Rewinding back to mid-September, and it was time to head back up to the Highlands for another School of Birding - our twelfth! - and this time it was a little different: it was all about focusing on raptors and seabirds, for our first Double Deep-Dive Special.
Thanks to John, Penny, Simon, Sarah, Sally and the team for photos!
Based as ever at the fantastic Grant Arms Hotel, Simon and I were excited to deliver this new edition to the School's module choices, and we welcomed back some of our absolute favourite clients / repeat offenders to share the new material.
We timed these Deep Dives for September in order to try and maximise time in the field with each of the species groups - resident raptors would theoretically be easy-ish to find with ok weather, and migratory birds of prey should hopefully also be up and at 'em. Seabirds, meanwhile, should also be very much on the move, with a suite of guaranteed species to enjoy on the coast and, hopefully, a trip out onto the waves for more....
Close-in Bonxie at Burghead
In a nutshell, it could hardly have gone better. Everybody was wonderfully engaged and enthusiastic, with the whole team finding birds and sharing the spoils, and my co-pilot Simon absolutely smashing it with his raptor radar and unrivalled, intimate local knowledge. (I've been doing this for many years, and I'm still learning from him - there's no-one better.)
Raptors? Well, as well as the interactive ID sessions at the hotel, in the field we had eleven target species; realistically, then, nine or ten would be a more than decent return. In the event, we not only nailed all eleven, but had great, prolonged, brilliantly educational views of pretty much all of them - more than we could've dreamed of.
Sooty Shearwaters in the Minch
The roll-call was: Merlin, Kestrel, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, Goshawk, Common Buzzard, Osprey, Hen Harrier, Red Kite, Golden Eagle and White-tailed Eagle; the experiences were, as mentioned, just perfect from a learning perspective, with some absurdly close entounters with some of the rarer members of the list. An unqualified success!
Great Shearwater from the ferry
Seabirds? Well, arguably a little more in the hands of the gods, and indeed the conditions - for the coast, anything but heavy rain would be fine, but for the prospective sea crossing, we needed it calm enough to be worthwhile (i.e. not rough as hell). Our 'pelagic' for these purposes involved a very big boat indeed - the CalMac ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway and back again - which, if it happened, would constitute five hours of seawatching across the Minch and back.
Watching eagles at Spey Dam
As it happened, a day in the middle of the week looked ideal, and so off we drove, through some of the most stunning landscapes in the UK, to the ferry terminal. The conditions were, as forecast, good - the winds were light to moderate, the sky was cloudy (much better than sunshine, which creates too much contrast for observing the birds), and we were feeling quietly confident.
Hen Harrier
Long story short, the mighty Minch delivered, and then some. Our entire team were very much on board, in more ways than one - calling out interesting birds on and over the sea, asking for advice re: ID and flight styles of the birds in question, etc. - and everyone began to develop their seawatching skills in a whole range of ways.
Highlights were many, but of those that spring to mind, Great Shearwater, Leach's Storm-petrel, Pomarine Skua, swirling flocks of Sooty Shearwaters, European Storm-petrel, lots of Bonxies, Arctic Skuas and Manx Shearwaters, pods of Common Dolphins, Bottlenose Dolphins and a Minke Whale are among them....
A memorable day, capped by delivering a talk at the hotel late on (thanks for staying awake, team!).
Proof of arrival in the Outer Hebs - 15 minutes in Stornoway before the return journey!
Over the course of our six full days in the field, we covered many sites in pursuit of our targets, from glens, marshes, rocky coast, the open sea, mountain sides, forest, farmland and more. For such an incredible variety of habitats in such a small area, it's almost unrivalled.
Putative 'Viking Gull' (Glaucous x Herring) at Ullapool harbour
The classroom sessions were, as ever, really fulfilling to deliver and lots of fun (with everyone working together as always) - and being able to teach / learn things indoors and outdoors, in quick succession, is a real strength of our format.
Common Dolphin having fun
So, were the Deep Dives a success? For sure. Will we be doing them again? For sure! But in the meantime, we've a whole host of Schools to deliver over the coming year or more.... April, May, and June are already fully booked, but we have a couple of places left this February (a module one, and a great time for birding up there!): contact us HERE if you want to join the fun.
Goosanders (including a bird with partial leucism above, Bar-tailed Godwits and Bonxies below
It's been pretty much non-stop since we got back from the States in late August, with much of the last six weeks spent working away from home (with surveys and recreational birding filling in the blanks); a few days off beckon, so a little time to regroup and decompress (unless the discouraging weather forecasts change, in which case - to the coast, of course!).
I've spent much of the last week back in the old manor at Flamborough, guiding different groups of lovely clients every day. It's been rich and varied (as ever) from a migration / conditions perspective - blue skies and sunshine to torrential rain, perfectly still to tree-bendingly strong winds (from pretty much every point of the compass), positively balmy to proper autumnal chilliness.
Incoming Blackbird (above) and Short-eared Owl (below)
Every day, and every group, is different, which keeps me laser-focused and on my toes, and keeps life interesting; the more engaged my teams are the better it is for me, and I had an especially good run in that respect this week, with lots of great new clients and very welcome returning ones.
Incoming Bramblings...
We always meet at the Lighthouse (a perfect place to start, plus all the required facilities are at hand), and more often that not, there's plenty to enjoy in the first few hours on the Outer Head, on land, at sea, and above us overhead. This week was no different, and we had lots of incoming migration -
... Redwing...
- including Redwings, lots of Bramblings and Chaffinches, plenty of Swallows and House Martins, a very late Swift (which naturally got the heart pumping faster), and on the finale morning a Short-eared Owl - which came in off the sea, low over our heads and crash-landed in the hedge just a few metres away before gathering its bearings and heading off inland.
... Song Thrush...
The cliffs here are always worth a slow, steady wander to check the shoreline and the sea just beyond it - the former held hundreds of Grey Seals (always a joy) as well as Caspian Gull (and commoner gull species for comparison), various waders (including Curlews, Redshanks, Turnstones and Dunlins), Little Egrets, hunting Peregrine, hirundines whipping along the cliff edge and much more;
.... Barnacle Geese..
..the sea, meanwhile, was excellent on several mornings: close-in feeding frenzies and flocks on the move included Balearic Shearwater, close-up Manx Shearwaters, Arctic Skuas, Little Gulls, Red-throated Divers, all three commoner tern species, and big numbers of Gannets and auks. Various species also on the move in the area included Goosanders, Barnacle Geese, Pink-footed Geese, Common Scoters, Grey and Golden Plovers, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and more.
... another Song Thrush...
Of the various other local spots to choose from, Thornwick Pools and (especially) South Landing were very productive; the former for waders and wildfowl, and the latter for, well, a variety of reasons:
The sheltered bay and beach afforded great close-up views of waders including Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Turnstones, Curlews and Redshank, as well as lots of Rock Pipits and alba wagtails, while we caught up with a flock of Shorelarks in the fields above the bay. Out over the water, we'd flocks of Little Gulls, Arctic Skua, plenty of close-up Red-throated Divers (above and below), Gannets and auks and more on the move.
The wooded ravine, meanwhile, came into its own as multitudes of migrants channelled in, particularly after storm fronts. It's always an absolute thrill to experience visible inbound migration as it happens, and it's even more of one to share it with groups; while there's no guarantee it'll always happen, it's a question of right time, right place when it does. We had lots of small surges of e.g. finches, buntings and thrushes throughout, but one afternoon in particular was outstanding.
Yet another Redwing - every one a joy
My ever-enthusiatic team stuck it out whilst a very wet storm front swept south-east across the Headland and out into the North Sea (we did seek shelter while it did so....), and if any birds were moving along its edge, I banked on the South Landing - and more specifically, the open, raised area of the car park at the top of the slope.
Happy to say, it was the right decision: just as we parked up, the rain eased, the wind dropped, and the birds flooded in, right over our heads. Well over a thousand Redwings, almost five hundred Song Thrushes and 62 Bramblings were the most numerous highlights - funnelling up ravine and the slope, often calling, and often in groups.
Other species incoming and overhead included Jack (and Common) Snipe, Snow Bunting, lots of Starlings, Chaffinches, Reed Buntings, Skylarks, Swallows and House Martins, plus several Mistle Thrushes and Blackbirds, Grey and Pied Wagtails, and smaller numbers of Yellowhammers, Rock and Meadow Pipits.
Fancy joining in the fun? My 2027 Flamborough Migration Specials are available to book now on the Yorkshire Coast Nature website HERE
Catching up..... I spent the working week guiding at Spurn last week, only my second time there this year (after the residential group in late April). It's usually more - up to six weeks a year recently - and so I've missed the place a lot, including over Migfest, but will get that back on track next year.
Shelducks looking like a painting on the Humber
Back to my routine of a different group of six every day, and as ever, each day was different; even quiet days are entertaining at Spurn if you know where to look. The first couple of days were dominated by pleasantly warm, settled weather, which didn't deter migration - plenty of Robins, pipits and Buntings arriving, warblers including a good sprinkling of Chiffs and Yellow-browed, and a Siberian Lesser Whitethroat (which we found in Corner Field and was trapped soon after) among others.
Yellow-browed Warblers
Add on to that swirling masses of wonderful waders on the Humber and some interesting activity over the sea (Little Gulls, terns, skuas) and, while we didn't exactly coincide with fall conditions (yet), all was well with the world.
Despite the ongoing warm sunshine, the latter half of day four saw the wind gently swing into the south-east, as forecast - and like clockwork, birds immediately began to arrive. In the skies, Redwings, Song Thrushes, Skylarks, Chaffinches and Brambling began to trickle in; in the bushes, a few more warblers, the odd Pied Fly and Redstart...
Many a gorgeous, soupy Robin to appreciate
... all good stuff, but with rain forecast for overnight (and the wind remaining south-easterly), hopes were high - the first such winds of the autumn proper, and all the expectation that comes with them. So, I was up and out pre-work and to the Warren, where within a minute or two, both Lapland and Little Bunting flew over - not a bad start! - with incoming finches, buntings, thrushes and pipits all raising excitement levels.
Pied Flycatcher
Would it tail off by 0830hrs, when I was to meet my team for the day at the Bluebell? Erm, no. The radio crackled and one of those classically dour, almost unbelievable Spurn messages came through - "Eye-browed Thrush, Church Field". Jesus! My clients barely had time to put their boots on before I was firmly frogmarching everyone the five minutes up the road, where any other lucky locals were similarly converging with great haste.
A great start to great Spurn day - one of those where you're constantly bumping into new arrivals in the bushes - Yellow-browed Warblers, Pied Flycatchers, over a hundred Robins, dozens of Chiffys, Blackcaps and more - and then hearing / looking up to find incoming migrants pretty much wherever you are; we'd 110 Brambling, 25 Redpoll, two Tree Pipits, a few Siskins, 38 Song Thrushes, plus Swallows, Skylarks, Grey and alba wagtails and much more.
Another fine week at one of my favourite birding places - thanks to all the locals for their always much appreciated help and assistance, and see you all again in a couple of weeks!
Golden Plovers against the industrial backdrop of Saltend
As described in the last post (see here), the last day of September was fantastic on the coast, especially for the big numbers of Song Thrushes arriving in off the sea. Early the following morning, I drove to Paull (on the North Bank of the Humber, just east of Hull) for a regular surveying work session. Initially cool with low cloud and a south-westerly breeze, it was immediately evident that visible migration was again underway....
Skylark migrating over our heads
Guess the most numerous species? Yep, Song Thrushes, ticking softly as the headed into the breeze, gaining more and more height, and clearing the Humber towards Lincolnshire. It's a decent spot for channelling birds and vismig can be pretty good here, but I've never seen Song Thrushes using it en masse as a launch pad for crossing the river.
Song Thrushes! Check out those orange underwings...
As the cloud cleared, so many of the birds got higher, and many of those became just visible (and still audible) specks in the blue; it slowed down somewhat, but not before I was joined - coincidentally, as they were also surveying on site! - by Will and Chris. We enjoyed plenty more thrushes, as well as pipits (including no fewer than three Tree), Bramblings, Chaffinches, Skylarks and many more species heading west and south-west.
A fabulous sight, especially after the previous days events - and a privilege to witness two parts of their multi-sectioned journey from Northern Europe to the Iberian peninsula. Full counts on trek here.
We timed these Deep Dives for September in order to try and maximise time in the field with each of the species groups - resident raptors would theoretically be easy-ish to find with ok weather, and migratory birds of prey should hopefully also be up and at 'em. Seabirds, meanwhile, should also be very much on the move, with a suite of guaranteed species to enjoy on the coast and, hopefully, a trip out onto the waves for more....
Raptors? Well, as well as the interactive ID sessions at the hotel, in the field we had eleven target species; realistically, then, nine or ten would be a more than decent return. In the event, we not only nailed all eleven, but had great, prolonged, brilliantly educational views of pretty much all of them - more than we could've dreamed of.
Sooty Shearwaters in the Minch
The roll-call was: Merlin, Kestrel, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, Goshawk, Common Buzzard, Osprey, Hen Harrier, Red Kite, Golden Eagle and White-tailed Eagle; the experiences were, as mentioned, just perfect from a learning perspective, with some absurdly close entounters with some of the rarer members of the list. An unqualified success! 
Sooty Shearwaters in the Minch
Goosanders (including a bird with partial leucism above, Bar-tailed Godwits and Bonxies below
