Loonacy

(I know James used this title a few days ago, but copyright is actually mine...)
This morning I left home at ridiculous o'clock to meet up with Alison and Chris. Our plan was a 5-diver-spp day and bonus Black Scoter. Our first destination was Druridge Bay Country Park in Northumberland for the Pacific Diver. I have a bit of a bad history with this species. In late April 2015, before boarding the Scillonian to twitch the Great Blue Heron, I scanned the bay and failed to find the diver there. Next day it was seen. A few months later, I had a seat in a car that went and saw it, but I couldn't go. So when this Northumberland star started performing, showing 'slightly' better than the Penzance bird, I understood that this is an opportunity I was not going to give up. Despite the long drive.
And a long drive it was! We forged through Newcastle traffic to arrive on site before 9, when the light improved and positive news already relaxed our tension. We got on the bird immediately, as it foraged offshore the visitor centre. What a great start to the day! WP tick #1. It was showing well all the time we were there, but not really close enough for proper photos. But I cannot complain.

Pacific Diver - 2cy. Nice solid dark flanks, lacking rear flank patch of black-throated

At some angles, chinstrap was sort of evident... I have seen more convincing chinstraps in my life, but hey-ho. We traveled so far to see it, so no doubts please...

At some angles, head shape was not so round... But forehead is steep and bill is petite.

Here the massive dark flank and vent bar is evident:

And then it was time to move on. Nice to see Tree Sparrows and Bullfinches in the feeders at the carpark

Druidge Bay Country Park

Our next target was the male Black Scoter at Goswick, about an hour north. We headed straight east from the golf club carpark. We joined some birders already on site, but there was no sign of him this morning. We worked hard, scanning back and forth. There were tons of seaducks, and there was clearly stuff moving around, but no show. The sun was bright and brilliant, and the frontal views of yellow bills of male Common Scoters fooled us, but no sign of the real deal. We split after a while, I went south, also to try and photograph a 2cy Glaucous Gull that didn't cooperate, and I scanned the south side of the bay. Nada. 

Glaucous Gull 2cy - phonescoped through Swarovski ATX95

Then, after several hours of searching (which meant we had no chance to get to the White-billed Diver / Yellow-billed Loon in Lincolnshire on time), I got a call from Alison that they had found our bird further north. I hurried to join them and the bird was showing well, albeit distant. WP tick #2! It was swimming with other male scoters (interesting to see single-sex flocks of scoters), and oh boy, that yellow bulge was huge! And it was nice and black too. Great bird and really satisfying to see it after working pretty hard - somewhat more challenging than the Druidge diver.

Black Scoter (right) with Common Scoter (left)

Looking north from Goswick - Berwick-upon-Tweed in the distance

Supporting cast was absolutely fantastic. Hundreds of Long-tailed Ducks and Red-throated Divers, nice numbers of Eiders and Red-breasted Megansers. Quality birds included an out-of-season Manx Shearwater, 4 Slavonian and 1 Red-necked Grebe, 3 Great Northern and 2 Black-throated Divers, and 4 flyover Twite. See my eBird checklist here.

Then it was the L O N G drive back. Many thanks to Alison and Chris for the good company and for the driving. The White-billed Diver will have to wait for another day. Now it's time to get some sleep. Good night.

Shetland day 5 - Lap Bunt but not there yet

Winds dropped today and it was an exceptionally calm day, sunny at times. This raised hopes for new arrivals. Well, that hope was almost completely false. I spent most of the day with the Dream Team, Roger and Paul. We started off with the Sumburgh circuit. Some stuff moving about up in the air - several Lesser Redpolls, Siskin and quite many geese. In the bay several Slav Grebes and Long-tailed Ducks:

Long-tailed Ducks - juveniles

Slavonian Grebes

Then we had a thorough look around Quendale. Also today the iris beds did not deliver. One Common Sandpiper and a Whitethroat were new. There were two Great Northern Divers there as well. I did play around with the Fulmars a bit.

Amazing scenery off the end of Quendale head

After lunch the news about Swainson's Thrush broke. I decided not to go because it would have been a mad dash, and I preferred to stay in the south and look for my own birds. Mistake? 

In the afternoon we checked Sumburgh head. A very showy Lapland Bunting (adult male?) was at the carpark. Lots of admirers there. Stunning bird! 

The view off Sumburgh Head was stunning:

Fair Isle was visible in the distance:

Last place we checked was Scatness. Roger found a very unsettled Sibe Chiffy but by the time I joined him it had evaporated. 

Lovely evening with all the team - certainly pumped me up with energy for tomorrow. Weather is looking promising. Hope my last day on Shetland delivers.

Shetland day 4 - Red-throated Pipit and more

Had another great day today on Shetland. Headed out early onto Scatness. Paul dropped me off and just a few minutes after I had started walking I heard a familiar call - Red-throated Pipit! I quickly located the bird flying overhead. The wind was blowing hard from the southwest so it quickly flew northeast, and it gave another 2-3 calls before I lost it flying in the general direction of Sumburgh. While watching it I reached for my phone and tried to sound record it but all I got was the wind... Luckily I am well familiar with this call - common species in Israel. Nice one.

Otherwise it was still pretty quiet. I had one nivalis Snow Bunting and about 8 Northern Wheatears. There were many skylarks and Meadow pipits around but I couldn't relocate the red-throat or find anything else. On the wetland there were 8 Whooper Swans and a nice selection of scarcish Shetland ducks - singles of Pintail, Gadwall and Shoveler. Also 1 Jack Snipe.

Snow Bunting

Northern Wheatear

Whooper Swans

Roger graciously picked me up and we went on birding. First we checked Durigarth. No White's Thrush in the famous garden - we had to settle with this handsome male Lesser Redpoll, rather scarce on Shetland:

Then we checked Rerwick  - nothing there apart for a Great Northern Diver in the bay.

In the afternoon a visit to Lerwick with Martin and Sharon. We first tried the OBP - there were many birders there, some stringing Meadow and Rock Pipits in the process of hanging around... We didn't fancy that activity very much, so we went to have another look in the harbour - again many Eider and about 20 Black Guillemots.

Dodgy OBP (Rock Pipit)

Local Great Northern Diver

Since I moved to the UK some months ago I have been working slowly on my WP list, clearing up embarrassing gaps formed because I had never spent enough time in Europe in winter. These have included Iceland Gull and Great Grey Shrike that now I 'got out of the way'. I needed Great Northern Diver as well but missed it while seawatching off the north coast several times. But I knew I had to wait with some patience until an easy bird turns up inland near Norwich, and that's what happened - one was found yesterday at Rockland Broad RSPB. I was a bad boy today, and when I saw that the sun was out, I escaped from uni and decided to go out for a quicky with James. We had very good views of the bird (though too distant for proper photography), a 2cy, as it swam and dived for fish, often harassed by the local gulls. Very cool bird. I have a soft spot for divers as all divers are very rare in Israel, so I always enjoy watching them. 

Actually quite many birds around - Marsh Harrier, 4 Buzzards together, 3 Snipe etc. On the way out this Treecreeper was very confiding and did its best to get photographed but I failed quite miserably and only got this semi-OK shot, but what a lovely bird.

Eurasian Treecreeper