Back up and running

Nothing doing since May until finally I added Whinchat over the long weekend. Hopefully be a few more autumn migs to come though before too long...

Patch tick - and not a scoter

Yes the third patch tick of the year but the first one that was something other than a scoter. This time a Kingfisher, yesterday, fishing along the seaward end of the Blackdog Burn.



Actually quite a good day yesterday. Little in the way of hoped for offshore seabird passage but aside from the Kingfisher, the Black Scoter remains along with a couple of Surfies whilst a juvie Little Gull dropped in on the beach for a few minutes alongside a couple of Bar-wits. Both species are less-than-annual building blocks for the patch year-list but both already on it for 2011.



A visit a few days ago produced also the second Cuckoo of the autumn, a nice brown one this time.



So the patch list marches on to 186 and the year list to 109 species (88.14%) but sliding down the table compared to a couple of weeks back.

Statto

Great Tit...

An incredibly skulking greenish warbler in Collieston is the only migrant around and a new patch tick to. Fortunately the great tit it was with wasn't, as I got my first for the year three days ago. A common sand and grey wagtail push the total to 118 and 74.44%.

Happy days

Bushveld

No Greenish

Just a spotted flycatcher in the back garden. keeps me ticking over but. 88.44%

Green Sand - Ooof!

As usual I'm slow on the update but here's the latest from South Don. I've managed another 8 species since my last post. Common sandpiper, little gull, shelduck, bonxie, manxie, wigeon, stonechat and star bird green sandpiper (only me 4th ) this very morning. That takes me to 124 species for da year or 87.74% in patch list terms.

Only three bankers left to get whinchat, lesser whitethroat and golden plover, everything else is less than annual.

Feeling ruff

No, not actually feeling one, but saw two fly across the fields on Saturday morning, which was a bit random really. Oh, and I had a bit of a fuzzy head too. Full fat patch tick too.

gurtcha!

Two classy year ticks - bar-wit & balearic shear finally gets me ahead of el castillo, at least until he updates. Any points for a blowing fin whale at all?

crested tit

no, not really - did jam a goldcrest at shite lane tho, which was a year tick!

Brief update

Work and holiday commitments have limited recent 'dogging opportunities. However a trip out to show my better half butterflies on Sunday afternoon brought the first two year ticks for a while: Cuckoo and Merlin. The Cuckoo, a smart juvenile, was just my third here although second autumn bird in two years. On first glance in flight, I thought it was a Merlin. And then a little while later, seeing the Merlin, I assumed at first it was the Cuckoo again - it wasn't.


The Black Scoter remains, always tantalisingly too far offshore for descent photos. This was the best effort from Saturday:


And, among those butterflies, some strange goings-on between a Grayling and a Dark-green Frit...



108 species puts me on 87.33%

Big wheels keep on turnin'

A few species addedd in recent weeks, best of which was a summer plumage GND. The T-2006 has really been too busy elsewhere. It hasn't even made it up the coast to bag the rare scoters.

T-2006.

Snipe...

Shortly back from the family hols has seen me spending some time sea watching, an exercise that is not usually on my birding agenda but needs must...

So a couple of sessions has produced a scaup and most pleasing a couple of stormies. A few other bits and pieces including a flock of five snipe pushes me onwards and upwards to a grand total of 71.92% a mere single species behind Reg...

Happy days

Bushveld

Collieston race hots up

Additions in the last (many) weeks for me include Grasshopper Warbler and Knot...the best of an average bunch for me. Bushvelds list is beginning to look somehat different, including with a Quail that I never caught up with among other things.
Seawatching yesterday yielded quite a few Sooties and Manxies.
So far my best bird for the year remains Yellow Wagtail...so pretty quiet so far this year.
keeps the total ticking over though so I make the average as 72.56%, a patch total of 115.
Reg

That's Great, Ted!

A wee swatch at the sea yesterday morning produced the goods in the form of 4 great shearwaters, plus another nice pom. Also haven't yet declared a common tern on de lake from last weekend. All good and more SW promised for wednesday too - bring it on!

Oh come on

Boring! Nothing happening on the patch, or anywhere in Lothian. Indeed it got so dull that I had to go to Italy to break the tedium. Nothing much there either mind you, but the cheese and wine were good.