Watching petrels at Hilbre Island

To my mind there is no finer place than Hilbre Island on a day like today, with waves crashing over the island, strong winds, squally showers and petrels, lots of petrels. Well, it was a bit more than showers really, more like torrential rain at times and I was extremely grateful and lucky to be offered the shelter of the seawatching hide for the duration of my visit. A visit over high tide means that you have to stay on the island for at least five hours with no shelter which is not to be undertaken lightly in conditions like these.

Goodness knows what it must be like to experience a hurricane with 150mph winds, but today the wind speed peaked at about 48mph and I could hardly walk into it, and the noise was just tremendous. Even in the best of weather it's about a 45 minute walk from West Kirby to Hilbre Island, but today was a struggle and when I at last reached the island at about 11am I was exhausted, yet excited, and I settled down in the hide for what promised to be a decent sea watch if the smattering of sea birds seen in the proceding days was anything to go by. Petrels were on the move, and they were the main reason for my visit.

Within minutes I'd spotted my first petrel, clearly a Leach's gliding and pattering and  gallantly battling it's way west into the teeth of the gale force wind. It had my admiration. I'd found it hard enough to walk into that wind, yet here was a bird barely the size of a starling flying headlong into it and making better progress than me.

In the five hours or so that I was watching, I counted at least 35 Leach's petrels, some close in shore, other's a long way out at sea, all heading west. There were obviously many more out there, and in fact they were still passing the hide even when I finally left at 5:15pm, two hours after high tide and six hours after I had arrived. A possible Wilson's petrel flew east halfway through the afternoon, with a flight quite unlike the Leach's petrels and a white rump which appeared to extend almost right around its body.

Manx shearwater

Gannets were passing close inshore and a few Manx shearwaters took the mickey out of me by gliding past almost without a flap, straight into the gale. Then I noticed a more powerful looking bird coming straight towards the hide.  It was obviously a large skua, but not a bonxie because it was a pale phase bird, and when it got close to the hide it veered to the west and there were the twisted spoons in the tail of a stunning barrel chested adult pomarine skua. A breathtaking moment! There were bonxies out there, and I saw at least four terrorising the gannets and other sea birds which included a steady procession of Sandwich terns and at least five, possibly 10 black terns.

Gannet

Dippers at Pennington Flash

Two dippers on a brook near Leigh college were my first at Pennington Flash. Looking at the pale fringes to the tertials, I think that these birds are juveniles.

Watching Petrels (and shearwaters) in the Minch

Sooty shearwater

The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin watching boat left Gairloch at 5:15pm. We were on our way to the Burma Bank, an under water sand bank in the North Minch, between Stornoway and Ullapool. The scenary was breathtaking, worth the price of the trip alone, with spectacular views along almost the length of the Outer Hebrides, from  the Uists in the south to Lewis in the north, whilst out to the east I could see the impressive peaks of Inverpolly, Ben more Coigach, Suilvan, Cul mor, Stac Pollaidh and many more. South was hardly less impressive, with tremendous views over Skye and Torridon.

Of course I was hoping to see a few whales and dolphins, but my main reason for being on the trip was the sea birds. Petrels are always the stars of the show for me, and up here both British species breed in large numbers, though in my experience you are much more likely to see storm petrel rather than Leach's in the Minch. Today we saw both, with up to 50 stormies and a single Leach's pattering and gliding across the water on a relatively calm day by Minch standards.

Sooty shearwater

However one of the first birds we saw on our arrival at Burma Bank was a sooty shearwater. This is what I had really been hoping for today. Sooty shearwaters breed on islands in the southern hemisphere and have one of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom, with the Atlantic population breeding on the Falkland Islands and migrating north in a circular root, arriving in British waters in August and September, when they are often seen around northern Scotland, including the Minch. We saw at least 30 of these birds, some coming very close to the boat.

Sooty shearwater

Obviously not a great photo, but it shows all of the relevant identification features, and it has just flown 8000 miles for its photo to be taken!

Arctic skua

Other sea birds seen included Manx shearwaters, Arctic skuas and bonxies, plus the usual gannets, kittiwakes, fulmar and auks.

The Ullapool to Stornoway ferry making its way across the Burma Bank is a good cheap way of birding these seas, the only problem is of course, it does tend to just plough straight on regardless of the birds and cetaceans. Try asking the skipper to stop because you think you've just seen a sooty.....

The Minch is a good place for seeing cetaceans and they are regularly seen from the ferry, especially common dolphins, but I also managed to see a pod of about five Risso's dolphins logging not far from the boat. Logging is the term used to describe cetaceans which are asleep and not moving on the surface. Because they were still I could clearly see the  scars on their bodies which are one of the diagnostic features of Risso's dolphins,  caused by fights with other Risso's dolphins, but also their favoured prey item, squid. The only other place I've seen these dolphins is Strumble Head in Pembrokeshire. Minke whales are also often seen at this time of year, but not on this journey.

Invertebrates, August 2017

August turned out to be my month for dragonflies, I managed to find several impressive species both in the UK and Cyprus. However it was not a dragonfly, but two quite different and fearsome creatures which stole the show this month.

Tarantula hawk sp., possibly Hemipepsis mauritan, at the Asprokremmos dam, Cyprus. Tarantula hawks are said to have the second most painful sting in the insect world behind the bullet ant. Some tarantula hawks can grow up to 5cm long, but this one was around 3cm.

And here's its prey, the European tarantula Lycosa Tarantula. Quite common in Cyprus, this particular individual was running along the edge of our swimming pool. If the tarantula hawk wins the battle, it kills the spider by stinging it and then lays it's eggs in its victim.

 Violet dropwing Trithemis annulata, a new species for me, Zakaki Marshes, Cyprus.

Broad scarlet Crocothemis erythraea, Zakaki Marshes, Cyprus.

Lesser emperor Anax parthenope, Zakaki Marshes, Cyprus.

Southern skimmer Orthetrum brunneum, Zakaki Marshes, Cyprus.

Epaulate skimmer Orthetrum chrysostigma, Nata village, Cyprus.

Slender skimmer Orthetrum sabina Zakaki Marshes, Cyprus.

Red-veined darter Sympetrum fonscolombii, Nata village, Cyprus.

Male black darter Sympetrum danae, Highfield moss, Lowton. This is one of the few local sites for this species. Colliers (Bold) moss in St Helens used to have a few but I believe that the species preferred habitat has now been lost at that site.

Female black darter, Highfield moss, Lowton.

Emerald damselfly Lestes sponsa, Highfield moss, Lowton.

Common hawker Aeshna juncea Highfield moss.

Humming bird hawkmoth, Troodos, Cyprus.

Oriental hornet Vespa orientalis, Nata, Cyprus.

Hoverfly sp., Paphos Lighthouse.

A journey around Wester Ross

Just south of Ullapool  lies another contender for the title of most beautiful area in the UK. With mountains far higher than those found at Inverpolly, a more accessible coastline and an area of far larger wilderness, Wester Ross really is a serious contender. If red-throated diver is the embodiment of Inverpolly, then in this area that honour falls to the much rarer black-throated diver. Not that you would think that they were rare here if todays visit was anything to go by. I was staggered to see flocks of summer plumage birds almost everywhere and in total counted at least  88 birds, with 38 birds on Loch Ewe alone. Not that red-throated divers were absent, in fact I counted over 20 those as well.

A journey around Inverpolly

Stac Pollaidh, Cul Beag and Ben Mor Coigach.

Just north of Ullapool in North West Scotland lies Inverpolly, an area which I would argue is on a par with any in the UK in terms of beauty. The mountains are not the largest, but there are few more spectacular and the sea scapes are the best you will find anywhere in the UK. Here is my whistle stop tour around the area.

Loch an Eisg-brachaidh.

Loch Assynt with Suilven behind. Loch Assynt is usually a good place for black-throated diver.

Quinag. This is always a good spot for golden eagle, and today I was lucky enough to see a bird displaying spectacularly, climbing high and then dropping like a stone before roller coasting high again.

Quinag.

Devil's-bit scabious.

 Suilven. This is one of the most spectacular mountains, and also one of the hardest to climb, not least because of the length of the walk to the foot of the mountain. It might look spectacular, but it's only 731m or 2,400 feet high.

Lochan an Ais.

The limestone outcrop at Knockan Cliffs.

Loch Assynt with Ben More Assynt behind and to the left.

Ardvrech castle on Loch Assynt with Breabag behind. Between the two you can see the limestone cliffs of the botanically famous Inchnadamph.

Ben Mor Coigach.

Stac Pollaidh.

Achnahaird Bay. There aren't many of these sandy bays, but when you find one they are hidden gems, with lots of botanical interest and often plenty of waders.

Achnahaird Bay. Ringed plover and Dunlin.

Sanderling.

White wagtail.