An Arctic Rarity!

So this is a rather special post, but before we get to the real excitement, I took this nice photo of a Raven making a racket on top of North Light yesterday, just after I found my first BBRC rarity!!


Common Raven, Corvus corax


An Arctic Warbler! Keep an out next October, I'll be getting my name published in the annual report (hopefully!). This stunning little bird was flitting around Kirn O'skroo on the north of the island! I knew it was either an Arctic or Greenish Warbler, but on return a few hours later with a small army of experienced birders it was confirmed as the Arctic Warbler, Fair Isles' 80th record and only the second bird in the UK this year! This bird breeds right up in the northernmost forests of Scandanavia (Fennoscandia) and Russia and winters in SE Asia; meaning it has one of the longest migration routes of any Old World insectivorous birds.



Arctic Warbler, Phylloscopus borealis




Some of the assembled birders. Joe, Me, Jason and Becky.


I also got another treat yesterday morning when Jason caught a Common Rosefinch in one of the heligoland traps. This was the first time I'd seen one of these nice little birds anywhere near close and was a nice start to the morning, on a day which also produced a Little Gull at South Light and a nice flock of 20 Whimbrel that flew past us while we were on the cliffs.



Common Rosefinch, Carpodacus erythrinus




Common Rosefinch, Carpodacus erythrinus



A dark and stormy night.....

Well it was dark, but not stormy in the conventional sense! Last night, at around 11:30pm, in pitch black, we headed down to the coast for a night of Storm Petrel ringing.... I can't tell you how excited I was! The nets were set up before it was dark and our makeshift ringing station (generator room) organised. So the nets were unfurled and the tape turned on to attract any passing birds. Within seconds we had four birds in the net. And this was a sign of things to come. In just under four hours we rang 120 Storm Petrels! It was quite incredible.
What is more incredible is the life of these little birds. Not much bigger than a sparrow, these birds are pelagic, spending over half their lives at sea of the coast of South Africa, a life by the way which can be 40-50 years long! They only come onto land to breed and this is a precarious business for a Storm Petrel as they are less than useless on hard ground, hence why they only leave their nest sights at night; burrows or deep crevices in rocks out of the reach of predators such as skuas. As can be seen in particular in the bottom photo, Storm Petrels have beaks very similar to those of the Fulmar, allowing them to be able to extract the salt from sea water.

European Storm Petrel, Hydrobates pelagicus

European Storm Petrel, Hydrobates pelagicus

Fair Isle 2! The migrants just keep coming....

So here is my second update from Fair Isle, and what a few days it has been. My species list continues to grow, with the arrival of Common and Lesser Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Reed Warbler, Redstart, Winchat, Spotted Flycatcher, Little Stint and Common Sandpiper. There have also been some rather special arrivals as well. The first were in the form of two Citrine Wagtails, which we were able to locate fairly easily in murky conditions after they were spotted on the morning census! The next special arrival came in the form of a Wryneck, with at least two present yesterday, one being in the observatory garden! Unfortunately, I could only get fairly poor record shots through the glass so as not to scare it away from the small crowd that had gathered (and its sideways)!!




Wryneck Jynx torquilla  

 
Another bird that has arrived and been seen in small numbers in the last few days is the Barred Warbler. This larger warbler breeds in eastern Europe and central Asia, and migrates to Arabia and east Africa, so the individuals that end up on Fair Isle are somewhat lost! There are only about 150 of these birds that pass through the UK each year, so to see one is rare, but to catch and ring two is quite remarkable!



Barred Warbler, Sylvia nisoria



Barred Warbler, Sylvia nisoria



Other birds of note that were trapped and rung in the last few days include a smart (for autumn) male Redstart and juvenile Ringed Plover!



Common Redstart, Phoenicurus phoenicurus




Ringed Plover, Charadrius hiaticula





And now for the migrants

The migrants have been trickling slowly through over the last few days, with Crossbill, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Ruff, Dunlin (which we were trapping today), Green Sandpiper and Golden Plover all logged on the daily census! There have also been a few stand out birds so far, and two lifers for me! A Sooty Sheerwater on the ferry over was a first for me, and a Wood Warbler provided an excellent start to my stay here yesterday. Today's two birds have to be my favourite so far, one in the form of a Pied Flycatcher, and the other in the form of an Icterine Warbler, my other life tick so far! Rain is forecast for tomorrow, which bodes well for a potential fall of migrants on Wednesday!



Dunlin, Calidris alpina



Wood Warbler, Phylloscopus sibilatrix

Pied Flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca



Icterine Warbler, Hippolais icterina



First update from Fair Isle

So I've been on Fair Isle for two days, and I'm already in love with the place! The wild and rugged landscapes are simply stunning, and the birds have been equally as wonderful. The island is populated with Skuas, both Arctic and Great, as well as Wheatear, Meadow and Rock Pipit, Fulmar, Snipe, Twite and many others at this time of year!




Great Skua, Stercorarius skua

 



Great Skua, Stercorarius skua






Arctic Skua, Stercorarius parasiticus,
 pale and intermediate morph displaying

 




Arctic Skua, Stercorarius parasiticus

 









From this......

 



To This..... Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis

 



Twite, Carduelis flavirostris

 

                                                    

Back to Mumbling

It's been a long time since I was ringing last, and it felt great to be up at 4.30 on Saturday morning to get back into the swing of things..... Although the strong cup of coffee and beautiful sunrise helped perk me up!
At this time of year, we expect many juveniles to be around, and this was certainly the case. Juvenile Blackcap, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Goldcrest, Reed Warbler, Robin, Blackbird and a rare-for-the-site Coal Tit were all rung. However, my personal highlight was my first Sedge Warblers in the hand, in the form of two pristine juveniles. I get the pleasure of seeing these little birds performing their song flight at work almost every day, but it's very rare that you get a prolonged view of one, and I had never before appreciated just how beautiful they are. Remarkable to think that this little bird can only have been alive for anything up to 2 months and it will soon be faced with a 7000km journey to its wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa! Hopefully this litte bird will pass through The Mumbles agian next year, or even decide to breed in the reedbed!

Sedge Warbler, Acrocephalus schoenobaenus

A Magic Moment in Somerset

So, a visit to Cheddar for a dormouse ecology course gave me an excellent excuse to bird the Somerset Levels and visit Slimbridge WWT. Despite this being probably the quietest month of the year for birders, what happened was one of those "this will only happen once" type moments, and it was fabulous.
We started out the day at Ham Wall RSPB reserve, and spent the morning walking around the reserve, where we picked up Great Crested and Little Grebe with young, some scruffy looking tufted duck, a few cormorants and some vocal Reed and Cetti's warblers.

Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus with young

After this very quiet round, we thought our luck was out, and returned to the main viewing platform overlooking the reedbeds for a chat with an RSPB volunteer, hoping to find sites where our fortunes may improve (where we had just missed a Bittern!!) After about 5 minutes, a call from another birder alerted us to a juvenile Great Egret flying over the reedbed. This gave fabulous views for a minute or so, and as it was flying off over the trees, it was joined by a Bittern! This flew right in front of us, and not 10 seconds later was followed by a Hobby which swooped low over the reedbeds before both disappeared out of sight! A truly magical moment.
Buoyed by this we headed over to Shapwick Heath, where more Hobbys and another Great Egret were seen. No luck with any otters though. Attached is a rather poor record shot of the Great Egret on its nest with its summer plumage all-black bill just showing. Great to see that these graceful birds have managed to breed in England successfully!

Great Egret, Ardea alba

A visit to Slimbridge the following day was quiet but none-the-less enjoyable, with some sunshine probably the rarest thing seen. Wader numbers were good out on the mudflats, with Black-tailed Godwit, Lapwing, Redshank, Common and Green Sandpiper and a nice group of Dunlin seen. There was also a Peregrine and a pair of Buzzards keeping the waders on their toes!

Common Sandpiper, Actitis hypoleucos