Last night at the stones.

Last night we went down to the standing stones at Brodgar to try out my mate’s video camera and to see if we could manage any atmospheric shots. In our favour was the full moon and total snow cover. The stone circle was absolutely stunning in the freezing night air. There was enough cloud for atmosphere but not enough to swamp us out with darkness. On the minus side I have been reduced to my old Nikon 5600 PnS. The 5100 fell from my hands the other day and the lens smashed right off..oops butter fingers!! Add to that the loss of a pair of binoculars and the tripod for the scope biting the dust you can see its been a poor start to the month. I tell all this in a feeble attempt to excuse these poor and shaky shots. They might give some impression of the night but I think they are a bit lacking… any way have a look at a couple and see what you think.

Snow Time

The month has started off with not a lot happening up here. Watching the snows fall all over the south and east of England for the last week I was beginning to wonder if it would ever snow for us. As England froze and the snows grew ever deeper the northern isles carried on as usual with calm and mild weather. By Friday snow 24 or to give it its right name BBC news 24 were forecasting substantial snows for us. Sure enough Friday morning brought an unrelenting drizzle of sleet that hit the ground and disappeared. By the time the sun dropped the sleet began to lie and we were away. The wind from the north dropped away yet still managed to fill in a hundred yards of track, luckily the wife’s car was left down at the road so we had some transport available or it would have been slim pickings by now. From Saturday morning it has been the most fantastic weather, flat calm with light snow showers from time to time. It has stayed well below 0 with -10 and -12 reported on the Orkney forum. On the ground we have 4 to 6 inches of powdery snow and fortunately the north gales that were predicted by the met office never materialised.
Birding has been a bit sparse but has made up for its self in quality. Whilst passing the time snapping photos and generally buggering around in the garden on Sunday I heard grouse calling from the hill somewhere behind the house. Running in and grabbing the scope I soon have two Grouse in view. They are feeding around the foot of a large clump of gorse across the valley. It’s a long way but as I watch yet more come into view. With in a couple of minutes there are six feeding away on the exposed heather around the base of the gorse. This is the most I have ever seen together and I am snapping away grabbing pictures in a panic. I shouldn’t have worried as they were around for the rest of the afternoon.
Monday afternoon I decided to head for the top of the hills in order to get a panorama shot of the surrounding country. My mind is soon changed after tramping through the heather in the back field. Out here the snow is coming up to the knees and as I draw breath and look to the hill tops I think …bugger that…I head for Russadale quarry for a look. Although the bird count is to stay at three Wrens and two Ravens the quarry its self proves to be a stunning backdrop. It’s a wet old hole in the winter time but the water draining through the rocks has frozen into a fantastic display of icicles some of the bigger ones are eight feet long and as thick as my arm. The spectacle is the most impressive icicles I have ever seen(but I have lead a sheltered life). The SD card gets a bit of a hammering before I head back to the house. I am almost at the back fence when from the wet burn side a Jack Snipe takes to the air appearing from just below my feet flying low and level to rise slightly and drop into the valley. Later I see Erik Meek has reported putting one up on the quarry path a couple of hours before mine so I would guess it’s the same one.. The Snipe action was not over yet. In the field below the house there are three wet patches bare of snow. Here water flows out the ground and the local snipe have been hanging out taking advantage of the rare bare ground to feed. A scan across it with the scope reveal four birds feeding, Needless to say a snap was taken!!
Today I returned to the quarry for some more pictures of icicles. Sitting on the bench I manage to see the two remaining Redpolls and film them flitting about. What was to happen next I still find hard to believe. I am standing taking photos and talking to the dog(like you do) when from a ledge above me a bird takes off spooked. It rises strait up and over the lip to disappear from view. I am excited though cos it was a Woodcock. Anyway I carry on taking photos of the ice, standing close in to the face. Next thing I hear is the whoosh of wind through a birds wings and the Woodcock returns gliding down to settle just around a corner out of sight,. I ken fine the dog will put it up so I decide to try and film it flying off. With a none to subtle approach I manage to find it hiding beneath the rock face and catch its flight as it takes off. That’s it for me I head off home more than a little chuffed…The temperature is below 0 again tonight and there looks like no end to the snow……good stuff im loving it.

Fieldfares

There have been about 150 Fieldfares in the fields below the house for the last few days. There were good numbers kicking about the fields in Orphir this afternoon when i went to photograph the Ark Royal. Its nice to see them about as there havent been a lot about this winter.

Back for a Glauc.

With the rain abating and the skies clearer yesterday looked a lot more photo friendly than the wet Sunday we had just tramped through. All in all it was the sort of day that just wants to drag you out in to it so you can indulge in a bit of birding. It would have been rude to have resisted!. After a late start and a couple of runs to move boxes to our new house(that’s right we are moving again) I thought I would shoot out to Marwick bay to see if I could manage some snaps of the Glaucous Gulls. Yesterday couldn’t have been more of a contrast with the light breezes and blue skies of the afternoon. There wasn’t a lot to see on the run out just masses of Greylag feeding across the fields. My favourite spot en route is the bird crop at Queena and this had no sign of any life as I passed.
The road down to Marwick is where the Tundra Bean goose has been hanging out, not that I was going to see it to day. It is one thing to sneak about with a car slowing to a stop and winding down the windows, it is another thing o a bike. You don’t get to do a lot of sneaking up on anything on a thousand cc rat bike with an open pipe. Certainly not a field of geese. Sure enough the geese that were there all took to the air from either side of the road rather in the manner of the parting of the red sea!
Fortunately my luck was more in with the Glaucs and a quick scan showed me one feeding on the seal seventy yards north of the burn outfall and sitting on the sea at the far corner of the bay. With the conditions a bit bright for my wee Nikon (I smashed my P5100 last week}I started to approach along the waters edge. Wearing neutral colours I made my first shots from the tang line thinking I would blend in with the colours. All went well as I took a few shots and moved forward continually closing the distance. Every so often the bird would rise to gracefully hover swing round and land to resume feeding. At one point it was off and replaced by a second. Feed and bath seems to be the pattern with these carrion feeders as they find a level between preening their feathers and gorging themselves on the rotting flesh of the unfortunate seal. In the end I was forty yards off and not disturbing the birds when they all took off along with the Widgeon close by on the sea and a horde of noisy Redshanks..bugger. Behind me the crash crash of footsteps coming down the storm shore. An old feller was standing there “ Aye aye mon is that a camera you have there” “what are you photographing” “Oh just those gulls that are disappearing over Marwick head”….mmm biting the tongue we have a wee chat then head in opposite directions. I cant be arsed to withdraw and repeat the whole approach so I call it a day and head of to fight the wife for time on the computer. Below are a few of the better snaps.

Glaucous gull in the rain

A wet day at Marwick

It was a cool and wet morning that held little promise of drying up. Today was the monthly birding class with Tim Dean and we were due to meet up at the Bay of Skail at ten an hour hence. The rain was rattling off the house roof in a repetitive heavy then light sort of fashion. Each time it eased you could feel your hopes rise to be washed away by yet another increasing shower. Biting the bullet I fired up the bike and headed out in to the morning weather.
We all met up at the Bay of Skail car park. Surprisingly the rain had turned to a mild drizzle yet would not cease. Over the next ten minutes the class gathered and so did the clouds. The only folks that seemed unperturbed were the crowd of surfers that were changing into wet suits and waxing their boards before heading out in to the freezing cold breakers of the Atlantic….my respect to them and rather them than me. With an increasing patter of rain it was decided to take half the cars to the Marwick Head Kitchener memorial foot path and half the cars to the hide at the Loons. From here we could do a five mile semi circular walk taking in the fisherman’s huts and Marwick bay.
Arriving at the Loons hide you have a view over a large expanse of wetland with immediately in front of you a pool backed by reed beds. We soon settle down to spy out the ground but there was not a whole hell of a lot to see in the rain. There were Widgeon and Mallard on the rough ground at the side of the pool and a good few Teal on the banks. Away in the distance grazing in a field there are a puckle of Greylag geese. These we regard with interest as this is the main feeding area for the main flock of Greenland white fronted geese that frequent Orkney. They however seem to dislike being on the hillside here in easterly winds. Its disappointing but what you gona do. Some interest was generated by Lapwings passing over and a Heron rising and landing a couple of times in increasingly shorter distances from the hide. This gave the opportunity for some seriously good close up views from the scopes. You would think I would have goton some good photos but try as I might its just impossible in the hide as it is built on boggy ground so the slightest movement has the whole place rocking like a ship at sea. With little else to see we head off on foot via the roads to Marwick.
Over the past few weeks numbers of Lapwing and Curlew seem to have risen dramatically across the county and they were certainly an obvious presence in the fields today. The fields in this area of the west mainland are hooching with Greylag and today is no exception. Amongst all of these Greylags there is a single Bean goose and Tim’s well trained eye soon has it picked out for every one. This one is from the Russian population. It is smaller than the Greylags and I must admit if I had found it I would have put it down as a Pinkfoot. The bird is feeding in with a small flock of Greylag and thankfully shows little willingness to take to the air. We all get fine views through the scopes as the flock feeds along side a horde of Curlew and Lapwing. Other interest is provided by a flock of Golden Plover that descend in as one to land and feed in an elongated flock. They rise and land a couple of times giving fine views for the binoculars. Moving off our attention is caught by a single wee bird that lands on the verge twenty yards from us and promptly disappears. It is a Rock Pipit. This is a proper winter sighting. We are quarter of a mile from the sea and it is only at this time of year you will catch them off the shore. By spring and for the rest of the year they seldom move more than a few meters from the shore line.
Moving down to the shore of Marwick bay the sea is providing dramatic effects with sizable waves breaking in huge long tubes on the rocky division of the Choin. Away along the shore above where the burn runs into the sea is the bird we have come to see. Feeding on the carcass of a washed up seal is a magnificent Glaucous gull. One would be a note worthy event but there are three, one on the seal and two bathing in the outfall of the burn. They are all first year birds and little fazed by our presence. We move down the rocky storm front of the shore in the hope of getting out of the wind. Things improve with the wind and we have fine views but the rain is falling steadily so all glauced up we turn and head to the fisherman’s huts to have a well earned cup of coffee and a roll. The fisherman’s huts date back to an earlier age when the farmers of the parrish would also fish to supplement their meagre livings. The huts are rude shelters built into the cliff faces and would provided shelter and storage for their boats and gear away from the ravages of the Atlantic winter. It is often said as a description of the different topography between Shetland and Orkney that Shetlanders were fishermen that farmed and Orcadians were farmers that fished..its very true.
Lunch was enjoyed (in the rain) with a view out of this narrow bay. Before us the waves rolled in and crashed on the rocky outcrops. Shags deftly fished just beyond the crashing surf. They were about in large numbers and accompanied by rafts of Dunters(Eider ducks). In the air three Gannets circled taking the occasional dive for fish. These were all mature birds looking vividly white in the grey wet light. A herring gull with a fish was briefly mobbed by young Blackbacks. Another bird of interest was a Kittiwake that wheeled about looking for the chance of a meal. Whilst we watched another two joined it. All three were first year birds and it’s a chinch they didn’t originate from here. It is a bit far north for them at this time of year but you do see them from time to time, Tim was telling us that there are first year birds over in the Kirkwall marina at the moment as well. As we pack up to move off a flight of Purple Sandpipers cross the bay(more of an inlet really) to land just out of sight on the southern point.
We walk back the half mile to Marwick bay to have a passing look at the Glaucs once again. Earlier in the week there had been five together, a record for Orkney I think. This time we manage to see four in the bay. It is a thrilling sight, I have only ever seen single birds and this is a real treat. It’s a proper taste of the arctic. All the birds are first year birds and probably never seen humans until now. I pull my camera out of my pocket to find it sitting in water. The paper towel in my old camera bag is a soggy mess so I about give up on didgiscoping for the day(but I will return!) With that we head off to the cars at the Kitchener memorial foot path. Little else is to be seen in the steady drip of rain. It was a short and damp session today but well worth the effort. My new Opticron stay on cover has proved its worth despite my reservations and I have a new bird on my life list….worth getting damp for!!

Heron today

Bean goose

Fishermans huts at Marwick.

Sun set on the road home tonight.

Todays working companion

Black darter

It was a cold and fresh afternoon yesterday when I decided to have a wee spin about. Looking at the tide times I could see that the tide was falling over Stromness way so that seemed a place to have a look. Heading in that direction I stop to have a look around the brig of Waith This is a bridge spanning the entrance to the Loch of Stenness. The Stenness loch is one of the largest saline lagoons in Britan and holds a fantastic varietie of flora and fauna adapted for life in the brackish conditions. Every day the tide flows under this narrow stone built bridge. Channelled through the narrow gap the force of water builds up to a torrent that resembles a river in spate. Within the flow are concentrated the fish that come to feed and taking advantage of it are as always a host of opportunistic seals. They move effortlessly in the raging torrent always on the look out for a meal. They are a fascinating sight to watch that is if your not fishing for sea trout ,if you are they are little more than a royal pain in the arse!! On the sea ward side the channel widens out and in one part of the shore there is one our few areas of muddy flats. This is called the dead sands. Of course they are anything but dead!. Parking up it is all to obvious the tide has a lot more to fall before the skerries and favourite feeding places are revealed. On the sea ward side things are a little better. T he falling tide is more pronounced here. Unfortunately their is little to be seen bird wise. Along the ware strewn rocky shore small numbers of curlew are picking away in the bladder wrack. Their numbers are augmented by A few Redshank and Widgeon but little else. Taking advantage of the field still being in stubble all be it very muddy stubble I cross to the place where the Hydro wires cross the channel. This gives a view across to the Dead Sands. The falling tide has revealed the small flat expanse but unfortunately there is little to be seen. Redshanks forage al over the place but there is little sign of anything else. Usually there is a host of wading birds but I suppose I should be here on the rising rather than falling tide. Mallard and Widgeon are the most prolific of the sea ducks. Out on the water there are Red breasted Mergansers, Long tailed ducks, and all the usual Scarfies. A little disappointed I head back to the bike and the brig. Looking over to the Stenness side it’s a similar story. There are Tufted duck ,Widgeon, Long tailed ducks and a few Scarfies. Very disappointing. At this time of year I would expect to see a good few Snipe along the shore and maybe a few Scaup from the large flocks that hang out here. All is not lost though and I concentrate my photographic efforts on a pair of young seals that are basking in the 2deg warmth of the day. Its pleasing that they don’t take to the water but indulge me with a bit of portraiture. The light is failing now. Its about 2.45 and if I want to visit another sight then I must be off. I head for the beach at Warbeth. This is a beach at the back of Stromness. It’s a wild and exposed beach with the ferocious currents of the Hoy sound ripping past and the majestic hills of Hoy behind it providing an impressive backdrop. Here the tide is substantially lower but little sand is showing amongst the rocks. The shore line is waist deep in the thick stalks of Tangles. Although now a days it is left for the sea to return and wash away this kelp used to be keenly collected and provided islanders with some much needed seasonal income. The tangles were collected and dried for sale to the cosmetics and fertiliser industry. They were also used in products as diverse as ice cream to the production of iodine In an industry that spanned right around the Scottish coast. By now time has moved on and as it approaches 3 o’clock the light is really taking a dive. Looking over the the exposed beach the few far off patches of sand are hosting birds. A look through the scope reveals a good flock of Ringed Plover feeding alongside some Dunlin. Making my way across the tangles and the slippy rocks underneath it takes a few minutes to get in range enough to look for a photo opportunity. Slowly approaching the flocks rise up and circle to land not far from where they alighted. Whilst I am assessing my chances of approaching closer a rush of low flying birds arrive and settle not thirty yards from me. Their whistling calls and scaly feather patterns give them away as a flock of Purple Sandpipers. They are unbothered by my presence and get stuck in to their feeding routine moving constantly and probing the rocks for tasty and nutritious morsels. After a moment they are so close that it is hard to get them in the scope for long enough to get a snap with out them wandering out of the depth of field!! Most of the shots I take suck tho. I am looking towards the light and there is a very light background of sea and spume. My P5100 might be a fine camera but It dose not like these conditions and struggles to get a decent exposure on its auto setting. Turning through a hundred degrees to look down the beach is another story there are still Ringed plovers feeding along with a few Dunlin. These fall more readily to the camera in the failing light. Fun as it is my knees are wet and my hands frozen so i decide to head off home. This can be a fantastic beach with Godwits, little, Grey Plover having been seen recently. Today it’s a quiet place, not that I mind the real joy is just being out amongst it.

Stenness loch frozen up

Thank you all who have visited and revisited the blog over the past few months. Its been fun to do and I hope it has provided some small interest and entertainment. Any thoughts on content or direction would be very welcome. Cheers for now.

A happy and prosperous new year to you all.

Daf.

A pair of Gadwall today

County photo list 08

As some of you may know at the start of the year there was a lot of talk of year lists. Now I only really keep a life list and am not a fan of listing, to tell the truth. I record little of what I see on a day to day basis. I know this is a bit slack but I have huge hand writing and would need a big note book so little happens. This year inspired by Paul’s huge charity effort(a big well done there Paul) I thought I would try something different and keep a photograph of every species I could manage whilst out and about the county.

The decision made I chose birdforum members lists 2008 to store the list on. A very handy place it turns out as posting in the members lists only you can post. This gives the advantage of uninterrupted continuity…a rare thing on a public forum! Overall I thought I would be doing well to 75 species. Bearing in mind that the county list is just over 200 was a reasonable target to be aiming at for my first attempt I must admit I am pleased with the way it has gone(even if it has cost a bit in petrol). I was armed with three good weapons in the hunt, First there were winter and summer classes with Tim Dean. Having spent the last three years regularly on his classes has been fantastic preparation in learning the ground across Orkney. Not to mention the photo opportunities that have occurred on his classes due to his superb spotting skills. Anyone with a growing interest in birding Orkney could not do better than sign up on one of his classes. The second prong was The orkbird site. This was a fantastic source of rarer bird info and accounted for several of the rarer photos. Its been a fantastic first year for orkbird. It’s a site that’s brought a lot to birding in Orkney. The third prong has been the RSPB office in Strombo and all their regular updates. They are happy to tell you if anything unusual has been about.

So that was it I was off.

The year started with the sort of rush you would expect and I was knocking photos out left right and centre. Starting with the Grey Phalarope at the Deerness slip it was one bird after another through January and into February. By now I had bagged about fifty species and hit a bit of a wall. Little further happened for a month or two and other things took my time. Settling again in the start of our summer. I was lucky now and my count started to rise again and unusual birds like River Warbler and Avocet came and went. Often tho rare visitors like storks and cranes were seen by many and I totally failed to find them. High summer came and went and with it a super influx of Rose coloured Starlings. This was late July and the list stood at about eighty five. Since then things have slowly moved along. I have picked away with the camera and scope as the opportunity has arisen. Over the months there have been times when I could have cried, no cameras or flat batteries or often as not short and fleeting views. I am sure I could have gotten more on the list if I had really gone for it but I always intended it to be a casual sort of affair, so much so that the list has been forgotten for a while now. Looking at it last night I saw that it was sitting on 97. So today we were out and knocked off another three birds to take it up to the hundred. So that’s that for the year although I suppose you should never say die and there is a couple of days left of 08. I don’t think I will be out to find any more although there have been a good few Woodcock about……That’s it for the year then. I am quite pleased with a ton but I bet there’s someone out there with a 160 county list. You ken how obsessive these birding types can be…lol

If you’re interested you can have a look through this link and see some well ropey record shots.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=105215

I don’t know if I will try it again. I did enjoy it at times I must admit and there was a special little thrill to know you have bagged another whilst on the search. Who knows what will happen?

I have been a bit lax in posting of late but the truth is that I have not really been doing any birding. The last two weeks have found me with my head down working away. Most of the time you would have found me with a spade or shovel in my hand as I have been refurbishing a big pond. It’s a complete empty out and reline with a concrete skin. After ten days we are about ready to put in the waterproof plastering and stonework. Birds have come and gone with some unusual behaviour from some. One day I had a pair of Stonechats behaving like Robins. Each time I would move away from the pond with a barrow they would shoot in like Robins, swiftly searching through the diggings for insects and worms. It was the first time I had seen this from Stonechats. They were accompanied by a Robin from time to time. Another unusual sighting has been a pair of Goldcrests that that were about from time to time. They were foraging through the bushes and gorse in the ditches with a constant flurry of contact calls and bounding acrobatic foraging. They were about for three days on the hillside. Woodcock put in an appearance with three sightings overhead. This winter I have seen more Woodcock than I have in the whole of my time birding. We had Twite and Greenfinch as the other regular fly overs. The weather has been freezing from time to time and a bit of a trial for us trying to lay concrete. The job goes on tho and hopefully we will be finished soon. There might even be a pond making report for the blog at some time in the future.

Dont forget the washing...yea yea later...

Things hadnt improved over night!

Chilly days

Looking a bit dodgy up the hill.

Bloody chilly

Its been a quiet week for birding all round so far this week. With a bit of luck we will go out with a bang on Tim’s class ,Sunday. Another single Waxwing yesterday. Overnight wet snow froze to create an icy glaze over everything. The Kestrel returned to hunt along the burn and over the house today, A quick snap was taken..Red Grouse were calling behind the house today. This was enough encouragement to take the dog up the hill. Work is all digging at the moment so I decided to have the day off as it was so cold….its a grand life…Still little was to be seen out and about in the heather. The heather its self was covered in a skin of ice adorned with a deep frosting looking for all the world like shining white corral in the sun. All to soon the threatening weather made us retreat after only managing Wren and Blackbird for the list. Never mind it was nice to get the blood pumping a bit before sundown.

Snow storm rolls down the west coast.

Snowed in and no birds

The last few days have seen us snowed in with fans across the tracks. All in all its been a disappointing few days for birds with only the few local birds that are about coming to the ground feed I put out. All to soon it was discovered by Hoodies or the hens and quickly consumed. Raptors have been well represented though with Sparrow hawk, Kestrel and Merlin. The Merlin is an infrequent visitor around the valley and great to see. This one made a long and fast low pass across the tops of the bushes following the burn down hill. Stonechats from the burn were in the garden a couple of times and that’s about it for this place and the weekend. Over in the next valley today I had no sooner got to work when two Goldcrests twittered through the bushes in front of me. Then later A single Waxwing flew close overhead making a load of racket. Two good birds in an hour…aint that the way of it!!

Hard rains gona fall.