Black-throated divers at Firemore

A wonderful flat rainbow at Firemore today. There must be an impressive pot of gold at the end of it surely?  Well there certainly was, a flock of 22 stunning summer plumage black-throated divers in the bay at Firemore beach. 

In all seriousness, is there a better looking bird on the British list? Or a more enigmatic bird? Just breathtaking.

Stinky minkes in the Minch

Have you ever smelled a whales breathe? No? Then you've never lived. Minke whales are often given the nickname stinky minke because if you're down wind of them when the blow they..... well you get the idea. 

It was the first of my scheduled whale watching trips from Gairloch this morning, with Hebridean Whale Cruises, on board the Humber rib "Orca 1". As usual it was the most wonderful of experiences, loads of whales and dolphins, even more seabirds, stunning scenery and an exhilarating, high speed 100km (60 mile) ride as well. What's not to love? A bargain at £110. 

Today we travelled to the north tip of Trotternish on Skye, past the Quirang, Kilt Rock and the Old Man of Storr, then through the Gap of Rona and past Raasay before heading back to Gairloch. We saw about seven minke whales today, plus lots of common dolphins and a few harbour porpoise. 

Birds were really good, best being a juvenile long-tailed skua which went over our boat twice and then chased a kittiwake. Other birds included sooty shearwaters and storm petrels, all quite close to the boat. The weather has been ok generally but the wind forecast over the next few days is hit and miss so fingers crossed that I can get out again on Wednesday!

Minke whale.

Common dolphins.

More common dolphins. The closest animal looks like a youngster to me.

A feeding frenzy of gannets off Kilt Rock, Skye.

Gannets off the Old Man of Storr, Skye.

Manx shearwater.

Storm petrel.

The Quirang on Skye.

Red deer on Raasay.

I've been with Hebridean Whale Cruises many times over the past 10 years and can't recommend them highly enough. It's always a tremendous experience.

Our route today.

Minke whales at Peterburn

A flat calm day today, perfect for whale watching and midges, and Peterburn, just north of Gairloch, is a great place for both. Following a another good morning at Big Sand with more views of the Pacific diver, I spent the afternoon at my favourite mainland viewing point and counted at least seven minkes scattered across the huge panorama of the Minch. 

The midges were just awful but honestly, who cares when the reward is this?

Looking towards Skye.

A four diver, three eagle day at Caolas beag

Caolas beag is the straight between Longa island and the mainland at the northern end of the entrance to Loch Gairloch in North West Scotland. Eight days ago an adult winter plumage Pacific diver was found in the straight, loosely associating with black-throated divers and sometimes shags. It was reported for about five days but then nothing, no news either way. I wasn't completely surprised by this, Caolas beag is a long way from anywhere, even Inverness is a two hour drive, and Pacific divers aren't that rare these days, so it was unlikely to draw a big crowd. I did however expect a few birders today given that it's weekend and it's still a mega rarity in Scotland, with most UK records coming from England and Wales, so I thought that a few Scottish birders might be looking to add it to their Scottish lists. Be that as it may, I was the only birder on site this afternoon.

Tor Olson, who found the first Pacific diver for Norway, has kindly allowed me to use some of his photos here to better illustrate some of the identification features that I'll be discussing in this post. Note that his bird was a 1st summer bird whereas the Big Sand bird is an a winter plumage adult.

Caolas beag is a place I know well from previous visits to this area. I'm not exactly local at the moment, but I am staying at Aultbea, a village about 17 miles away, so it was no trouble to visit this wonderful site today. 

Pacific diver (left) with black-throated diver,
Lista, Norway 12th July 2015 
Photo © Tor Olson

I scanned the water several times before I picked it up, quite distant with a flock of 12 breeding plumage black-throated divers. It had a completely different jizz to its cousins, being obviously smaller with a finer, shorter bill and a rounder head shape. 

Pacific diver, Lista, Norway 12th July 2015
Photo © Tor Olson

Crucially, it did not have the white flanks of black-throated which is a diagnostic feature of Pacific. It's face lacked the the white cheeks of non-breeding black-throated and the overall impression at that distance was of  a bird with a grey head and  pale throat rather than the usual grey head and pale face of black-throated. It obviously stood out being the only winter plumage adult in the flock.

Pacific diver, Lista, Norway 12th July 2015
Photo © Tor Olson

I read a description of a Pacific diver elsewhere where somebody said that when alongside black-throated, Pacific looked more like a great crested grebe in terms of size. That seemed a pretty accurate description to me. 

It was quite a sunny afternoon and as the sun moved round to the west viewing became more difficult and the birds more silhouetted, so at that distance there was no chance of a photo. I'll try again tomorrow morning.

Also on the straight today, at least four great northern divers, including a breeding plumage adult, and four breeding plumage red-throated divers.

I'd parked at Sands camp site cafe so the only decent thing to do was to retire there for a cup of tea and a scone. It was a pleasant afternoon so I sat outside on one of the benches and was rewarded with three white-tailed eagles in the air together for a while, before one broke away and flew right over my head!

The pipistrelles over the garden

The bats over the garden have been putting on a good show this summer. For an hour after dusk and an hour before dawn they swirl around the garden, sometimes coming quite close, sometimes going over the neighbours garden, but always coming back to us. We usually watch them through our large patio doors which overlooks the garden. 

The sunset in that direction can be quite dramatic, imagine the sunset for which Pennington Flash is renowned, well we get that through our patio doors. Then, just as it starts to fade and the sky is turning pink, the bats come out and entertain us. It can be so good that often we will turn off the tv, if it was ever on, turn off the lights and just sit there chatting with a beer and looking out at the sunset and watching the bats. Honestly it's better than anything on telly. They're usually around from about the end of March to the end of September but occasionally will come out in winter if we have a mild spell.

We've had bats for at least 10 years, I suspect that they are in our building, probably under the facia at the front. but I've never seen them emerge. I really hope so, I don't want this fabulous experience to depend on sympathetic neighbours who may of may not appreciate the bats. There are three bats in this video, but you'll have to be quick to spot them all!

A few years ago using a bat detector that I borrowed from work, I identified them as soprano pipistrelles broadcasting at around 55 kHz. I've just assumed that that's what they still are, but they could be common pipistrelle, or perhaps both. I no longer have access to a bat detector so I can't check.

Willow emerald completes the set at Bickershaw

With the summer rapidly drawing to a close, bringing more unsettled weather, the pressure was on if I was to complete the set of odonata at Bickershaw in 2026. I mean, how many more suitable days will there be for dragonfly watching this year, especially since I have a holiday to Scotland approaching soon which will take out a sizeable slice of the time available. So today, with a bright sunny afternoon forecast, albeit 15 degrees celsius cooler than it was a couple of weeks ago, I decided that it was an opportunity to seek out the last remaining species on my personal site list that was missing so far this year.

Since I started visiting the site in June 2025, I've managed to record what I think is an amazing 24 species of dragonfly and damselfly. The only one of those 24 species that I hadn't managed to see this year was willow emerald, a late summer and early autumn species. Last year we saw it on a small pond near Fir Tree flash and later on the stock pond in the north of the site. 

Frustratingly when I arrived at the small pond today, the sun was behind a cloud and there was nothing flying so I continued on my way.

However, when I reached the stock pond the sun was out again and almost immediately I managed to see this stunning willow emerald perched on exactly the same tree that we saw them in last year. What a fantastic looking damselfly this is and easy to recognise, being obviously larger than common emerald (up to 4.8cm long) with no large patches of blue in the abdomen, pale pterostigmas (the rectangular patches at the end of the wing) and a prominent spur like mark projecting into the cream on the side of the thorax.

So that's it, if I'm to add to my total for this year I'll need to find something new for the site. Red-veined darter springs to mind, or possibly scarce blue-tailed damselfly. There's always something to look for and Bickershaw has proved to me that anything is possible.

Clifden Nonpareil, St Helens

What a week it's been for moths in St Helens, hot on the heels of Mondays striped hawk-moth, last night brought a Clifden Nonpareil to Ray's trap in Parr. Another migrant, this is a big moth, larger actually than the striped hawk-moth with a forewing of up to 48mm (just under 2"). Unsurprisingly it's in the same family as red underwing. A first for me and the third for St Helens.

Glossy ibis on Teal scrape, Pennington Flash

The glossy ibis from yesterday evening was still present this morning in exactly the same place on the gull raft island just off the spit and showed no inclination to move away from the island. It's routine was sleep for 20 minutes, wake up, preen for 5 minutes, walk right feeding for about 5m, fly back to it's original position, preen for 5 minutes, sleep for 20 minutes, repeat, repeat, repeat etc......  

It continued more or less in this way all morning up until 11am when it suddenly decided to fly east over Horrock's hide, was lost to view behind trees, and was presumed to have gone. However, at 12:25 it was relocated on Teal scrape, viewable from Charlie Owen hide.

I called in again after lunch on my way to do the weekly shop to find only one other birder present in the hide but the ibis showing well and much closer in far better light. 

Why it decided to relocate here is hard to know, it seemed to be feeding quite well in it's original position, but perhaps it just fancied a change of scenery or diet. I wasn't totally surprised, the only other glossy ibis that I have seen at the flash was also on Teal scrape on 8th May 2018 (opens in a new window). 

Glossy ibis on gull raft island

A phone call from Phil had me gulping down my tea and shooting off to the flash this evening in an attempt to see a glossy ibis that he had just found. It was only viewable from the ruck so I headed for Common lane, parked up and crossed the footbridge over the canal then dropped down to the Point. It was on the island with the gull raft on the north side of the spit. It spent some of its time out of view depending on which side of the raft it was on but when it was feeding it was a decent enough view. My second glossy ibis at Pennington Flash following one on Teal scrape on 8th May 2018.

Striped hawk-moth, St Helens

A Striped hawk-moth caught by Dave Owen last night was a first for St Helens and also a first for me. This is a migrant species and it's appearance is not completely unexpected in a year when so many other migrant insects have been seen locally, such as hummingbird hawk-moth, clouded yellow butterflies and lesser emperor dragonflies.

More days of dragonfly hunting at Bickershaw

It's easy to forget that I saw my first small red-eyed damselflies just last year. This year they seem to be everywhere, even in the crane pen at Martin Mere! This pair were at the stock pond, Bickershaw.

Last year we failed to find ruddy darter at Bickershaw but there's been quite a few so far this year.