Wilderness and wildness

The Safari was full of wildness last week, everyone should try to fill themselves with wildness it's great for the soul and something that's lacking in the lives of too many people these days. Wildness isn't quite wilderness, with wildness you can be anywhere , even looking through your window at your garden - it's a state of mind, but wilderness requires a bit of remoteness.

Monday
Wilderness for us is somewhere we can't hear human noise, here in southern Scotland all we could hear was the wind, the waves,and wild sounds like the bubbling of the Curlews, the kleeping of the Oystercatchers and of course the yapping of the Barnacle Geese - all adding up to pure bliss.
This morning flock after flock of Barnacle Geese joined hundreds of others out on the mudflats where there were also a hundred or so Shelducks.

Much closer a Merlin (178) glided low over the rocks panicking a Curlew that was really far to big to be in any danger. Well beyond the action two white birds stood out among the throng of Barnacle Geese but they were in the furthest and largest flock away on the outer mudflats (isn't it always the case!). All of a oneness the whole flock took to the wing and we lost them.

A tiny proportion of the flock

without our scope the white ones were simply to far away to get any ID on but what were they? There's a few possibilities...albino/leucisic Barnacle Geese, Snow Geese or maybe just a couple of farmyard type Grey Lag Geese that had got themselves mixed up in the wrong crowd? A mystery to solve!
The weather was mild and there was a bit of passage through the morning with new Linnets on the beach, Skylarks and Meadow Pipits went overhead and a flock of about two dozen Swallows held at least one Sand Martin with them.
A second visit to RSPB Mersehead, an afternoon visit this time, was a fairly quiet affair. A Mistle Thrush on the drive to the reserve was a new species for the trip. We called into the visitor centre where the helpful lady on the desk told us there were two leucistic Barnacle Geese on the reserve last year, so we guess that's the mystery solved then!
The sky was full of geese again with Barnacles Geese, Pink Footed Geese and some Canada Geese sat on the wetland.

We walked down to the beach through the scratty trees, there wasn't much on the beach this time but turning back we saw a Great Crested Woodpecker high in one of the dead trees.

A Chiffchaff was in the trees too. When the geese were nowhere to be heard the soundtrack to the day was the thin calls of numerous Goldcrests and Robins. A Coal Tit was briefly seen in the woods too, while down on the water in front of the hide there was a family of three Little Grebes.

Hundreds of Pink Footed Geese appeared out of the low cloud over the high mountain, Criffel, at the back of the reserve. More Barnacle Geese came in too, what a fantastic sight and sound to witness. They dropped on to one of the paddocks where four Roe Deer were grazing - an awesome spectacle of wilderness. Earlier we'd only seen one of the deer, a buck.

A Red Admiral was again nectaring on Ivy flowers along the trackside hedge. At the pool there were lots of Wigeon and probably many more hidden in the dense rushes, far more than we noticed the previous day so perhaps fresh in overnight, 15 Snipe had a quick fly round too.
Tuesday 
Another mild morning, calm and clear. In all our years of seeing Cormorants we can't ever remember it being so quiet that we were able to hear their wingbeats - a little like the sounds a Mute Swan's wings make but much quieter. Back out on the beach we walked down to our goose watching spot. It was so clear that the Isle of Man was poking it out in the distance.

Looks idyllic doesn't it but turn round and look at the strandline - sadly it's not that nice. The amount of plastic mixed in with the natural seaweed and driftwood was shocking, and this is a remote beach by our standards so it's mostly washed up plastic rather than litter dropped by beach-goers.

Also down there was a let go bundle of balloons from an organisation in Ireland - maybe they should think about protecting the environment for those saved babies to live in, there is no Planet B for them.

Good job there's not a dead seabird tangled up in this one! Don't forget folks #BalloonsBlow #DontLetGo

A day out sightseeing took us to the pretty riverside village of Gatehouse of Fleet. At the turn off from the main road there were a couple of Red Kites (178) circling over the roadside woodland. No chance of a pic from the car but hopefully we'd visit the feeding station later in the week.
We missed the Red Squirrel Wifey saw on the walk through the woods we took, a lucky sighting according to some locals we chatted to, the most exciting thing we could find was a calling Nuthatch, a fairly recent colonist in this part of the world and this little cluster of mushrooms.

While Monty had a play in the river with a new friend we were watching a Dipper working its way along the far bank.
From there we took a the road south back to the coast to a secluded little cove, Brighouse Bay, we'd discovered by pouring over the Ordnance Survey maps. What a cracking find, an absolutely stunning secluded little beach. It didn't take long to find a Wheatear at the top of the beach and the flock of pipits working the top strandline weren't Meadow Pipits but Rock Pipits (180). After a few minutes they left the top of the beach and came down to explore a pebbly bit of beach close to the tide line where they offered a couple of photo opportunities after a bit of fieldcraft.

So Rock Pipit makes its way onto our Year Bird Challenge at #154. What a superb find that little beach was, shouldn't have told you about it and kept it secret!
Passing a tiny wood in the middle of a field on the way out we spotted no fewer than five Buzzards soaring over it. Another Buzzard was seen from the supermarket car park as we kept Monty company while Wifey hit the aisles for supplies.
Wednesday
This was one of those wild wet n windy mornings we really wished we didn't have to take a dog out but suited and waterproof booted out you have to go! The small front garden had a tiny but well berried Hawthorn bush in the corner and opening the door we flushed a couple of 'black billed' Blackbirds from it - continental fresh arrivals???

Our walk on to the beach gave us three Twite sheltering in the vegetation  at the base of the sea defence works right under the nose of the cottage.
Back at the cottage the rain kept coming and coming it was a day for staying indoors. - our view of the lighthouse looked like this...

It should look like this...

The rain stopped briefly and with the break in the weather came eight Whooper Swans flying eastward up the firth. The rain came back with a vengeance and we were once again stuck looking out of the window at the procession of Blackbirds to-ing and fro-ing in and out of the little Hawthorn bush taking advantage of its bounty.
A late afternoon seawatch (in our slippers!) during a brighter spell in the even had us only finding a a Great Crested Grebe flying out to sea followed closely by a Common Scoter and then we found another Great Crested Grebe on the sea and not a lot else
We'll save the rest of the week for the next installment.
A couple of hours seawatch this morning gave is a Leach's Petrel and a skua sp and nothing else on the tails of Hurricane Ophelia.
Where to next? We might have a little shuffy at Marton Mere tomorrow morning
 In the meantime let us know what's on the rocks in your outback.

A cracker and a bad dip on a very wet day

The Safari was able to get to the nature reserve fairly early this morning. We walked in past a quiet and very wet wetland seeing very little on the way to our first stop at the Feeding Station. There was a bit of activity with several Chaffinches, Blue Tits and Great Tits coming and going. A bright male Pheasant displayed furiously to a non-plussed Woodpigeon while a pair of Dunnocks skulked around in the Brambles waiting for a lull in the fighting on the feeders to do a lightning smash and grab raid on the seeds.

A tidy male Reed Bunting (MMLNR #48) appeared briefly and Rabbit refused to come out in to the open for a pic. Just outside the hide there was a pile of droppings on a stump which looked rather Stoaty; a species we've not seen for far too long.

As ever we were time constrained and had to move on after a few minutes. Before we reached 'Ice Station Zebra' we stopped at the wet meadow for a quick can. The Cowslips are coming into flower but we were after Snakes Head Fritillaries, a couple of scans later and Bingo there was one with the flower about to open.

ICZ was warm and there were no druggy scrotes today thankfully. A Great Crested Grebe graced the water but there was no dancing today, no gulls were in view either; we hoped the Iceland Gull would put in appearance, assuming it's still about. A Cetti's Warbler sang loudly to our left but refused to show itself as usual.

Carrying on to the Bird Club hide the rain started and came down heavy for a good while so we were stuck in there so as not to get the camera wet. It wasn't a plan but it turned out OK. A Sparrowhawk (MMLNR #49) came wafting over the scrape flushing about 30 Teal, no Green Winged Teal today - as usual. A few Shovelers came out too as did two Snipe (YBC #97).

Unfortunately they didn't circle close enough for a decent pic in the dull conditions.

We kept hearing another Cetti's Warbler but it wouldn't come out of the reeds, and then we saw a dark brown shape flit across the gap. It went in deep but then appeared on the corner of the area of cut reeds. Arrghh - a Wren!

A pair of Little Grebes (MMLNR #50) kept us entertained while the rain continued to fall.

And then a movement in the cut between the reed caught our eye and we swung the camera round as fast as we could. We fired off a burst of shots roughly in that direction and hoped the settings would be OK and that the auto-focus had found something to lock on to.

With far more luck than judgement Water Rail (YBC #98) finds its way on to our Year Bird Challenge list.
The rain was still failing heavily and at last Monty had settled and laid down when a little bit of magic happened. A Cetti's Warbler (YBC #99) came out close to where the Wren had been and proceeded to put on a show for us!

Holy Shamoly they never come out like this for us especially when we've a camera in our hands. but when they pose like this once in a Blue Moon wil do us nicely. A Blue Moon when there's a bit of sunshine wouldn't go amiss sometime this year.

It was a relief to get a good pic of this tricky species that rarely gives good views, not here at least. It was a shame this white Grey Lag Goose wasn't the Great White Egret it superficially resembled.

Getting back to the car as quickly as we could didn't give us anything extra but there were a lot more gulls to look through from the new bench - still no Iceland Gull though.
Back at Base Camp we learnt that a Chough had been in the big Park for much of the morning only a few hundred yards from where we'd been. After lunch we headed out in the rain for a look. If it wasn't for the queues caused by the nearby bridge being out of action we'd have seen it missing it by only a few minutes. With a bit of luck it should be around tomorrow so we might get out before family duties are required.
Where to next? Hopefuly the Chough but failing that we might see something along the motorway network.
In the meantime let us know who popped out to say hello in your outback.

It's snow good

The Safari had a very welcome day off today and we had a cunning plan. We left Base Camp well before 06.00 with the intention of meeting up with LCV in the Midlands at about 08.00 for a day's birding around his local patches and top sites. Snow had been forecast then revised down to wintry showers and getting in the car it was 5C and had been raining overnight but that had now stopped. A mile or so along the motorway the rain started, not heavy but we noticed it was a bit sleety and the car's thermometer was now showing 2C. By the time we merged with the main motorway it was snowing quite heavily and the temperature was now 0C. The snow came down thick and fast, so much so that the third lane was almost unusable and visibility at times almost none existent as the wipers struggled to clear it. The traffic slowed to a crawl, in a little over an hour we'd only done 30 out of the 110 miles and we had the busiest section to come - we were never going to get there by the allotted time so we bottled out and got off at the next junction and made our way back to the coast and made our apologies to LCV.

At the coast we stopped at a nature reserve we've not visited for a long long time but one we used to work at. This winter there has been a fairly reliable Caspian Gull on the beach, but not today. As we arrived the tide was racing out down the gently shelving beach but thankfully the heavy snow had turned to light rain. We scattered a torn up butty to the four winds and attracted several gulls but not the 'right one'. A walk down to the tide line took ages, there were plenty of gulls down there but they were spread out for miles so we gave up and decided to head off elsewhere. The rain started as we got near the car but that didn't deter us from having a quick look at the nearby lake opposite the night club we once won a fancy dress competition in - yes you did read that right!!! Tufted Ducks, a Mute Swan and a few Shovelers joined the ubiquitous Mallards and Coots.

From there we went up the coast aways to a large wetland reserve. Moments after leaving the car the snow started again. We had a quick look at what appeared to be not a lot disappearing behind a sheet of the white stuff. Time to skedaddle to the hide which we sincerely hoped would be open - thankfully it was and we were glad to get inside as the snow worsened and the world outside became a white blur.

Canada Geese about 50 yards away

A Shelduck was nearby and just about visible too

The snow didn't put off the Black Headed Gulls from vying for the best nesting sites, there were several already about but the colony is nowhere near full yet although you might think that from the din they were making.

There's Coots here too.

A Great Black Backed Gull put everything up, Wigeon, Lapwings, a lone Black Tailed Godwit and about 150 Golden Plovers (110).

Once the Lapwings had settled back down they went back to courtship mode, today was the first time we've heard their 'peewit' calls and seen their floppy dives this 'spring'.

The snowy weather hadn't put Skylarks off singing either, today was the first time we'd heard their exaultations from on high, what a great sound that is!
Once the snow died down we took the opportunity to go and have a look on the first pool. Well worth it as scanning across one of the islands we spotted the coral red bill of an adult Mediterranean Gull. Continuing our scan we saw a group of Avocets (111) tucked up close to the bank trying to keep out of the cold wind.

A second scan gave us another year bird, did we pass over them on the previous scan by being too casual? The mixed group of ducks in the middle distance seemed to be mostly Tufted Ducks but there on the far end were two Scaup (112).

Our toes were now telling us warmth and shelter were required, it was time to move on to the Place We Don't Mention By Name where there are heated hides. Fortunately the new hide provides good shelter from the wind and rain. And good photo opportunities too when the light is good.

Drake Pintail

It didn't take us long to find more Avocets among the hordes of Whooper Swans and Wigeon.

The sometimes reported Bewick's Swan couldn't be found hiding in the masses of Whooper Swans, probably because it wasn't on site. A flush of ducks and Ruff alerted us to a passing Marsh Harrier.

The rain was easing off and it was trying to brighten up but the wind was increasing and increasingly cold from the north. Never mind the weather we had shelter and it was great to sit and watch the antics of the Whooper Swans, they didn't half get excited when a few tons of waste potatoes were delivered, they were on them as soon as the tractor was through the gate.

The Marsh Harrier reappeared and took to playing vulture on an old carcass. Too far away for the camera so we tried phone scoping it unfortunately the scope was a bit mucked up with rain on the eyepiece.

Best we could do

Later we picked up another harrier being chased across the marshes by one of the ever vigilant Shelducks, as it banked it showed its narrow white rump, a Hen Harrier - second best bird of the day! Sadly it was soon lost to view behind a stand of trees. Where-ever it ends up this summer we hope it's safe from the malignant criminals in our moorlands.
In the cold and wet conditiions we'd expected the feeding station to be buzzing but oddly it was very quiet in there, maybe we just didn't give it long enough, mid-afternoon is often the least rewarding at a feeding station.
In sheltered areas Primroses had already begun to open ttheir flowers showing that today's weather was a bit out of the ordinary for recent times.

We called it a day here and thought we'd go to the estuary to have a look for the American Wigeon that's been there a while. But crossing the car park made us change our mind - the estuary reserve has absolutely no shelter at all and that northerly wind was strong and cold and would be blowing right in our face - basically we wimped out. There is a shelter there but it's about as much use as a chocolate teapot - even Frank wasn't keen on going there and he didn't mind cold wet and windy at all! We might have been wiser going to the nearer woodland/wetland reserve instead but somehow forgot about it, sorry MSWLWT very remiss of us seeing as how we worked there quite frequently in the old days.
So back to Base Camp it was, stopping at the old docks for a look at the gulls, you never know the missing Ring Billed Gull might just be there...it wasn't. There weren't many gulls about, those that were came straight to the newly parked up car to see if any scraps we on offer.

Through the car windscreen

All in all a reasonable substitute for the real thing, but nowhere near as good as it would have been had we met up with LCV and had a mooch round his area.
Where to next? Mothering Sunday duties beckon this weekend but there should be some wildlife seen somewhere.
In the meantime let us know who stopped you getting out of your outback.

Merely a better day

The Safari was once again grateful to CR for the offer of a morning's trip out to the nature reserve. Today was less windy and rain-free and our hopes of something new being blown in overnight were high and the slight improvement in the weather had us willing the Bittern to fly, or better still come to the edge of the reeds in front of the hide where the sun was shining - it didn't, not even once the sun had gone in and spits of rain appeared. 

On the water the local herd of Canada Geese honked loudly as they went about their business, watched in quiet disdain by four Grey Lag Geese. The resident family of Mute Swans were cruising around too.

Normally at this time of year the pleeping calls of Teal fill the air, today none were heard although we did see a couple of small flocks flying around. Away from the very sheltered kids' duck feeding area where a gaggle of very hopeful Mallards had gathered (there'll be few kids laden with bred until at last the Christmas hols now) it was Shovelers or bust out on the water other than a good number of gulls.

We regularly checked the gull flock as new ones were arriving all the time. We had a good early count of 31 Common Gulls and noted on two first winter Black Headed Gulls in about 100 adults - not a good ratio. A few Lesser Black Backs came in including what could well have been yesterday's tidy looking second winter but no matter how much we willed it the flock contained no Mediterranean, Caspian, Ring Billed, Bonaparte's or other dodgy species, even a Kittiwake would have been good! Unfortunately none of the gulls or ducks were close like yesterday's Mallards.

Best of the rest with feathers came in the form of a male Kestrel hunting the far side and a Sparrowhawk that did a couple of close fly-bys, the first putting up the gulls and three Snipe, an unseen singing Cetti's Warbler and a lone Wigeon. The day was so mild that several insects were on the wing including a couple of bumble bees, several Wasps, all on the same flight-path, a fly buzzing around just outside the hide window and a Migrant Hawker.

Where to next? Back at the docs tomoz to get the bandages off so maybe we might be able to get out after that.
In the meantime let us know who's making the most of the last of the autumn sunshine.