(not) LANDGUARD - 27th October

 Overcast and breezy but it remained dry at Minsmere first thing; the scrapes were busy at first light with a good selection of gulls and wildfowl which largely all left shortly after dawn, these were highlighted by a juvenile Glaucous Gull with big numbers of Great Black-backs and Lesser Black-backs, luckily it stayed a bit longer than a lot of gulls allowing me to get a good look but there was something off about it, especially some darker markings in the primary tips suggesting a hybrid origin.   

Also leaving at first light were 8 Goosanders and 820+ Barnacle Geese; other birds through the morning included much larger wildfowl numbers than last time I went, 2 Green Sandpipers, a Great White Egret, a late Hobby over Whin Hill (probably the latest I’ve seen) and a Peregrine.

Almost a Glaucous Gull

Shoveler and Teal

7th - 9th February

A few days mooching around the Aberdeenshire coast, starting off nice, sunny and pleasant but deteriorating to a blazing wind on the 9th but generally still remaining sunny; highlights were scarce with scanning through thousands of Gulls not being too productive with the exception being a juvenile Glaucous Gull in Peterhead Harbour on the 7th.   Other little bits in amongst all the Gulls, Eiders, Mergansers, waders, Stonechats, sunshine and wind included a nice roost of 75+ Purple Sandpipers at Buchanhaven, north side of Peterhead on the 7th, a Black Redstart by the harbour in Rosehearty, good views of a long-staying drake American Wigeon on Fedderate Reservoir, inland from Fraserburgh and a nice little group of 5 Corn Buntings on the western edge of Fraserburgh whilst unsuccessfully searching through thousands of Gulls in the strong wind along the stretch of coast between Rosehearty and Fraserburgh.  

Glaucous Gull

Eiders in Peterhead Harbour

Turnstone

Carrion Crow

Rooks on the beach at Rosehearty

American Wigeon record shot

9th November

Came across on the evening flight to Kirkwall last night in order to twitch the Steller’s Eider on either Westray or Papa Westray; we got the early ferry across to Westray but as we got there, we were told it had just been re-found over on Papa Westray, luckily there was a boat going across in perfect time for us.   We arrived and stomped off up the west coast but missed the bird by half an hour so we followed the coast right round and past North Hill with no luck although we did see a 3cy Glaucous Gull, an adult male Hen Harrier, a Woodcock, a slightly unseasonal flock of c50 Siskins seen flying out across the sea and plenty of Great-northern Divers.   It was a stiff easterly wind so when we got around to the east side it was pretty exposed so we turned back to search again the sheltered west coast and finally, after a few hours we found the cracking first-winter drake STELLER’S EIDER close in to the shore almost as far south as St. Bonniface’s Chapel – much relief all round!   It then showed really well for a couple of hours, feeding close inshore and occasionally hauling out on the rocks for a preen.   A Water Rail was also running around on the rocks!

Steller's Eider

Glaucous Gull

NORTH RONALDSAY - 12th May

Lovely, calm and sunny again first thing with a little westerly breeze springing up mid-morning which eventually swung round into the south and died away again by the afternoon; another cracking bird made up the day’s highlight with a blurry image of a female Pied Flycatcher-type on the back of a guests camera sending me scrambling to re-find it and luckily catching it almost immediately in a Heligoland trap from where it became a young female COLLARED FLYCATCHER – the third island record but we still await our first male.

                Given the fine conditions there was just a light scattering of other migrants apart from wader numbers which continue to rise toward their usual mid-May peak; birds included 3 Garganey in the Hooking area, a male Peregrine south down the west coast (the first one since mid-April), 10 Golden Plover, 17 Knot, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 72 Bar-tailed Godwits, 468 Turnstone, a Common Sandpiper, a 3cy Glaucous Gull at The Lurn, a good influx of 900+ Arctic Terns, 2 Woodpigeons, yesterday’s Long-eared Owl caught in Holland, a Short-eared Owl leaving high to the north off the top end, a House Martin, 3 Robins, 50 Wheatears, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Whitethroat, a Blackcap, a Chiffchaff, 3 Willow Warblers, a Carrion Crow, a Chaffinch, 2 Brambling and 2 Common Redpolls.

Collared Flycatcher

as it tried to get into the trap

Glaucous Gull

Peregrine

NORTH RONALDSAY - 12th February

A very different day with a strong and increasing southerly wind but it remained dry and sunny throughout; a few hours spent in likely spots during high tide produced the highlight of 2 Glaucous Gulls – a near-adult and a 2cy, roosting on the grass near the lighthouse.   Otherwise it was unremarkable as birds of note included 4 Great-northern Divers, the Eurasian White-fronted Goose, 6 Gadwall, 3 Pintail, 6 Shoveler, 15 Tufted Ducks (the highest count this year so far), 18 Bar-tailed Godwits and a bit of an influx of Gulls in the rough weather including 285 Common Gulls, 105 Herring Gulls and 180 Great Black-backed Gulls.

Adult Glaucous Gull

2cy Glaucous Gull

White-fronted Goose