Mixed Bag

Wednesday October 11

Should we start the day by re-tracing our footsteps to Udale Bay? I didn't mention it to Pam as I knew that the tide was going out again and the birds had been so distant yesterday. Plus the aditional mileage. We should have done, two sub species of Canada Goose to-day and one flock was in a roadside field. Ah well.

We breakfasted, in the rain, at Skateraw Bay. Curlew, a small passage of Gannets, Redshank, Eider, a lone Bar-tailed Godwit and Shags, in addition to the usual gulls. Tree Sparrows near the entrance houses were a welcome addition. Even the Snowy Owl in his cage was hiding in a corner.

Aberlady Bay at low tide is not a pretty sight. I love Snettisham in its muddy glory, why not this place? Plenty of Wigeon, flights of newly arrived Pinkfeet, a large flock of Lapwing and a plethora of Herring Gulls with a few Greater Black-backed.

Longniddry Links No 3 was no better, neither was the weather, time to negotiate the Edinburgh Ring Road with its ever changing speed limits. We were copped here once......

A new road system since the Spring was a surprise. So was crossing the magnificent new Queensferry Bridge. Awesome. When was that opened to traffic? 

 Queensferry Crossing was first opened to motorists in the early hours of August 30.
The Northbound carriageway admitted traffic first, before the Southbound carriageway was opened 45 minutes later.

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The Queen officially launched the crossing on September 4, exactly 53 years after she opened the Forth Road Bridge – and it opened fully on September 7.
The structure is 207m above high tide (683ft), equivalent to about 48 double decker buses stacked on top of each other.
It is 50m (25%) higher than the existing Forth Road Bridge
The bridge has windshielding to almost entirely eliminate the need for closures during the frequent periods of high winds in the Forth estuary. Cables can be replaced with more ease than on the Forth Road Bridge - it can be done as part of normal maintenance works without closing the bridge.

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How did I miss that?

Pam passed me her camera and I tried some shots through the windscreen, desperately trying to get the support masts upright.What looked like gossamer webbing sails hanging from the pillars were very solid when adjacent.

This a better photo, taken from the internet.

A visit to Loch Leven and Vane Farm RSPB is a must for Pam. Thirty Whooper Swans the harbinger of many more to come. Two hundred Pink-footed Geese whiffled wearily down on to the water, a mere handful of the thousands that winter here. Our first Roe Deer fed distantly, white rumps gleaming in the wintery sun. It's not my favourite place as everything is always so distant.

Time to spare and the sun shining. Methil beckoned. What we remembered as Methil was actually Leven, with its shore-side parking area and snack van.
In Autumn 2004, a Masked Shrike turned up in Scotland. I'd had both my knees replaced and had daily visits from a District Nurse to clean and dress my open and  infected wounds. I convinced her that I could do my own dressing, travelled to the Perth area, stayed overnight and hobbled on crutches to see the bird. We then drove to Leven car park in search of birds and breakfast. There I dressed my wounds, whilst Pam got breakfast of bacon roll from what looked like the identical snack caravan. The van was closed to-day.
Having a fresh water inlet, the bay is popular with gulls, waders and ducks. The beach- loafing gulls and waders were constantly disturbed by off the leash dogs, joyously chasing them into flight. When they re-settled, two Sanderling fed amongst them, always a delight. Pam, whilst watching passing adult and black juvenile Gannets, spotted a winter plumaged Tystie pass swiftly by. To my delight, I had 10 Red-breasted Mergansers in my scope at once, one of my favourite birds and one I associate with this site. Our first male Eiders too, making their stately way  out to sea in a line flotilla.
Time to retire, we joined the home going traffic towards Perth, making steady progress. As we approached the dead end left turn off the A9 for our Travelodge, the cones closing it off became apparent. What now? We sailed past in our fast, 3 lane wide stream of traffic, moving inexorably towards Inverness. The Satnav was silent........ Nearing a roundabout, she burst into voice, directing us back the way we'd come but, on the opposite carriageway of course. Some time later, via a lot of instructions, traffic, detours, unfamiliar roads and turnings, we arrived at a back entrance to the Lodge. Waw. Never has our Satnav been so appreciated and intuitive. I love her. Until to-morrow anyway.
Our room number is 101. We've been put into Room 101.

Scotland, Here We Come

Tuesday October 9

Not our customary early start as we are 'only' driving to Berwick on Tweed to-day. We had a good journey, with only one shower en route. 

We didn't miss the sighting of the Angel of the North to-day...... 

A leisurely shared sandwich lunch near Durham before leaving the A1 for Seahouses. Many years since I was here. A booked boat trip to Brownsman for Elsie, the Lesser Crested Tern -  on the way home from Scotland. No tern, on her nest, out of sight beyond a ridge. A furious Lee Evans was present, dressed in his off white mac and black and white shoes, shouting at the boatman for misappropriation of birders' money.   Very true, they knew it wasn't viewable. To add coals to the fire, the warden appeared from his hut and pointed down to where the nest was situated - we assume.

Good ending. we saw her on Blakeney Point a year later. 

To-day, we parked shoreside and looked out at the misty Farnes, ticking off Shag, Cormorants, Turnstones, Oystercatcher and female Eider. A pager message cut short our stay in fast decreasing light. Budle Bay is a few miles north and on our route. A lengthy narrow layby, allows viewing of the waterless bay. What!! Five thousand Barnacle Geese as far away as they could be. The task, to find a lone Richardson's Cackling Goose amongst them. Even at 50x, my Swarovski was struggling - nearly as much as I was.

Pam made contact with a nearby group of birders, one of them from Norfolk, they couldn't find it either. As the light became even worse, frustration was heightened by streams of geese departing north, others returning. You get the message. Time to look elsewhere. 

Pam found a Glaucous Gull amongst the large flock of roosting, loitering gulls and, a Snow Goose showed itself as the flock of Barnacles diminished. Apparently, local knowledge says that this is an unusually large flock for the bay.
Some appalling photos.
The first photo is heavily cropped from a 300mm lens effort, the dark line at the back is the Barnacles.
The second photo even more cropped.

The Glaucous is front middle left - headless.

Time to claim our Travelodge room, on the Morrison's roundabout  in Berwick. and to veg out watching soaps on TV.

Snettisham Spectacular

Sunday October 8

Travelling directly to Snettisham RSPB, we arrived a half hour before high tide. The Wash was already fully under water, the tide was 7.1 m, very high. We'd missed the fly in to the pits, that would have been before dawn.

Patience required.

A steady trickle of birders wandered to and fro, one tired looking elder stopping to ask how we'd managed to drive down. It's a long trudge from the car park.

At high tide, a fast flying, amorphous, low-flying smoke  of two thousand birds rose over the pit bank, sped to the far bank and.......flew back again. The twirlies. Much too early.

As the receding tide exposed distant mud, more and more birds left the densely populated islands in the pit, landing in the far distance until the shore looked like a black belt-line.

We both noticed that, regardless of species, an odd bird would helicopter into the air, before dropping to regain its position in the flock. Why?

Time to leave and, take up position for the dropping tide, at the eastern end. Small goups of mixed - common - species dropped into the russet, samphire edged mud

Curlew in the Samphire

Mixed Group

Lunch at Brancaster, entertained by a Little Egret fishing at the mouth of an inlet, the rushing outfill seeming to direct fish into its open beak.
 

No reports on the pager, was it still there? We were able to stop on the road to view the normally flooded field east of Stiffkey village. Yes. A white flash showed briefly amongst the cattle at the back of the field. The Cattle Egret then walked into the open before disappearing again.

Dreech

Sunday October 1

The post heading describes most of the weather to-day. We asked ourselves why we were out at all. Mainly because it was one of the few first day of the month we were able to do so.

And..... I am suffering from lack of birding time. Roll on our trip to Scotland to celebrate  Pam's 80th birthday. We leave on the 10th, taking two days on the way up and then a week at the Grant Arms before making an identical return journey. Warm garments will be needed.

The paucity of birds of any kind, even Wood Pigeons, on the way to our first halt at Sculthorpe Mill, proved our lack of judgement. We had barely hit double figures by Abbey Farm where the general air of neglect is not welcoming. In addition to the very uneven concrete slabs which constitute the path to the hide, the latter were largely concealed by a thick layer of wet, rotting and slippery, leaves and tree debris. The path is never swept, I may well carry out an often voiced wish to arrive armed with a yard brush. No water in the pond and stream, not even Greylags on the meadow with a sky empty of the Red Kite, Buzzards and Hobby seen the previous day.

Pam , in one of our stops in gateways, saw a Sparrowhawk perched on the hedge. I managed one photo - with the car engine still on - before it flew. 

Ah, Snettisham called, the thought of waders lightened the mood as always. Until we arrived. Low tide with miles of dry mud extending to infinity. Careful scanning found Grey Plover, a few Knot, Curlew, Golden Plover, Redshank, a Greenshank called and a Curlew Sandpiper. As notable as the latter were the negatives - no Dunlin, Godwits nor Oystercatchers.

Sounds miserable, it wasn't, we were still enjoying the day. This Herring Gull looked as we might have felt.

The Greater Black-backed Gull had a damaged left foot.

Turnstone, Oystercatcher, Bar and Black-tailed Godwits, Ringed Plover and Dunlin at Brancaster Staithe before we called it a day and drove home, turning inland soon after Brancaster.

The day's total was 60 species, miserly but,  more than we expected. 
Some colour to end with.......

Red Underwing 
A large, showy and much desired moth. This one was too flighty - even after being in the fridge - to photograph out of the box.

The Holy Grail

Tuesday September 19

As we parked at Natural Surroundings, an unknown man entered the gate. Another stranger at a supposedly invitation only moth group? Visitors should pay an entry fee, all regulars pay an annual membership fee.

Getting to the cabin, a small group surrounded the stranger and I was nodded in that direction.He had brought a Clifden Nonpareil, trapped in Surrey, for us to see. Waw. Never thought I'd see one. Big, blue underwing, rare immigrant to the south coast. He displayed it on the wooden bench for all to photograph. It wouldn't open its wings fully for me.....

What a splendid moth. That leaves Deathshead Hawkmoth now........ 

Then, we got on with opening the traps, an anticlimax to-day.

Three Short Outings

Wednesday September 13

It started off sunny and ended in rain. We haven't been to Winterton Beach for months - avoiding the summer crowds. As we entered the village a Common Swift zoomed past overhead, heading south. Small groups of Swallows and House Martins, mainly the latter, fed along the dunes, gathering fat resources for the journey ahead.

Thursday September 14

A raging north westerly tempted us to Sheringham east car park after moth-ing at Cley. No Greg to-day, he was sea-watching at West Runton.

We parked at the front of the clifftop car park and in half an hour from a wind-shaken car saw, 4 Gannets, 1 Red-throated Diver, two dozen Wigeon and 4 Arctic Skuas.

As Sue B had said at Cley cafe, no real quantity but good quality. She'd seen Grey Phalarope, Bonxie, Long-tailed Skua and Black Tern as well, having spent most of the morning in the western Sheringham car park. I had expected the first Brent Geese to-day in the favourable wind.

Friday September 15

It's even longer since we birded Buckenham Marsh, another winter birding spot. Scanning the Cantley end of the marsh on the drive down was fruitless apart  from 2 Mute Swans. The large pool was full of Greylag and Canada Geese with about a dozen Avocets, a scattering of Teal and probable Garganey. The latter was distant and disappeared into the reeds. It just looked right.

Stopping in the Fishermen's car park, along with one other birder in the sole car there. I continued to scan the gates for Peregrine. The birder in the other car came across to point out a bird perched on a distant gate which he couldn't ID for certain. His scope was of the extending tube variety......It was a lovely adult Hobby which later flew over the car park. We also had two Wheatears squabbling over a gate post perch, three Kestrels, a Chinese Water Deer and Pam saw a Roe Deer. 

All very enjoyable in pretty awful weather. Some sun with lots of heavy rain showers.

Even Longer.....

Sunday September 10

School holidays and August are not a good combo for enticing Pam out birding. She's still as keen but the motivation plummets. We did manage a day out on the 1st for a change, curtailed by my leaving my Leki stick in the hide at Abbey Farm. This meant a detour which missed out the coast on the return journey - it was the first time I've left my belongings anywhere....Very annoying.

Lowest of low tides at Snettisham with the usual waders on display, scattered widely across the mud flats. Good to see a flock of returning Golden Plovers and two Greenshanks. Grey Plovers are one of my favourites, especially in their summer plumage, jet black pinafores.

A group of this year's Grey Partridges dashed across a field entrance near Abbey Farm.

We continue to moth trap almost daily, always catching interesting moths in ever diminishing numbers. We put out two traps one promising night at the beginning of the month. The actinic near the Buddleias at the bottom of the garden was full of Large Yellow Underwings, the egg boxes festooned with these large nuisances. A very valuable, sturdy  bird and bat food, but, they move around the boxes disturbing everything. We call them Blunders.

Frosted Orange

Maidens Blush

Dusky Thorn

I've also given a presentation at Blakeney Village Hall, entitled ''A Taste of Thailand'', to the North Norfolk group of the Butterfly and Moth Conservation group. Disastrous start. I only had 5 minutes to try and acquaint myself with their aged laptop before Judy started. I depend on the names of the photos showing at the top and forward arrows at the bottom. All other laptops I've used did so. Especially at the beginning, before nerves settle, not having to remember names is a comfort. I ploughed on, with advice from non - tech novice Judy and better from Greg - in stereo, of no use whatsoever. I'd sorted it by the interval. No-one seemed to mind much, bless them. It was good to see so many friends supporting us. 

I'd taken my own laptop as a back-up but it doesn't have the appropriate socket for attaching their projector. Ah well. I have since received an email - via Judy - from the couple who spoke to me at the interval, saying how much they'd enjoyed it. Much appreciated, praise is seldom received and always welcome.