Wknd 27-28 April

Showery with some SW wind on Sunday so I popped down to c/p 2 for a very brief look into the Forth early evening - there were many sheering birds moving west, most were Fulmars but also Manx Shearwaters, welcome back. View above of silhouetted Inchkeith, plus a shower mid-Forth. Welcome also to the local Sedge Warbler, was hoping this would be back after successful breeding last year and sure enough on arrival a subdued warbler was rattling through various species in a mimicry-laden song from hawthorn scrub (not many reeds yet).

Back in the village only 3 Willow Warblers seen along the burn left over from influx last weekend, still all silent. With them now both a male and female Blackcap, presumably just back as I have checked the area every day.

On Saturday went for the rookery recount of the great colony at Pishwanton near Gifford. Made it 525 full-sized nests this time, of which perhaps 450+ occupied (???) and a great cloud of birds swirling over. Breakdown by tree species was c. 68% scots pine, 12% larch, the rest in deciduous trees along burn ranked as alder, sycamore, oak and birch. This appears to be the largest colony in Lothian at present by some margin. Pics above from Longniddry rookery, now rather rearranged with now slightly fewer nests in main wood but a new batch at Longniddry farm.

Kevin provided a Tawny Owl from Roslin, seems to be an adult male (4+ cy), rufous morph; wing entirely adult, no retained juvenile feathers which can persist to 4th spring, but careful scrutiny of the wing shows s3 is rather worn - not all secondaries are replaced every year. The undertail also shows the very speckled patterning, much more defined bands on a juvenile. Sex by length of central claw (c. 15.0mm, <17.8mm = male), also wing length c. 260mm (female 275mm). Recovered not far from a road, so possibly hit by a car - or maybe old age given it was likely born in 2010 or earlier, thus must have lived through one of the very severe winters. Bad news for its family too, young Tawny's out since a while back in some parts of the country.

Wknd 20-21 April

Tried vismig at Gullane, the King's Chair, early Saturday - not a lot moving but my first spring migrant Bramblings, also two Tree Pipits and Grasshopper Warbler in song (full counts). Constant song from Willow Warblers.

Friday - 2 Yellow Wags low N over cereal east of East Bearsford, east of Haddington (11:45hrs); several Swallow and Sand Martin back at Abbeymill; early afternoon a minimum of 550 Velvet Scoter on flat calm sea spread over Gosford Bay and Gullane Bay, also 27 Long-tailed Ducks and 6 courting Common Scoter close in. 14 Sandwich Tern.

Sunday back on rookeries, got up to Lammermuirs edge in search of historic colonies extracted from cards at SOC for the 1975 census; found one in an exposed location in a high shelter belt near Snawdon Farm, 250m asl, but well down on its former 290 nests. Views above of Quarryford pond (first visit!), 55 Greylags there, and an different view of Cockenzie power station looking down Daneskine Burn/B6355 from Darent House. A pleasure to see displaying Lapwings and hear chipping Snipe at same spot.

Monday evening - 12 phylloscs within 100m along the tiny Wemyss burn past Longniddry community centre - all definitely identified were Willow Warblers. An unprecedented fall here, no more than a single ever previously! Strangely silent, in half a hour just one short bout of hooet calls from one bird, clearly none believe this will be their breeding territory. With them, a pair each of Goldcrest and Long-tailed Tit. Tuesday evening, still 8+ Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff and the Goldcrest, all feeding low down close to burn with frequent fly catching sallies, still silent. Chiff settled on an exposed bramble stem a foot off the ground at dusk and looked set to roost. First juv Robins out being fed! Wednesday, still 7 Willow Warblers, all entirely silent. Thursday, still 5 Willow Warbler, 2 Goldcrest, 1 Chiffchaff still along burn. Good practice on naked eye ID, more confident on separating the Chiff since Monday.

Wknd 6-7 April

Been neglecting my Port Seton "patch" in favour of rookeries of late, so no surprise when last weekend heard of another good bird dug out by Keith when I was off duty, a drake Surf Scoter. Presumably one of same as had been seen on same patch of sea in 2010 and last year, those visits being well into May, there were also mid-April records in 2009 and 2010 for Gosford Bay. Finally got round to looking on way home from work Friday and was surprised to see two drakes there, not that far offshore c. 1km. Brief rising display then a chase round on the sea with lots of splashing; hope they impressed the single associating female scoter, presumably a Velvet but would have been nice to see closer! Then resumed diving. Exceedingly poor record shot showing two white napes below.

Called in again the following morning but by the time I arrived the action was all over, missed a juv Glaucous which had been on sea, flew to harbour and north. Also heard that a Great Northern Diver had passed. Mipit passage was well underway though, accompanied by Siskins and a single Pied Wag, a Shelduck flew east. My usual deserted corner of the prom had five guys with scopes and after half an hour one drake Surfie was detected amongst a small bunch of Velvets, probably a good mile offshore. Prior to that I had had a glimpse of white nape amongst 4 scoter much further out, not far below the horizon, but could not confirm - however the two had been present earlier.

Not aware at the time but the wintering drake Surfie had still been at Ruddon's Point on 2 April, so presumably our second drake is that bird - how did it find the other? I made a small chart of late spring Surfie records in the Forth which shows their patterns of occurrence, after a period of some stability more changes of late. All gets very messy when assessing under self-found listing rules, needed to be >10km from other sighting of same (OK, c. 22km), also >6 days since previous report, so strictly I could have added this in 2010 (20 days gap) but did not feel right!

Rest of Saturday back on rookeries, first young heard and some colonies still expanding, one small one also found abandoned. Still 15 Mute Swans at Rogarth.

Sunday - nearly 7 hours in Longniddry's Dean Wood (finally fixing the rope swing), hoping that Chiffchaffs might finally be back too - only one heard very briefly early afternoon, interestingly sang just once, then 10 seconds later a good distance north and not again, clearly a true migrant hurrying on.

Back to Friday, Pencraig rookery recounted at 36 nests and a decent one spotted at Monkrigg, not counted but 30+ nests. Also observed a presumed pair of Stock Doves performing a sychronised high flight for over a minute, rising and falling in parallel over a wood by the Tyne at Sandy's Mill, near Haddington, and finally descending to a large tree - this type of behaviour seems not to be included within descriptions of display flight in BWP.

Back to Thursday - out of the area on trip to Banchory, saw 16 Waxwings there at the top of Arbeadie Road, was lucky to detect them via hearing the trills of flock in a back garden as car windows were shut - a gentle call but can be far-carrying. Only Barn Owl noted was a casualty on central reservation of A90 at Nether Careston just south of Brechin. Also saw a juv Whooper Swan on Forfar Loch, no Sand Martins.

Earlier last week, a fresh Barn Owl casualty on A1 westbound, on the embankment opposite entrance to Queen Margaret University, sadly crushed.

Easter weekend

Saturday - despite the snow the last batch of Whoopers seem to have bailed out during the week, just two ad+juv remaining amongst Mutes at Rogarth, West Fortune, later looking isolated grazing alone on the grass at Muirton. Photo of juv above, green-NFU darvic behind (also NLD, NLT and NZU (juv) there), ad below. Per Abbie there had still been 39 Whoopers there on Wednesday and the Bewick's was still amongst 54 present on Tuesday. Anyway, there they go for another year, and no sign of much in the way of migrants to replace them yet - though will be busy again soon with effort towards the final breeding atlas about to commence on Monday!

En route today an ad m Peregrine in transit, and remains of a Barn Owl found, feathers of most of right wing and some body feathers just off the road near North Berwick Law rookery/pond, bird must have perished, perhaps some time in the winter but for unknown reasons but possibly a road casualty? The last recovered from A1 at St Clements Wells in last week of atlas was another young female, in excellent physical condition (5/5 body score, ample fat, 2 small field mice in gizzard, well-filled intestines, uterus pregravida).

Recent rookery counts: 141 Craig Wood, Whitekirk [NT58V] (up from 106 7/4/12), 116 North Berwick Law [NT58L] (108 in 2008, 67 in 2006), 112 Common Strip, Archerfield, 108 Traprain [NT57X], 84 Cairndinnis [NT57S] (breeding not confirmed yet in atlas!), 81 Longniddry station/Kitchener's Crescent [NT47N] (92 on 24/3/12, rising to 117 final count), 59 East Fortune [NT57P] (39 nests in December), 44 Coldale [NT57L], 32 Gladsmuir church [NT47L], 29 Phantassie, East Linton [NT57Y], 24 Meadowmill [NT47C] (28 last year), 21 Macmerry [NT47L] (24 last year), 19 Seton Sands [NT47C] (18 last year), c. 18 Pencraig Wood [NT57T] (48 in 1993), 16 Dirleton Main Road [NT58C] (52 in 1991), 12 Drem [NT57E] (19 last year, 33 in 1992), 12 Haddington memorial garden [NT57C], just 6 Amisfield Park, Haddington [NT57C] (22 last year, 21 in 2009); where no previous counts mentioned in this list there are none in database since 1991. Aiming to get complete 10km counts for NT47 and NT57 (expect both to top 400 nests) and assist Mark/Jim with theirs in NT48, NT58 (now 385) and NT68, then to compare to data from 1975 census.

Sunday - rookery trek round NT57 as per above additions, highlight was a female Merlin in fields between Seggarsdean and West Bearford, SE of Haddington. Also a great number of Buzzard including one in a full blown sky-diving display over Fernyness Wood by Gosford sawmill. Per BWP "Sky-dance display-flight of plunge-and-swoop type by male, sometimes while still holding object in feet. Bird: (1) sweeps up into wind with a few wing-beats and fast glide, (2) stalls as body becomes vertical, (3) tips forward and dives on closed or part-closed wings for up to 200 m before (4) checking on spread wings and (5) shooting up again; may loop-the-loop, at least occasionally. Sequence often repeated 12 or more times." I witnessed two consective steep plunges but was too far off (at Garleton monument) to see if it was playing the associated dropping and catching game.

Wknd 23-24 March

Sunday - checked Whoopers at Muirton, finally got the left leg yellow darvic, V6P, also a new red darvic AFD (probably same as unconfirmed at same location 25/2/12, 11/3/12), with red-BLX still present, 11 juvs in 38, rising to 44 birds at dusk; these two new rings suggest some of these are passage birds, the main flock have already left; nearby in oilseed rape by Rogath, West Fortune, only 6 Whoopers (2 juvs) remained, with 23 Mutes, also smaller dusky juv swan asleep in middle of field, which when I went back at 17:25hrs and was able to see only 100m in from the road was clearly a Bewick's, pic above (my first in Lothian, indeed Scotland, I never caught up with this species in NE Scotland - my only previous flock was at Marshside RSPB a very long time ago!). Bewick's were a former scare wintering species in this area (Drem/Fenton Barns/Brownrigg) from at least 1980, but last recorded in winter 1995/96.

On Saturday, with an E6 wind continuing it seemed a good day to look out to sea - managed an hour from Dunbar seafront before the kids were fed up; nothing unusual seen, Fulmars most promiment just playing in the wind as they glided past barely a flap needed (69, all the near ones were double-light), adult Gannets and the odd Kittiwake, plus a pair each of Shelduck and Wigeon both S. 4 Goldeneye flew in to join 2 the bay, with a single Red-throated Diver also present. Will have missed some birds due to strong buffetting of wind and poor visibility at times due to snow.

In the harbour some uneaten sandwiches brought in a instant cloud of gulls, one ringed Herring G****29, presumably a local bird.

Only 17 Whoopers at Muirton but found another 12 (3 juv) with 19 Mutes about a mile south in cereal south of West Fortune farm, never previously seen swans there. Will check for rings Sunday, assuming they are unlikely to depart in current weather! [Postscript - see above, one of the 3 juvs must have been the Bewick's, birds were west of B1343 so c. 1km distant - should have been alert to possibility of Bewick's then but was in a hurry to get kids to pool in Dunbar!]

Rookery count - 27 nests at Phantassie, East Linton; attempting to do a full 10km count for NT47/NT57, needs to be done in next couple of weeks.

Best came last with a stunningly beautiful Barn Owl hunting the B1377 verges in full daylight just before 18:00hrs. Perhaps hungry due to wind impacting night hunting, though daylight hunting also attributed to males provisioning females for egg laying. Hard to know from flight views but the rather buff upper breast made me suspect it was a female. Camera batteries had expired but Joanne acted quickly to get it on video via mobile phone (link).

Wknd 16-17 March

Whoopers on grass at Muirton numbered 38 (10 juvs), 2 yellow darvics, both left leg, one being the individual with darvic attached to the foot, seen at Prora in Feb (below), code still not confirmed but perhaps DV3. A fine display by an adult Peregrine powering in over the fields which for weeks have contained Curlew and flushing at least 80 of them, did not see it catching anything though.

Seton harbour dusk Saturday, fishing boat LH42 came in from Fife side - initially not visible (below horizon) but marked by flock of Gannets plunge diving, eventually came into the harbour at 18:45hrs, 30 mins after sunset, with 30 ad Gannet (and gathering of large gulls) around it until last kilometer when they steadily peeled off. Last Gannets seen heading NW offshore 18:47hrs. So where do Gannets roost? Per Bryan Nelson's book "The Gannet": "the can live at sea indefinitely, roosting on the water in the wildest of winter weather". Other roost movements noted were: Red-throated Diver E at 18:22hrs, the usual sea duck mainly W but also some E, 20+ GBB west (not east to islands) some alighting on Cockenzie pier amongst the Cormorants - but only a handful of the latter and I still wonder also where this species congregates to roost locally.

Wknd 9-10 March

Sunday - around WeBS, on farm resrs: drake Scaup East Fenton, 3 Goldeneye Chapel, pr Red-breasted Merganser East Fortune; 47 Whoopers in cereal S of Drem pools, flew E, later 30 in cereal (above, below wind turbines) and 6 on grass either side of Muirton all unringed, included juvs 5, 3 & 3; also still 3 on the ex-landfill.

Perishingly cold at the Seton Sands roost at dusk on Saturday but a good influx of small gulls (5k+), seemingly finding something interesting to eat in the shallows with the tide way out. 3 ad Lesser Blackbacks was a small increase but no big arrival round here yet, seem to be slow off the mark this year! A single ad Med Gull seemed to be unringed. 20 Kittiwakes passed east in 10 minutes, 2 tarrocks.

Have noted several nests appearing in bare trees, these being due to Woodpigeons and I guess in many previous years I would have overlooked - but recognise they are new now otherwise would already have recorded for atlas!

Pr Oycs (below) remained at King's Building to end of the week.