George Bristow's Secret Freezer

title tbc

2009-09-21T00:04:00.005+01:00

Cassette tapes, Persimmon woods, ink jet printers, telephone booths, Sony Walkmans, Kodak 110s, analog TVs, Betamaxes, and 120 SbCs

2009-08-26T22:06:00.010+01:00

Weekend... I was down at the British Birdwatching Fair, where no birdwatching was done, but an awful lot of gabbing. So much to report... first thanks to all you blogees who were concerned about my Diamond White intake. You'll be pleased to know that tonight I am drinking nothing but the purest detoxifying JD.

First, a big welcome to the new Editor of British Birds*.

*disclaimer. Person shown is for illustrative purposes only and is not a new editor of British Birds

The very exciting news that a new and improved Remembird upgrade is but weeks away, that promises to sort out some of the glitches with memory, battery life, and usability that some readers will remember have occasionally caused me to comment.

Look at my new t-shirt. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker reigns supreme as the flagship species for conservation of extinct birds. I wonder if some committee meeting at Birdlife International had an agenda item about '?' vs '!'

btw, it cost me £15... so for that they'd better bloody conserve some IBWOs grrrr......

'I've seen 120 Slender-billed Curlews' :-O

For some reason, Anthony McGeehan turned up naked. See here. Fortunately Mark Constantine (who owns 'Lush', for those of you who doubted my A-list credentials) was there to cover up his privates with some filthy rag. I think the moral of the story is... 'Don't bail on the Sound Approach team.'

I took my old Zeiss 7x42s (remember the scratched ones?) to the Zeiss stand to see if anything could be done to recondition them. They said not to bother. Cleaned 'em up, said the scratch was cosmetic. Could anything be done for the coating on the objectives, asked I, pointing out that it was heavily abraded. They said not to bother, it was just cosmetic, made no difference to the optical performance of the binocular. So next time some binocular salesman is trying to wax lyrical about the coating of some binoculars he's trying to sell you, tell him about this.

The BB team of bird-crazy Hazel (would NOT stop talking about subspecific identification of Locustellas), Roger and I were staying at a B&B with one other Birdfair couple. On Sunday morning she says to me that I was looking the worse for wear and had I drank too much last night? As you know, I drink in great moderation and has genuinely had 2 lager shandies the previous evening. 'Worse for wear' is how I normally look, thank you very much. She is from Glasgow, though hasn't lived there for many many years. When she met another couple from Glasgow at her stall in the Art tent, the first thing they asked her was 'what school did you go to?' Some things never change*.

*For people who aren't familiar with the Weejie scum mindset... the question is a way of asking whether you are Protestant or Catholic.

In Kazakhstan, we shoot all the bears.

The t-shirt wasn't my major extravagance of the weekend. For nearly 20 years now I have owned and used a Slik D2. About 5 years ago, it was kinda funny that I was still keeping it going, but the joke has started to wear thin. So I bought myself a new tripod.

Yes, you poor old SlikD2. You were my first love, but time has not been kind to you and you have been replaced by a younger sexier Italian model with fantastic legs, better lubrication and a smoother head action.

There's a lesson for us all there, though I can't quite put my finger on it. Unlike my new Italian model.

Wednesday 26th August 09.
I took my new tripod for a 05:45-06:45 spin, worried that Xenospiza was sat at home worrying about how many Northern Gannets were passing Newtonhill. The answer... 109 north. Happy now? Actually it was still pretty dark when I started, only brightening up and a few Gannets starting to go through as I had to go. Tssk. Other things around... 2 Arctic Skuas N together, a few Common Scoters scooting back and forth (36N 12S). 6 Common Teals S, 5 Red-throated Divers south, 119 Sandwich Terns north, 16 Common Terns, and 6 Common Redshanks.

A big hi to all the people I met for the first time and all those I only see once a year.

Loch Tay - home of the fabled Loch Tay Monster.

2009-08-16T22:24:00.005+01:00

We were meant to be away Friday and Saturday night at an idyllic campsite on the banks of Loch Tay, home of the fabled Loch Tay Monster that I just made up. A severe weather warning on Friday night, so we postponed our departure til Saturday morning, so we only had to enjoy the balmy midge-filled Saturday evening in a tent.

So Saturday, we skidded and slid the car across the mud-slide of a camp site with difficulty, mostly because of the evacuation of soggy campers that went on throughout the day. We decided to pitch just off the road, and by evening, it was just us, a green tent up the hill, and a refugee camp of some extended family of geordies in three enormous tents, in the prime site beside the showers. Loch Tay... geographically, was not far away, but it was a 45 degree descent down a mudslide and operational forest cutting. I kept myself amused and Diane a little annoyed with my persistent Mel & Kim impression... 'Tay tay tay tay t-t-t-t-t tay tay, take or leave us but please believe us we are never going to be respectable' at high volume at regular intervals. It was pissing down all night, apart from a 10 minute spell in the evening when I flew the kite. Then cooked beans crouched down behind the shelter of the car like a gnome. In the morning when I slid across to dump the can, and wondering where the green tent had gone, I found (?)it, flysheet, guy ropes, poles, the whole bang sheboot, dumped in the bin, with the owners nowhere to be seen. I bet there's a story there that kept me giggling all day. Crannog Centre,

where this spider turned up on the car

and (this is the birdy bit), lunch on the banks of the river at Dunkeld where there were enormous numbers of Sand Martins (Bank Swallows ) and Goosanders (Common Mergansers).

It was nice being popular... and Emma Wray naked.

2009-08-14T23:35:00.007+01:00

Normal number of hits per day ~30. At least 20 of which have googled 'Emma Wray naked' (Try it!). Post something about Slender-billed Curlew and the whole world (or about a thousand of them) come to your door.

Alas I have no plans to maintain my new found popularity.

BUT there hasn't been any Ivorybill activity for a while, so I thought I could add my bit. Remember when the paper by Hill et al published 'toot' noises and sonagrams from the Florida woods that they suggested could be IBWOs but I suggested were a better match for baby White-tailed Deer?

Posts here and here.

My problem, at least one of them, is that I have never heard baby deers and a search of YouTube came up with nothing. Well now it doesn't come up with nothing. Check out this one.

I have no idea if these are White-tailed Deer or some other sort of deer (someone please advise), but made sonagrams anyway of the bleats from 1.37 to 1.42 and this is what you get.

Eyeballing them, they are a better match for the Florida 'toots' than they are for the archival IBWO recording (see the second of my postings above). But on the other hand, they don't sound the same as the 'putative kent' noises published by Hill et al here and here. Allwing for differences in microphones, equipment, etc. I have difficulty believing that the 'putative kents' came out of a deer. Not as much difficulty as I have believing they came from an IBWO, but all the same...

Birding too. Is there no limit to my talents? Teatime in the rain. I remember as a young boy birding round Flamborough and one of the older hands (we shall call him 'Andrew' to preserve his anonymity) told me that rare birds don't turn up in the rain, that I should go and have a cup of tea and he would let me know when it was easing off. Well, I learnt my lesson there. So at teatime, in pissing rain and an easterly breeze, I went out birding to hoover up the harvest of flycatchers and warblers that would be waiting for me. 2 hours and 1 Willow Warbler later, I was on the seawatching bench, still in the pissing rain and visibility down to, well, I could see my toes. In 30 minutes... 3 Arctic Skuas (Parasitic Jaegers), 1 Great Skua (Huge F*ckoff Jaegers), 12 (!) Northern Gannets, 7 Manx Shearwaters. However the birds were tanking past so fast in the tailwind, and in such haze and poor light I realised that if, for example, something good came past, I was never going to get enough on it to get a description through. Which is a shame, cos actually something did come through in the half-visibility that looked pretty good, but it got away and we never speak of it again. I mean it.

New Links

2009-08-12T10:22:00.004+01:00

For those who thought the UK was a developed nation

http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/

and for those who thought westward vagrancy of Saker was unlikely (thanks to Chris Kehoe for pointing this out)

http://rarebirdspain.blogspot.com/2009/08/satellite-tracked-hungarian-saker-falco.html

Bit more SbC

2009-08-10T22:57:00.007+01:00

First, a comparison with the Minsmere Curlew (both montages, Moroccan bird left, Druridge Bird middle, the Minsmere 'Slender-billed' Eurasian Curlew at right. Not exact poses but I don't have as much to choose from for Minsmere. Allan Tate at right, I think the lower Minsmere bird is Dick Newell's.

Next, a poor but good enough grab from Trevor Charlton's video showing the Druridge bird in a more erect 'SbC-like' stance.

Finally, an example of how too little resolution and too much contrast can start to turn a rather fine picture of a Eurasian Curlew (Dick Newell again, I think)

into a diamond-spotted putative SbC.

Not many birds, quite a bit of mammal biomass.

2009-08-09T22:37:00.008+01:00

First, note the update to yesterday's post.

I had meant to get up early for a seawatch and a pound round the Mill gardens etc looking for any migrants. However I unaccountably missed my 5.30 alarm call (perceptive readers might link that with yesterday’s Diamond White comment), and in the event I didn’t get out until teatime.

It was very very quiet – occasional Willow Warbler houeet from the bushes, but apart from a flyover Eurasian Sparrowhawk, nothing.

However I did collect this impressive haul of dead shrews. The Pygmy Shrew at left is so old it’s almost a fossil. Common Shrew in middle is nice and fresh, and the Common Shrew at right is nicely middling.

There was a White-throated Dipper on the beach, too. And this mess of a hybrid Hooded x Carrion Crow on the rocks.

Offshore, for a mere 30 min from 17:45-18:15, lots more Black-legged Kittiwakes, a pitiful 2 Northern Gannets and that was it. EXCEPT a flock of 4 White-beaked Dolphins that started breaching. I tried to get a photo, but the problem is that between pressing the shutter and getting the image, the beautiful sight of a dolphin arching gracefully through the air in delight becomes a rather embarrassing, 2.5-scoring and rather sore-looking bellyflop splash.

Mystery photograph, anyone? Clue, the bird is flying off to the right.

The Druridge Curlew (and a seawatch so boring my heart stopped again).

2009-08-08T22:14:00.016+01:00

Back in time to the murky depths of the last century, May 1998, in a tiny uninhabited rump of England called Druridge Bay. Here, primitive man fashioned rudimentary binoculars out of flint chips and animal hides, and saw the bird that was subsequently accepted as Britain's first (and the Western Pal's last?*** Update*** not true, see below) Slender-billed Curlew. It came to BOURC just before my time, so I wasn't involved with the assessment. And I didn't see it either. Anyway, the identification has been doubted by people who didn't see it, and inspired by 660 posts of bickering in a BirdForum thread called Slender-billed Curlew - 10 years on, I compared some images from a video produced by Justin Carr of the Druridge bird with stills from a video on YouTube taken at Merja Zerga in 1994 of the last Moroccan SbCs. The Moroccan video is by Andy Butler.

In each of the following images,the left hand bird is an SBC from Merja Zerga (Andy Butler) and the right-hand bird if the Druridge bird (Justin Carr). I hope they don't mind me doing this. In some of the images I have horizontally flipped one or other bird so thety are looking the same way. Also bear in mind that the Moroccan birds are adults and the Druridge is a 1s hence the moult pattern.

Look at the bill shape and proportions above, and also the exact pattern of black spotting in the upper breast and flanks. Considering how individual feathers canbe displaced in the wind and due to brushing by vegetation, I am surprised how much match there is. The Druridge bird has head and body proportions similar to a real SbC too.

This one below is interesting cos it shows the narrow bill base of SbC and the Druridge bird (the Minsmere Eurasian Curlew by contrast had a broad bill base).

This one below shows the wing length of the Druridge bird and it looks to be in the right ballpark for SbC

The two below are perhaps less informative, but the top one maybe puts the Druridge bird's primary projection as a tad shorter than the Moroccan bird. But it also shows the extent of flank spotting to be pretty much identical

As followers of the shenanigans surrounding the-woodpecker-we-shall-not-name will know, it's not enough to show that your image of a potentially extinct bird is consistent with that species, you also have to show it is not consistent with Pileated Woodpecker. I mean any other commoner species. Sorry. Frankly we now know that Eurasian Curlew can look superficially similar to SbC and the quality of the video images from the Bronze Age are not anywhere near as good as we would have got if the Druridge bird had shown up in these modern communist times. Fortunately, I have some Eurasian Curlews among the video grabs from Justin Carr's video. I should say that I took this videograbs when BBRC and BOURC were looking for photos to illustrate the paper in British Birds, so I didn't keep many shots of the rest of the curlew flock. But I've got these two...

In the top one the Druridge bird is at back, with a Eurasian Curlew at front. The danger is that the apparent black 'diamond' spotting on the flanks of the 'boy' was a video artifact caused by poor resolution and high contrast of the video. That the chevron flanks of a Eurasian Curlew could look diamond spotty under these conditions. I think the grabs of Eurasian Curlew confirm that this is apossible concern, but in both shots the Eurasian flank markings appear less contrasty and more chevron shaped (as they should ) than the bird of interest. (especially top shot with the direct comparison). Not great evidence, but I think there's enough here to suggest that the apparent diamond spotting of the Druridge 'SbC' is real.

I think the similarity between the Druridge bird and SbC is quite impressive. But do you know what the most impressive thing is... that I've been drinking Diamond White all night and can still spell shenanigans.

________________________________________

I also did a seawatch this evening after a barbecue at Newtonhill Church where Lizzie has been praising God for his creation of curlews, woodlice and sweets. It was so boring I only last an hour (the seawatch, not the barbecue). (The barbecue had chickens, which is more than the seawatch did). There were hundreds of Black-legged Kittiwakes, including many many fresh juveniles (at sea, not the barbecue). Now I don't want to disrespect Kittiwakes, they are most marvellous birds with an enterprising juvenile plumage that should win design awards, but frankly, I've seen enough Kittiwakes for this life (but I haven't eaten enough - I bet they'd be good in a bun with tartare sauce). Highlights were 2 Black Guillemots flying south towards Muchalls. They are just about annual here, and Muchalls represents pretty much their southern-most breeding point on the east coast. 9 Northern Gannets going north between 18:00 and 1900, 1 Manx Shearwater and 1 Great Skua were just enough to remind me that I was looking at the sea, but it was pretty desperate stuff. Is it any wonder I drink?

Update - Hungary record 2001 - thanks to members of the WestPal birds email list that supplied me with details of the forthcoming publication of an accepted multiobserver record form Hungary in 2001.

Oláh, J. Jr. & Pigniczki, Cs. (2009): The first XXIst century record of Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris) in Hungary. Aquila, 114, p. ???
A summer plumaged adult male Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris Vieill. 1817) was observed near Apaj in the Kiskunság National Park on the 15th of April in 2001. The observation was accepted by the MME NB (Hungarian Cheklist and Rarities Committee) as the first XXIst century observation of the species in Hungary. To our knowledge this record also represents the first documented and accepted observation anywhere in the World. The identification was made after a very thorough examination and was based mainly on the size, plumage details, colouration, bill, legs and body shape. The identification was also supplemented by a video recording made through the telescope. Detailed description of the this bird is given in this paper as well as describing the status of the species in Hungary. A copy of the documentary video was also deposited in the archive of the MME NB.

Sorry...

2009-08-02T23:10:00.004+01:00

Many apologies. My guest blogger from the previous post appears to be a little confused about what is real and what is cult movie. You'll be glad to know that I am alive, though I did have a bit of a brush with a fat-arsed Shh-mutant Wicker man.

After Skye, starting to think that maybe the seawatching season is starting. Soooo... ignoring the offshore winds and apparent absence of birds:

Sunday 26th July 09. 18:36-19:40
6 Manx Shearwaters north
1 Great Skua south, attacking Kittiwakes, and then probably the same one, going back north for another go.
1 Red-throated Diver S
22 Red Knots, South.

AND, my first kill of the autumn. It was me or him. Nasty vicious fangs in my toes. Wouldn't let go.

Pygmy Shrew

Wednesday 29th July 09
Late morning... the house starts to fill up with kids, not all of them mine, so I head out for a bit of mid-day July birding. Unsurprisingly, very few birds (1 Common Whitethroat), but plenty of butterflies, including Dark Green Fritillary and Ringlet (both second patch records) up the cliff steps, with the usual Small Coppers, Common Blues, Meadow Brown and Small Whites.

Offshore for 30 min from 12.00, just 1 Arctic Skua, 10 Eurasian Teals, and a few Atlantic Puffins and Northern Gannets.

As I walked back to the house, 4 Black-tailed Godwits flew over, going south along the coast, itself unusual (have previously seen them once or twice on seawatches). This was about 12.30. Interestingly, at 5.30 pm, 4 were on the lagoons at Musselburgh, according to Birdguides. Reckon it would take a Black-tailed Godwit about 4-5 hours to make the journey. Wonder if they were the same ones.

Sunday 2nd August 09
Seawatch 07:10 - 08:40. S winds still.
Rather boring...
1 Great Skua N, 11 Common Scoters and 1 Velvet Scoter S. Also 3 Eurasian Teals and Common Goldeneye. 25 Annoying Small Waders S, and a Guillemot (Common Murre) on the water with a single chick.,. The first I've seen here this year.

Guest Blogger

2009-08-02T22:53:00.007+01:00

Hi All

After a bit of a delay, the blog today is being written by me, Edward Woodward (you may remember me from such long running TV hits series as 'The Equalizer'). Martin was called away to investigate the disappearance of a young girl on an island off the west coast of Scotland, and after a long and frankly rather implausible series of adventures, was burnt in a large Wicker effigy. I, in contrast, was on Skye from 18th-25th July, at a house on the Braes overlooking Raasay, from where it was possible to scope the Sound and see Black Guillemots at play. Or being played with by Great and Arctic (Parasitic) Skuas. I spent some time floating in the water in my dead fish outfit, until I saw this sight coming towards me.

At which point I reached for my camera and got this single shot of White-tailed Eagle, the male from the Portree nest.

In Portree harbour, this Glaucous Gull was savouring a fish head.

We saw dinosaur footprints fossilised on the beach at Staffin... here

and enhanced here for the hard-of-seeing.

Also, I need someone to identify my moth for me...

Four seasons in one day, or more accurately 3, or more accurately, 1.

2009-07-12T23:58:00.004+01:00

Saturday 11th July 09

The lure of a potential lifer, Stilt Sandpiper, at Loch of Strathbeg, was too much to ignore. So I stopped only at Stonehaven Kwik Fit to have my bald tyres retreaded with a hot scalpel (it was cheaper) before heading off north. I had missed the main rush on Thursday night, so it was nice n' quiet when I got there. The Stilt Sandpiper was showing nicely, if at scope range, and initally, asleep, the git. So while I was waiting for it to wake up, a scan to the left revealed the adult Pectoral Sandpiper feeding sewing machine fashion in the mud among the Black-headed Gulls and resting Common Terns. The Pec was pretty sweet, with a nicely defined breeding-type breast. Then the Stilt Sand woke up and that was pretty spectacliar too. I honoured its memory by whipping off one of my world-renowned biro sketches.

Once again the usual apology, but this is a genuine field (well, visitor centre tbh) drawing done at the time without revision. There were one or two other people trickling through, including those who need the reserve centre staff to get it in the scope for them. I don't like to be uncharitable, I really don't, but if you discount the 100+ Northern Lapwings, which tend not to represent an identification challenge, the only shorebirds on that pool were the Stilt Sand, the Pec and a Ringed Plover, so we weren't exactly pushing the boundaries of birding here. Was a nice bird though. 3 Little Gulls among the Black-headed Gulls too, and a distant Western Marsh Harrier.

Sunday 12th July 09.

Wader passage... autumn is here! Back to the 'pleasures' of Newtonhill seawatching. 06:40 - 08:40, pissing down with in-your-face rain and bloody freezing. My poor teeth were actually chattering. And for.... poor visibility. Between showers, a few birds came through. A single Little Gull was the scarcest. 31 Manx Sheawaters, 4 Great Skuas. 6 Velvet Scoters south, 4 Common Terns north, 2 Sandwich Terns south. 292 Northern Gannets north, 100s of Black-legged Kittiwakes and plenty of Northern Fulmars, Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills and Guillemots (Common Murres). Although everything from terns down is local breeding stuff, there were actually more things out there than I had any right to expect, so crap is my valley.

So when the April showers took a break mid-morning, spring gave way to a dense foggy autumn (the season of 'Season of Mists' quotes) and burnt off to a sweltering summer teatime. I was praying for a hailstorm before bed, but all I got was Pipistrelle Bats.

Northern Brown Argus

2009-06-28T22:33:00.003+01:00

Lovely day.

It was also a lovely day on Tuesday morning. Had car, driving over flyover onto A90 (better than crashing thru central reservation - police get cross again). Big cloudless blue sky. Perfection in firmament etc bollox. Hold! Flaw in firmament.... bird flying . Barnacle Goose! Weird. not exactly overrun with feral breeding barnies.

Back to Sunday. Common Reed Bunting singing at St Anne's track. Used to say 'Nul points to Norway'. But brutally unfair to triumphant Norway. Juvvy Song Thrush, barely flying. Sedge Warbler carrying food into bracken. Juvvy Sedgies no doubt enjoying whatever muck. World's scruffiest male Grey Wagtail decided to moult in full view of children and tramps. Beach... covered in happy families enjoying sun, avoiding pervert grey wags. Cliff steps. Common Blue butterflies, hundreds of Painted Ladies kicking about, lots of Magpie Moths Silver-Ys. Not a great butterfly expert. But though a couple of the female Common Blues looked a bit weird. No blue, very dark. Are they meant to have those little white dots on the wings? Checked when get home... Northern Brown Argus! bugger me. And there are a few records from this bit of coast. Aha. Patch tick.

A Northern Brown Argus very similar to those on the wing today at N/hill.

Offshore. Auks very busy. Guillemots and Razorbills in all directions. Atlantic Puffin heading to burrows with fish. 8 Manx Shearwaters all heading north, a few Northern Gannets too. And the
first autumn migrant of the year... a Common Sandpiper on the rocks. Roll on autumn.

Back from BOU

2009-06-15T00:04:00.002+01:00

Back from the BOURC meeting in our secret underground bunker somewhere in, or maybe near (don't want to be too specific) Petrograd. We invented a new word (also see here!). Remember a few years ago, maybe about 10 tbh, when Viz magazine (even back then, it wasn't as funny as it used to be), promised it was going to print the rudest word inthe English language on the front page of the comic and still get into the newsstands at WH Smiths.

I'm pretty sure I know what the rudest word in the English language is... in fact it's so rude the only place I ever see it in print is on Tom McKinney's deceased blog. When the big day came, Viz in fact had cheated and invented a new official rudest word in the English language. The word the came up with was 'fitbin'. Maybe they were hoping it would take off and become a new dictionary rudest word. Anyway, it totally failed to take off and in my entire adult life I have not heard anyone use the word fitbin, even in jest.

Still, not learning from the Viz's triumph, BOURC invented a new word, for those pesky annoying crossbills, petrels of all sorts, and any barcoded species that you might end up having to see but doing so only spoils your birding day - the craptic species.

We consider two or more species to be ‘craptic’ if they are, or have been, classified as a single nominal species because they are at least superficially morphologically indistinguishable. Some authors further stipulate that species designated as ‘craptic’ should be recently diverged, separable only with molecular data, occur in sympatry, or be reproductively isolated; however, we do not regard these as essential features of craptic species. We acknowledge that there is no single best species concept and therefore exclude the latter qualification of reproductive isolation to disentangle definition of craptic species from the quagmire surrounding species concepts.

(See here for a less sophisticated earlier argument)

I have a good feeling that this is going to take off. They should go into their own Category of the Britsh List, in my opinion. Something like Category K.

And also, didn't Springwatch go all moody and serious last week?

Criminal negligence.

2009-05-31T15:11:00.008+01:00

Before senility and death take me... I shall try and remember what's been going on recently. Took the family to Loch of the Lowes to see the Ospreys that they've been watching hatch and grow up here. When we got there it was a bit wet and mum was keeping her head down on the nest, so not a lot to see. Peter and Lizzie kept themselves amused by looking at baby ducks. The dad Osprey came in, circled round and caught a fish in front of the hide. The kiddies nearly wet themselves and peter declared it was his 'best day ever'. Bless. I spoilt the beauty of the moment by doing an impression of Spongebob singing the 'Best Day Ever' song. Quietly of course. But Lo! Why be quiet? Diane texted Wendy to say she was in the hide at LotL watching the Ospreys, and Wendy phoned her back! The atmosphere of hushed awe was shattered by a ringtone version 'Sweet Child of Mine' at no little volume and Diane going 'Ah, I don't know how to turn this off.' It was a brilliant moment. I celebrated by taking my entry for this year's Bird Photograph of the Year competition.

What else... I snapped a couple of juvenile White-throated Dippers along the Elsick Burn. They were almost under the bridge, and I was almost over the bridge, hence the funny angle, but at about 3 m away I could really have done with them stepping back a bit.

And a singing Garden Warbler in the bushes down the track to the sea - been there for two weeks now. Exactly where one turned up a couple of years ago. Never quite sure if it's likely to be the same bird, or whether the habitat is just good enough to haul 'em in.

Rather nice Common Whitethroat singing on a twig overhanging the cliff overhanging the sea. Extreme territory. Full of blurry flies too, if you believe the photos.

I've had my fair share of these 10s of millions of Painted Ladies that have been making their way into the county, viz. I had 1 on the last day of may, and then 2 on 7th June. Read it and weep. Maybe that was my share, but I've just been very bad. A Small Copper on 7th June too.

I've been running around the place. It's not natural and it's against the laws of nature, but I entered the Stonehaven Half Marathon, and was alarmed to find out the first six miles is uphill. So I've beentrotting up the local hills. The only interestng bird I bumped into was a dead mole. AND a Grasshopper Warbler, singing in the marsh near the logpile farm, whatever it is called (readers who don't actually live in Newtonhill might not be able to place it).

Thanks to Katie for pointing this out. Blows my small mammal finding activity out of the water.

Retreat! Retreat!

2009-05-19T23:27:00.006+01:00

Monday 18th May 09.

A Common Chiffchaff singing at the top of Newtonhill Road this morning. Bet it's gone by tomorrow.

Tuesday 19th May 09
.. it's gone.

I was on a retreat... don't ask. In Old Aberdeen, next to this.

Little known fact... the great ornithologist William Macgillivray (see here), contemporary and friend of Audubon, author of a great 5 volume History of British Birds (Vol I, 1837), lover of long walks through the countryside accompanied by young boys, lived in the University of Aberdeen Conference and Events Office.

MacGillivray has got a bum deal from history - the first person to be really describing birds in detail as they were, on this side of the World. But he was eventually scooped, at least in popular imagination, by the better connected, toned and tanned, William Yarrell, who also published the first volume of his History of British Birds in 1837. Yarrell's book was an easier read, but not as good on the descriptions, of birds OR young boys.

William Macgillivray - sorrowful loser in the Battle of the Bills, we salute you.

More tales from the Crypt - now with added weather.

2009-05-17T22:32:00.008+01:00

Saturday 16th May 09

Very strong easterlies and torrential duck rain overnight. The morning dawned bright with very strong easterlies and more torrential duck rain, brightening to very strong easterlies and torrential duck rain asthe day wore on. I had to run around the patch quickly before the criminal elements in the house woke up. Bit wet, tbf. Not a total washout - a Lesser Whitethroat at the Mill is a one-per-spring bird for me. But that was pretty much it. A White-throated Dipper was carrying food.

Let the cruel North Sea yield Her bounty of migrant birds...

Sunday 17th May 09

Nicer than Saturday...

Still wet early on but it did genuinely stop raining. A Grey Wagtail was feeding two fresh juvvies in a puddle near the railway viaduct. AND there were 2 (count 'em, two) migrant birds in the sycamores at the Mill. A Spotted Flycatcher and a Garden Warbler. Early promise not fulfilled though.... there was nothing in Honeypoy Lane, or down the burn, unless you want me to note that we are crawling with Common Whitethroats so far this year. 6 Sedge Warblers singing down the burn and in fact 30+ today, all over the shop, even in people's gardens in St Michae;l's Road, so there probably were quite a few migrants around.

Dipper carrying food again on the burn, and a couple of Red-throated Divers offshore.

A total 4 hours birding failed to produce a single observation I could be bothered writing down. Except I did see two Dunnocks enjoying congress in the Allotments. 3 minutes of cloacal felching and girlie soliciting, followed by a 2 femtasecond shag. And quite possibly back in the pub by opening time.

Tales from the Crypt.

2009-05-17T22:11:00.003+01:00

Wednesday 6th May 09

Nocturnal mischief produces good birds... a Grasshopper Warlber singing from rape fields just west of the A90 this evening, and a Tawny Owl calling at Porthlethen.

Saturday 9th May 09

Sedge Warblers must have turned up during the week - by this morning they were in the rough vegetation around Cookney and Portlethen.

Sunday 10th May 09

... and this morning the Sedge Warblers were singing along the Elsick Burn at Newtonhill. Also a small passage of Sand Martins (Bank Swallows) with 2 going up the burn and singles dribbling north along the coast during the morning. I noticed this late passage in previous years too.

Not a whole lot of other movement going on. A Blackcap sang briefly along Honeypot Lane, but I bet he's not planning on hanging around long. A Common Chaffinch was carrying a fecal sac out of the Leylandii here, and my Sherlock Holmes-esque nest finding abilities produced a pair of Coal Tits in a wall at East Cammachmore. Some Eurasian Siskins at the Retreat are likely breeding around here too.

10 male Common Eiders in the bay, one of which had a dark olive bill with no trace of yellow - very much in the minority here, and probably on his way somewhere less radical than emo/alt Newtonhill.

Girl Eider sees something interesting.

Brown-headed Cow. So near, yet so far.

Common Yellowthroats >>>> Common Whitethroats.

2009-05-04T19:21:00.003+01:00

...sorry Whitethroats, but it's true. I wonder if I can set up a poll or something. Rate these 4 birds in order....

Yellowthroat
Whitethroat
Bluethroat
Rubythroat.

Anyway, catch up time. On my last day in Nawlins... the only new birds were Monk Parakeet (they really do get everywhere) and 2 Cliff Swallows hanging about over the I10.

Sunday 3rd May.

Back on the patch in Newtonhill, ready to hoover up all the incoming migrants. But although the place was crawling with Willow Warblers, there were no Sedge Warblers to be found anywhere down the Elsick Burn, or on the allotments or down to Muchalls etc. They're late! Lazy lazy sods.

A Common Chiffchaff singing briefly at the top ofthe St Annes track, House Martins and Barn Swallows overhead, also a Redpoll (sp, but Lesser!) calling over. Down to the burn, and a Song Thrush gathering food, & a Common Whitethroat down by the dead willow. It was then that I had the heretical thought about throat ratings.

3 Eurasian Siskins in the garden at the Retreat, but nothing except a Grey Wagtail at the Mill Garden, and down the track just another couple of Song Thrushes.

35 Common Eiders in the bay, and while looking at them, 3 Bottle-nosed Dolphins popped up and swam south. Better.

off the breeding cliffs, the water was full of auks and I got some photos of distant Atlantic Puffins, and a few of the Guillemots (Common Murres) on ledges. I know Newtonhill isn't the greatest migrant trap in the world, but I'm kinda happy that I managed to organise a job somewhere where I could have Puffins as a patch breeder.

3 Whimbrels flew over as I was lounging around the clifftops in the sunshine.

Allotments and Muchalls track were uneventful, if you ignore the piles of Greenfinches. A Common Reed Bunting was singing at the top of Water Valley, and a few Yellowhammers around in the gorse. Coastal fields were disappointingly devoid of Crested Larks. Same way they were disappointingly devoid of Black Larks... was it last year, or two years ago? All the years are merging into one big long downhill slide to the grave. Spooky.

I find a better class of dead thing out here.

2009-04-23T01:48:00.002+01:00

Coypu (Nutrea). Proper dead.

The mildly rude sounding Pearl River... home of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker

2009-04-22T00:54:00.012+01:00

I booked myself a trip on a boat up Honey Island Swamp 0n the West Pearl River. It was a blast... Loggerhead Shrike on telephone wires at the roadside on the way there, then an Eastern Bluebird being spectacular in the driveway at the Cajun Encounters HQ.

Onto the boat, which looked suspiciously like a troop carrier, piloted by a veteran of Iraq War 1. The tour wasn't really aimed at birding - mostly looking for Alligators, like these ones. I got piles of this.

But there were some birds too. A Swallow-tailed Kite soared over the trees on the river. Captain Gerry offered the following wisdom: 'That's a Split-tailed Kite. They're also sometimes called the Mississippi Kite... they fly down the Mississippi here to breed, and then fly right back again.' When a real Mississippi Kite flew over, he offered 'I don't know what that is. Some sort of hawk.' An Anhinga went over and he spoke with authority 'That's a cormorant'.

Plenty of birds to be seen, although I missed some of the smaller ones on account of being on a moving boat. But some alligator-munching Great Egrets, and nice views of Great Blue Herons, and several Little Blue Herons.

We were genuinely in the Cypress Swamp. It was like all those photos of where people look for Ivorybills.

A couple of Red-headed Woodpeckers flashing their white secondaries, although I didn't see any Ivorybills, somehow, but blimey, I'm willing to bet some big bastard woodpecker made these suggestive holes.

OK, stop messing abbbaarrrrttttt. Real birds. Constant chsip chsip notes came from constantly yellow Prothonotary Warblers, fresh in from Mexico. Bootiful. And a very irritating buzzing song coming from ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod Northern Parulas. Bootiful-squared, and a tick! Also on the menu, more Yellow-throated Warblers, parties of Carolina Chickadees, Indigo Buntings in the grasses, noisy groups of Red-winged Blackbirds, and a few Boat-tailed and Common Grackles.

Alongside the river in a real Cajun village of houses on stilts that walk around spookily, there were 10s of Purple Martins checking out their Martin-boxes, and lots of Barn Swallows hanging around the vertical lift bridge.

In the air... a few Turkey Vultures and a whirling circle of 5 American Black Vultures. Three Ospreys in a tree together on the roadside as we drove home, and a Killdeer on the interesting side of the NASA rocket-assembly plant. Another Ka-chow morning.

New Orleans City Park - good birding!

2009-04-20T00:42:00.009+01:00

In my crappy hotel room with no window I had to guess when it might be getting light, phoned a cab and got to the City Park in the dark and pissing rain. I stood in the shelter of some bushes for 30 minutes, watching some scary lightning flashes split the sky and trying not to catch the eye of the local loonies. Cheered myself up by wondering if this weather would bring some migrating warblers down. Eventually it got light, and game on, with the roosting Laughing Gulls taking off, and a large lake next to the Museum of Art holding Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Heron, Double-crested Cormorant and Brown Pelican, Canada Goose, and a flock of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks flying around.

With no gen whatsoever, I had to start wandering round at random and hoping to bump into birds. This happened! Recorded 5 Least Terns fishing and calling in the ponds, then collected some Green Herons, Cattle Egrets and 4 White Ibises - those last ones the first ones I've seen on the ground(!). Some Common Grackles, Blue Jays, Northern Mockingbirds and Eastern Kingbirds around, and then a surprise... proper birding... a Solitary Sandpiper feeding in the mud at lake edge.

Followingthe Solitary sandpiper round lead me into a little copse, and it turned out the canopy was alive. With birds, even. A Yellow Warbler, 2 Baltimore Orioles, Summer Tanagers and a male Scarlet Tanager, Red-eyed Vireo and Carolina Chickadees, a stonking Chestnut-sided Warbler, Red-headed Woodpecker and a female Hooded Warbler.

After this, I stopped trying digibinning in poor light. Female Hooded Warbler.

And I also bumped into another couple of birders whi gave me directions to the 'best part' - Couturie Forest, further up the park. OK, I'll head there, but it was quite a walk and as I headed up the water's edge in the right general direction, I got a male Myrtle Warbler, Downy Woodpecker, Northern (yes Northern) Waterthrush, a male Common Yellowthroat and a male Hooded Warbler. Under the road, still following the trees, and things kept coming - American Robin (my first of the trip), Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 2 Yellow-throated Warblers (phwoargh!) and a female American Redstart - the joy at this one tempered only by the fact it wasn't a male. A tainted tick!

Barn Swallows over the open ground and some Tree Swallows buzzing round like House Martins on steroids. There was an Osprey perched high in a dead tree by some new lake I found, and an Alligator in the water. I resolved to be more careful near the water.

Moving on, a Blue Grosbeak doing bugger all at the top of a tree, and then a Great-crested Flycatcher - wow! What a whopper. Another whopper, a Turkey Vulture overhead.

I stumbled into Couturie Forest, and again started wandering around at random - seeing nothing to start with, but then cheered up by a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak visible from the platform at the top of the hill. Then down the other side - and bumped into the 2 birders I met earlier - they showed me a Kentucky Warbler. Nice. Then wandering around a bit more, there was another birder there too, and saw a day-glo Prairie Warbler, Tenessee Warbler, 2 Blue-winged Warblers, Gray Catbird, White-eyed Vireo, and a Cardinal. I was getting quite pleased with my haul by now. Out of the wood, and a flock of 8 Indigo Buntings flushed with ease :-$ and a Red-shouldered Hawk overhead.

As it warmed up, these lizards came out to eat these dragonflies.

It was now 6 hours since I was dumped inthe rain, and though the weather had cheered up I was starting to think I should maybe turn round and start heading back. But the birds conspired against me - another small copse surrounding the sort of ruined toliet block where bums like to hang out attracted my attention by flashing another Hooded Warbler at me, and then when I went in, found some more Carolina Chickadees, Yellow Warblers, 3 Blue-winged Warblers, 2 Tenessee Warblers and a flock (flock!) of 5 Myrtle Warblers. A movement up in the canopy turned out to be a Black-throated Green Warbler, and another movement turned into a CERULEAN WARBLER - surely the best warbler there is. Except then my tainted tick came back for untainting - a male American Redstart hoved into view, and I knew the world had gone nuts when I was getting irritated by the Myrtle Warbler getting in the way of a clear view of it. There was a House Wren in here too. It really was time to start the long walk back downtown, so I did, though a Cooper's Hawk attached itself to my trip list before I got to the bar, and I flushed a Killdeer as I tried to find a way under the Interstate.

If we can have the Whistling Ducks, can we have the Muscovies too?

Fantastic day's birding.

New Orleans Saturday 18th April

2009-04-19T01:30:00.016+01:00

All photos today sponsored by the failed digi-bnning company of Skegness.

I'm in New Orleans. Told you I would be. With a few hours before my meeting started, I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to hop onto the no. 11 bus and head over to the Audubon Park. Frankly first impressions were not promising. When I got off the bus, all I could see was a packed zoo car park, and a golf course with 1000s (no exaggeration) of joggers going round and around and around. And no birds. In fact I thought I was going to see bugger all here. With no gen except that there was a heronry somewhere, I set off in hope, heading north along the west end of the golf course, picking up a couple of Common Grackles, American Crows and a fly-by Snowy Egret. heheh, so there might be a heronry around. At a pond on the golf course, I saw an American Crow amusingly push a turtle back into the water.

Got to the north end and things started to get better, with 2 female Wood Ducks sleeping on an overhanging branch, and 2 Common Moorhens (i.e. ‘Laughing Moorhens’) on the water – ready to split them now :-) Some Mallards too.

An Anhinga was perched

I wandered round and facing me was this… It wouldn’t turn round to let me see its back, so I was a bit stuck on this one (and this overexposed shot probably won’t help), but after careful consideration… it seems to be a Red-shouldered Hawk, actually very like one of the pale Florida ones.

Some male Wood Ducks here too – I accept it onto Category A of my New Orleans list – and a Green Heron bugging a turtle. Decided it couldn’t hurt to follow this lake round the north and east end.

Poorly digi-binned photos

The little wooded copse by the bridge at the north end turned out to be top notch, being a little bit off the track. Four or five Red-eyed Vireos were high in the trees, and a pair of Summer Tanagers (a tick!), a couple of Blue Jays, a Downy Woodpecker and a Brown Thrasher. Some Common Starlings over on the greens of the golf course, and an Eastern Kingbird. A strange warbling song from the low branches and ka-chow!! A White-eyed Vireo (another tick) and ka-chow-squared! A male Bay-breasted Warbler looking, frankly, gorgeous. I was surprised to find a White-throated Sparrow (this is like birding in Britain) and then a good looking small dumpy flycatcher with a bold eye ring that must have been Least Flycatcher. Unfortunately it flew off.

And then, I bumped into the heronry – turned out it was difficult to miss. Bit of a racket, and it was full. Many Cattle Egrets and Great Egrets, smaller numbers of Snowy Egrets and Black-crowned Night Herons, and a few pairs of (ka-chow again) Tricolored Herons. Sleeping on the island was a (presumably plastic) Black-bellied Whistling Duck: its case wasn’t helped by the motley collection of Muscovy Ducks kicking about.

Had to be getting back… time to do some work, so I walked the 5 miles back to the hotel(!) listening to Chimney Swifts and Northern Mockingbirds, and seeing plenty of House Sparrows, Mourning Doves and a single Collared Dove – they really do get everywhere.

Migrants... some in, some out.

2009-04-11T09:51:00.003+01:00

Just this very second setting off for Edinburgh. Anyway... a few pitiful sightings - some birds in, some out.

Wednesday 1st April
A Eurasian Woodcock flying over my head (better than under it) in Cornhill Rd, Aberdeen.

Saturday 4th April
1st Common Chiffchaff, just outside Portlethen

Saturday 11th April
1 Willow Warbler - Red Moss at Netherley
60 Fieldfares - somewhere along that road.

If all goes to plan, my next reports will be from New Orleans :-O

2009-03-29T17:37:00.006+01:00

I'm not quite as lazy as my absence from this site would imply. Or infer? imply I think. I imply. You infer. Honest truth, I was in hospital with a septic toe. A bad Common Shrew. Came right for me. Latched onto my boot. I tried to shoot it, but just clipped my toe. The shrew scampered off. Next morning my big toes was the size of a tennis ball, without a word of a lie. The doctors thought they would have to amputate, but after an implausible series of comedy japes and witty one-liners, here I am.

If I'd been out birding last weekend, I would have seen bugger all, but photographed some bags of dogcrap hanging decoratively from the bushes along the Muchalls track. I would have intended to upload them but decided against it at the last minute on account of having impeccable taste and high principles.

If I'd been out this morning instead of chasing under-dressed nurses in a benny hill-style conga, complete with music, round the infirmary, I would have noted that it was still pretty chilly (snow flurries - come on!) and there were no migrant about, even though I spent an hour on Cran Hill looking for Northern Wheatears and fly-by Sand Martins.

I would have seen a Peregrine Falcon making several hunting flights over the village, after the pigeons, and noted that the La Cucaracca Yellowhammer was still singing by the viaduct. I would have observed the White-throated Dippers hanging around the old nest site at the Mill, and a sick-looking Eurasian Greenfinch in the willows at the cliff sides. There was a dodgy looking House Sparrow in the garden during the week, and I wonder if there's a wee touch of bird plague on the loose.

Offshore, a Northern Gannet, a few Black-legged Kittiwakes and some Northern Fulmars, would have all been warming up for the off. And these two Eurasian Teals on the water.

The Guillemots and Razorbills would have been hanging around off the breeding cliffs.

And, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, I would have turned this magnificent European Shag into a very disappointing shag.
Anyway, my septic toe is better, the Common Shrew in question has died of food poisoning (my foot), and I have an amusing story about a bicycle pump that will have to wait until the censorship laws are changed in Oregon.

Third Blood!

2009-03-20T18:58:00.001Z

Bananarama!!! This Wood Mouse was coming right for me too.

A Eurasian Woodcock flewacrossthe road in front of us in the middle of Aberdeen on Wednesday morning, then another as I drove home on Thursday evening, also in Aberdeen. Woodcocks on move in Aberdeen, shock.