BTO Early Bird Survey (11/01/14)...

Finally got around to undertaking the BTO's Early Bird Survey this morning. It's a fairly simple but interesting survey if you are into a bit of bird science - more information HERE. There is still time to complete the survey tomorrow morning if you hadn't heard of it / not yet completed it.

I started my survey at 7.40 am, settling in with a cup of tea and some toast. It was a fairly frosty morning with clear skies with evidence of some light snow overnight. It was fairly dark for the first 20mins although I could see the feeders easily enough with the light from the two streetlights nearby (to be recorded in the survey).

Clear and frosty morning.

Just before 8.00am it was pretty light so I  was fully expecting one of the usual suspects to show up soon but would it be the Robin or the Blackbird first? A couple minutes later and a dark shape flew down from over the house into a nearby tree, this action of the morning. By 8.05am the female Blackbird was feeding in the garden shortly followed by a Robin at 8:07am. Both birds left after a couple minutes and it was fairly quiet until a couple Blackbirds returned followed by the first Chaffinch of the morning, a female feeding at 8.16am. The Chaffinch and Robin hung around feeding periodically with 5 Blackbirds now joining in until the 4th species to the garden arrived and begin feeding at 8.26am in the form of a Blue Tit. Three minutes later a Coal Tit started feeding at 8.29am and a full 10 minutes later a Great Tit arrived at 8.39am. At 8.45am the neighbour's cat showed up scattering the numbers that had been slowly building up and putting an end to the survey really. I waited around til just after 9 in the hope that something would return or to record a couple more species but it wasn't to be! So the results were as follows:

08:05 - Blackbird
08:07 - Robin
08:16 - Chaffinch
08:26 - Blue Tit
08:29 - Coal Tit
08:39 - Great Tit
08:45 - That bloody cat!

So what can I tell you from these results? Well not a lot really as I am not a scientist but hopefully my recording will contribute to studies on how light pollution is affecting the feeding habits of our most common garden birds around our cities and towns. I enjoyed doing the survey, and it was interesting that 3 ground feeding species showed up first, taking advantage of reduced predation due to low light levels and their bigger eyes? Birds are interesting...

A busy weekend (Part.1)...

Last week was tough at work with temperatures above 20c all week and I was hoping that the good weather would remain as I had a couple of things lined up for the weekend past.

On Saturday (13th) it was off to Kinlochewe near to Beinn Eighe NNR again for a day of free upland bird training run by the BTO. The weather stayed good and myself and my friend Luke headed to the village hall where the event was to take place. Overall there was about 20+ people which turned out to be a good mix of birders, people with some interest, hillwalkers and representatives from outdoor activity companies.

The morning starting with introductions from Ben Darvill and Anne Cotton from BTO Scotland then Ben gave an introduction to the day ahead and some background to the BTO. We were then provided with some general techniques for bird identification before having a short coffee break. After the break we got stuck into some upland bird ID which took the form of a presentation and group work. It was then time for a half hour lunch and then it was off out for the afternoon.

Once everyone was ready we headed up into one of the valleys near to Beinn Eighe on foot to put some of the stuff we had taught into practice. For the first part of the walk there seemed to be not much around in terms of upland birds apart from numerous Meadow Pipits when all of a sudden a shout went up for "RING OUZEL". I caught sight of the bird off to the right which then flew up and over the group to the other side of the track before we lost it in the bracken. The bird was very brown and everyone was in a agreement that it was a female. A first for me and bit of a bogie bird that I hadn't had much luck seeing in the last 3 years. We carried on further when another shout went up for "GOLDEN EAGLE" and in fact there were 2, soaring high above one of the ridges but they gave good views through the binoculars and they really were unmistakable due to the sheer size. There day was turning out to be superb as this was another first for me even after 25 years in the Highlands. But it was to get even better. An employee from SNH had come out with the group and she pointed out an eyrie belonging to the eagle pair about 300m away high on top of one of the crags. This thing was huge, easily 10 foot across and when someone got a scope on it there was in fact a juvenile bird perched out on the edge. 3 Golden eagles with 10 minutes when before I hadn't seen one ever. Further up the track we enjoyed the rare Azure Hawker dragonfliess near to the stream, another first for me. The group was split into two smaller groups and Luke and I were catching up to the lead group as they had stopped after hearing what they thought was the call of a Peregrine and were trying to locate it. Turns out it was 2 Merlin and they burst out of nowhere and we spent a good 10 mins enjoying an aerial chase between the two of them as they almost grappled in the air. More knowledgeable people in the group agreed that they were 2 young birds.

We then made our way back to the village hall in Kinlochewe where Ben and Anne talked about Birdtrack recording and gave more information about the What's Up? project which is encouraging people to record more of their bird sightings in upland areas where data is currently lacking. There was also some more details on the mountain transect survey which is a more formal approach to recording above 750m. So please click the link and get involved if you can, especially if you enjoy hillwalking.

So in all in all the day turned out to be very beneficial in the morning, some superb birding in the afternoon and best of all it was all free. Thank you very much to BTO Scotland, Ben and Anne for putting on the day.

Year List Additions:
122. Ring Ouzel (Lifer)
123. Golden Eagle (Mega-lifer)
124. Merlin

Kinellan and Achilty

Yesterday's (05/07) weather felt like proper summer weather and I just had to get outside. A couple months ago I signed up to be part of the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) run by the BTO, RSPB, JNCC and WWT. I have been assigned 3 "starter" sites, 2 at Kinellan at the back of Strathpeffer (the loch and the scrape) and Loch Achilty on the otherside of  Contin. I wasn't able to carry out my surveys on the first date due to illness so I was keen to get it done this month.

I started by heading to Loch Kinellan. I had never actually been there before nevermind surveyed it so it was quite exciting. I heard and read that the loch was well known for it's breeding Slavonian Grebes so I was hopeful of another first. I arrived at the loch at parked besided the "Round House", the weather was scorching. I set off around the loch and straight away I could hear plenty Willow Warblers and House Sparrow and several Swallows and House Martin flying overhead.

I scanned the loch and the birds I could see were Coots and Tufted Ducks (surprisingly my first of the year).  There were plenty of Mallards and a pair of Mute Swan also. Then, right in the middle of the loch a Slavonian Grebe popped up and looked impressive in the sun, a lifer for me. I made my way round to the top of the loch and there was another Slav Grebe a lot closer this time and I managed to get a few record shots.

Slavonian Grebe (Podiceps auritus)

At the top of the loch the road starts to move away from the water and uphill. I could hear a bird calling and it sounded agitated. A small brownish bird flew over the road and landed on one of the thistles in the marshy area. I looked through the bins and had a bit of a mind blank First thought was Wheatear but it wasn't the right habitat at all and I knew it wasn't. Then another bird started calling a lot closer this time. I turned around and a male Whinchat was sitting on a fence post a few metres away. Another lifer for me and within 30mins of me leaving the car. This one was definately unexpected. I was able to get a couple of photos before the bird crossed the road and perched on the marsh. I now realised the first bird had been a female.

Male Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)

I continued my walk around the loch not seeing anything of significance before sitting down on the otherside to do a proper count of what was on the loch for the webs count.

Loch Kinellan

View of Loch from hill on North Side

I then headed off to the second site at Kinellan scrape. The Kinellan scrape site consists of a large and a small pond surrounded by grassland and small pockets of broadleaves. I parked at the side of the road and walked to the edge of the larger pond first. Plenty of birds on the water including Tufted Duck, Mallards, Coot, Moorhen and a single Wigeon. I made my way around the mown path to the otherside and sat down to do a proper count and saw another 2 Slavonian Grebes. As I made my way around I noticed plenty of Cuckooflower and some impressive looking orchids. I thought they were Northern Marsh Orchids but when I got home and asked some people online they are apparently a hybrid between Northern Marsh Orchid and Common Spotted Orchid.

Northern Marsh hybrid Orchid - Dactylorhiza x venusta

My third and final site was Loch Achilty a couple miles up the road. The loch itself is quite large but is normally fairly quiet. The site lived up to expections as I made several stops around the loch and only counted 3 Mallard in total. On my way back round the loch I decided to stop at Achilty Oakwood. I hadn't been here before but I had heard it can be quite productive.

I parked the car and made my way up the steep track. Near to the start of the walk a bird flew over the path and landed fairly high up in a tree. At first glance I was thinking Song Thrush and had a couple seconds to take a picture before it flew off. Looking at the photo later on I was convinced it was not a Song Thrush and started to think Tree Pipit. I showed the photo to some other people and it was confirmed as a Tree Pipit, another lifer for me and the 3rd of the day!

Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis)

I made my way further up hearing and seeing Willow Warblers and a family of Wrens. I did see a flower growing in the middle of the old forest road that was new to me. I took a couple pictures and I have been told it is a Heath Fragrant Orchid.

Heath Fragrant Orchid (Gymnadenia borealis)

Nothing much else of note was seen in terms of bird life and I made my way back down to the car. I did spot a butterfly (not seeing many this year at all) and it was a fritillary of some kind. I looked it up when I got home and apparently it is a Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary another new species for me.

Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene)

All in all a great day out which meant I got to see quite a few things I hadn't before and also contributed to an important survey, can't complain at that!