The North Ron Experience: A Subspecies View

A fantastic post by Hertfordshire / Cornwall birder Samuel Perfect who, alongside a few other young birders, spent a season on North Ronaldsay Bird Obs during 2015. For me, the following shows why birding is AMAZING - just when you thought you'd tackled ID of species, a whole new door of subspecific identification, migration and potential vagrancy opens. They may not be their own species, tickable etc. but for me, subspecific birding is some of the most exciting birding out there! I know one legendary frontier-breacher who would have loved this. Nice one, Sam - Jonnie F

The 2015 summer-winter season on North Ronaldsay was packed with activity.  A summary of events shared with a brilliant obs team can already be found on the NGB and NRBO blogs (here) so here’s an attempt to pad out the story from a different aspect. The subspecies we encountered were a mixture of stunning, confusing and above all, educational birds.  Here’re a few brief accounts of those that don’t often receive the attention they deserve.

Arctic Peregrine

On 7^th September, George returned from his daily census with some record shots of a particularly interesting juv. Peregrine.  We spent a long time trying to extract as many features as possible out of the photos but it became apparent further field sightings would be necessary, preferably with the bird on the deck.  Some overdue genning up involved a look into a past NRBO report from 2012 which included a rather envious encounter with a stunning Arctic Peregrine. It soon became the obs team’s short-term mission to track down and solidify our suspicions that the pale capped bird the island was hosting might indeed also be an Arctic wanderer. The opportunity arose later the same day as Mark, George and I were outside Holland Gardens and in the late afternoon light it sailed past us.  My view of the bird was sadly silhouetted so most of what I have learnt from this particular bird derives from the photos. The extensive pale white/cream cap extends over the supercilium like a tiara, classic for Arctic Peregrine, the submoustachial stripe is narrow leaving large beige cheeks. It’s hard to be sure but the underside seems to show a beige cast and is much more finely marked with narrower spots and streaks on the chest compared to the other nominate birds also occurring on the island.

Probable Arctic Peregrine (George Gay)

Island Wren

It seemed each census route would be punctuated every now and then with either a burst of song or a not quite so small brown bird erupting from a dyke.  Almost as common was one of us volunteers repeatedly commenting on their notably larger size and darkness.  It took a while for me to appreciate the size difference of the island Wrens as there weren’t any nominate birds with which to compare them.  None the less, regular in the hand views (provided they didn’t wriggle out of my grip) revealed another brilliant opportunity to take a look at their chocolate brown ground colour, concolourous washed belly with less obvious transverse marks and larger bill.  Once back home in Hertfordshire I tried to find a Wren ASAP to compare the two whilst their appearance was fresh in my memory.  These had paler and yellow tinged underparts giving them a two-toned appearance with dark brown restricted to the upperparts.  With hindsight, they really did look different, cool!

iliacus and coburni Redwing

I remember the day well.  It was 15^th October, I’d just left the obs and was cycling up towards Holland Gardens when a dark thrush appeared on the dyke to my right.  I slammed on the brakes, looked through my bins and only then did I recognised it was a Redwing.  It was a coburni!  A very generous present from my brother Ephraim (the Helm Thrushes ID guide) gave me the first inklings of hope that I might have a chance of finding one like it despite living in Hertfordshire, a rather uninspiring county for birding.  Perhaps, I thought, searching through the flocks of Redwings on my home patch might finally reveal something noteworthy like a coburni Redwing.  However, this never came to fruition and my interest was only rekindled with the arrival of Martin Garner’s Winter Challenge Series, this walked me through the simple steps required to pin down such a bird and thankfully the bird in front of me ticked all the right boxes.  Heavy streaked underparts with very little exposed white on the chest: check, comparatively dark legs: check, a tad larger size: check, glossy dark brown upperparts: check, ochre supercilium: check, flanks deep crimson red (not a warm orange hue): check.  Brilliant!  Over the next week or so Redwings became our main ringing query with triple figures trapped in Holland Gardens as they arrived and left the roost.  The switch from iliacus to coburni was noticeable from mid-October and alongside wing length measurements closely approaching and sometimes exceeding 126mm (the upper limit for iliacus) it became apparent just how different they were to iliacus which were processed with a refreshed appreciation for how much smaller, cleaner white and paler they were.

insulae and nivalis Snow Buntings

Perhaps one of my most treasured experiences was battling my way across the East Links golf course one November day in a severe headwind, lashed with sand, rain, salt spray and stumbling across a pair of Snow Buntings.  Numbers had dwindled since the impressive flocks of 400+ swirling around the Nether Linnay stubble fields but these deserved just as much attention and admiration as the pair couldn’t look more different from one another.  The first was a classic nivalis with pale rump, faint grey cast to the mantle, extensive white in the wing and yellow ochre tones restricted to the upperparts all highlighted just how dark its companion was.  The second was an Icelandic Snow Bunting (ssp. insulae) with rich earth brown upperparts extending across the flanks and smothering much of its head.  It was several shades darker with a darkened crown and ear covert patch.  An occasional wing stretch or flourish into the air revealed the restricted white to the secondaries and inner primary bases as well as the deep earth brown rump with some black uppertail covert centres.  The primary coverts were wholly black and the scapular centres were thin and black, indicative of a female bird.  I watched it for a full two hours and even convinced George to come and see it so that he might get some better photos.

nivalis Snow Bunting

insulae (left) and nivalis (right) Snow Bunts (phone pics)

insulae Snow Bunting

Siberian (tristis) and nominate (colybita) Chiffchaffs

A subject I’m sure many have already wrestled with and been frustrated by.  Fortunately, 3 years prior studying in Falmouth was an ideal opportunity to acquaint myself with Sibe Chiffs.  Sewage works are famously known to be great places for wintering phyloscs but it was great to see the same subspecies hopping over boulders and working their way through stunted bushes on the rocky coasts of North Ron as they first arrive in the country.  It always gives me a shock when I encounter a classic Sibe Chiff, yellow and green shades are restricted solely to the lower half, leaving the head, mantle and chest a foggy ghost.  Confusion arose with birds that closely resembled Sibe Chiffs showing some yellow/green tones creeping into the scaps and yellow in the front of the supercilium.  I would imagine they are of eastern origin but not quite in the range of tristis?

Chiffchaff probably of eastern origin (lack of green yellow tones around the upper half but creeping in on the scaps, also has chestnut tinged ear covs) (another phone pic responsible for saturating the colours somewhat, was in reality paler)

Siberian Chiffchaff (grey upper half, chestnut tinged ear covs and a faint wing bar)

argentatus Herring Gulls

With stormy weather large gulls would take refuge on the island, often congregating in their hundreds on the golf course or at the northern end of the island near the lighthouse.  Larus argentatus argentatus birds really are big, very often a few expletives would spill out of my mouth in astonishment when they glided past.  Yet again the island was playing host to a northern subspecies and it had all of us volunteers in awe.  Even the occasional Glaucs looked less beastly stood amongst a flock of ‘tatus!  Being from the south, I was not used to seeing Herring Gulls with such dark upperparts allowing a grey panel to seep through the underwing making it visible even from below, such was the power of the argentatus. 

Eurasian and Greenland White-fronted Geese

It was mid-November now and my fellow volunteers had all left so the island was left to Mark and I to cover.  A call from Mark to alert me of a flock of Greenland White-fronts heading south over the lighthouse gave me a head start in picking up the flock.  Unfortunately, they’d made their way directly offshore so, to me, they only appeared as distant grey geese sp..  Rather embarrassingly, I’d given the subspecies little attention as I had prioritised reading up on Snow Bunts instead and for lack of practice I’d forgotten most of the features necessary for separating Eurasian and Greenland birds.  Fortunately, I was given a second chance a month later to reacquaint myself with the Eurasian ssp.  Several hundred Eurasian White-fronts were assembled in the Reiselfelder, Munster (a brilliant wetland reserve in NW Germany) and thanks to excellent views of adult and juvenile birds in flight and feeding at close range I hope I’m equipped to right my regrets on my next visit to the North Ron to finally nail a Greenland White-front.

Juv and adult Eurasian White-fronts (Germany)

Adult Eurasian White-fronted Goose (Germany)

Pale-bellied Brent Goose

Yet another unfamiliar subspecies for me.  With the vast majority of birds being Dark-bellied in the south I can’t even recall if/when I last saw a Pale-bellied.  The dominant pale flanks, subtly different mantle colouration interspersed with pale fringing and the sharp contrast between the black throat and pale grey lower breast all pointed to another lesson learnt.

Dark and pale phase Arctic Skuas

This doesn’t concern subspecies but even so I’ve done some research to try and track down the exact meaning of phase and morph.  Apparently, they mean the same thing...  A little more digging revealed some good distribution maps showing the preference for darker birds to occur in the southern portion of their range (eg. Scotland) and pale birds to the north roughly separated by different behaviours and migration timings.  During my time on the island dark morph birds outnumber pale ones so I rarely saw pale morphs in action.  However, I remember with fondness the many evenings I spent at Twingness watching the sun set and dark morph Arctic Skuas (aka Scooty Allans) patrolling the rocky shore as the Black Guillemots (aka Tysties) returned with butterfish for their young.  Each dash to or from the bolder strewn shore to bring their valuable meal to eagerly waiting young birds spiked their adrenalin and rightly so as many would find themselves tangled in a dog fight with a brilliant pirate.

Adult Arctic Skua (dark morph)

Lesser and Mealy Redpoll

Not up to date with the taxonomy so not sure how long they’ll be remaining as species but here goes.  Being thrown in the deep end with redpolls has caused me to make lots of mistakes but I think I’ve learnt a bit in the process.  At first, many of the birds extracted from the nets at Holland Gardens resembled Lessers with suitably short wing lengths, buff bars etc.  However, with the emergence of fledgling birds later in the season, concerns were raised with respect to their wing lengths.  They suited Mealys on bios but on the surface appeared buff brown and classic Lessers.  So were the adults trapped earlier (that looked like Lessers) parents of the young which now fitted the bios of Mealy?  I’ve lost the plot.  Fortunately, once the confusion had died down and the birds moved on a fresh opportunity arrived.

We were in the middle of a fall with Blackbirds erupting from under boulders almost every step of the way, swirling flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares were the norm and there was a trickle of Skylarks, Bramblings and even the occasional Ring Ouzel.  Suddenly, a bright finch flushed a few steps in front of me, it was a Redpoll.  I took many notes on it but some latent blanks still puzzled me.  It had a sugar cube size white rump, a dominant cold appearance and a wash of straw tones about the face and chest just right for Coue’s.  However, modest flank streaking, a sizable black vent stripe and earthy brown scapular fringes not to mention its jizz dragged my hopes down to more realistic levels, it had to be a Mealy.  Fortunately, I was treated to good views as it crawled around in the long grass (making it appear significantly paler compared to views of it perched on a dyke against the pale sky which highlighted the darker streaking and deprived it of my initial Arctic impression.

Redpoll with a white rump, Mealy?

Mealy Redpolls? from August

Blue Fulmars

A major target species for me and also technically not a ssp. but a morph, anyhow.  From September we were treated to our first “blue” Fulmars passing the north end of the island, leaving the North Sea and travelling west into the Irish Sea.  Seabird passage was still productive beyond mid-November with some days heralding double figures of these “blues”.  Though technically a morph and not a subspecies, picking out a “blue” amongst the thousands of pale birds streaming past the island was great fun and as always educational.  First point, “blues” are variable with classic dark birds standing out well at long range with uniform slate blue underparts and upperparts.  Although we weren’t able to put a finger on the precise differences, “blue” Fulmars seemed to have a different flight jizz with noticeably kinked wings and a different flight style.  Paler birds with grey washed underparts concentrated around the breast and face also featured on several seawatches but I am unsure what to make of such birds and what might be responsible for these intermediate looks.

Northern Harrier

Our highlight of the season.  Yet again Mark’s hard work in the field was rewarded with a spectacular find, an adult male Northern Harrier!  This remained for the whole season and could well still be roaming the Orkneys undetected.  A picture speaks more than a thousand words so I’ll leave you with these to salivate over.  All I can add is watching it hunt a flock of 150+ Snow Buntings and a Yellow-browed Warbler hopping around at my side calling belongs to one of my very favourite experiences.

Bridled and Northern Guillemots

Once again, the challenge series came to the forefront.  Seawatching from North Ron, as expected, produced many more Bridled Guillemots than I am used to further south but this was also a good opportunity to grapple with more northerly breeding populations.  Although nothing the likes of a hypoborea happened, several birds with moderate black streaking angled across the flanks did pass the island in late autumn/early winter.  Although this might not mean much, this character does feature strongly in more northern Scottish populations perhaps Uria algaa algaa in its southern range.

Icelandic Meadow Pipit

Back in 2012 at the first Spurn Migration Festival, Clive McKay invited me to join him at the Sheepfields to trap migrant Mipits on their southward migration as they became concentrated through the funnel shaped landmass before crossing the Humber.  He introduced me to the subtle differences in plumage tones of autumn birds.  Warm brown and yellow in the mantle and breast were typical of British birds but cold white ground colours to the chest and much reduced warmth to the upperparts with olive green tones and a longer wing length supported his hypothesis that these might well be Icelandic Meadow Pipits.

From August North Ron experienced a surge in Mipit activity, triple figures would sometimes take to the sky when traversing a field and although the majority evaded close scrutiny, on-the-deck views revealed some similar looking birds to those that I was fortunate to handle three years ago at Spurn.  Cold underparts and upperparts on some birds made them stand out a little but unfortunately few birds on migration were trapped to record the all-important bios so a crucial piece of information went missing from the puzzle.

Are they littoralis Rock Pipits?

They surely have to be littoralis was what went through my head when I saw them.  At the start of the autumn season only one or two birds were known to be on the island so the small arrival that occurred from late September must have originated from elsewhere.  With A. p. petrosus restricted largely to the British Isles and strong NE winds originating out of Scandinavia carrying with them continental birds such as White Wags, Barred Warblers, Ickys and Wrynecks it seemed likely the Rock Pipits might be coming from a similar direction.  Obviously, this hunch is near impossible to prove as littoralis in their winter plumage are apparently impossible to separate in the field.  Some reading from Ian McKerchar (The Logicality of littoralis) might provide a glimmer of hope with regards to lingering birds in early spring that might begin to show signs of pinkish on the breast, emergence of clean slate grey tones on the mantle and reduced streaking on the chest as well as some indication that some might be separable in winter too.

blythi Lesser Whitethroat

My first encounter with a blythi Lesser Whitethroat was November 2014.  My friend Dan Chaney and I were at Stithians Res and a very late Lesser Whitethroat had just appeared in the pine trees.  It was a challenge to get the necessary tail shots, recordings and all round views but we successfully managed all three.  Nearly a year later and with a bit more reading accomplished, I found myself a little more prepared when an interesting Lesser Whitethroat cropped up in the nets at Holland Gardens.  T6 had a thin dark wedge on the inner web reaching 2/3 of its length and T5 had the characteristically large white wedge indicative of blythi.  Mark and I were laden with many more birds in need of processing so some quick photos and feather samples were taken before releasing the bird.  Several months later an email came through, with confirmation from Martin Collinson on its DNA, it was indeed a blythi!

blythi Lesser Whitethroat

And the rest…

There were so many more avenues available to explore, we only touched on discussing Greenland Wheatears when the odd nominate bird was trapped in the Heligoland traps.  I did my best to separate White and Pied Wags but hardly even took a closer look for Icelandic Blackwits, Continental Chaffinches or track down the Northern Bullfinch that George was lucky enough to have fly past him.  There was simply too much on all of our plates even to grasp the opportunity to trap the potential samamisicus Redstart Espen found with a noticeable pale wing panel.  Even before I arrived, the obs team had been graced with perhaps the rarest bird of the year, Todd’s Canada Goose, another subspecies conundrum.

A sad fact I had to deal with whilst on the island is the commonplace of death.  Overhead wires and wind turbines claimed many bird’s lives often severing their wing before leaving them to a slow and painful death.  It really tugged at the heart strings to see injured Ruffs, Curlews and gulls struggling their way across fields but besides all this death, it was a brilliant opportunity to study the birds close up.  Dead 1^st CY Common Gulls were what I sought after most.  I’d turn each bird over onto its back and try and learn something, would there be a bird with a considerably paler underwing and delicately marked fringes to the greater underwing covs and axillaries?  Could there be a heinei?  This is all far out of my depths so I simply took a close look at the underwings and photographed them for future reference.  In hindsight I should also have looked more closely at the Ringed Plovers for darker arctic birds, search through the Dunlins for alpina, schinzii and arctica or at the Goldcrests for grey naped Continental birds.

1^st CY Common Gull underwing

Goldcrest with a grey nape?

For anyone hoping to volunteer at North Ron there are endless opportunities to discover and learn from what the island throws at you.  A massive thanks goes to Kevin Woodbridge (Owner), Alison Duncan (Warden) and Mark and Fleur Warren (Assistant Wardens) and all the volunteers I met during my time on the island (Stephen Rutt, George Gay, Gavin Woodbridge, Peter Butler, Jonny Scragg, Espen Quinto-Ashman and Molly Laban) for patiently answering endless questions, making the obs feel like a second home and giving me the opportunity to do what I love most, go birding!

My time on North Ron - by Espen Quinto Ashman & George Gay

My Time on North Ron: George Gay, 21, Somerset

"I arrived on North Ron on April 22^nd, it was a long journey, taking the best part of a day. When I arrived I was greeted by Alison off the plane, she drove me straight up to the Obs to meet Kevin, Mark, Fleur and the two girls Sara and Molly. They were the first volunteers I saw in my spell, both lovely girls and both in the early stages of their birding lives!

The first week was spent getting used the census routes and finding my own way around, I think the main highlight was a Tree Pipit, a bird I wasn't overly familiar with so seeing one perched on a wall was useful!

I'll skip ahead slightly now to the 1^st May, it was my first time on the top end of the island, census area F. I was about halfway through the route coming up the loch inside of the sea wall at Bewan, I could see three wading birds feeding on a mud spit, the first two clearly Dunlin the third was different, I crept closer and got stunning views of what I could of thought was a calidris type Sandpiper, I had a fair idea of what the bird was before I phoned Mark, he told me to be cautious and describe it to him as if I had no idea what it was, my description was enough for him to decide it was worthy of a look, so when he rolled up with everybody from the Obs I started to panic and doubt myself a bit! Thankfully my hunch was correct and the bird stuck about, it was my first lone find and a lifer too!. White-rumped Sandpiper!

Forward in time now to the 30^th May, myself and Steve are in our room, Steve was on holiday in Hungary when I arrived but was back on the island now, I'm sat in bed having just woken up and I can hear these loud rushing footsteps coming up the stairs, I say to Steve.

“Is that Mark? Why's  he's coming to our door?”

With that a highly flustered Mark bursts through the bedroom door shouting and waving like a mad man!

“Gav’s caught a Cathurus Thrush at Holland, he's not sure what it is! Get up!”

Me and Steve were out of bed and in the car before Mark had left the room, we got to Holland and the bird was presented to us, me and Steve in awe of what was being shown to us! A Veery! The girls didn't really grasp the significance of the bird we were looking at until it was explained it was only the 11^th record for Britain. It was the highlight of the Spring.

Other Spring highlights included a long staying Male Rustic Bunting, a stunning OBP, a self-found Woodchat Shrike (3^rd Island Record), Long-tailed Skua passage that defied logic (they passed 12ft over heads!)  and other Spring migrants like Corncrake, Bluethroats etc.

Not a bad Spring.

I left the island in late June for a holiday to America and return again at the back end of July, the faces I knew had left apart from Steve and Sam Perfect had arrived along Pete, there where things to see once I got back, the breeding birds had bred and we had chicks to rings in the form of Arctic Terns, Black-headed and Common Gulls, we had done most the waders in early June but a few remained and best of all the Tystie (Black Guillemot) chicks. We managed a record number of Tysties this spring, also on the ringing front we had Storm Petrels to ring, an amazing experience and if any of you get a chance to do it then I suggest it! With the Stormies we also caught a few Leach’s and that's a real treat!

With the ringing done the birds started to move back towards Africa and early Autumnal influxes of Wrynecks,  Icterine and Barred Warblers arrived, bringing the hope of that far Eastern mega bird but it never really arrived! Things seemed to slow down, we had a few exciting birds, like a possible Arctic Peregrine that I photographed on the 7^th September, Steve found an American Goldie in horrible weather conditions that hung around for at least a week, we had a second WRS and plenty of other good passage migrants, the highlight of our Autumn came in late September and continued to be a highlight until I left. A phone call from Mark to me while I was sat in the Obs with Sam and maybe Johnny (I can't remember sorry!) sparked a wild and now in hindsight unneeded panic, Mark said he thought he had a Northern Harrier, if you ever get the chance to bird with Mark Warren do it, it's a privilege! I think is as good as I've got! So a mad dash and some potentially wreck less driving later we got to Mark, and eventually the bird, what a screamer it was, a sub-adult Male Northern Harrier, it stole the show for weeks and rightly so! I'm sure you've all seen pictures of it and now it's been split its all the sweeter! In October we joined in with the Yellow-browse passage that sweeper the UK breaking the island record, I can't remember the total but going out census and getting into double figures was easy, the same happened with Short-eared Owls in November!

It would be wrong to mention our excursion to nearby Papa Westray for a potential 1^st Britain if accepted, the Chestnut Bunting was a fantastic bird showing stupidly well but it overshot us by about 20 miles and that sort of hurts!

 My time on North Ronaldsay was rounded off by a truly unexpected event, while ringing at Holland House I got a text from Mark about a large Cetacean, not thinking much of it and bring up to our armpits it's Redwings we blew it off, only for Mark to text again to say it was a probable Humpback, so me and Alison rushed down the pier, and lone and behold every 1-2 minutes a ridged back would appear and an all to familiar panic ensued, we now had to get everyone on it! So several Land Rover trips later everyone got to see what was and still is one the most spectacular creatures on the planet.

My time on the island was amazing, the people, the wildlife and the birds. Best of all, I get to do it all over again in March!"

My Time on North Ron: Espen Quinto-Ashman, 18, Herefordshire
"This autumn saw me travelling up to the most northerly Isle in the Orkney Archipelago to help out as part of the North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory team. The Island was split into 6 different areas: A,B,C,D,E and F, and the Obs team rotated around censusing one area each, every day. The first few days I spent getting my bearings, as the island is bigger than I had imagined and there are lots of place names to learn! Once I had an idea of this I was put on the rota and birded one area of the island each day for the rest of my stay. I was also required to do shifts in the observatory which included doing various jobs in the kitchen, the guest house and shop. The volunteers took turns at going ringing when the conditions were suitable and we caught a brilliant array of species during the course of the autumn!

Birding highlights in my first week included a huge fall of Yellow-browed Warbler consisting of 31 birds (an Island day record, which I got to ring 3 of!), and a Red-breasted Flycatcher became my 300^th species in Britain! A Blyth’s Reed Warbler was found in the dock field at Senness and was trapped and ringed to confirm ID, a Common Buzzard was only the 2^nd on the island this year, but a Honey Buzzard would’ve been much more appreciated… A big influx of Snow Bunting was also apparent. 

Red-breasted Flycatcher

Blyth’s Reed Wabrler

Week 2 started with a bang as a stonking adult male Northern Harrier was found late morning on 25th, census was abandoned and a stampede to the north end ensued, luckily it was still in the area and gave a close flyby so we could check the id features- it was spot on! The bird then went on to stay all autumn giving great views to all and is still present now (17^th November)! The 25^th also produced the first significant movement of Pink-footed Goose of the autumn with 418  going south throughout the day. 3 Barred Warbler were present on the 28^th, one of which I flushed whilst cycling past one of the Heligoland traps and nearly caught it there! Several Lapland Buntings were also now present on the Isle.

Northern Harrier!

Week 3 started fairly quietly, although two Buff-breasted Sandpiper were the first on the island for two years. Hopes were high for the end of the week with an easterly gale forecast, on the 4^th a Storm Petrel was found on the pier which George very kindly let me ring! On the 5^th the easterlies started blowing, these produced a few migrants, the best of which being a Little Bunting I found on the rocks on the north coast, the day record of Barnacle Goose was also broken with 375 going south. The birding was tough on the 6^th with high winds and rain but the 7^th produced two more goodies in the form of a Bluethroat and another Little Bunting, two Grasshopper Warblers were also found although we couldn’t help feeling a little disheartened that they weren’t something rarer!

Little Bunting

Yellow-browed Warbler

The highlight on the 8^th was the Aurora  which put on a phenomenal display! It’s the first time I’ve seen it and it didn’t disappoint! That day we also caught two Ring Ouzel in Holland Gardens, a lovely ringing tick. The next few days’ highlights were a Temminck’s Stint and an interesting Redstart with prominent white wing panels- a characteristic of the eastern race samamisicus, this went on to stay for the next few days. 

Bluethroat

A duo of rare pipits: Olive-backed Pipit and Pechora Pipit on the 12^th and 13^th respectively were more than welcome, who doesn’t love a good pipit! Also of interest was the wing of a swift sp. found at the lighthouse, we’re still awaiting confirmation of ID although it looks most likely a common. The island’s 5^th Firecrest was also found on the 14^th among the large numbers of Goldcrest which had been present over the week.

Watching a Pechora Pipit

Aurora Borealis

The highlights of the next week were undeniably the cetaceans with two lifers for me in as many days, an Orca on the 17^th and a Humpback Whale on the 18^th, wow wow wow! Other highlights were a Richard’s Pipit and having in-the-hand views of a Long-eared Owl!

white wing-panelled Redstart

migrant Goldcrest

Humpback Whale

A Glaucous Gull on a short seawatch on the 24^th provided some interest but it was all about the 28^th! A very impressive fall took place with minimum totals including 2525 Fieldfare, 1114 Redwing, 124 Blackbird, 81 Song Thrush, 1 Ring Ouzel, 22 Brambling, 13 Woodcock, 5 Long-eared Owl and best of all 22 Short-eared Owl including two separate ‘flocks’ of 10, doubling the previous day record! A day that will remain one of my most memorable days’ birding ever!

The 29^th is another day that will remain lodged in my memory, in the morning 927 Blackbird were recorded, it was a bizarre experience seeing actual flocks of Blackbird just like the flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare! The Short-eared Owl day record was broken again with 24 counted! Also present were 2 Great-grey Shrike. In the afternoon the team hopped on a plane and we were soon watching Papa Westray’s 1w male Chestnut Bunting, the next day was spent birding Papay and in the afternoon we flew back to North Ron. The highlights of the rest of my last week were a showy Glaucous Gull, several Pomarine Skua and Little Auk, the latter of which I consistently failed to catch up with! I also got to ring a Great-grey Shrike in Holland Gardens which was a privilege- what a bird!

Richard’s Pipit

migrant Short-eared Owl

Chestnut Bunting on Papa Westray

North Ronaldsay was a brilliant experience with some fantastic birds and wildlife; I would recommend a visit to any birder! I’d like to thank the BTO for this grant which helped significantly to finance my trip! I’d also like to thank Kevin and Alison for the opportunity and the observatory staff and volunteers for making it so enjoyable! I’ll be back!"

1W Glaucous Gull

NGB Patchwork Challenge - September 2015

As ever during early autumn, migrants both rare and regular adorned the patches of various NGB members throughout September. From continental raptors to gripping garden rarities, September produced some top birds throughout this extremely competitive league though, yet again, there was little change in the results tables, with a few notable exceptions. 

Looking first at the comparative league and things remain largely the same excluding Josie Hewitt's monumental leap from 4th to 1st, edging Amy Robjohns out of the top spot and pushing former front runner James Common further down the rankings. Josie's rise to the top was aided and abetted by a host of familiar migrants including a long overdue Wheatear as well as Redstart and both Spotted and Pied Flycatchers. The latter of which notched while ringing. Whether or not Josie will keep the top spot is open to speculation with the following three competitors well within striking distance should their luck pick up during October. Further down the table Ash Baines jumps a place from 5th to 4th at his Starr Gate-Fairlawn Road patch and former front runner Jonathan Scragg falls to fifth place.

Pied Flycatcher - Josie Hewitt

The NGB points mini league the top ten remains exactly as it was in August with the exception of Drew Lyness and James Common changing places at ninth and tenth. Joe Stockwell appears unstoppable at the top of the table with Jonathan Farooqi and Anthony Bentley firmly lodged in second and third place respectively. Lower down the table things are less clear cut and a few good finds could shake up the rankings somewhat over the coming month. 

Moving on to the finds and highlights this month and the prestigious title of "NGB bird of the month" almost certainly goes to the superb Red-Footed Falcon unearthed by Jonathan Farooqi on his coastal north patch (a photo of which can be seen below). Jonathan also managed a Yellow-Browed Warbler while Ash Baines noted a Wryneck in addition to two separate Barred Warblers, also notching some real patch gold in the form of two Kingfishers, a real rarity on site. Other notable cases of patch gold throughout September include both Black Tern and Little Stint for Rhys Chivers and a patch first Reed Warbler for James Common at Stobswood. The first in almost a decade no less. In addition to his earlier triumphs Ash Baines also nabbed Black-Necked Grebe on patch and David Gomer was lucky enough to turn up a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in his East Anglian garden, a sight that would turn many birders (particularly us northerners) green at the gills with envy. Well done David!

Red-Footed Falcon - Jonathan Farooqi

Skokholm Bird Observatory 2015 - Trip Report

Skokholm Island, situated on Pembrokeshire’s south-west tip, has to be one of the most stunning places that Wales has to offer. The island is surrounded by rich seas supporting a wealth of marine wildlife and thriving populations of seabirds. During the breeding season, thousands of Manx Shearwaters and plenty of European Storm Petrels call this beautiful island their home, often swarming in at night to feed their hungry chicks under the cover of darkness. Skokholm also plays host to a wide range of migrant birds during the autumn that often stop for a period of respite. During August, six lucky NGB members were offered the opportunity to spend the last week of the month on this idyllic island assisting the bird observatory with its daily counts and log, as well as being given the chance to take on another team of NGBs at the infamous Bardsey Island Bird Obs in a bird race over the same week. How could anyone resist such an experience? The following is an account of the week’s sightings and events… 

The six eager NGBs (Craig Reed, Sophie Barrell, Kirsty Heiner, Jake Gearty, Michael Murphy and Drew Lyness), to become known as team Skok for the week, first all met together at Martin’s Haven on the mainland all geared up for what adventures day one would bring on the Island. For a few of us, this was to be our first ever visit to an island based bird observatory. After forming what was the first of many chain gangs with the rest of the island visitors to get our belongings onto the boat, we were off. We had close views of Gannets travelling up the sound from their nearby colony at Grassholm Island, and also spotted on the crossing to Skokholm was a (actually notable) flock of six Mallard, however I can safely say this was not the highlight of the trip. We arrived at the jetty to be warmly welcomed by Richard and Giselle, the wardens, along with a very friendly group of volunteers, one of whom turned out to be an NGB too, and swiftly became a valuable member of team Skok.

Following an introductory meeting and a much needed cuppa in the obs, we were given a first class tour of Skokholm by Richard and treated to some very up close and personal views of Manxie and Stormie chicks (adorable doesn’t even cover it). On top of this, day one provided a variety of wader species for the team’s ever growing list. One interesting looking wader spotted flying in off sea was later relocated on north pond and turned out to be Knot, a good island record. Little Stint, Black-tailed Godwit and Greenshank were also among the wader species gained from the day. Sea-watching also proved productive with a minimum of 63 Common Dolphin being seen offshore including a pod of over 30 with calves.

Over the proceeding few days, Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern and Common Scoter were all seen out at sea. Peregrine and Chough also became daily features for the species log, the latter of which reached numbers of up to 16 different birds! Although passage migrants, particularly passerines, still remained thin on the ground during the earlier part of the week, the team did manage to score Goldfinch, Tree Pipit and Reed Warbler. Plenty more wader movement was observed too with Dunlin and Ruff landing on the North pond. The aforementioned Knot also somehow managed to find itself a friend before swiftly departing with no assistance whatsoever from an over enthusiastic NGB. The effort put in by the team over these first few days was impressive and it seemed like very few birds passed through the island without at least one of us picking up on it.

The world’s largest Slow worms were also one of the main highlights of the trip. Being the only reptile on the island, it is known that these legless lizards lack a gut parasite which slow worms on the mainland are susceptible to. One particular individual measured in at 42cm long!

On the 27^th of August during an early evening sea-watch, I was lucky enough to have some fairly close views of a passing Balearic Shearwater off the south side of the island. This would have been the sea-watching highlight of the trip if it wasn’t completely overshadowed by literally thousands of Manx Shearwaters rafting half a kilometre or so out to sea every single evening. It was a true spectacle to behold when the rafts of manxies took to the skies during a spectacular sunset to circle the island waiting for the cover of darkness to fly in and feed their chicks.

Night time on Skokholm created an entirely new atmosphere compared to during the day. It was a very surreal experience to be surrounded by seabirds whirling low in the sky around you and singing on the ground from somewhere out there in the dark. The ringers among out NGB team were lucky enough to ring a manxie or two, caught by simply picking them up from the middle of the path. It really puts into perspective how poorly adapted shearwaters are for life on land and shows exactly why these birds choose to only come in land to feed their chicks during the night. However, there were always times where we could look up in the night sky to observe lingering silhouettes of Great Black-backed Gull lit up by the moonlight, just waiting for an unfortunate shearwater to cross their path. We also assisted with weighing the chicks as part of an ongoing study on Manx Shearwater feeding behaviour. 

We were very privileged to spend one night observing Storm Petrels going about their nightly business through a specialised night vision camera.  It was incredible to get such an insight into the lives of these secretive birds. As if things couldn’t get any better, we were also lucky enough to hold, ring and release some adult stormies during a late night ringing session. Such delicate and beautiful birds to see close up and certainly an experience we will not be forgetting any time soon.

As the week went on, we were gifted the chance to stay on Skokholm for an extra couple of days due to the tidal swell making it difficult for the boat to dock safely on the island. This worked to team Skok’s favour as the weather conditions were changing and the winds were switching to Northerly. This allowed the team to take full advantage of the increase in migrant birds and during the last couple of days a flyover Wood Sandpiper and a juvenile female Merlin topped the highlights. However the flock of 25 Golden Plover is also worth a mention as it was the largest flock to be recorded from Skokholm this decade! Finally passerines began to make a much appreciated appearance with Whinchat, Spotted Flycatcher, Goldcrest and Dunnock all being seen. A small group of 3 Grey Wagtail feeding around the jetty just before our team got on the boat to leave the island was also a very pleasant surprise.

After a very up and down boat journey back to the mainland our highly eventful trip was complete, and what an experience it was. Overall team Skok managed to rack up a grand total of 86 species in a single week. A valiant effort from the team and it is worth noting that not a single species was seen by someone else on the island and not a member of the NGB team. Although this was not enough to defeat team Bardsey, we should certainly all be very proud on what team Skok managed to complete in the time we had. For more information on what we saw and did visit - skokholm.blogsot.co.uk (24^th-31^st August)

I would like to end by saying huge thank you to Richard and Giselle for having us and say that we all thoroughly enjoyed our stay on Skokholm. The trip was really made complete by the friendly and welcoming atmosphere created by the islands volunteers and staff. It wouldn’t have been the same without you. Thank you so much and we all eagerly await our next visit.

Photo credits; Craig Reed (Godwit & Knot, Jetty Sign), Jake Gearty (Sunset panorama, Choughs, Wheatear), Kirsty Hiener (Weathervane Sunset), Sophie Barrel (Stormie Chick) 

-by Drew Lyness (the one in the hat)