Shetland 2014 - Day 1 - A White morning and a Yellow afternoon

So it had come to that time of year again. The end of September had been hotting up with loads of Red-breasted Flycatchers, Barred Warblers, Wrynecks and the odd mega appearing around the country like a Masked Shrike appearing at Spurn, East Yorks. I started off my journey north after going to see Kylie Minogue at the London 02 arena, then driving straight up to Aberdeen overnight to catch the ferry to Lerwick that afternoon.

The weather was beautiful in Aberdeen and the ferry journey was pretty relaxing too - not too choppy and I went up top to have a look for some seabirds as the ship headed north past the Aberdeenshire coast.

Leaving Aberdeen

On the way there were plenty of auk and Gannets offshore, some of the Gannets coming extremely close.

Gannet (Sula bassana) from the ferry.

Further along the coast, just off the coast from Rattray Head, I managed to pick out a few more seabirds including a couple of Arctic Skuas, a few Sooty Shearwaters, a single juv. Pomarine Skua and a single Bonxie. The dark soon settled across the sky and I decided to go and get some sleep ready for the next days birding.... It was going to be a big one!

I woke up at 6am to a cracking fry up on the ship and a tense 3 and a half hours to wait until I could get birding.... the reason it was so tense was because for the previous few days there had been a White's Thrush that had sticking to a garden near Boddam on the mainland, a bird sorely needed by 4 out of the 6 of our group, but I was going to be on Shetland a long time before the rest of them, so I had to get off the ferry, wait a couple of hours for a bus and then walk to the garden to (hopefully) see the bird, as long as it was still there, and then meet the rest of the guys when they arrived and travelled up to see it.

Thankfully my wait eased a bit from a text from Phil when he got to Aberdeen to tell me that the White's was still in the same garden. Eventually after waiting in the rain at the bus-stop, a half an hour journey on the bus and a quarter of an hour walk I found the garden at Loch of Brows where a group of birders were already stood by the walled garden peering into the undergrowth.

As soon as I peered over the wall I could see the White's Thrush was strutting its stuff underneath the branches of a small sycamore, bobbing from side to side keeping its head perfectly still - presumably to tempt worms up to the surface. It was an amazing dance to watch and astonishingly (as so often happens on Shetland), the small group I was watching it with with decided to move on leaving just myself and the White's Thrush alone at the garden. 

White's Thrush (Zoothera aurea), Durigath, Mainland

I spent nearly 45 minutes watching the thrush search for food until another group, this time from the excellent Shetland Nature appeared as well as the rest of my group who had finally made it on to Shetland (although minus Marks luggage!!). We carried on watching it until we'd had our fill, opting to come back later for a second look after we'd dropped down to Grutness to look for the Myrtle Warbler.

We pulled up to the car park at Grutness and wandered up to the garden where there was already a crowd waiting for the warbler to appear on its curcuit of the gardens. After only a couple of minutes it flew in to the garden giving a little 'chip chip' contact call.... Although the weather still wasn't great, we got some fantastic views of this Nearctic gem as it went around the garden looking for insects, occasionally perching out in the open showing off it's bright yellow rump.

Myrtle Warbler (Setophaga coronata coronata), Grutness, Mainland

Myrtle Warbler (Setophaga coronata coronata), Grutness, Mainland

We watched it dash round the gardens a few times until we decided to go back up to the White's Thrush and have a second look. This proved to be a good decision as the bird had moved to the opposite side of the garden under a fuschia bush but often coming right out into the open still performing its little dance. I even managed to grab a few videos which I've edited and uploaded to YouTube. Click the following link to see it:

White's Thrush, Durigarth video

White's Thrush (Zoothera aurea), Durigath, Mainland

We watched it for quite some time until it was time to go to Tescos, get supplies for the week and then head up to the Decca to get unpacked and ready for the next weeks birding!

Quite a staggering start to our yearly Shetland trip.... but we weren't to know that it certainly wasn't going to be downhill from there!

Farming and persecution - why is our countryside being held to ransom? Part One: Raptor Persecution

These have to be the two most contentious subjects when it comes to conservation and quite frankly I've had enough. I've never really been one to speak out, but I feel that I need to over this. Over the last couple of years I have read story after story concerning persecution of our protected species, listened to farmers bleating on about 'how they have it hard' and are the self-proclaimed 'custodians of the countryside' and seen the politicians of this country put nature seemingly in the same category as their expenses - just something to exploit for all it's worth. In the next couple of blog entries I am going to air my views on these topics.

It torments me to think that our beautiful countryside and the wildlife that depends on it has been continually and systematically destroyed until it is clinging on for mere existence.... and for what? Money... pure and simple. It is an utter disgrace.

The most obvious and heartless case of this 'money means more than nature' way of thinking can be seen at many shooting estates across the country, especially in the Scottish borders, where birds of prey are still heavily persecuted illegally to 'protect' shoot stock. Just how these arrogant gamekeepers think that they are in the right taking the law into their own hands is beyond me, they evidently have no idea of what happens in the natural world outside their pens and most couldn't care less anyway - they can't make money out of it.

What does it matter if a Sparrowhawk or a Buzzard takes one or two poults? Most shoots ideally try to shoot only 60% of their total release every year.... so surely it wouldn't matter if predators take a few out. These gamekeepers who are illegally 'controlling' these birds claim that they are losing money for EACH poult lost to a predator and birds of prey are the main cause behind loss of chicks because these raised birds rarely get any disease or die from any other natural causes. This, of course, is fallacy.... any gamekeeper worth his salt will attest to that. In actual fact, BASC (the British Association for Shooting and Conservation) published in their policy on raptors that the mean average across shoots was a loss of between 1-5% of the total release. More are killed by disease, due to unnaturally high population densities, and being hit by cars than the amount taken by birds of prey.

I'm not saying this happens in every single shoot, it doesn't.... there are many gamekeepers who are responsible, care for wildlife and vehemently condemn persecution - I know several both up here in Scotland and down in England, but it seems that they are vastly outnumbered. One of the main problems is the mentality of older gamekeepers and the passing down of uninformed and antiquated views on raptors to the next generations of keepers. There are courses that can be attended at colleges around the country in Gamekeeping, but most learn as apprentices thus keeping these terrible ideals alive.

Something that has always stood out to me is that they are looking to protect a species that isn't even native to our country. The only reason it was introduced was for food (what have the Romans ever done for us!) and even though food is now being mass produced and readily available, Pheasants are still being reared and released just for sport. Approximately 35 million are released every year.... even if 60% are shot each season, that still leaves 14 million extra Pheasants each year roaming free in the countryside. To put that into perspective, the UK's commonest wild bird is the Wren according to the RSPB, and their population is around 8.5 million pairs.... So what impact has the mass release of a non-native bird into our countryside actually done? That in itself is difficult to say but surely there must be some just because of the sheer scale of the release.

The UK's commonest bird, the Wren (Troglobytes troglobytes)

The last couple of years has seen a marked increase in persecution and it's a not-so-surprising co-incidence that there's a Conservative government in charge. In the RSPB report on illegal killing of birds of prey from 1989-2012 the figures speak for themselves. Bearing in mind that the report only covers Scotland, close to 1,000 raptors had been illegally killed in that period including 512 Buzzards, 91 Peregrine, 82 Red Kite, 56 Hen Harrier, 50 Golden Eagle and 7 White-tailed Eagle. These represent only the confirmed deaths and there is no doubt that this is just the very tip of a monsterous iceberg. Between 2003-2012 there were only 33 convictions from 450 confirmed persecutions.... that's a 7.3% conviction rate, and the vast majority were small fines of between £300-£1,500.

The story gets worse in 2013-2014.... not only was Irelands first White-tailed Eagle chick shot and killed, but East Scotlands first White-tailed Eagle chick was also shot and killed. What should have been heralded as a massive success and celebrated from the years of hard work the Sea Eagle projects had undertaken to finally have Eagles breeding successfully was destroyed in moments by mindless blood-thirsty gun-wielding cretins. This year has also seen the largest case of poisoning since records began in Inverness-shire, with 22 raptors having being found so far - 16 Red Kites and 6 Buzzards. This year has also seen an increase of applications to Natural England for licenses to cull Buzzards to protect pheasants after, (astonishingly), one was granted last year.

Poisoned Red Kite (Milvus milvus) - Image taken by Robert Straughan (RSPB)

The success (or lack of) of our breeding raptors highlights how bad persecution is getting in the UK, the main species to show this downward spiral is, of course, the Hen Harrier. In 2012 there was just 1 pair in England, but in 2013 there were NO breeding pairs. NONE. That is immensely depressing considering that the estimated potential population is around 300 pairs. In Scotland there were around 500 pairs, but again the estimated potential is much higher - near 1500-1750 pairs. These birds suffer because they are deemed to be a threat to grouse poults on the moors of shooting estates.... this view is held despite work undertaken to prove that the vast majority of the harriers diet during the breeding season consists chiefly of Meadow Pipits and small mammals.

But again, what does it really matter if the harriers take a few grouse poults? They've got more right to be there than the people who 'own' land just because they've paid out for it.... Ownership is a man-made invention, nature doesn't adhere to it - it just belongs. Until gamekeepers and estate owners understand that and stop pillaging the countryside for their own pockets it seems that conservationists are fighting a losing battle. How can you combat their immense greed by asking them to care about something they can't make money on and feel is actually costing them profit? After all, if they are left unchecked, how will they be able to afford their brand new Range Rover Vogue?

It is their passion that needs to be targeted if there is any hope of providing a future for Hen Harriers and other raptors in the UK. Forget prison sentences and pitiful fines... they can afford it and don't care about a little slap on the wrist.... Ban them. If they are found to have ANY links to persecution then they should have their gun licenses revoked and banned from obtaining one FOR LIFE. If they own an estate then they should be banned from obtaining licenses for holding shoots FOR LIFE. Or, even better, the rights to their land should be seized and given to conservation charities to manage instead. If they can't adhere to the laws that govern what they can and can't do on their estates, then they shouldn't be allowed to be involved at all within that sector.

The gross ineptitude of the shooting sector to drive out this aberrant behavior has gone on long enough and things need to change. BASC and RSPB have been at loggerheads for years over this issue and there is quite a fragile relationship between the two with members on both sides of the fence hurling abuse at each other, and while I see this I can't help but lose respect for both. It's getting to a stage where it's just like watching prime ministers question time with name-calling and each side defending themselves with no real action or results coming from it.

There is a petition that is being run by Dr Mark Avery here aiming to lobby the government to ban grouse shooting for good, whether this is a good idea or not is difficult to say.... yes, it may show the level of animosity towards the mindless slaughter of raptors and the disgust of the failure to stop it from happening, but there is a possibility that it may completely burn bridges in the already brittle relationship between the shooting and conservation sectors for good. This can't be helpful in safeguarding the long-term future of our raptors (and indeed our other wildlife) when they desperately need to be working together to make a difference. Ultimately though, the killing of raptors is wrong, illegal and misguided and this might be the only way to make a real statement and make the government take notice.

More pictures to catch up!

Fea's Petrel sketch done for submission to BBRC

Incredible Aurora over Thurso

Self-found Yellow-browed Warbler on patch

White-billed Diver in Caithness

White-billed Diver in Caithness

Waxwing in the same garden as a Hoopoe on the same day!

Hoopoe in Caithness

Sardinian Warbler at Mire Loch

Ringing a Sanderling

Self-found RB Fly on Shetland Oct 2013

Lesser Whitethroat ssp. halimodendri at Noss Head Oct 2013

Little Gull at Castletown, Caithness

Kumlein's Gull at Scrabster, Caithness

Hermit Thrush at Porthgwarra, Cornwall (Photo by John Swann)

Glossy Ibis at Wick, Caithness

Blackcap at Noss Head, Caithness

American Coot near Inverness

Time to get back on the blog!

It's been a long time since I've posted up here on the blog.... a lot has happened.... way too much to fit in to one post (or even several!) so I'll just have to give you the skinny..... I'm still working as a Field Ecologist for AECOM, but I've moved away from Caithness and I can now be found roaming around the mountains of Argyll. The new sites are great, (they actually have some birds which makes a nice change), and this month is the big one.... breeding raptors! Alas, I can't go into much detail as the work that I'm undertaking (location etc) has all got to be kept confidential, but there are some goodies and hopefully later on in the year I'll be able to put up an update as to how the breeding season went!

As for other bits and pieces, well, where to start?! I finally saw my Holy Grail bird on Orkney - a white-phase Gyr Falcon, then a year later was fortunate enough to find my own on my site in Caithness..... found a Fea's Petrel off Duncansby Head, saw Orcas, as well as Sperm and Humpback Whales, incredible northern lights, several excellent twitches (and some not so great!!), a couple of trips to Azerbaijan for work, a holiday in Romania, 2 consecutive October holidays in Shetland - the second proving the most fruitful with a stonking mega - Thick-billed Warbler..... continued training for my ringing C-permit, found quite a few decent birds on my local patch and did Tough Mudder for charity!! Rather than fill this entry with endless paragraphs, I'll just stick up photos instead... they'll probably tell a better story anyway!

Red-footed Falcon near Aberfeldy

Roller in East Yorks

Ptarmigan on Ben Kilbreck, Sutherland

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll in Shetland Oct 2012

Waxwings in my garden in Thurso

Me with a Waxwing after putting some bling on its leg

Amazing Aurora borealis over Thurso - Nov 2013

The Holy Grail

 

 

Snow Bunting on site in Sutherland - March 2013

Sperm Whale in Oban

Cracking Woodchat Shrike at Chew Valley Lake, Somerset

Large Blue at Collard Hill, Somerset

Ringing a Black Guillemot in Caithness

Kittewake taking a breather on my leg for 10 minutes after being fleyged and ringed

Storm Petrel relaxing after getting a new ring

Collared Flycatcher in Northumberland

BLEEDING ORCAS!!!!

Tawny Owl in Lairg

Purple Emperor in East Sussex

Pechora Pipit on Shetland Oct 2013

Ringing a female Tawny Owl in Argyll

More pictures to follow!!!

Catch-up!! The year at a glance! Jan - April 2012

So...... talk about a REALLY overdue update..... how to fit 12 months of birding fun and games into something that won't have to be sent to the publishers and rival the bible for number of pages..... Let's see....

January.

Well, I was still doing my second stint as the RSPB Informtion Officer for the Starlings on the Somerset Levels...... the winter had been pretty mild compared tot he year before and the flock was smaller.... but still over 1 million strong and on occasions performed fantastically well!

Through the eye of the murmuration

There was a Dark-eyed Junco down in Hampshire which had been found on the 31st Dec but having already seen one in Cheshire in 1998 I decided not to go down for it. Otherwise a Lesser Yellowlegs at Bridgewater, Somerset which had been there for a while was a nice start to the year, but we were all waiting for the first 'biggie' of the year... What would it be and where?

We didn't have to wait long.... On the 9th January the news came.... MEGA - HANTS: SPANISH SPARROW..... OK.... working for the next 3 days.... it'll stay... won't it? But then the fears were laid to rest as the information started to trickle out. The bird had been in the area for at least a year and had been thought to have bred with the local House Sparrow population! Albeit a little bit frustrating that the news had been sat on for such a long time (unfortunately there are still too many cases of supression for the wrong reasons...... mainly one-upmanship), it was certainly useful to know that this wasn't going to be a one or two day bird.

So on the 13th, I went down first thing in the morning to Calshot.... there was already a reasonable crowd gathered in the estate, but there had been no sign of the bird. It was only another 20 minutes of scanning hedges and checking out the bundles of sparrows flying around until someone shouted that it was in a bush over the road.... it was partially obscures, but the plain chestnut head and the black streaks down it's flanks could easily be seen through the scope and it didn't move for a good 10 minutes before taking flight with a small flock and disappeared over the houses. I hadn't managed to get any decent pics of it as I'd spent most of my time watching it, so I thought I'd hang around for a bit to try and refind it.

Again, only a few minutes later and one of the local residents came out of his house to tell us it was in his garden and did we want to go into his kitchen to watch it on his feeders..... I was chatting to Matt Meehan at the time and we were the first people the guy decided to talk to! Prime spot in the kitchen taken and we were getting cracking views of the bird munching away on the seeds in the feeder.

Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolenisis) - Calshot, Hants 13/01/11

It was then off to Hawkhill Enclosure to look for the Dark-eyed Junco..... while I was there it would have rude not to. The bird showed pretty well if distant and I only managed a couple of pretty poor record shots.

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis), Hawkhill Enclosure - 13/01/11

I had a bit of a wander around the site and added Woodlark and Crossbill to the day trip list, then decided to make my way back home. A good start to the year, but seeing the Junco made me wonder what other yanks were hidden away in the country.

February

Bird of the month had to go to the incredible discovery of a 1st winter male Common Yellowthroat just outside Newport at Rhiwderin, Gwent. A frantic call to Matt Meehan the evening it was found got the information needed to get to the site first thing... thankfully I was staying in Bristol that night so it would only be a short hop across the bridge. A carload sorted and at dawn we were trudging down the field to the hedge where it had mostly been seen. Already a hundred or so were gathered waiting for any sign and the wait began..... 1 hour came and went.... 2....... and then.... a glimpse by a twitcher half  way up the line who said it flown up the hedgeline towards a thicket..... cue pandamonium....... thankfully, for the moment, everyone was giving the bird a bit of room andit flicked out enough for some of us (myself included) to get eyes on it..... then it was on the move again and this time frustration and panic started to get the better of several of the crowd and the bird was soon getting flushed from pillar to post..... chased across the field...... it was getting stupid. After a few of these 'charges' from onrushing twitchers, Kev Rylands gave them a bit of a bollocking telling the crowd to give it a bit of room.... and.... hey presto.... after a little while of getting itself together, out it popped and gave some brilliant views!

Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) at Rhiwderin, Gwent - 17/02/11

March

March was a pretty quiet month in terms of rarities, but the birding was good, the first migrants started appearing.... Wheatears, Sand Martins and others started flooding into the country so there was always plenty to see.

The adders were out as well at Shapwick Heath which gave me a bit of time to spend taking a few photos of these fantastic reptiles.

Adder (Vipera berus), Shapwick Heath - 26/03/13

Adder (Vipera berus), Shapwick Heath - 27/03/12

The main 'happening' of the month though was of a personal nature.... towards mid-March I had been searching for a new job.... but my contract at the starlings was fast coming to an end and there was nothing on the horizon.... I was starting to panic.... whenever you work in conservation there is always a possibility that you can be left without work for a while, ending up having to work in warehouses, offices.... anything that you can get really and I've done my fair share of that in the past. It wasn't the direction I wanted to go, but with only a week left until I finished with the RSPB, it felt like it was going to be the only option.

Then, with 1 day left on my contract I received a phonecall from Kevin Webb, the husband of my bosses boss..... he asked me if I'd found work and whether or not I'd be interested in an Ornithologist position for the Environmental Conservancy that he worked for..... erm...... ''Shit yes'' was my reply.... maybe not the most professional acceptance, but I'd previously spoken to Kev a couple of times before at an RSPB chritmas do and at Symonds Yat in 2010 when I was showing people Peregrine Falcons, and I felt pretty sure he wouldn't hold that against me!

An interview a couple of days later, (well.... I say interview.... a few cups of coffee, a look through some photos from his days as Warden at Sandwich Bay of birds in the hand and Kev just telling me right from the beginning that I was starting in the middle of April!), and I was starting to prepare for moving north of the border to Brora, a little town on the east coast of Sutherland.

As a end of season treat Matt Brierley, Jen Clark and I went to Gigrin Farm to go and watch the Red Kites being fed.... it's a brilliant experience. At one point there were so many kites in the air at the same time it was difficult to count, but we estimated a good 150.... the hides giving a great opportunity to try and get some shots as they performed their aerobatics.

Red Kite (Milvus milvus) - Gigrin Farm, Rhyader

Red Kite (Milvus milvus) - Gigrin Farm, Rhyader

Red Kite (Milvus milvus) - Gigrin Farm, Rhyader

April

A quick visit to Chew Valley Lake to pick up my new scop with Matt Brierley and Gary Haskins led to picking up Lesser Scaup and Long-tailed Duck for the year and that was my last bit of birding in Somerset before I set off on my new venture.

Working to conduct the ornithology work for the Environmental Impact Assessment of wind farms is not everyones cup of tea..... some feel that it can be quite a pressured environment, to ensure areas for are 'safe' for development despite what wildlife is seen there.... so I was a little concerned when I first started, but Kev laid those fears to rest straight away.... 'If there's eagles or divers or anything else breeding on site I'll make sure that the proper procedures are followed and absolutely no development will ensue to keep whatever's there, there.'....

Well..... there was nothing..... I mean absolutely, completely, totally devoid of anything! I couldn't believe it..... the habitat was great, so why wasn't anything there? No Hen Harrier, no Short-eared Owl, no divers whatsoever.... plenty of Crossbills, Tree Pipits, Cuckoos, but nothing else.... surely this had to change?

Anyway, being up in the far north gave me the chance to see some great bits and pieces like summer plumaged Slavonian Grebe, Capercaillie lekking, Crested Tit, Golden Eagles and Ptarmigan.... superb stuff!

Slavonian Grebe (Podiceps auritus), undisclosed site, Highlands

Slavonian Grebe (Podiceps auritus), undisclosed site, Highlands

Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta), Cairn Gorm, Highlands

Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta), Cairn Gorm, Highlands

There was also a 'Black' Scoter reported from Portmahomack half way through the month, so I went to have a look.... when I found the bird something didn't fit quite right to me.... I'd seen a 'Black' Scoter in North Wales a few years before and this one seemed more like a Common Scoter in shape, but still had the large yellow knob on its bill which was like the american duck..... the only logical conclusion that I could come up with was that it was a hybrid.... still a nice bird and it did stick out really well in the flock.

Another trip to see Jen Clark who was now working for the RSPB at the Loch Garten Osprey project led to a day on the north-east coast by Aberdeen, mainly going to look for the Greater Yellowlegs at Loch of Strathbeg RSPB.... most likely the bird that I had missed in Cornwall last autumn. We managed to find the Greaterlegs within minutes of getting into the hide, but almost as soon as we found it, a Peregrine went through and spooked everything off the scrape.... unfortunately the bird disappeared and dispite looking for it again there was no joy.... we did, however, have 2 Common Cranes fly by and some great views of Tree Sparrows back at the car park.

Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus), Loch of Strathbeg RSPB, Aberdeens

Common Crane (Grus grus), Loch of Strathbeg RSPB, Aberdeens

It was then on to the Ythan Estuary to have a look for the drake King Eider that returns there every year.... this was a bird I really wanted to see... they are so unbelievably photogenic and amazing looking ducks. After making the trek to where the Eiders were hanging out near to the estuary mouth we found a massive bank of Grey Seals hauled out.... around 300 or so and Eiders everywhere! Scanning through them all it felt like we were going to be out of luck, but then, behind a drake Eider, a multi-coloured bill appeared.... incredible..... For over an hour we watched the King Eider swim about getting pretty close to us, preening and feeding too.... a brilliant, brilliant bird, something would have to be pretty special to top this bird for the year!

King Eider (Somateria spectabilis), Ythan Estuary, Aberdeens

King Eider (Somateria spectabilis), Ythan Estuary, Aberdeens