Right place, right time

Got back to the patch after work on friday in time for a quick squizz at the seaweed patch on the beach, in the hope that there was a rare american wader hopping around on it. Unfortunately this wasn't the case, but there was a good sized flock of black-headed gulls frolicking in the surf.  One of them appeared to have a very grey neck as I casually scanned through them from the car, so I jumped out to get the scope on it.

By the time I'd wrestled the tripod legs up, there was no sign of it in the flock. I walked down to the end of the slip and scanned through the flock again - nothing but BHGs. And then I noticed a gull further offshore, on its own. A quick scan with the scope and bingo - there it was! 

Although it kept disappearing behind the waves, the grey hind neck really stood out, and although it was on its own, it looked small. The "cheek spot" seemed larger than on BHG, and the white outer primaries were bordered on the rear edge by a neat, thin dark line. The white tail contrasted strongly with the grey mantle and neck, which I thought looked a shade darker than BHG. The black bill was noticeable too, when it turned side on. All the while the bird was flying slowly away from me, into the wind, out into the bay, occasionally landing on the water where it would disappear behind the waves. After eventually losing it, I scribbled a few notes before checking the Collins app before texting a few folk that there was an adult winter Bonaparte's Gull on me patch! Amayzingly lucky to get on it, really.

Since then, there's been a few bits turning up in the run of south-easterlies, the best of which has been reed warbler, and only my 3rd evah garden warbler on patch! All still to play for

Lack of updates = lack of enthusiasm

 I haven't been on here for a while, largely due to the patch being dead and me failing to drum up enough enthusiasm to overcome my inertia.

Seppy bleating on about how he'd sailed past me on the leaderboard was enough of a catalyst, and a quick check through the list this morning revealed some regulars I'd failed to count, like Spot Fly, Gropper and Swift, along with a couple of notable (for this patch at least) waders like Whimbrel and Blackwit. I also had my first goshawk on-patch over the summer, which was nice (seen on two separate occasions over the course of a week).

Recent storms and the resulting floods around the lake yielded a green sand and a coot to round things off.

Those additions bring things bang up to date as we head into autumn -- putting me in fourth place behind the front runners. Precious little in the way of certainties left though, so improving on or even retaining that position will be a challenge. 

Still, I'm back ahead of Seppy... which of course was the main focus of this update.

Back to sleep....

A few bits

 Been oot and aboot a wee bit over the last few days gleaning the odd year tick here and there. A fine green sandpiper over the gaff last week was eagerly ticked off on the year list while a reed warbler on Sunday was my first on the patch for 3 years. With a hint of south-easterlies and drizzly pish last night I was out again this morning nailing a fine pied flycatcher at the Lashers, with spotted flycatcher, blackcap and a chiffchaff as the supporting (non-year tick) cast.  

Trivialis pursuits

 

Well, its all go in Lothian right now. We nipped down to Hound Point on Sunday for a bit of shearwater watching, and the way it is looking we scored two Scottish ticks at once. I'm sure this image will make a useful contribution to the identification discussions, especially regarding separation of Scopoli's from pieces of driftwood:

We also tried a wee bit of busking but on playing ‘Flower of Scotland’ we were told firmly there was only one Corries.

But before that on Saturday we had a few good fly overs. As well as curlew and greylag over the garden (neither annual here), we had a tree pipit flyover. That one was hard work – we were sat in the sun, strumming away and having a coffee when it flew over calling away. Get in – full fat patch tickerooo. This means 85 species, 108.5%, and a patch list of 104.

Fea's Fun

After last years total seawatch flop, this year has been slow enough to start but finally got going over the last couple of days. I managed a wee warm-up 10 days ago or so, with a distant cory's shearwater, arctic terns and a storm petrel but things definately improved yesterday with a bit more movement through the crease. The morning was slow enough, with just a single great shearwater, a couple of sooty shearwaters and a bonxie, but by the evening session things were definately happening, with 48 (count 'em) cory's, another great Shear, and a pomarine skua through.

Seawatching off Galley this am

                                                     

Fast forward to this am, and a truckload of rain. I kept my eye on the Met Error (tm) rainfall radar though, and decided to chance a start at 8.30, when the vis was beginning to lift a bit. By 9 am I'd had 3 cory's and a single great shear, when all of a sudden, out of the gloomy horizon I noticed another "large shear" coming in. This quickly turned out to not be a large shear, and as the bird banked I could see the distinctive dark underwings and bright white underparts of a fea's-type petrel!! The bird continued to work its way west, banking and gliding, but unfortunately didn't come much closer, but still, it was tremendous to get another one - my first since July 2013, so its been quite a while! Majik!

Cory's  and great shears continued to pass for the next hour and half, along with 5 bonxies and a juvenile long-tailed skua, which sneaked through in a rain shower and was most welcome for the patch year list. A great morning's work!

Count 'em! Greats on the left, Cory's on the right

                                               

Ton up

Scraped past a 100 species this week, with a bonxie during a sea watch.  

All very quiet on the patch, but a cuckoo hanging around the quarry for a few days was a full fat patch tick and is the only highlight during a long spell of nothingness.  

Just need 24 species to match last years total, which isn't going to happen.  But the autumn is almost upon us and I still live in hope that it will be a cracker.

Happy days.

Bushveld.

Holidays in the sun

Yesterday evening had a Mediterranean feel to it on my our patch. Third record for the patch and the first for this year. No sangria though.

A gull yesterday (moulting from first summer into second winter plumage.) 

A flock of crossbills flew over recently too, chip chipping into the distance. All this sums to 84 species, which translates into 107.7%