A good day today, it started out with a game of spot the grouse

Bright and quiet day

I had a bit of a sparse day looking for migrants, Deerness produced a couple of Wheatear, Grindigar had a couple of obliging chiffchaffs that fed in view all the time I was there. A couple of Goldcrests also provided great entertainment coming over to the willows beside the seat to feed. Of course the camera wouldn’t focus on the goldies within the willow and I ended with a poor sort of record shot. My first swallow of the season shot over and there was stunning action from a sparrowhawk that made an attack through the branches of one of the largest trees.
From there I had a quick run to Graemshall to have a shot at the Garganey but no luck, I did have a gab with Keith Hague tho so it wasn’t a total washout! Ariving home after that the Orkney bird group on facebook had a report of a sea eagle over the harray hills an hour before so it was a rapid coffee then back up and out, not that it did me any good as it was nowhere to be found. I tracked down the hills through Evie and crossed back on the Hillside road and ended up at Durkdale. Here I went up to the scrub at the steadings. Willow warblers were in good voice but little else was to be seen or heard. Walking away after giving it up a repeated triple call of a single note brought my purposeful stride to a dead stop. The note had sounded like a black bird and I though could this be the ringed ouzels that I had spent a couple of hours looking for the other day. Virtually bounding over the electric fence then using the derelict buildings for cover I cautiously looked out for the source of the singing. In the darkness on the lower bough of a large bush a dark bird was singing these notes over and over. Binoculars on it and I can see a large very dark head with a bright white stripe above the eye, What the hell is that? The days main moment of excitement is soon deflated with the scope for as the bird leaps out it is obvious that it is a Redwing, still it is looking radiant in its fresh summer plumage but hardly the migrant I was hoping for. A good view later I headed over to the loons hide for a look before home, here three noisy Little grebe scooted about, a pair of Shoveler were in front of the hide and a couple pair of Widgeon pairing up was about all there was to be seen. All in all a very quiet day but never mind Its Rousay the morn, I have never been there and cant wait!!

Mystery moment

Chiffchaff at Grindigar

The brig at Lyra burn

Out and about on Hoy

Hoy today turned out to be a shorter visit than planed due to the boat being booked up on the late sailing, never mind we did have a few hours to mooch about. The plan was to go to the pine plantation on the Rackwick road and work our way back from there. The cruise up to the Rackwick road was a little rain spotted but fine enough and nice as it was to be back on Hoy I was about to get a nasty shock. The mature pine trees and most of the others that had once stood at the road side had been totally clear felled and new plantings put in. Im sure there will be a plenty of good reasons for this to have been done but to my eyes this is nothing but sheer vandalism. Tall mature pine trees are rare enough habitat across the Hoy heather and with a good mix of healthy trees intermixed with lots of dead wood to promote habitat for insects. I don’t have any problem with new plantings, the more the better but FFS why slaughter the trees!! (answers on the back of a twenty pound note and post them in to me c/o Bank of Scotland) Any way rants aside there was a fair bit of singing going on and we had a look for forty mins or so till the rain pushed us back in the disco. Willow warblers were well represented with at least seven singing at once. Robins were also well represented with one pair on a nest. I spied one returning with food in its beak and another time one made a food pass to another near the nest. There were three more about tho and these were singing and scrapping with each other. A single Redstart appeared on to of some brush and moved off as I tried to close the distance on it. As soon as it landed a car put it up again and that was the last it was seen! Male Hen harrier, Bonxie and Ravens all moved about the valley. Rain moved us to the burn below the where we had a very welcome coffee whilst the rain rattled of the car!! We had a mippet, Stans first Wheatear of the season, another Robin and more Willow warblers singing in the bushes as a pleasant accompaniment to our piece! Next stop was Lyra burn where we had a wee break from the rain. Mippits were rushing about, five willow warblers sang at once also four Wrens. The surprising thing was the total of eight robins that were moving about in a noisy fashion here as well. There has obviously been a fall of Willow warblers and Robins across the island.. Margaret and I clambered down the steep sides of the burn to get a few photos of the brig with the burn in spate before the returning rain moved us on to the Pegwell burn. Here with a cursory look about the only common migrants to be found were five willow warbler singing around us and three to five more vocal Robins! There were four wrens singing about us as well. Today I have seen and heard more Wrens than I have in the last two years!! Last stop before the boat was the Lyness plantation. The trees have taken a proper hammering over winter and have had cye in them as well so it was pretty boggy for wandering around., The trees were teeming with birds tho and we paddled about underneath them following flitting movements and song. Chaffinch abounded and their song makes an interesting comparison the Willow warblers we had been hearing. These aside we also found plenty of Gold crests a few more Willow warblers, Wrens, at least one coal tit. All to soon we had to drag our self’s out and head back for the boat. All in all we saw lots of Robins and Willow warblers but few other migrants but there were gull colony’s, bonxies on territory and plenty of the other usual suspects despite the off and on rain…..all good fun!

Bonxies are back

Heres a shot of Bonxies on there nesting grounds, newly arrived for the season.

Aurora right now!

spring, ignore the snow!!

Pinkies

Finaly back on line and below the house spread across the Harray fields there are 500+ pinkfooted geese. This is by far the bigest number since autum and just shows how the spring is coming on!!

Barnhouse

Today it’s a wet old day outside with the clouds not only touching the ground but rolling across my garden! The relentless nature of it is in contrast with yesterday where we were just hit by the occasional prolonged shower as they rolled across us. The clarity of light was fantastic and it was this that drew me out yesterday. I was almost scuppered with a shower as I was leaving but it soon passed. I went to the Stenness kirk to look across the south end of Harray loch. A quiet approach revealed the water to be fairly teeming with birds. From the car park you have nice cover from the wall you get a nice view and some where to rest your elbows. Every where there were widgeon and tufted ducks geese pairs of goldeneye, along the shores were mallard and teal and a surprising amount of Gadwall. A pair of flocks of oystercatcher fed in the fields along with geese and starlings. As so often seems to happen I had just got thwe scope set up and was having a look through when rain started to rattle of my head and back. A look over the shoulder did not bode well with big dark wet stuff coming at me from the direction of the hills of Hoy. Caps on and of as quick as I can go I shoot up the road to the barnhouse hide. This is a couple of hundred yards up the loch side form where I have been watching but half a mile of road and a walk across the standing stones of Steness to reach the hide. The last bit to the hide is a board walk and my clump clump stealthy approach startles a brown pointy bird from under the wooden path and it runs quickly through the gap in the fence and disappears. It looked to me for all the world to be a water rail and excitedly I stood there thinking was that or wasn’t it was that or wasn’t it for a moment before getting inside the hide. Now this hide has a view over a wide loch and often has a lot of action on the far banks in the fields, this is a place for binoculars as a minimum but you really need a scope. Looking out in front there are only a few tufted, goldeneye and about fifteen mute swans close in. Looking across the loch and its another story. Through the scope a long length of bank some of it with a lagoon behind it fall into view. Tracking down it from the farthest point towards Lochside we have a large gull roost with a couple of cormorants on the rocky shore further we can see widgeon 300 strong grazing the field edge, a party of five hoodie crows and then a flock of Oystercatcher, these number just under 300 as well. All along the waters edge are Widgeon interspersed with Mallard, Teal, Curlew in small groups dot the waters edge. It is a matter of moving the scope and the next flock falls into view. Below a cattle trough a flock of Widgeon are preening away above them in the field are Oystercatchers with Golden plover mixed in and feeding , around the edges of all these a flock of Fieldfares pick away. Three different geese flocks are feeding in view and one of these near Masehow is joined by a couple of hundred more. There nosy approach gives great opportunities for long long tracking shots with the scope. Its very absorbing watching birds in flight like this. I was to get another shot at it momentarily as I picked up a Male henharrier crossing the loch. He stayed in view for a big long pan looking resplendent in the light and filled the eye piece!! Barnhouse was fairly doing its stuff today , there are times when it might produce a couple of dark specs in the distance and be a cold wind swept hole but not today!! Today there must be 2000 birds out there and the whole spectacle is hugely diverse and absorbing to view. A quick twich is a bit of fun but I do like to chill out and sink into it for a couple of hours, saying this you would think it couldn’t get much better but fate was to take a hand. A Short eared owl was hunting along the shore line and approaching the hide, I sat frozen as it passed only feet away. As soon as it passed out of my eyesight I squeaked my lips to make the sound of a mouse in distress getting eaten. This is a trick that can draw cattys towards you in the field if your lucky!!. Anyway the owl circled again To look for the source of the noise from the right hand side. I squeaked once again as it passed and to my delight it reappeared again from the other side and looked right in the windows from only a few feet away!!. With this tho it moved away along the shore and I went back to gazing into the distance. Within fifteen minutes it reappeared coming over the top of the hide screeching and turns quickly to flap and hover right above the shore line, as it does this another screech comes from above the hide and a second bird joins the first and they spin about over the loch interacting closely and nosily together. Love is obviously in the air and the pair reaper minutes later circling the hide several times. On one of these passes one of the owls changes from the screeching cries to hooting! I didn’t know they did this at all, I had never heard it before but it was hooting away like a good un!!. This is as close as I have been to Short ears as they begin to pair up. It is unbelievably exciting!!. Of course I manage to get the camera out and surreptitiously shoot some photos but the ones that did catch an owl look very distant and disappointing. At one stage one of them flew to the lochs far bank and then headed back straight to the hide and I had stunning eye to eye contact as it headed directly in to the scope on its approach! A third circle of the hide and the pair were gone, things soon quietened down again. It was now the back of four and I decided to get a move on. Heading towards the end of the board walk I was to get one last treat as a pouncing owl dropped out the sky on to prey in the barnhouse neolitic village. It lifted off holding a small rodent and was joined by its partner and the pair headed off towards Stenness…a perfect end to an afternoon’s damp bird watching!!

Heads up for lights right now

Last nights aurora

Here are some shots of last nights aurora. It was first called by Shetland wildlife on facebook and in no time at all (at about midnight) the sky was beginning to lighten down here as well. The display was a flat glow for a long time. This glow would change to an arc across the north east from time to time. Snowy squalls obscured the display but it doggedly remained shining. As it approached 3am It began to gain some movement and pillars of light began to shine upwards and down from the arc to make a more dynamic display. With this tho the snow returned once more and completely blacked out the view to the north and that was enough for me, chilled I decided to give it up for the night !!....roll on the next display!!

Ross's goose?

This is the Ross’s goose that’s hanging out with greylags in an area around the decca station Dounby. At the moment there has been no positive id on the bird. It maybe that its an escape from a collection or garden, after all a great many decide the grass looks greener on the free side of the fence. Lecuistic birds and domestics make up much of the white geese we see in wintering flocks, then to confuse things more there are the Snow geese. There are a few escapees dotted about geese flocks all over the UK and trying to split them up into proper wild birds and plastics is often the cause of contention. Over on Copinsay there is at least one snow goose that’s wintered there for a couple of years. If its migrated the summer grounds of those greylags then I personally would have to vote them as wild birds. Back to the Ross’s though. This is a goose that is similar to Snow geese and mixes freely with them, they are also almost identical which didn’t bode well for ID. Once we eventually located the bird (parking besides Morris a good location tip) The bird fell in to view. It was petite compared to the lags it was with. The smallish head and short neck were obvious as it moved about feeding and stretching. The black primary’s were folded well back but obvious when the wings were stretched. The black turned to grey as the colour moved back along the wings and not only the primary dark but the secondary’s as well. This is something the doesn’t sit well for an ID but may well be the last stages of the bird moulting into its adult plumage. The bill was short with no sign of the Snow gooses grin patch. Both legs were clear of rings and as the birds all went up the small size of the Ross,s was obvious to see amongst the greylags. I don’t ken what the pros will make of it but I can see no reason that this isnt an arctic bird that should have headed south of its range to winter in southern California or Mexico but has ended up here on the wrong side of the atlantic. After all if Purple sandpipers and Wheatears can do it I cant see why this bird didn’t follow the same route as well….tick I reckon!!.....Well a couple of hours later and i have been looking at Morris's pics on orkbird and am a lot less sure of my stance now. The bill looks a bit off compered to the photos of the five that have been seen in the UK over the last twelve days....standing back and holding my breath now...lol

Out east today

We had a particularly fine afternoon birding in bright and still weather. A blast out east to see the local celeb birds seemed in order. First off Alfie and I had a peep in and managed to see the Long eared owls. They were fairly flighty so we shot off quick and left them to it. A quick pear across the neepy field nearby produced a mixed finch flock with Twite and a few Linnet along with a mass of Pigeons. A run down to the beach then and we immediately lighted on Morris’s grey plover hanging out at the end of the sands. This was accompanied by a few Turnstones and Ringed plover on the sand and a few Purple sandpipers on the rocky point. The bay held small numbers of Long tailed duck and mergansers but little else. Retracing our steps a bit we backtracked to the slip at Newark bay in the hope of finding the Grey phalarope that was there a couple of days ago. This wasn’t to be tho and my second dip on a grey phal in a week rolled over me…mmmm…The whole shore here was in the last stage of the falling tide and was devoid of birds. Below us as we looked from the car park Turnstones and Purple sands picked away feeding. Nice but not enough to keep us fixated and the decision to jump in the car and head for St Peters pool parking spot had scopes quickly down and heaved in the boot with a flurry. It might be bright but it was decidedly chilly on the newly shorn lugs !! Its only a short haul to the pool and as we come down the hill where it is visible before us its obvious there is a lot of activity across the exposed sands. The parking is at the far side and has the advantage of having the sun kind of behind us for the view. Although the sun has begun its slow climb in the sky its still pretty mean here after midday and a cap with a peak is a major bonus in the afternoons. Parking up we jump out quick, ultimate driving machine they may be but you cant see worth a fuck through BMW windscreens with bins!! Before us to the left on the waters edge a flock of thirty Dunlin were scratching about accompanied by a couple of Oyster catchers. Little more was in front of us tho and the main flocks are way beyond the groins. They scope out well and there is a huge amount of life across there all be it a long way away!! Its not a hard decision next and we pick our way down the slippery rubble and on to the sandy shore and walk in on the birds. On a big open beach if you approach steadily and don’t faff about you can walk down on the feeding birds without spooking them and get in to close enough proximity to enjoy superb views. We reach the line of concrete blocks left over from the war (I think) beyond this a flock of Oystercatcher raise up there heads and become aware of us as we stop for the first time and stand up tripods. They are backed by a flock of Ringed plover and with them and beyond are Dunlin. In a slow perceptible wave they seem to lift up and swing enmass to land a hundred yards further down the beach. As it slowly settles we move forwards again, beneath our feet the grey sands are littered with shells of all sizes but mainly cockles. Here and there are tracks where cockles have moved over the surface and every where bird tracks! Another hundred yards and we are right on top of feeding Ringed plover with the main body of the flocks getting closer and closer. In the distance flocks are rising and falling back to the ground with a long flock not moving or preening looking well settled. A good view of these soon proves them to be a flock of Knot. The Plover and Dunlin take to the air swing and settle before all coming up once again to disappear behind us some where. The last move forwards takes us another couple of hundred yards and now we have an outstanding view of the lot, its even begun to surround and envelop us. This is what it is all about!! We are static, no immediate threat and largely ignored, spot on. In view 60 Widgeon, 20 odd Dunter, 30 Curlew 3 Hoodies, 125 Bar tailed godwit 1 Blacktailed godwit, 150 Knot, 3-500 Dunlin, 150 Ringed plover, 130 Oystercatchers. There was more than this spread about but it was fast counting to get an idea of what was about across the shore. In the cold bright clear light the views through the scopes were stunning taking you right in to the heart of the action. All of this consumed an hour and enjoyable as it was we withdrew and moved slowly out retracing out steps along the waters edge. The return was a bit in to the sun with the car looking like it was miles away but we were back soon enough. Next stop was Burray, here we headed for the back of the Sands. Some where in here was our last east side celebrity of the day. Pulling up at the small slip the first bird we see is the wintering Whimbrel we have come to look for. This bird is quite famous in birding circles here and has wintered for a few years at least along this small piece of shore. This tho is the first time I have seen it although I might have during the bird race last year, cant mind. If all birds were as easy to find as this today it would be a cushy life !! There’s still a little light left yet so we shoot over to the forth barrier beach for a look and at the far end of the beach there is a small flock of waders. Moving to the other end we have the sun behind us and fantastic views of a flock of thirty or more Sanderling skittering about the edge of the wee breaking waves. I love these birds with there vibrant white and black bar and there never ending energetic search for food. All to soon tho dog walkers bear down and they are gone, moving to and fro even landing right by us before disappearing far down the rocky shore. Its enough for us tho The sun is low and the temperature seems to be dropping fast. Time to wend wur way back to town well replete after our wee birding feast!!…The last birds of the day would have to be the roost of Curlew along the Holm village shore there must have been hundreds between the Commodore and the pier in the gathering gloom…lovely jublly

Moon tonight

Weather Europe, Satellite Weather Europe, Weather Forecast, Rainfall, Clouds, Sun in Europe - Source: SAT24.com

Weather Europe, Satellite Weather Europe, Weather Forecast, Rainfall, Clouds, Sun in Europe - Source: SAT24.com

Impending solar storm 24th 25th

This from earthsky today...... Sunspot 1402 has spawned an M9 eruption on the sun at 03:59 UTC on January 23. It is now sending a stream of charged particles toward Earth – due to sweep past us tomorrow (January 24, 2012). Experts are saying it will be the strongest radiation storm since 2005. The eruption took place last night at 9:59 p.m. according to clocks in the central U.S........ Thats the top most storm in the sunspot photos posted below a bit...Oh boy here we go, this one looks the biz !!!

Aurora

There is a good aurora tonight and there is still an hour or hour and a half untill maximum. The computer is so full that i cant squeeze another photo in and there is nothing left to delete. Its a bit of a bummer to say the least but we are goosed!!

Sun spotting

A while ago I saw a make your own sun filter advertised on ebay. In the past I have photographed eclipses with whatever I could find to use for a filter, things used have ranged from broken beer bottles and old welding goggles to a pair of sunglasses broken in half and doubled up. All of this produced mixed results and most of those were in the abysmal end of the range. This filter kit seemed like a nice cheap way to be able to observe sunspots as it came in at only twenty quid, although on arrival it transpires that all I receive is an A4 sheet of film and some instructions for construction. Undeterred I set to with the scissors glue and double sided sticky tape (I kid you not) Eventually I managed to cobble together something that approximated the instructions. Nothing goes to smoothly tho and true to form as the last bit of tape was being put in place and we were ready to go on the scope the sitting room fell into shadow as a large sleety rain cloud rolled across the horizon. This soon enough rolled away and the sun emerged ready for a view. It took a moment to find in the darkness but sure enough there it was, focusing up on it revealed spots in the upper right hand side with two separate huge storms both with numerous satellite spots and a cluster of smaller spots near by. It was very exciting viewing all be it over quickly as the clouds once again closed things down for a short while. Time now to get the Cannon out for a shot of didgiscoping. Although its pretty obvious it hadn’t struck me till now that the moon is the same size as the sun in the sky so getting detail from such small details as the sun spots with the spotting scope is going to be a bit of a challenge but we will see how it go’s. For now though im just looking forwards to seeing regular views of the increasingly active surface!! I should add I suppose that you would have to be some sort of dumb fuck to look at the sun with binoculars or a scope with out a proper filter so don’t do it…don’t even think about it cos it WILL blind you !!

Sunspot activity

Whale tooth

This is a tooth i found on the shore by the whale carcass at Sand geo today. Its a bit of a beast!!

As an update on this it turns out im wrong here and this is not a tooth but a phlange bone, part of a fin that would be a finger in mamals like us!....tooth indeed....slips away with a mild burn going on....

Blubber lover

Kumliens gull

Kumliens gull

Marwick madness

What a fantastic afternoon!! Marwick fishermens huts has to be the hottest white wing spot at the moment. Lying along the edge of the geo is the blubbery carcass of a long dead whale. This is drawing in the arctic gulls in like a magnet. Iceland and Glaucous were joined by far rarer Kumlien gull. With such a large amount of carrion there is little desire to flee being shown by the birds and at times it was hard to tell who was drooling the most the feasting gulls or the throng of birders atop of the adjoining cliff. After the disappointment of the heron not turning out to be American and a tick(interesting bird it is tho!) another tick has come along in the same week and with some assistance today I have seen my first Kumliens gull and boy was I chuffed!!. All this aside tho the bird to be looking for now has to be the Ivory gull. Shetland has records of them and im sure they have been seen over Caithness. With this massive southerly movement of arctic gulls that looks to be gaining momentum surely to goodness one or more will find its way here. Hopefully sand geo primed with whale carcass will provide a real opportunity to see one of these exciting gulls…good hunting!!

Blue news

The year has started well with an unprecedented numbers of white winged gulls scattered across the west side. The big news now will be the Great blue heron in Kirkwall if its confirmed!!!....

Iceland gull

Shooting stars tonight and the morns night, should be one of the best falls of the year.

It isnt !

After some absolutely fascinating, informative and intense debate across the usual internet forums the consensus of opinion is now that this bird is a Desert wheatear rather than a Red-tailed Wheatear. It’s a shame that it wont be a mega but it is a particularly rare visitor and a splendid record for Orkney. It has made for an excellent weekend birding and has drawn me out of my cant be arsed funk of the last few weeks. I might even go and try for another look to day as most of the film I shot yesterday seems to not have come out on the computer. The bird is at Sandside bay Deerness, park about half way down the track and the bird is hanging about thirty yards back from the shore….good hunting.

Is it isnt it ???

Buggered if i know...But i would go with the wealth of expert opinion that viewed the bird in the flesh for all those hours over the past couple of days and plump for the red arsed mega option...superb bird whatever...fantastic find for Morris, top job!!!

Dancers wed/thurs? ?

I ken fine that these predictions are a bit hit or miss but here we go!!...Geophysical Activity Forecast: The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet levels on day one (04 October). An increase to active and possible minor storm levels is expected on days two and three (05-06 October) as three Earthbound CME's are forecasted to arrive.

Water Rail

Snipe

At the Loons today,

Two Reed bunting, good flocks of Teeick, a pair of Kestrel active all day, plenty of Pinkfeet and more than a few Lags, two and a half thousand Golden plover spread across Yonbell and the aerodrome, once with as many again in the air towards the windmills The sky was truly dark! The reserve flock were flighty getting put up by the day long raptor activity, they started to skine up and move off in the early afternoon. One brief Gadwall and an even briefer Water rail (twice). Two solitary Swallows. The majority of the Curlew flocks stayed done the far end but weren’t particularly active, a nice sight was a flock of small ducks extremely high coming in from the north east, looked like Teal arriving. A single Snipe sat in the cut reeds right in front of the hide, roosted fed and roosted some more and was impressively tolerant of the hide which was hive of activity today. Shorteared owls were about in the late afternoon with two in sight at the same time the best count. Peregrines made seven or eight separate appearances and perched obligingly about the fence lines. There were maybe twenty two separate Ring tail passes across the reserve. Male Harriers made nine separate appearances. Eleven folks made a total of fifteen visits and five had the sense to bring sandwiches, I was not one! Six hours of sitting on my arse looking was topped off by a half hour watch from the observation point. Short eared owls hunting in front of us and a fantastic display of Peregrine rough housing with a male Harrier before chasing Golden Plovers for all it was worth. A good way to end the day!! It was a good days sitting about but I cant help thinking as I sit here I would be feeling the bones of me arse a wee bit less with a Pallid harrier tick tho!! Ach well the morns another day.

aurora alert

things are looking good for between the 8th and the 12th!!! There is a link on the facebook page.

Things are fairly moving now. Down the fields local geese are gathering in numbers and Golden plover have reappeared in numbers. All day Saturday and until Sunday at noon saw hundreds of Meadow pipits and to a lesser extent Twite continually passing over and through the gardens. This morning saw an excellent flock of seventy plus Twite around the houses. This has to be a garden record for us. !!

Shooting stars

Its 23.21and a superbly dark night and i have counted eleven shooting stars and three bright flashes over the last fifteen mins!