Yank haul in Mayo

After the previous weekend’s trip to Kerry with Karen, this time (Friday 16 to Sunday 18 September) it was a solo ‘rough’ mission to the wild west. County Mayo’s a place I’ve dabbled in now and again. With the exception of Dave Suddaby who produces the goods quite regularly, the rest of the county is criminally underwatched. JJ and I have done the odd scouting mission to other sites – with the pinnacle of my birding action being a (presumed) Fea’s Petrel and the odd Ring-necked Duck - but neither of us had ever hit it during prime conditions. To date, I’d never seen a single yank wader in the county.

So with a steady stream of yankage coming off remnant hurricanes, I got the ‘usual’ late Friday evening flight from Stansted to Shannon, hired a car and headed northwest – arriving at Doogort, Achill Island shortly before 2am. If I didn’t score on this trip, then that’d be it for me and Ireland during autumn 2011. What’s more – with much higher numbers of Buff-b’s, Pecs and Semi-p’s – it’d be a little embarrassing, as well as frustrating, to come back with nada.

I got up out of the car early doors, and immediately a brisk NW wind was bringing in the squall and waking me up. I had a walk along Doogort beach – a typically lovely deserted place – with just a few smalls to show, predominantly Sanderling. The machair just beyond and north of Achill Rovers was nice and flooded, but not a single bird. The tide was high and Sruhill Lough was too choppy with just a few RB Mergs bobbing about. No sign of the usual Black Duck , but I wasn’t going to hang around too long as the place looked poor for wader score. So I headed to the golf course at Keel, drove down to the beach at Trawmore and looked back towards the clubhouse...

The usual scan got a few smalls – Ringed Plovers – and then bang! Looking through the bins, there was an obvious yank; a whacking set of long wings and scalloped upperparts got me going for the scope straight away, pretty much confirming what I’d thought straight off – a quality juvenile Baird’s Sand. Happy days, and after grafting it out last weekend in Kerry with little reward I was content. Not just with the fact that it was a nice dose of adrenaline, but I’ve moaned on to a fair few people about Achill and its potential. So I drove onto the golf course in my car to get closer views, using the car as a mobile hide. It has to be said there weren’t many waders, but they were whizzing around a fair bit. After a couple of double takes, and a bit of pondering, it became evident there were in fact 2 Baird’s Sands – a decent moment when they both walked side-by-side. Not exactly a species that regularly gets multiple occurrences, and interesting to note the difference in bill length, prominence of lores and size in the two birds.

Baird's Sandpipers together, Achill Island, Mayo

Waders on the golf course (including a Baird's Sandpiper)

Baird's Sandpiper, Keel golf course, Achill Island

stony machair adjacent to the golf course at Keel - Baird's habitat

I had an enjoyable Ham Salad baguette nearby, and checked a few bushes at the west end of Dooagh and Keem. Given that a Black and White Warbler had just broken on Scilly, joining the Waterthrush, it wasn’t a bad shout but alas that mega crippling yank passerine needed to be saved for another day.

I spent the afternoon driving around Clew Bay, checking a few spots that I’d picked using maps and Google Earth. A couple of spots looked bang on the money, but one thing you need on your side at this extensive place is the tide. High tides and low tides are crap, so it’s Blennerville all over again – you probably only have half an hour before high tide at each spot to properly assess the score.

But the area west and southwest of Louisburgh has been a recent target of mine. Roonagh Lough isn’t bad, but this trip the water levels were too high and the wind was whacking straight through it. However, Corragaun Lough is a sheer delight. Indeed, I’d go so far as to say it’s possibly one of the emerald isle’s best kept secrets. If you’ve ever been to Carrahane Strand or heard about the yankage that place gets, then a lot of it is down to location and habitat (obviously!). Corragaun is pretty much the same – a huge intertidal bay that filters birds in, nice flooded machair and saltmarsh as well as being slap bang on the west coast of Ireland. Problem is, the nearest active birder lives over an hour away... and on the infrequent visits that Dermot has made he’s already scored Citrine Wagtail and Buff-breasted Sand. So with the showers getting worse and the wind getting up, it felt pretty rare as I headed off and paddled through the stream.

Grey Phalarope Corragaun Lough, Mayo

First signs weren’t good as there was nothing on the saltmarsh, and after a load of trudging managed to find a few smalls towards the lough. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a juvenile moulting to first-winter Grey Phal dropped in front of me. It was gone in an instant though, moving off before the next rain shower. Plenty of smalls were near the lough itself and a quick scan produced something of interest – nice small bill, smaller size and greyish tones immediately had the White-rumped Sand warning signs out. And after losing it for a minute or so, the third yank of the day was found. A decent enough adult White-rumped Sandpiper. The bird was relatively skittish, in amongst the throng of Dunlin, but during a quick bit of rain it came pretty close and managed to get a few shots for the record. There were a few Curlew Sands too, as well as a bright juvenile Little Stint – no chance of whacking that one in as a Semi-p!

A soaked adult White-rumped Sand looking a bit pissed off with life, Corragaun Lough

Spot the White-rumped from the white rumps...

With news of serious haulage at The Bridges – including a record number of Sabine’s Gulls – it was time to change tact, head south and do a dawn seawatch there. After going through the rather sombre scenery of Mayo – including the Doolagh Valley that saw one of the worst tragedies of the Irish Potato Famine (always worth reading Lonely Planet before a trip!) – I settled on a typically average SuperMacs in Oughterard and then got to The Lighthouse in Kilbaha just in time to have a couple of jars of Guiness with Niall. Owen, Killian, Noel and Brian were pretty worn out with the day’s seawatching and sloped off to bed early.

Well done to JJ and Staines for pulling out a further 2 Semipalmated, a Pec and a Buff-breast today. The lads are there til Friday so should continue to do some damage.

Ruff justice

Ok, it's been a while since I posted. Reasons are varied - busy with the start of work, but also Rotherhithe has been dead. West winds kill those nice patch scarces that come along when the east wind blows.

But, and a BIG but, the west wind has blown. Remnant hurricanes have produced the usual line up of yank wader 'freshers' that line our west shores. We've had loads of Buff-breasts and Pecs - 8 Buff-breasts today on St.Mary's could possibly be the prelude to proving Roker Martin wrong? Or will - as is often the case - autumn die on it's arse? So often I (and we, collectively) get worked up by these early low pressure systems that rip across The Atlantic in the first 2-3 weeks of September. And, essentially, all it's given me in terms of pure gold is Purple Martin (though the recent St.Kilda Blackburnian Warbler would have done too). But I do love September, as there's nothing quite like a bit of fresh yankage. Eye-balling those lost waifs that have made it from The Arctic just a few weeks after hatching. For me, there's nothing quite like it.


American Golden Plover & Buff-b Sand, Carrahane Sept 2008

 So I spent the weekend just gone in Kerry once again. This county has treated me well over the last few years, and I gave it a good bashing once again. Karen was extremely patient as always, but I wasn't able to disguise my disgust that I didn't produce much in some of the most favourable conditions I've had while I've been out there. Yes, a couple of Buff-breasted Sands would be classed as a good day back in England, but the stakes are raised out west. Carrahane Strand seems to be second only to Tacumshin for these beauties, and it was pretty predictable that I'd see a couple of them. This weekend's birds were rather elusive, favouring the masses of Dunlin so it wasn't quite as easy to get a close approach as in some years - when I've had half a dozen of them running around my feet.

Buff-breasted Sands at Carrahane... to be expected in September

Carrahane Strand

I stayed in Tralee, a decent base to explore either Dingle or The Iveragh, and a better base for Carrahane, Black Rock and Blennerville. All places I've had success at in the past. And I opted for Dingle on both days - keep the faith is something I've said a lot of times about the place. You'll go there and there'll be very few waders about but the quality always strikes. So I kept the faith and scoured Ferriter's Cove, Smerwick Harbour, Ventry, Burnham Lagoon and Trabeg at varying tidal states. 5 non-descript waders flying in off the bay at Ventry should have been Buff-b's but the blighters were Ruff; and a further 2 Ruff were found roosting on the beach at Smerwick - only to be replaced by a juv Semipalmated Sandpiper the day after (yesterday), presumably courtesy of Katia.

Semipalmated Sandpiper, Ventry - back in the day

Baird's Sandpiper, Black Rock Strand - back in the day

Bring on next weekend!

Rotherhithe tickage

I decided to give Rotherhithe a bit of a running over this morning - dull, grey conditions made it feel like early autumn alright. I have a pretty much set routine, checking the River Thames only at low tide unless conditions for stuff passing through are on the cards. Today wasn't one of those days and 'the beach' by the Hilton Hotel just held the usual gulls.

Passerines aren't a strength of the place, but a bit of bashing over the last 3 years has produced notables including a couple of Firecrest and a Pied Flycatcher. And when I got to the end of Downtown road, by an area of rough ground adjacent to the doctor's surgery (where I've found Hobby and Wheatear in the past), I did my usual pishing and out popped a bit of colour. Nice - a Redstart and a first for me in Rotherhithe!

1st-winter male Redstart - lack of any grey on the greater-coverts ages it as a first-winter

ghosting of male plumage and bright underparts sexes it, albeit a dull male

Other stuff included a nice Sedge Warbler (pretty scarce here) and 3 Whitethroat. A fall by Rotherhithe standards, so pretty chuffed with the morning's haul. Also a couple of proud female Tufted Ducks on Globe Pond with 12 pretty young ducklings.

Keep the faith?

Semipalmated Sandpiper, Doonbeg, Clare August 2011

That's it for another year. I couldn't really title this posting 'Bridges of Ross 2011' because, well, I lost the faith and was only there a couple of days. Like last year - when I headed off early to explore other bits of Ireland - this year was a real letdown at the mighty Bridges. There just were not the birds around. Perhaps the lack of southwesterlies hadn't brought the birds far enough north in the Atlantic to be then brought down by the northwesterlies? Perhaps it's unseasonably cool? However, on Saturday there were some decent northwesterlies and what went past? Nada. The near Manx line was non-existent and those Grey Phals, Leach's and Sabine's of years gone by just didn't materialise. Some of the Irish lads went to Slyne Head this weekend and had 8,000 Sooties (plus a couple of Long-tailed Skuas and a Great Shear), so despite what I've just written, there are birds around. But Sooties were only in low double figures past the Bridges...

juvenile Kittiwake Bridges of Ross, Clare

So it was waders that saved the day. Well, they more than did that and a cracking juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper found by Clewesy was top notch looking nice and fresh on the beach at Doughmore, Doonbeg, Clare on Friday. The next day, I managed to scoop an Irish wader tick with a nice adult Sharp-tailed Sandpiper reappearing on the incoming tide at Shannon Airport. And that was that for Clare.

Ring-billed Gull Black Rock Strand, Kerry

juvenile Sanderling (with adult in the background)

 A couple of days in Kerry were pleasant, but the weather was a bit too nice. It started nicely with an adult Ring-billed Gull at Black Rock Strand the first evening, and this was again present the next morning. Juvenile Sanderlings and Bar-tailed Godwits were passing through in massive numbers, while a fair few juvenile Med Gulls were around Tralee Bay and Dingle. We checked in at Rossbeigh and were surprised to find quite a few Common Scoters (predominantly drakes) but predictably the Asian rhino wasn't around just yet, presuming it'll be back at some stage. A nice Osprey drifted over Blennerville yesterday afternoon, while an adult Little Stint at Carrahane made us feel a bit cheated and a dozen or so juvenile Curlew Sands were noted too.

Osprey over Blennerville, Kerry

Bring on a bit of westerly weather and roll on some more yank waders. Autumn for me has officially started by the way. Each year the first juvenile American wader I see signals the start of the business end of the birding season. Roll on September.

The Skelligs - viewed from St. Finian's Bay, Kerry

Back at the Bridges

The mighty Bridges of Ross

Later on this afternoon, I'll be heading off to the Bridges of Ross, County Clare for my annual bit of seawatching. This site, bar none, is the best in Britain and Ireland and it's been a permanent fixture in my calendar ever since I first went there in 2002. Quite a bit has changed since those almost solitary days before loads of Brits descended upon the place for their 'presumed Feas' tick. Thankfully, as the job is done and a lot of those involved have got their quarry, it's back to relatively low numbers of birders (for British - not Irish - standards at least).

I've now seen 5 presumed Feas at the Bridges of Ross, as well as finding one further north off Annagh Head, County Mayo. However, that elusive Little Shearwater - or Macaronesian Shearwater - still eludes me and probably still will on my return. I've been on site when one flew past (there are a couple of choices of where to sit, and I was with the majority who were in the wrong place), been at breakfast when another was reported past and missed the odd one or two by a couple of days. But if you're looking for good views of a steady stream of migrating seabirds, that can increase dramatically in numbers with strong northwesterlies, then the Bridges of Ross is bang on the money. Sit at Porthgwarra and you'll get distant views of stuff, at Pendeen views may be slightly better but more weather dependent. At the Bridges, when it's good it's mint. I'm talking 40+ Sabine's, Long-tailed Skuas cutting the corner and scooting over your head, Wilson's Storm-petrels in the cove below you. That sort of shit you don't get in Cornwall. Never.

The weather looks ok for this year, well tomorrow at least. And then current Magic Seaweed predications show a nice high settling in the eastern Atlantic so it'll predictably go quiet. And when it goes quiet, there are always a few spots to check for waders etc. Last year, with Josh Jones and Marc Read, we were lucky to see a single presumed Feas Petrel before heading down to Kerry for a grotty American Herring Gull and then up to Mayo to see the Snowy Owl, Black Duck and we managed to find an unseasonal Ring-necked Duck on Achill Island too. Along the Clare coast, over the years, pleasant distractions have included regular Ring-billed, Glaucous and Iceland Gulls as well as Long-billed Dowitcher, Spotted Sandpiper and finding White-rumped Sandpiper. So all in all, it's always a decent and relaxing trip with good company.

Snowy Owl and pellet, County Mayo August 2010

American Herring Gull, Blennerville, Kerry August 2010

Glaucous Gull, Kilrush, Clare August 2010

Ring-necked Duck looking grubby on Achill Island, Mayo August 2010

Times have also changed. Back in the day, Franko and I used to sleep in a barn that was kindly (unwittingly) laid with fresh hay by the farmer. However, the last couple of years have seen the roof corrode a bit and this free accommodation is no longer. Last year was the tent, but now having turned 30 I'm reluctantly splashing out on the (comparative) luxury of The Lighthouse Inn in Kilbaha. Admittedly this is where most other birders have based themselves each year, so it's not a palace by any means.

Ring-billed Gull Spanish Point, Clare August 2009

Iceland Gull Liscannor, Clare August 2008

Mediterranean Gull Limerick August 2008

Early autumn migration on The Thames

I awoke to a nice bit of drizzle early this morning. I'd checked Rotherhithe yesterday, with the only real bird of note being a smart juvenile Yellow-legged Gull. Nothing to write home about when a few miles further east there'd been Razorbill and Guillemot amongst other goodies. So I decided to head out to Cross Ness, arriving just shy of 8am.

The drizzle had slightly abated, but almost as soon as I'd got out of my car and onto The Thames Path by Thamesmead golf centre, I heard the squawking of Sandwich Terns - 4 of them, all heading upriver and past the outfall. Nice start! 10 minutes later a group of 5 juveniles Black Terns came through too, in amongst a rain shower as you'd expect with this species. Then, to my surprise, a short while later a Goldeneye flew in and landed in amongst a small group of Teal; knowing that this wasn't exactly usual for the site I texted John Archer, and he was able to alert Ian Millar and Steve Carter who arrived and got some decent views before the bird flew off west in the direction of Barking Bay.

juvenile Black Tern - nice blodge on the foreflanks

Dark leading edge to the upperwing and obvious dark secondaries on underwing

concolourous rump and tail

quite advanced moult of mantle feathers

A showy juvenile Black Tern - easily the most confiding one I've ever seen at Cross Ness - gave me something to photograph despite the gloomy light. There was also a lone Little Egret, a couple of Common Sandpipers and during the course of the morning, I saw 5 Yellow-legged Gulls (3 adults and 2 juveniles). A quick walk to the paddocks produced a fresh juvenile Wheatear and 100s of Goldfinch. A nice morning's work!

Goldeneye - heading off towards Barking Bay

Cross Ness Seal - increasingly regular in The Thames

Sorry, but surfing is cooler than birding...

Quite a good looking bird, Pink-necked Green Pigeon. Yeah, exotic and I only put the photo onto Birdguides this afternoon and I've already had a couple of thumbs ups. Wow! That means people think it's good. People think the bird is cool and my photograph rocks. I'm on a crest of a wave. Admiration from fellow birders. Nice people saying that the fruits of my labour have been appreciated. Well, that's what a lot of people seem to want when they post their photos all over the web.

Pink-necked Green Pigeon - a cool photo of a cool bird?

While I've been away in Indonesia, the biggest annual birding event has taken place in a smeggy, stinky set of marquees in the middle of England. All birders and their sidekicks get dressed up for the day - in their khaki uniforms, wanting to blend in with nature and show off their latest Rohan or Country Innovation attire. When, essentially, there are no birds around there and all you need is your credit card and an unbelievable tolerance for sales bullsh*t. You could go there wearing those stupid Bermuda shorts that Timmy Mallet used to wear, and you'd still see just as many bloody birds. Not cool. The whole event really is unfortunately, let's be honest, not cool. Our tribe sucks.

Last week though, I visited Padang Padang beach on Bali's southern peninsula of Ulu Watu. Just the names sound cool don't they? Better than Rutland Water or Egleton anyway. These guys are really cool - and people who say they're not jealous of their tanned bodies, 'coolness' and pulling power are just bullsh*tting themselves. Surfing really is cooler than birding. What I admire is their sole purpose in life; they literally live to surf. They've shunned everyday conventions and live their dream.

I wanted to butt into their conversation and tell them that I use Magic Seaweed too. Tell them how cool birding is. But then, sensibly, I thought it best to keep my mouth shut. Birding really isn't, and never will be, cool!

Ask the macaque - is surfing cooler than birding? He thinks so.