Wknd 3-4 Mar

Saturday - first success in virtual recording via Seabird Centre cameras - pr Peregrines seen at Bass Rock lighthouse, think female perched and male coming in to alight beside her; a probable male perched on Fidra, up on a rock platform facing SE, then on lower cliff edge with adjacent gulls holding fast but keeping an eye on it. Also managed to read 4 Shag darvics on SW rocky coast on Isle of May, red-HFJ, red-HFT, red-IDN and green-JUZ. Letters on HFJ worn to a white patch on one side so perhaps an older individual. First and last feature on Seabird Centre sightings as breeders there.

It's all over for the Prora potato-eating Whooper Swans, a plough was turning over the whole site along with whatever remains of the potatoes; 174 (40 juv) were at East Fenton with 6 flying in at dusk, this left 70 missing from last week, either dispersed or still feeding somewhere a bit further a-field. No rings read with birds on water but have received latest return from WWT and updated the histories summary spreadsheet, now 121 ring reads in East Lothian of 30 confirmed individuals, histories extend to 240+ records. A few more unconfirmed, very nice to get the 4*I ring confirmed as 46I in last return!

In Athelstaneford area - stacks of gulls for miles around in recently ploughed fields, but no further sign of last week's with yellow legs.

During the week - a Short-eared Owl casualty on the A1 at Dolphingstone, just over a mile west of the Blindwells bird in November (new one another male based on few bars on outer tail feather, but age tricky/impossible as central tail missing!). These are the first two casualties I have recorded of this species, searching the Lothian database I found only one other record since 1991, one on A1 at Dunglass on 2 February 1993; the only other in LBR's (1979 to date) was "single Macmerry (dead)" sometime in 1989, likely a casualty but no info on that. These recent casualties therefore consistent with an exceptional influx last autumn as suggested by records of live birds locally and in wider area. More positively, a Barn Owl hunting at the regular spot by Harperdean road up to Garleton from Haddington on Tuesday evening, Tawny calling at Seton Dean on Wednesday.

Friday - a sooty BHG by the Seton Burn, probably same individual first seen two weeks ago and presumed stained not melanistic as it was with a second bird. Plenty Herrings on shore (450+) but no sign of yellow-T:115 reported there last week (ringed as ad f on 22/07/11 in Aberdeen harbour, caught by hand). Several Kittiwakes and Gannets out in the Forth.

At dusk on Sunday c. 3000 small gulls at mouth of Seton Burn, with just a handful of large gulls, still only one ad graellsii LBB; careful scan revealed nothing else but at last light a white-winged bird went past NE to join a sub-group of 200 on Gosford Sands, presumed Med Gull. Nice sunset though.

Garden bird log for Longniddry, Lothian

This is a log of the more interesting species seen and heard in, and flying over, a small garden on Douglas Road, Longniddry, Lothian, Scotland (map), since August 2004. The garden is in an estate within 500m of high water - Firth of Forth. Unfortunately there is no view out to the sea, or indeed anywhere beyond the neighbouring houses in the estate.

Annotated species list
Detailed records (spreadshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifheet)

2012

2 Tree Sparrow over on 3 March. pr Robins mating in rowan tree, not sure if this implies a very early nest or just practice, others have discussed.

Nice to hear "our" Blackbird in song again, no doubt it's the same individual as last year with its rather monotonous turn of phrase, at least it has survived the winter. Also interesting to note Woodpigeon in nocturnal song, 04:20hrs on 2 March.

Ringed Plover south over at c. 22:00hrs on 28 February was unusual. No Nuthatch heard yet but they are now resident at peanut feeders just down the end of our road!

4 Buzzard in territorial encounter over Fernyness Wood on 24 February.

2011

Could not match last year with only 72 species recorded (down 5) but some real highlights with two Woodcock making a roding flight excursion well over the village and a Short-eared Owl over in the late October influx, obliging going straight overhead allowing species confirmation. These were the only species additions (total now 96). Other highlights were further nocturnal migrant Coot and Moorhen in spring, probably many more of these would be detected with better coverage, or even automated monitoring as per the Old Bird system. The latter may also have permitted confirmation of the most intriguing record of the year with the clear descending "tseeooo" call matching LRP on 10 May.
Full records: Excel s/s.
Older records (to end 2011).

Wknd 25-26 February

Went looking for the Greylags Saturday morning for the goose survey but got very few, just 45 East Fortune ponds and 6 at Lochhouses. Better success on Whoopers, 255 split btwn East Fenton (on water, also at grain and potatoes), Chapel (on grass) and Prora (at potatoes on landfill), 49 juvs = 19.3%; after over an hour and seeing 50+ bare legs was getting frustrated on darvics but then got a purple patch with 6 amongst only 25-30 birds on East Fenton bank, yellow PL5, UH3, X6C, 46I and X4R (first 3 are old timers, last 2 are new); plus a red darvic starting A. Red darvics with white engraved letters very hard to read when muddy! PL5, 46I (centre) and X4R shown below. [Postscript - turns out 46I is a very interesting bird, female cygnet ringed at Jokuldalsheidi, Iceland, August 2003 and present there as an adult in August 2006, but wintering in Co. Cork and Waterford the last 3 winters.]

After a few circuits in search of geese came upon a flock of gulls in field by Needless at Athelstaneford (c. 300 HG with an ad graellsii LBB) scanned for white-wings and found a darker yellow-legged bird, possible adult YLG! Could not stay to get any better photos though, only these poor ones, which, needless to say, will not be good enough, critically none of the spread wing. Compare also the last candidate in this area (c. 2 miles NNW), last June.

Dusk Saturday checked Gosford for Greylags coming in to roost, negative; went down towards the village and finally spotted some in field east of the Bothy, just 10 and no signs of moving to roost by 18:00hrs. In same field a large flock of corvids, been fooled by these before (we still need Rook for NT47U in atlas), they were in fact 255 Carrion Crows all doing very little sitting around and gathered in presumed pre-roost before going into woods. Adding the 15+ at the Gosford Sands burn/pipe at 18:15hrs (and still no geese) this is a sizeable roost, 270+ [possibly highest Lothian count since 316 S to roost at Aberlady 5/12/96].

Sunday - family excursion to Pressmennan, atlas roving en route. This very dark Buzzard at Whittighame, looked black at a distance but bulk gave it away as a Buzzard. Expected species with 2 Jays, Treecreepers, Siskin etc. On the lake, 9 Goldeneye and a few other duck, but only atlas tick was a Woodpigeon "used nest" so clearly a well covered tetrad. No sign of yesterday's gull in Athelstaneford area, though with the flocks being so transient following food had no great expectation it would be. Another that "got away" :(

Back to Friday afternoon, quick look from Seton harbour, 187+ Velvet Scoter on sea (including 95 ad m, 14 f, 2 imm m) mainly off the harbour and NE in Gosford Bay; surprised to see a hooded white-winged gull heading in towards Seton from offshore, an adult Med; the bird did not stop at Seton burn but proceeded NE in great loops, perhaps response to the brisk wind, followed it as far as Gosford entrance where seemed to come down in the corner east of the gatehouse (tetrad tick for NT47P).

Thursday - 110 Pinks N over central Edinburgh in the morning.

Finally - pr Nutch reported still attending peanut feeder on Douglas Road, Longniddry - hopes now of local breeding?

Wknd 18-19 February

After struggling with the Pinkfoot collar and Whooper darvics last week went back to try again; no joy with the two red darvics seen previously at Prora, and despite an earlier start in hope of less mud on rings they were no better, see below for example of the new "all black" darvics (this one is actually yellow!). Partial success with one new ring, above, initially totally illegible with wet mud but within a minute had dried in the brisk breeze to reveal code 4*I, will need to see again to confirm (later confirmed as 46I).


Nearby, the East Fortune geese were tucked in by the railway on low-lying ground east of Congalton Gardens - 950+ Pinks, 200+ Greylag, 15+ ad Euro Whitefronts, 5 tundra Beans (feeding together, above, some others unconfirmed), 3+ Barnacle Geese.

Also at Prora excellent views of a flock of corvids enabled checking for Nordic Jackdaw; in 210 birds not one had any obvious white collar, though two had leucistic bits in plumage, most obviously on this bird.

Finally had a look at Seton roost, having failed to detected anything other than the regular ad LBB in quick look at dusk on Friday; c. 3100 small gulls on shore, many hidden crouching amongst Long Craigs rocks due to the strong wind; eventually 3 ad Meds showed, the first with a white forehead on an otherwise full jet black hood, second with a mask and band over rear crown, final bird with just a mask; also one 1st-win Med, first here for quite a while; large gulls were only 40 Herring and 1 GBB, lack of LBB also first for a long time.

To complete the set of species groups usually featured on this blog (swans, geese, gulls and dead owls, repetitive isn't it!) a beautiful rufous specimen of a Tawny Owl recovered from the A1 Wallyford junction. The wavy bar on the flight feather tips confirms age as a juvenile. This is an atlas tetrad tick (we are including these post BTO atlas).

Sunday - did swan darvics at St Margaret's Loch, also a nice drake Pochard there in the bread melee and a very pale backed ad graellsii LBB. Later found over a thousand medium-large gulls (Herring and Common) up at the lamb fields at Penston, perhaps attracted by the lines of turnips laid out as feed. Apart from a few BHG, no other species apparent. Finally back to the Seton roost where numbers were lower and nothing of great interest apparent, ad graellsii LBB had returned. Seton harbour held 80 odd Herrings and a few GBB well after sunset, and another went over our house c. 18:10hrs.

Wknd 11-12 February

With Lothian Iceland Gulls now into double figures, not to mention Kumlien's, and the intriguing prospect that the Blindwells Smew were roosting on the off Seton, there was only one place to go on Saturday evening! Started at Longniddry Bents where one beautiful ad Med Gull (dark mask only) was amongst the mainly BHG roosting offshore, tide fully in. Also one ad LBB on the sea. Scanning the sky repeatedly but no small duck appeared and turned out later the Smew had not been at Blindwells anyway. Then off Seton Sands mainly Common Gulls on the sea, total small gulls perhaps 3k, also 31 Wigeon, 3 RBM and a Teal there. Light very poor even at sunset.

[Postscript - how sad that these birds are still being flushed by "birders"; I was able to see them perfectly well from the gate! Don't these "birders" have telescopes to watch birds throo?! Certainly makes one think about putting out news of rarer species, I suspect I will adopt a more cautious approach in future.]

There were also an unusual gathering of Herring Gulls on the sea, 200 off the Seton Burn and another 90 in a single species group further offshore - they often keep to themselves/hog the rocks at Long Craigs to exclusion of small gulls. Historically this species has not roosted in any great numbers here, though several hundred can often be present in the pre-roost, arriving to wash and drink at the Seton Burn, many tend to head off along the coast to roost presumably off North Berwick, where some at least are recorded roosting on the Bass Rock. With poor light after sunset it is often hard to determine if any stay to roost, though I have also encountered 50+ in Seton harbour feeding after dark, under artificial lighting. Curious to see if tonight's birds would stay I looked again at c. 18:00hrs, by which time it was really dark, and those which were immediately offshore from the Seton Burn were still discernible there on the sea, giving every impression that they were remaining to roost, perhaps first time I have got concrete evidence of this. Maybe also significant that it was pretty mild and calm, certainly for the time of year. Again, nothing all white was apparent in their midst, the various Icelands presumably drawn to other gatherings of roosting gulls further west?

Sunday - WeBS circuit; commenced Drem pools, annual Snipe census (I don't like to flush them more than once per year) - only 4 Common Snipe seen, no Jacks this year, though a bonus with the rear end of a Water Rail scurrying away, second for site after one 11/11/07 (since 1975). Jack Snipe are hard to flush, you need to walk and pause, they tend to sit tight unless you stop, same was true of the Water Rail, it ran a second or two after I stopped. At East Fenton, first returning Oyc in residence. Chapel resr was better for Snipe with 19 out on the bank feeding, a regular sight now, amongst them 4 Redshank and a rare inland winter Dunlin, 75 Lapwings nearby. Full wildfowl count was 42 Mallard, 25 Wigeon, 22 Tuftie, 7 Teal, 3 Goosander, pr Goldeneye, juv Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, injured Pinkfoot, no Scaup though. At East Fortune some Bean Geese remain, a minimum of 11 amongst nearly 1000 geese at potatoes and in stubble south of the ponds. Also 6 White-fronted Geese (2 ads, 4 1st-win), 8 Barnacles, c. 490 Pinks and c. 495 Greylag. A neck-collared Pinkfoot was a challenge to read, something like LJG! Then Prora for the Whoopers, still present on potatoes; 4 darviced birds seen, 2 yellow (one was X6C, other too muddy) and two red, both indecipherable though left leg rung bird likely ASB seen in November. Will have to try again, not easy with the thick mud there! All told added 6 atlas tetrad ticks and about 10 count upgrades.

[Photo top is view over Waughton resr towards Traprain Law and the Lammermuirs beyond.]

Mon/Tue a bizarre occurrence of seeing a male Sprawk hunting over Prestonpans at exactly the same spot, heading the same way, at the same time both days (viewed from the train) - presumably same bird on a daily routine?

Wed taking the car to work for first time in a while spotted two more raptor casualties en route, a Buzzard on the B6363 and a wood owl on the A1 at Wallyford, turned out to be a very rufous juv Tawny. Coming home checked for the Smew and watched them 17:30-17:55hrs when still settled on Blindwells pool; generally inactive, just following a male Tuftie around at east end, but occasional became alert and dipped/raised heads, wing arching twice, washing and wing flapping once but no signs of departing to anywhere else to roost.

Wknd 4-5 February

Starting Friday one very impressive female Peregrine circling over Edinburgh.

Saturday - on sea off Wrecked Craigs, Port Seton - a Red-necked with 3 Slav Grebes, 130+ Velvet Scoter - over 90% of these were adult males, as is typical. Bit of green around eye of Wigeon on shore (above). A couple of Purple Sand flew E past with Turnstones.

Down at Seton Sands the tide was a good distance out, giving chance to check throo 2500+ small gulls standing on shore - the recent 2nd-win Med Gull was there (had a slight limp), plus one or probably two adults, one of which was unringed, not sure about the other. In addition one graellsii LBB, 3 ad GBB and amongst 100 odd Herring Gulls suddenly spotted a bird with striking pink "dipped in ink" bill pattern - flew to reveal upperparts of a 3rd-win Herring. So, still drawing a blank on white-wingers, even though they are now being found in increasing numbers in Lothian both in the west and the east.

Sunday - went for atlas topping up East Linton to Hailes Castle - hard to find much new, Mallards and various gulls were only actual tetrad ticks. Had in mind the Smew reported from same stretch of river the December before last, did not do better than a Dipper today [though on arrival home found out about the Smew at Blindwells - well done David, had seen the duck there from the train this week but not visiting that frequently this time of the year, next WeBS not due till next wknd!]. More positively, used nests easily apparent this time of the year, Crow, Woodpigeon, Swallow, one of the former was also new. Also a Barn Owl pellet found. Chaffinch in song was first I'd heard. Definite highlight was seeing a Water Shrew in frenetic activity swimming below the surface of the Tyne in an area with trees lying down in the water - the first time I can recall having seen this, though no photo of course! Interesting that predation by Goosander was listed in one reference I saw as a limit on their numbers.

Final PS - a report of a pair of Nuthatches at feeders in a Longniddry garden a couple of weeks back - this is a first as far as I know, much anticipated given their occasional presence in Fernieness Wood over the last couple of years - definitely a realistic target for the garden list now!

Tuesday - a white dot accompanied by some black dots on ice-free area at east of Blindwells pond likely to be the male Smew, viewed from train. Wednesday - chance to stop and Blindwells and have a proper look at the four Smew, diving continously at east ice-free end of the pond, beautiful in the early morning sun.

Returning from work a fresh Barn Owl casualty down by the central reservation of the A1 at Bankton, about 500m west of the A1 junction. 30 mins later had moved closer to central reservation; in the wee hours had completely vanished - this may be a rare case of a bird stunned which later recovered and flew off, certainly no obvious signs of injury when first seen (though this is common). Passing Hoprig a shape flew high over B6363, probable owl, and on the late trip one Barnie was perched by the A1 just south of there, west of the Gladsmuir turn - braving the rain to hunt but probably pleased it was not snow!

Wknd 28-29 January

1st-win Shag green-USS on a small rock on west side of Seton harbour Saturday late afternoon (previously here on 10 September last year). On sea not far offshore one GND.

High tide at dusk made it difficult to check the Seton gulls, but on sea mainly off Longniddry Bents c. 2500 small gulls amongst which a single ad Med (forehead still white) and a dark LBB, off Seton Burn on sea 1 graellsii LBB amongst 80 Herring Gulls. Nothing white all over!

Back on Sunday - the Seton roost was again spread over sea, included various "hooded" Common Gulls such as bird depicted here. Then a fishing boat came in to Seton harbour just after dusk - wheeling over the wake were 4 Kittiwakes, 2 ad, 2 tarrock, 1 ad came right into the harbour and alighted on the wall (depicted below as last bird following the boat into harbour). Also one ad graellsii LBB amongst the large gulls following, presumed "Lucy", she is a fishing boat dependent gull.