tankerness and the third over on Westray. Another one has been seen on Papay (Papa Westray) so this might be the Westray bird or it could be a fourth one.

We parked up at the community centre opposite Langskaill plantation, walked up to the junction with the main road and looked straight across the road towards the farm buildings and there it was feeding in the second field back from the road. There was a lot of noise coming from one of the farm machines not too far away from where the Ibis was but it wasn't phased by the noise at all it just carried on feeding. It was a bit too far away for my camera to get any decent shots but here are some record shots.

Glossy Ibis

On the way back home we stopped off for a quick look on Echna Loch and out into the bay. Today the pair of Mute Swans was present, these had been absent on the New Year's Day visit so were another species for the 2014 patch list as were the two pairs of Mallard which were also being elusive on New Year's Day. There were three female and one male Goldeneye and the male Scaup was also present in amongst 50+ Tufted Duck. There were also eleven male and nine female Wigeon present.


On the other side of the road there were 17 Long-tailed Duck, two Grey Herons and two pairs of Red Breasted Mergansers out in the bay and on the beach there was a Redshank and five Great Black-backed Gulls feeding on the remains of two seals.

So at the end of the day the 2014 patch list now stands at 45.

The North West Patch

A relatively early start this morning as I left the house just after 9am as the sun was rising. It didn't hang around for long as it lifted off the horizon and straight into the cloud. The wind was still around Force 5 but the forecast had it decreasing as the day progressed.

This morning I decided to head up onto the hill to the West of the house and take a look around the North West corner of my patch.

The track up to the footpath was rather muddy and the fields were devoid of birds except for one which had a flock of 30 Greylag Geese which got airborne fairly soon after spotting my approach.

The only other birds I saw on this leg were a Herring Gull and a Raven.

From the trig point I had a pretty good view of Scapa flow although it was a bit misty towards the far side of the flow and across to mainland Scotland.

Looking down onto the Battery Pools with Scapa Flow in the background

The pools around the old gun battery site were clearly visible including a few that were usually dry but there was not a bird in sight.

As I headed down the path a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls flew over. Despite sitting at the bottom of the track for 10 minutes there was no sign of any other bird life.

From the bottom of the track I passed through the battery site and headed towards another track that would take me down onto the Littlequoy road which formed most of the Western and Northern boundaries of my patch.

As I got to the corner of the battery site I spotted movement in the adjoining field along the fence line. A quick look through the bins confirmed it was a Golden Plover, giving me another species for this year's patch list. A scan round the surrounding fields confirmed it was on its own. I don't often see them on their own as they are usually in flocks or mixed in with Lapwing flocks but this one was all on its own.

Once on the road I was more in the lee of the wind making it quite a pleasant stroll. Againt there wasn't to much to be seen, a single Pheasant running across the road up ahead of me and a flock of about 200 Starlings feeding in one of the fields.

As I approached Waaness I added another species to this year's patch list in the form of two Hooded Crows, flying over the fields.

I eventually turned off the Littlequoy road and headed back up the hill to the house.

With today's two additions to the patch list, my total for 2014 is now at 42.

Good deed for the day

Although it is a Bank Holiday in Scotland today I was back at work doing important things like sorting out my expenses for my trip South just before Christmas and starting to look at what I need to get completed and handed over before I finish with the company I'm working for as I'm one of a number of staff that were made redundant just before Christmas.

Just before lunch the phone rang and it was my birder friend Barrie. I immediately began to wonder what interesting new species he had found on the patch that would cause him to ring and give me the heads up. However it wasn't good news as he had found a beached Great Northern Diver down near the Sands Hotel and asked if I could pop down and take a look and give him a hand to move it.

I quickly loaded a suitable box with a couple blankets in it into the car and set off. On arrival I met up with Barrie and Linda who took me to where the bird was, sat on the footpath just at the top of the beach.

Great Northern Diver sat on the foot path - Photo by Barrie

It looked fairly healthy, no signs of injury or oiling. It didn't get agitated as I got close to it so I picked it up and took it back down to the water's edge.

Taking the diver back to the water - Photo by Barrie

As soon as I put it into the water it dived and swam off resurfacing about 20-30M out into the sea. It had a bit of a wash and was able to standup in the water and flap its wings so it must have been in reasonable shape, probably just tired after the recent storms.

Although you could see it trying to paddle out further into the sea the strong onshore breeze and current were carrying it back towards the shore and as soon as it reached the shore it rather clumsily hauled itself out of the water. A second attempt to put it back in the water resulted in the same thing happening.

Diver back on the beach - Photo by Barrie

Time to get some advice, first though I had to find somewhere where I could get a phone signal on the mobile. So a short trip to a higher point in the village soon had me on the phone to Brian, another birding friend, who had looked after injured birds in the past. His advice was to try and put it back onto the water in a quieter spot where there wasn't a strong onshore breeze/current.

So the bird was put into the box and transported from the beach on the South side of the village to Echna Bay to the North of the village where the sea was pretty much flat calm. Again as soon as the bird was in the water it swam off stopping to bathe and stretch its wings. This time with no wind or current to battle with it swam off along the shoreline and started exploring in amongst the floating seaweed. After watching it for about ten minutes and it showing no signs of returning to the beach it was left to its own devices.

Swimming off into Echna Bay - Photo by Barrie

Before leaving a quick check on the other side of the road on Echna Loch added another new species to the patch list, this time a Little Grebe. Another one that I should have had last year but eluded me.

Mid afternoon I had to go and collect my good lady from her weekly trip out with one of her friends and as I drove down the hill towars the main road I saw a female Kestrel fly across the road in front of me, giving me my first raptor of the year and my 40th species for this year's patch list.

New Year brings new patch species

What a great start to the new year. Unlike most of the UK, Orkney saw the new year in with clear skies and a nice sunrise although there was a slight breeze (F5-F6). The weather certainly looked good for a trip out around the patch.

What would be the first species of the year? Last year it was the Blackbird, would it be the same this year? Or would it be a House Sparrow, Greenfinch or Starling. A look out of the window across the garden revealed nothing. That was a disappointing start so I moved to another window and on looking out onto the lawn there were two Rock Doves feeding under the seed feeder. Then four Greenfinches appeared on the seed feeder. A quick look along the Fushia hedge on the North side of the garden revealed two male Blackbirds lurking in the undergrowth.

Looking from the house across towards Echna Loch I spotted a flock of about 40 Lapwings and on the far side of Echna Bay I could see about a dozen Fulmars flying along the low cliffs. A solitary Starling flying over the garden took my tally to six species without leaving the house.

But if I was to see more then I would need to get out and about.

So I set off down the hill into the village. On the way I saw a Rook in one of the fields and four Meadow Pipits in another. Further down the road I got fairly close to a Curlew feeding in another field. I eventually reached the end of the road at the West end of the village and further up the track there was a group of eight Greylag Geese which took to the air when they spotted me.

Heading back towards the village a Wren crossed the road in front of me and a Great Black-backed Gull flew overhead. On a ruined house in the middle of a field where four Ravens.

I spotted Barrie the other birder on Burray walking down the road so we teamed up and went for a walk around the area where our two patches overlap. Although there were plenty of birds about I didn't see anything new.

After an hour we headed back to his new house where we did a tour of his garden and added House Sparrow to the list as well as Turnstone, Redshank, Oystercatcher and Rock Pipit which were on the beach below his garden and Long Tailed Duck and Great Northern Diver which were out in the bay. The Turnstone was a new species for my patch list as it eluded me last year. We then headed inside for a brew and sandwiches. Whilst having lunch we did a bit of armchair birdwatching and added Robin and Pheasant to the list.

After lunch we headed to the beach running between the pier and the fourth Churchill Barrier. As we went through the village we spotted a couple of Collared Doves in one of the trees.

Round the back of the Sands Hotel was a Whimbrel, a regular visitor to this area. Out on the water there was a Shag, a Goldeneye and a couple of Red Breasted Mergansers.

A Song Thrush flew across the back of the beach and on the water's edge there was a flock of about 20 Ringed Plover. A few Common Gulls were flying about and a couple of Herring Gulls flew past. Towards Barrier 4 a Grey Heron was flying low over the water and there was a small gathering of about half a dozen Eiders on the water.

As we walked back along the rear of the beach we spotted a Reed Bunting skulking through the grass on the side of a small dune. This was another new species for my patch list.

By now the cloud was moving in and there was a chill to the wind. We decided to take a quick look over at Echna Bay/Loch

On Echna Loch there was a large gathering of Tufted Duck and in amongst them was a solitary male Scaup, the third and final new patch list species of the day. At the back of the loch were a few Wigeon.

Out in Echna Bay we spotted a Cormorant flying in.

The light was beginning to fade so we called it a day and I had started my 2014 patch list with a total of 38 species, eight more than 1 January last year and the same as I saw in the whole of January last year. It was also good to add three new species to my patch list on the first day of the year.

End of 2013

This time last year I was writing about starting this blog and how I hoped to report my birding activities around Burray and beyond. To try and encourage me to get out and about around my local area I signed up to the Patchwork Challenge.

Now 12 months later it is time to look back and see if I achieved what I had intended to achieve. In short not fully because as usual other things diverted some of my time but I still have been out there birding.

Most of my birding in 2013 has been on my patch, with some on the rest of Burray and some further afield both within Orkney and outwith.

I have added a number of species to my Life List this year all of which where within Orkney and one a Ring Ouzel turned up in my Garden. The other lifers were a Buff Breasted Sandpiper and a Western Bonelli's Warbler (East side of Burray), a Yellow Browed Warbler (Deerness), a Thrush Nightingale (Holm), Blythe's Reed Warbler and a Grasshopper Warbler (North Ronaldsay) and an Ivory Gull (Evie).

For the Patchwork Challenge I found 74 species on my patch which gave me 91 points, so that is my target to beat next year. The challenge got off to a good start with 30 species seen on the 1 Jan and another 8 species added by the end of the month. Species for the rest of the year were added as follows: Feb 4, Mar 4, Apr 2, May 6, Jun 7, Jul 1, Aug 0, Sep 7, Oct 3, Nov 2 and Dec 0. For a full list of species seen and a map showing my patch see the Patchwork Challenge Bird List page.

As well as doing the Patchwork Challenge, I also continued supplying data on the birds in my garden to the BTO Garden Birdwatch Watch scheme and I also joined the BTO Nest Record Scheme.

For the latter scheme I submitted records for two Blackbird nests that were in the garden, one raising a brood of five chicks the other a brood of three chicks, one Oystercatcher nest in the field adjoining my land, which raised a brood of three chicks and elsewhere on my patch a Swallow nest raising a brood of 4 chicks and a Blackbird nest which hatched three chicks but was predated before they could fledge. I also had five or six Starling nests and at least one House Sparrow nest within the garden but these were inaccessible so records weren't raised for these.

Work on enlarging the pond went on throughout the year and once the water was back in, it very quickly became a big attraction for the birds who were using it for drinking and bathing. At times there were upto 40 birds all trying to bathe. It was interesting to watch the young Swallows experimenting with different methods for drinking on the wing.

The best birds in the garden this year had to be the Ring Ouzel (as mentioned earlier a new life bird for me) a couple of visits by a Great Spotted Woodpecker and the Blackcaps.

My bird ringing training continued throughout the year, see my ringing blog for full details. On patch ringing activities included the two Blackbird nests in the garden and elsewhere on the patch Lapwing and Swallow chicks and young Black-headed Gulls, Common Gulls and Oystercatchers. Also on my land there were two ringing sessions targeting Meadow Pipits which also produced a Rock Pipit, a Skylark, a House Sparrow, a Blackbird and a young Swallow which had been previously ringed over at Graemeshall Loch.

So all in all a pretty busy birding year even though I didn't spend as much time out on the patch as I would have liked to.

As far as the blog goes, I have tried to post whenever I have been out and about or something interesting has turned up either on patch or elsewhere on Burray. I haven't got round to blogging about the different habitats within my patch yet but plan on doing that next year.

So that just leaves me to thank you for following my blog, I hope you have enjoyed it and will continue to follow it next year. Best wishes for 2014 and I hope you all have a good birding year.

Pre-Christmas twitch

As I have said before I don't usually twitch birds especially if they aren't on my patch however with the end of the year approaching and not having been out very much birding recently I accepted the offer of a lift from Barrie and Linda to go and see a very special bird.

The last time this species was seen in Orkney was in Kirkwall Bay between the 29 April and the 6th May 1949!!

Earlier in the week a dead male Sperm Whale was washed up onto the beach at Evie on West Mainland. Carcasses of dead cetaceans are known for attracting gulls and after last year's bonanza over near Marwick of Iceland Gulls feeding on a washed up carcass there was hope that some more white gulls would appear and feed on this one.

Sperm Whale carcass

Then on Thursday the word went out that a white gull had been found by local birder Dafi. However what he found wasn't an Iceland Gull this was something a bit more rarer, he had found an Ivory Gull.

This species is normally found in the high Arctic although the odd one or two turn up in the UK on an annual basis.

About the same size as a Common Gull it has a plumper body, broader wings with a longer tail and short black legs. According to my bird book adult birds are all white and first year birds have distinctive black finely spotted plumage and a black spotted face. This bird was generating some discussion between those that had gone to see it as it was inbetween the two plumages.

This bird had black tips to its wings but didn't have a lot of the black spotting on the rest of its wings but it did have black spotting around the base of the bill.

Ivory Gull

Ivory Gull

Thanks to Barrie and Linda for inviting me along and hpefully it won't be another 64 years before another one is seen in Orkney.

More photos to follow.

Swallows gone, Redwings arrived, Waxwings next?

Well it looks like the Swallows have all gone. I've not seen one around here since the 7 Oct although I'm sure there will still be the odd one flying about somewhere.

There have been mixed flocks of 200-300 Lapwing and Golden Plover in the field around the house over the last week and around 50 Twite were sat in/on the Fuschia bushes in the garden when I came back from my ringing session at lunchtime.

Late this afternoon I saw my first Redwings of the Autumn on my patch with 6 in our paddock. No sign of any Fieldfares yet, but as we are approaching the middle of October the question a lot of folk are asking is 'when will the Waxwings arrive?' Soon hopefully so I'd better start stocking up on apples!!

Bonelli's ticked

The Orkbird text alert sent out a message this afternoon to say that the Western Bonelli's Warbler was showing in the same place as yesterday over on the East side of Burray.

So I headed off to see if I could find it.

On arriving at the reported location I met Al, one of the RSPB wardens, who was the person who had reported it today. Al had been there for around a couple of hours looking for it and had finally found it fliting between a small clump of Sycamore trees and some Willows.

Everytime it flew into the Sycamores a Yellow-browed Warbler kept chasing it off. This could be a long search as Al hadn't seen it reappear for at least ten minutes. Suddenly Al spotted it back over by the Willows. A quick look through the binoculars and there it was sitting on the edge of the Willows in clear view.

So that was my first Western Bonelli's Warbler. The third life tick in a week!!

Al headed off leaving me to get my scope out for a closer look.

This warbler is about the same size as a Wood Warbler but has a paler brownish face instead of Yellow and White underparts like the Wood Warbler. Its most striking feature is the Yellowish-Green wings which contrast with its otherwise dull plumage.

Western Bonelli's Warbler - Photo by Pierre Dalous

A high pitched call from the Sycamores alerted me to the presence of a Yellow-browed Warbler which I eventually saw fliting amongst the leaves. After last week's missed opportunity to see one on Burray I now have that species on my Burray list too. I just need it to move a bit further West on the island to see it on my patch.

Not long after Al left I was joined by Alastair another birder and I was able to point out the location of the Bonelli's to him and we both enjoyed some good views of it. It was a shame it didn't come a bit closer so that we could get our own photos of it.

A small flock of Pink-footed Geese flying over added another species to my Burray list.

One the way back up the hill to my house I spotted three Swallows flying around over the fields.

No sign of the Ring Ouzel today.