Cherry Blossom and other darvics

Old friend red-7P8 Mediterranean Gull, aka "Cherry Blossom", back on Seton Sands tonight; this her 10th return, age at least 12 yrs. Tonight with 2 other adults (below) in just a couple of hundred small gulls at pre-roost a while before dusk. Presumably same also amongst 6 birds there last week (3 ads), along with another returnee white-32A4 (Johan's link not updated with last year's records yet) - a very interesting bird now in 3rd-summer but still with some dark in primary tips - per Olsen & Larsson 25% of males and 50% of females have some short dark markings on outer webs in 3rd-win.

Lots of colour-ringed Sandwich Terns reported recently, 3 per Dave at Seton on 15 August were juvs red-UFH, red-ULK from Northumbs (ringed Inner Farne 12 July and 31 July, respectively) and ad white-EVL (colour-ringed on the Ythan on 19/07/11, but originally ringed on Coquet Island, Northumbs on 26/6/05), and also seen there on 17 July this year, so presumably breeding there. Also one of this year's juveniles at Musselburgh on 18 July, yellow-EPK, ringed at Forvie on 13 June, and the first dispersing bird seen away from there. Prior to that we had a lime over dark green at Musselburgh on 15-16 July, this being the first ever resighting from the 2002 cohort at Forvie, and another of the lime over red flavour (2008 cohort) at Seton on 10 August. A colour-ringed adult at Seton red over blue is also a Forvie bird (details awaited). Thanks to Dave Allan for most of these, and ringers Ewan and Chris for prompt details!

A Little Tern at Musselburgh in early July had a blue colour ring, thus may be a South Gare bird.

Going back to last year also recently discovered that the ringed Roseate on Seton rocks then (Rosy special ring 32/V0) had been ringed on Coquet Island on 9 July 2006, by Tom Cadwallender. This might be the fourth Roseate control/recovery from outside Lothian, two previous were local birds from Fife whilst the third was a 1973 recovery near Drem (?) of a bird ringed on Coquet in 1969.

So the usual picture with terns from north and south moving into the Forth; some do continue overland, another common theme here is the nocturnal movement heard every year from mid-August, first heard this time at 22:30hrs on Monday 12 August with a couple of Sandwich Terns move SW over the top of Blindwells. Normally just Sandwich Terns but also occasionally Common Tern, perhaps others also pass over?

Finally ought to mention recent BHG darvics, George spotted Norwegian white-J9J9 on Fisherrow beach on 29 July, Ian had seen it at Eskmouth on 23 July. Also at Musselburgh on 2 August Dave got white-J3CE, an old one first ringed at Rogaland (Norway) in 1994, colour ring added there on 8/4/12.

red-7P8 still present to 19 August, together with 3 ads including the one below, outer primaries already moulted; comparing notes with Norman suggests a minimum of 8 different individuals (5 ad, 2 3rd-yr, 1 2nd-yr) in the last week of so.

The Seton Dipper

Having scoured the Seton tetrad for 6 years now I was initially sceptical when receiving a report of a Dipper at Seton Chapel in early July, seen by persons unknown, however an LBN appeal led to Murray contacting me with concrete info on his sighting - below the bridge in grounds of the Chapel monument when he was looking for the parakeet; I then followed up and found plenty of evidence by way of droppings at the small burn through the Chapel grounds - but no sign of the bird itself! Worse, the stream was running pretty dry and even at the best of times much of it is underground, including the last 500m from the House to the Seton Burn bridge on the coast road, just perhaps 100m of proper flow on that side. Minimum territory size for Dipper in good habitat is 100m, so it looked a bit marginal to support even a single bird for any length of time. Bird-aware residents at Seton House and the Seton Mill House had not seen it either, though there were also a few droppings at later location.

Too busy with atlas to look further in July but then Willie came to the rescue again refinding it at the nearby Blindwells Minewater Treatment Scheme on the other side of the A198 on 6 August. There is even less open watercourse on this side, and the sludge beds are now full of reeds way over head height, but there is a weir-like full length drop between the lower two tanks and exposed flowing water there which may well suit it very well. Photos here from Thursday 8 August, was content to rest a few minutes while I watched it, gently bobbing - NB, it is a juvenile of the species so a recent dispersal!

Why the interest? As far as I'm aware there are no historical records of Dipper here, and the nearest occupied territories are 4-5 miles distant on the lower River Esk and upper River Tyne. There are no waterways in between - and though the initial thought might be a displaced bird moving along the coast from the Esk in winter this seems pretty unlikely as it would need to fly inland at a random location to find the water it has now colonised (not relevant anyway to a juvenile). I'd guess it has more likely dispersed from the Tyne and been drawn in by the larger area of wetland including the adjacent Blindwells pond.

Do Dippers do this? The Price & Bock account of their American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) studies* contains some relevant and interesting information (p. 32) with two records of overland flight observed, one historical record in 1922 of a 400m movement across a Y in a river and their own sighting in 1971 of a bird displaced by others flying off overland and climbing to a height of 60m. They also refer to other movements between watersheds from their ringing studies that they attribute to movements overland, other routes along waterways being unfeasibly long and away from typical habitat. More relevant to the current case are references there to the observations in Jost's (1969) paper** on our European Dipper (Cinclus cinclus) documenting movements between watersheds by juveniles in the German Rhoen, and additional finding that adult Dippers make regular migrations across the high Swiss Alps where the lowest passes are over 2000m - Dippers caught in mist nests above the tree line! However all of these studies relate to higher altitude steep terrain, whereas the current case would involve a climb and descent of no more than 50m in 4+ miles. UK vismig records on trektellen show this species has not yet been logged on migration here, the only records being birds appearing at a Redmires reservoir which is connected to a waterway, but how many are we missing? Since posting Stuart has alerted me to his observation of a Dipper on the Cart Water in centre of Paisley flying off high above tenements.

So it turns out it can't be added to atlas as a juvenile. Plenty of genuine breeding activity still underway, thick with young birds along Blindwells margins with young Sedge Warblers (scolding parent below) and Whitethroats, I still live in hope that Tufted ducklings may yet emerge at Blindwells, the female having vanished again and the two drakes resident all summer. Also two families of young Bullfinch seen this week, and plenty gamebirds - see previous blog post. The atlas lives on for now!

* Price, F.E. & Bock, C.E. (1983) "Population ecology of the Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) in the Front Range of Colorado", Studies in Avian Biolody No. 7. (download link)
** Jost, O. 1969. Über die bedeutung der wassersheiden beim ortswechsel der Wasseramsel (Cinclus cinclus aquaticus). [On the significance of water sheds in the movements of the Dipper (Cinclus cinclus aquaticus).] J. Ornithol. 110:71-78 [English sum.] (download link)

Atlas serendipity

Atlas and photos don't normally go so well together but this pure chance encounter (I stopped to check out a Wren) on verge of minor road south of Daneskine (NT56T) was quite remarkable - this bird was crouched very close just by the verge, surrounded by tiny chicks; I thought they would flush so I remained still and they were all like frozen statues for at least a couple of minutes, steadily I got closer and they began to relax, after a few more minutes I had to resort to the macro setting to photograph the chicks; whilst doing so one dozed off and others attempted to climb into the female's body feathers, then she began to nibble grass and commenced clucking calls with hints of the usual "go-chock" call at times. After five minutes a car came down the road and we had to leave, a remarkable encounter albeit with a naturalised species (or perhaps recent release).

Wknd 27-28 July

Sunday did the Eider count Port Seton to Craigielaw stretch, total 601 (44% female/juv); also 25+ Red-necked Grebe (many quite distant, but some decent groups off Longniddry beach), 192 Velvet Scoter (ultimately congregated NW off Ferny Ness) and 428 Common Scoter (420 well offshore eventually joining a single group, the rest quite close). 1 Manx Shearwater flew west. In recent years south Forth WeBS July counts in the range 2-4k, so with c. 1200 from Joppa to Craigielaw hopefully we'll have a comparable number this year. Quite a challenge counting and age/sex breakdown with rather variable light, eventually some rain clouds towards dusk as shown.

Also a large mixed flock of terns fishing off Craigielaw, mainly Sandwich but other potential species hard to differentiate at range, certainly Arctic in the mix with 25 of the latter on Aberlady shore amongst a separate gathering towards dusk.

Monday evening saw an unringed adult Med Gull back on Longniddry beach; have not looked for red-7P8 yet but now is about the time she usually reappears. Several recent reports for Forvie-ringed Sandwich Terns and Norwegian BHG, however I shall be concentrating on atlas again for at least the duration of August.

Islay 20-27 July

Another west coast holiday back on Islay, 125 miles pretty much due west of our home in the east but what a difference in habitat and bird life! First the spectacular scenery down the A83 along Loch Fyne, then the wonderful views of the islands from the ferry. A pair of Black-throated Divers overtook the ferry, then several Manx Shearwaters looking stunning over a glassy sea off Gigha.

Down at Port Ellen beach on Sunday got this series of a Ringed Plover, at times perfectly camoflagued. In careful obs I noted that this species is "semi-palmated" between the outer toes, it is only the inner gap that is completely unwebbed. At same location did an experiment with an old boiled egg and an expired fresh egg and found that Hooded Crows can spot eggs from a distance and really don't mind if they are cooked or not!

Usual owling trips failed again to find LEO in the plantation behind Cornabus (rumoured to have been there some years ago, no recent records from Islay), did get Barn Owl and Grasshopper Warbler there.

Some attempts at sea-watching off the Mull of Oa, after the weather broke we did get a bit of wind which produced a steady feeding movement of Manx Shearwaters, 950S/3N, and Gannet 376S/44N, in 3 hours from dawn on Thursday (interrupted by 2 hours fogged out) but other three days had too much fog. On same watch a few Puffins feeding offshore, closest breeding is a fair distance N on Iona/Mull.

Even watching at the farm was pleasure, with juvenile Twite on the garden fence (above), Willow Warbler numerous as ever around the washing line and feeding on ground amongst see-eaters, such as this Chaffinch eating plantain seeds.

A first visit to the west coast, Machir Bay, gave more stunning scenery and 14 Sanderling on the sands, ovipositing Golden-ringed Dragonfly in the burn, and 2 ringtail Hen Harriers inland. Amongst many Ringlets were a few Grayling and Common Blues such as this pair at Lagavulin (logged for the bigbutterflycount):

On the return ferry trip from Port Askaig the sea was literally covered in groups of auks in every direction, many with young, and a conservative count of 1150 nearer the path of the boat were 85% Guillemot, 15% Razorbill - with the latter concentrated closer to the coasts of Jura and Gigha; also 2 more adult Puffins. Again Manx Shearwaters over a glassy sea, these two with Gigha behind and an evening view of Islay+Jura:

June 2013 (wknds 8-9, 15-16, 22-23, 29-30!)

A busy month rather disrupted by travel so blog updates have stalled! No particularly exciting "news" anyway, most effort on atlas topping up. Some very interesting pictures are now emerging in the final (6th) year of the local atlas but there is still a lot of work to do. My crude estimates are we still need of order 500 tetrad additions and/or breeding confirmations to approximate meet the results of the last atlas in East Lothian alone, with perhaps four times that in the six 10kms west of Edinburgh. The position for nocturnals is still pretty weak in some areas. Woodcock in particular are down at perhaps 10% of last atlas - the suspicion was this was mainly down to coverage but this season a concerted effort has been made (aligned to the ongoing BTO Woodcock survey) and we have found them apparently absent from many traditional haunts.

My own successes were 3+ different birds roding over Butterdean and Cuddie Wood on evening of 12 June, with remarkably two flying together silhouetted against the orange sky at dusk when I first raised my bins at 22:20hrs. Observations sufficient to upgrade to probable breeding (T) codes for 3 adjacent tetrads (NT47K/L/Q). I also saw a Tawny in the older trees adjacent to Boggs Farm on 5 June, and Barn Owl again nearby which confirms a territory but no time to follow up. Then on the night of 17-18 June I made an excursion to the upland forestry of West Lothian and some adjacent suitable Woodcock woods; none of the latter were found, neither any LEO, but Tawnies at 7 locations (Calder Wood, Selm Muir Wood, Crosswood, Camilty, Harburn, Hartwood and Woodmuir) including one family of young at Crosswood. Given BS3 gives very approximate territory densities in suitable habitat of 10 prs Tawny Owls per 10km but 10 prs Woodcock per tetrad it is clear our Woodcock have collapsed in certain areas. The only other nocturnals located were Grasshopper Warblers at Hartwood and Pate's Hill.

Further Tawny success at Seton Chapel, with one juv calling, seen well just feet above my head in a dead tree, then joined by an adult calling "kwep-kwep-kwep" twice as it peered anxiously alternately at me and its offspring. Have tried Seton every summer during atlas but thus far had just a single sighting on 7/6/11, and none in winter until 29/2/12, so either they had been keeping a very low profile or they have more recently colonised. A single young Tawny remains in Fernyness Wood, have recorded its hunger call. Thus the Tawny map is now updated as per below:

Tawny Owl is clearly still very widely distributed, though we still have a big loss of confirmed breeding tetrads in Midlothian (compare previous atlas map). Otherwise on atlas topping up also spent a day in West Lothian focussed in NT95/NT96, including nocturnals got 25 tetrad additions with 112 upgrades. So the Blackbird map (below) is looking a bit better:

Some other species still have far too many possible dots, e.g. Skylark, Wren and even Woodpigeon. Atlassing more locally, finally got proved breeding of Stock Dove at Seton Chapel, the "pair" seen recently were and adult and an immature, perhaps a couple of months old, so maybe the parent female is on eggs again? Woodpeckers fledged young again there and Siskins seem to be in residence thus another candidate to upgrade. Now 54 confirmed for NT47C, still also chasing Greenfinch and Grasshopper Warbler to confirm. Siskins must again have bred in Longniddry with daily sightings in our part of town, also our new colonist Swifts are back at our neighbour's house, a very encouraging sign given how poorly they are apparently faring elsewhere.

Back at Seton shore for the first time in a while spotted the Cormorant depicted top, gular angle looks pretty good for sinensis but I was not convinced on size and bird was away from others gathered on Wrecked Craigs precluding a direct comparison. 334 Eider in a moult flock there, also 35 Common Scoter offshore. Our regular Great Blackback yellow-E29 was back again on the Seton Burn, records now summarise as: ringed chick, Berridale (Highland), June 2009, seen here as a juvenile Oct 2009 (code unconfirmed), then 2nd-sum March & July 2011, 3rd-sum August 2012, finally 4th-sum March and now June 2013. No remaining obvious signs of immaturity about it now:

Finally have now confirmed that the suspected hybrid goslings at Musselburgh (May blog posts) are indeed Greylag x Canada, so have documented their appearance when very young (flickr picture set). Also on the Esk, family of 5 cygents (parents NUH, IJU), a large number of Eider ducklings and at least one brood of young Goosanders.

Wknd 1-2 June

Success at the second attempt for Mute Swans at Blindwells, 7 small cygnets (flooded out last year).

Meanwhile the Eskside goslings are all developing but still a bit tricky to confirm. Comparing the mixed parents young (above) with the pure Canada and pure Greylag goslings of similar age it is clear that they are definitely not pure Canada - the latter still have entirely black bills, with more pronounced nostrils and quite obvious tufts at the ear; being sure they are not pure Greylags (photo below) is more tricky, though they do have rather dark bills, and definite tufts at ear which are not at all apparent on the pure Greylags; time will tell, hopefully they will not all perish or disappear before we can find out!

[Postscript 29 June - yes, my hunch was correct, a bunch of hybrids located this afternoon at the mouth of the Esk with same parents in attendance, record shot (mobile) right.]

Sunday - atlasing and final Rook sites in Midlothian, added 14 tetrad ticks and 56 upgrades, 27 at confirmed level; also found rookery at Ankrielaw (81+ nests), with Tree Sparrow nest embedded in one part of it, and another mass of Rooks NW of Halkerston; thus the Lothian total inches forward by another percentage point, now 77% of 1975 total (6362 nests, cf. 11262). A complete list of sites and comparisons is now linked here, if you find a rookery please check it is on this list! One remaining probable omission is the Glencorse dam wall, with 44 nests in 2011, we have no 2013 count. Casual records of rookeries have been close to zero for many years, and even amongst dedicated bird recording folks there has not been that much enthusiasm for this census, with a very few exceptions - but to me each species is important and of interest in its own right and seeing the efforts of our long-suffering resident Rooks rewarded as their young finally fledge must be something worth admiring!

During the week, accompanied Longniddry P5 to Binning Wood on Tuesday, best birds were a flock of Crossbills flushed by a hunting Sparrowhawk, addition for NT57Z; also confirmed Pheasant there via egg shell, and found a clump of Barn Owl nape feathers - species not recorded in NT57Z in either breeding or winter - not for want of trying - so looks like we missed them!