Ruff, Pennington Flash

Just a very quick visit to the flash early morning before going out for the day later, yet I still managed to get a new bird for the flash for me in the shape of a juvenile ruff.  Sadly though I'd forgotten my phone so the option of phone scoping wasn't there. The above photo of a juvenile ruff was taken in Caithness last year. Or, if you prefer something more authentic, I tried digiscoping by holding my camera up to the scope and the result is below......

I can just about make out the ruff, you can clearly see it's yellow legs just right of centre, but be honest, it's not the best photo! 

However it was a decent view through the scope, and from the size of the bird I would say that it was a juvenile male.

Black necked grebe off the car park, Pennington Flash

This cracking black-necked grebe was off the car park at Pennington Flash today. It's a juvenile, probably from the Woolston colony and is a year tick for me.

July gulls at the Flash

I called in at Horrock’s hide for a couple of hours this evening for a look through the gulls in the pre-roost and it didn't disappoint. Two juvenile Mediterranean gulls were present  one on the spit, the other on the water, as well as a pristine adult common gull. The latter are very scarce in July at the Flash.

The last week of July at Pennington Flash

Since the excitement of last week which brought the first spoonbills in 20 years to the flash, followed a day later by my first ever July black terns, things have quietened down significantly and settled into a more traditional July pattern.

It's entirely down to the weather. Sunny, warm, calm days with a westerly air flow such as we have now are useless for birding at this time of year at Pennington Flash. Last week we had drizzle and south easterlies and they are conditions which produce the goods. Exciting birds at the flash usually coincide with a good soaking on the ruck.

There's at least a couple of common sandpipers about, and a summer plumage dunlin has been seen a few times, but none of these have been particularly easy. At least one little egret is occasionally seen and the two Egyptian geese continue to frequent the car park, but if it wasn't for the continued presence of common terns, birding at the flash for the past few days would probably best be described as dull.

The terns are a reminder of better things to come and they keep you on your toes because there's always the possibility of something unusual dropping in, such as arctic, Sandwich or little tern, or dare we dream, a roseate or even a Caspian tern

Common terns don't breed at Pennington Flash, but family parties do pass through in late summer and it's great to watch the adults fishing and then feeding the juveniles. The largest family I've seen so far this summer has included three juveniles. It's interesting to watch them, when the parent brings a fish back. The juveniles don't seem to squabble about who gets the fish, more often ones screams to be fed whilst the others watch and wait their turn.

A couple of days ago there were 200 swifts at the flash and very few hirundines, but now most of the swifts have passed through and hirundines have reached around 200 birds, mainly sand martins.

Oh well, rain and south easterlies are forecast overnight and into tomorrow, fingers crossed......

Black terns, Pennington Flash

A wonderfully dismal, drizzly morning at the flash produced the hoped for black tern, an adult moulting around the head. Common tern numbers were well down, around 15 birds with at least four juveniles. Two common sandpipers were on the spit, and adult and juvenile little ringed plover at the boat club and two Egyptian geese still on the car park.

At lunchtime a second black tern appeared, also an adult.
 

Battle of the kingfishers, Pennington Flash

During a morning of pouring rain I took shelter in Horrock's hide and in between watching a black tern from the side window I was entertained by a couple of kingfishers doing battle right in front of the hide. I've never seen them behave so aggressively before, even grasping bills at one stage. See next post for a full update from this morning.

Spoonbills, Pennington Flash

It was 7:30am and I was standing on the shore of the flash just behind Horrock’s hide looking through the common terns on the spit. There were two other birders on site that I was aware of, Bill on the south side of the flash and Barry who had just left me and headed over to Teal hide. 

Suddenly I became aware of two white birds flying over the flash from the south and heading towards the spit at a height of under 50m, distance about 200m from me at this point. They had extended necks but were obviously too small for swans. I raised my binoculars and they were obviously spoonbills with all white plumage, extended necks and long dark spatula bills. 

At this point panic set in because I wanted to get the other birders onto the birds. Unless they landed I didn't think that Barry had any chance being at Teal hide, but Bill would have a chance depending on exactly where he was, and indeed he may already have seen them, though I’d not had a message off him. I fumbled with my phone whilst still trying to watch the birds, only to find that my phone was in the middle of an update which was 80% complete. My camera was in my bag and I desperately tried to get it out while my phone was updating.

Meanwhile the birds came closer, within about 150m and looked as if they might drop into the bay between the spit and the mini spit, but then gained height and headed off towards the ruck. Finally my phone completed the update but then it wouldn’t let me use my fingerprint, it insisted on my password which is normal after updates.

The birds were now over the ruck and heading away. Finally, after two attempts at entering my password, I got through to Bill. He hadn’t seen them and couldn’t get onto them from his position. Only now could I try to get a photo, but the birds were quite distant, heading away west and appeared to be following the canal. Even at this distance they were clearly spoonbills, with long necks and characteristic fast wingbeats and glides.

Perhaps surprisingly there are only three accepted records of spoonbill at the flash, with the last around 20 years ago.

Common tern build up, Pennington Flash

A 1st summer drake common scoter was on the flash today, but the highlight was the continued build up of common terns, with a minimum of 32 birds this afternoon, up from 21 this morning. With them at least eight juveniles. Also today, two common sandpipers and the Egyptian geese are still on the car park.

Pennington Flash

The first green sandpiper of the autumn was in Rammies this afternoon, with a single common sandpiper. The common tern flock had built up to at least 23 birds and the two Egyptian geese were on the car park.

Autumn begins at the Flash

Definitely signs of autumn at the Pennington Flash this morning, with 11 common terns including a family party with three juveniles. On the spit there were six common sandpipers whilst the two Egyptian geese are still present. At least a couple of hundred swifts were over the flash, plus a handful each of house martins and sand martins.

An afternoon with rosy

With a free day between jobs I decided to call in at Llangwyryfon in Ceredigion, mid Wales, in the hope of seeing an adult summer plumage rose-coloured starling that has been frequenting a garden for several days. I find that rose-coloured starling can be a difficult bird to locate when they are feeding in back gardens. 

I've mentioned previously that there seems to be a misconception amongst many birders that rose-coloured starlings follow starling flocks around so look for them on wires and roofs etc. with the rest of the starlings. However on many occasions this is not true. Rose-coloured starlings often find a garden that they like and stay there, not moving with the local starlings, instead when they are not feeding they disappear into a nearby bush and remain hidden, which means that if you don't know the exact garden or cannot see into it, you have virtually no chance of finding them. Walking around the local area is almost pointless. 

So today I arrived in the village of Llangwyryfon, unsure about which garden to look in and to be honest really just hoping that a resident would spot me and call me over. I got lucky. I'd only been there 5 minutes when a SUV pulled up and the driver asked if I was looking for the starling, and if so I was in the wrong place because it was in her neighbours garden outside the village. I jumped in my car and followed her for a mile or more along country lanes and eventually we came to a couple of houses in the middle of nowhere. I'd have never looked this far out of the village.

The neighbour immediately invited me into his back garden and we sat at a picnic bench and waited. Within 10 minutes the bird had appeared and we spent a very pleasant 4 hours or so sitting and chatting in his garden, watching this stunning bird while his wife kept us well supplied with cups of tea and even offered me a sandwich!

How lucky was I?

Garden House Campsite, Coll

The only campsite on Coll is the wonderful yet very basic Garden House Campsite. It's set in an old walled garden which was once part of the Breachacha estate and it oozes character. Basic it certainly is, with just one shower and two toilets, whilst the small kitchen comprises just a microwave and fridge freezer, not even a kettle or toaster, and it has no WiFi or any indoor area where you can shelter on rainy days. However it is spotlessly clean and well looked after by the owner Ken and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

Birdlife in and around the campsite was outstanding, during our four night stay hen harriers were frequently seen including at least three different birds, a female, adult male and 1st summer male, the latter trying to take young birds out of the sycamore tree at the back of the tent.  Highlight was a white-tailed eagle which flew over the site on our last day, mobbed by a buzzard.

A spotted flycatcher fed along the fence line and in the garden of the house Ken had lots of feeders which attracted many species which otherwise would have been quite difficult to find on Coll.

Crossapol and the Coll machair

All of the islands we visited this trip have machair, but it was that on Coll which I was most impressed with. I've never seen bloody cranesbill as such a dominant machair species before and there were carpets of it on Coll, a very impressive sight.  

Portuguese man o'war, Coll

Walking past the only family on the beach today who just happened to be our neighbours on the campsite, one of the parents asked if I would like to look at a strange creature that had just floated onto the beach. Amazingly it was a Portuguese man o'war, a highly venomous jellyfish like creature which was apparently still alive since it appeared to be moving.

They attempted to get it back in the sea but inevitably the waves kept bringing it back to shore until eventually they gave up. Portuguese man o'war is still a rare but increasing tide line stranding in the Hebrides. It was a first for me.

Red-necked phalarope surprise, Tiree!

This morning we went for a walk from our accommodation which took us through a nice area of marshland with scattered pools. There were a few waders flying around, oystercatchers, redshank and dunlin, most of which I didn't even raise my binoculars for, when suddenly another wader flew past at close range and was instantly identifiable as a female red-necked phalarope even with the naked eye! I watched it circle around us and then land out of view on a pool nearby. 

At this point I should make it clear that we were not off-piste, we were in fact walking along a well used tarmac road. 

After waiting a few minutes with no further views, we carried on our way but I made a mental note to have another look on our way back. An hour later we were back and Elaine left me to make the sandwiches for lunch. After just a few minutes the phalarope appeared on the pool but quickly disappeared into the vegetation. It was difficult to be sure, but there appeared to be second bird with it in the vegetation. I saw it fly a couple of times, but no prolonged views. Still, I was delighted to just have seen it, completely unexpected.

I returned the following morning and the bird was still present but once again I only managed fleeting views and by this time the weather had taken a turn for the worse, with rain and strong winds, and I didn't get opportunity again.

Goose Barnacles on a flipflop Tiree

Hot on the heels of yesterdays red hamburger bean, a little more beach combing today produced a few goose barnacles on an old flip flop at Traigh Mhor. This is the first time I've found goose barnacle and its intriguing to think how far the flip flop may have travelled. 

Lunga

Lunga in the Treshnish Isles just has to be the best place in the UK to see seabirds, especially auks. The views are truly amazing with birds such as puffins, razorbills and shags just metres away. The inquisitive puffins will even walk right up to you to see what you are doing.  

Most visitors to the island come from Mull, but we came from Tiree and I'm  glad that we did because there were just 12 people in our boat and and only six disembarked at Lunga, the rest continuing on to Staffa. When we arrived it seemed that we were the only people of the island yet by the time we left a couple of hours later the boats had arrived from Mull and there must have been 50 or more walking along the cliffs. Still hardly a crowd but it was better when we were alone. It's nice to get photos of the birds and cliffs without people on.