Scottish Birds 44:3 (2024)
194 Foreword R.F. Briggs
PAPERS
& SHORT NOTES
195 Birds at a restored landfill site in Midlothian, 2020–2023 A.W. Barker
202 Historical records of Woodlark Lullula arborea in Scotland: a review, a confirmed breeding occurrence, and a specimen with features of the southern subspecies L.a. pallida C.J. McInerny & R.Y. McGowan
214 The identification difficulties of Canada Goose subspecies M.A. Ogilvie
222 Historical records of Glareola pratincole species in Scotland C.J. McInerny & R.Y. McGowan
226 Trends in the number of Herring Gulls breeding in Caithness, 2005–2023 R.M. Sellers & M. Oksien
234 A Lapwing clutch of five eggs M.A. Wright
236 Unusual attachment of a Lesser Whitethroat nest utilising Bramble spines T. Byars
CLUB ARTICLES, NEWS & VIEWS
238 Strictly Come Eagles - Hamza Yassin at the Moffat Eagle Festival, 6–8 September 2024 K. Innes
241 NEWS AND NOTICES
251 OBITUARIES
Robert Turnbull (Bobby) Smith (1926–2024) E. Fellowes
252 Do UK birds have local accents? A query J. Howie
253 Bizarre demise of a Stewartry Sparrowhawk J. Howie
253 A legless lark ascending M. Welsh
254 The history of the SOC logo M. Hughes
256 Increasing Scotland’s Capercaillie population A.W. Barker
258 BOOK REVIEWS compiled by N. Picozzi
BIRDING ARTICLES & OBSERVATIONS
260 RINGERS' ROUNDUP R. Duncan
265 SCOTTISH BIRDS RARITY COMMITTEE (SBRC) QUARTERLY BULLETIN D. Steel
267 The changing plumage of a young male King Eider in Lothian, 2021–23 I.J. Andrews
271 Fife Ness Seawatching Project - changing the status of our scarcer seabirds K.D. Shaw, J. Wilson & M. Ware
277 Myrtle Warbler, Kilwinning, 20 February to 17 April 2024 - first Ayrshire record J. Crawford
279 Bufflehead, Sand Loch, Collieston, 24–26 March 2024 - first North-East Scotland record P. Crockett
282 Cattle Egret, Guardbridge, 6 April 2024 - second Fife record M. Wilkinson
284 Red-breasted Flycatcher holding territory in Craigendarroch Oakwood, Ballater, North-East Scotland, 24 May to 8 June 2024 - first possible UK breeding record I. Halliday & I. Broadbent
286 Marmora’s Warbler, Steensi Geo, 29 May to 1 June 2024 - first Fair Isle record D. Parnaby
PHOTOSPOT
BC Ring-necked Duck J. Chapman
(2024)
Something for Everyone?
I imagine it goes without saying that we spend most of our ‘SOC time’ concentrating on birds, and our enjoyment, study and conservation of them - whether that’s on Branch outings, individual visits and walks, study projects, training or work. I’ve had great weeks this summer back in Shetland, where I can devote more free time to watching and photographing the islands’ species, alongside visits to the Isle of May, Trossachs woodlands and, most regularly, the varied habitats close to home in southern Scotland.
Plate 159. Ruth Briggs, Brig o'Turk, Upper Forth, 18 May 2024. © Ruth Briggs
As President, much of my SOC time also includes overseeing and supporting the needs and direction of the Club itself, alongside our volunteer-run committees and our staff. This summer we welcome Katie Baumann to the new post of Club Manager and Katie Berry to the new post of Administrative Officer. You’ll find their introductions in our centre pages. Together with the rest of our dedicated staff team, they’re there to help branches, ensure member benefits are delivered, promote national projects and events, oversee grants and maintain facilities at and from Waterston House to high standards. We also confidently rely on them to undertake the routine management necessary to maintain the professional approach at the core of any successful organisation, whether it be a friendly club or a body of national scientific standing. I believe we are both.
This breadth of Club purpose and activity is illustrated once again in the following pages. For the serious ornithologist and the national record there’s painstaking work by Chris McInerny and Bob McGowan towards enhancing our understanding and the records of Woodlark and Collared Pratincole in Scotland (I wonder how many of us have ever seen the latter?). Malcolm Ogilvie reminds me not to just take every Canada Goose for granted. Then, away from the rarities, Andrew Barker (who also edits our news pages) demonstrates the value and reward of patch birding, especially where trends in avifauna can be monitored in line with gradual habitat change.
For the whole network that our Club embodies there are updates and news from around the country - and I suspect you might know about even more in your local area. How good it is to have worked again with BTO Scotland to give a group of youngsters a great Bird Camp weekend, one of our members being a key sponsor of this now-annual opportunity.
Remember that our autumn programme of both Club-wide and Branch indoor meetings starts again this month. It’s also a brilliant season for bird movements around the country.
Finally, I look forward to meeting up with as many members as possible at our annual conference, AGM and social in Pitlochry.
Ruth Briggs, SOC President
Birds at a restored landfill site in Midlothian, 2020–2023
A.W. BARKER
A study on a former landfill site found confirmation of breeding for 34 species, possible breeding for another seven, while 48 species utilised the site in the non-breeding season.
Introduction
With the rapid decrease of many breeding birds on UK farmland (Newton 2017), and many grassland species declining in the UK and much of Europe, recreated meadows on restored landfill sites can help mitigate this loss (Rahman & Tarrant et al. 2013, Camerini & Groppali 2014). Birds in South-east Scotland (Murray et al. 2019) notes that this region’s habitats have been greatly modified by a series of changes made by human activities, but does not cite restored landfill as an example. Whereas the literature on the environmental impact of birds using active landfill sites is quite extensive, less has been written about the suitability of such sites for birds after their closure and any subsequent restoration.
The site
Once an extensive sand quarry, this site of c. 200 hectares, with a high point of 131 m, lies just south of the Edinburgh City Bypass (NT26). It subsequently became an active landfill tip until the end of the 20th century. Habitat restoration began when the central area of about 140 hectares was capped with clay and soil and then grassed over. Rented to a local farmer and mown between late May and early August, in some years it is partially cut again in autumn.
Plate 160. Partially cut grassland, Midlothian, July 2022. © Andrew Barker
Historical records of Woodlark Lullula arborea in Scotland: a
review, a confirmed breeding occurrence, and a specimen with features of the
southern subspecies L.a. pallida
C.J. MCINERNY & R.Y. MCGOWAN
This paper describes a review of historical records of Woodlark Lullula arborea in Scotland, mainly those from before 1950, by locating and examining museum specimens, and through consulting the published literature, substantially adding to the number of Scottish records. We also confirm a 19th century breeding record, the only one for Scotland, and note features in one museum specimen from Fair Isle of the southern subspecies L.a. pallida, previously unrecorded in Scotland and Britain.
Introduction
Following publication of The Birds of Scotland (Forrester et al. 2007), documentation of Scottish rare birds from 2005 has been maintained by the Scottish Birds Records Committee (SBRC) in published SBRC Reports in Scottish Birds, the most recent for the year 2022 (McInerny & McGowan 2024).
This paper provides details of a significant adjustment to the number of Scottish records for Woodlark up the end of 2004, but particularly for the period prior to 1950. Woodlark is a very rare migrant visitor to Scotland, mostly to islands, with just one recent probable breeding occurrence (Forrester et al. 2007), and so modern Scottish records are considered by SBRC (McInerny & McGowan 2024).
The species account totals and graphs for Woodlark both in The Birds of Scotland and in SBRC Reports only include records since January 1950, with just a few pre-1950 records noted in the SBRC Excel spreadsheet www.the-soc.org.uk/bird-recording/sbrc-species-analysis. This was due to the vague details of some early historical observations, along with other reports that were not located or verified when The Birds of Scotland was being compiled. A similar situation arose with two other bird species, Ortolan Bunting Emberiza hortulana and Marsh Warbler Acrocephalus palustris, where there were large numbers of historical Scottish records which were impractical to document.
To address this limitation with the Woodlark SBRC database, we endeavoured to identify all pre1950 Scottish records. We did this through scrutiny of overlooked historical specimens in museums, searching the published literature and by accessing data from the Fair Isle Bird Observatory (FIBO) logs (FIBO unpublished). The last source was particularly important, as a significant proportion of Scottish records of Woodlarks have occurred on Fair Isle: 38% of records up to 2021 (McInerny & McGowan 2024).
Trends in the number of Herring Gulls breeding in Caithness, 2005–2023
R.M. SELLERS & M. OKSIEN
Based on data collected between 2005 and 2023, evidence is presented that the numbers of Herring Gulls breeding in Caithness are showing signs of having stabilised after almost 40 years of decline. Trends at individual coastal colonies were variable, with increases apparent in four of the colonies investigated, no net change in five others, but declines at a further two small ones. Over the same period, two urban colonies both increased in size, that in Thurso growing exponentially at about 15% per annum; the other, much older one in Wick more slowly, as it reached an apparent plateau. Productivity has mostly been in excess of one chick per breeding pair during the period under review. The changes in numbers appear to be related to long-term changes in fish availability (coastal colonies) and a dependence on domestic waste (primarily urban colonies).
Introduction
Caithness has long been an important breeding area for Herring Gulls Larus argentatus. At the time of Operation Seafarer in 1969–70, some 7.9% of the British population and 14.0% of that in Scotland was to be found in the area. As in many other parts of Britain, numbers in Caithness have subsequently declined, down 55% between the 1969–70 survey and the next in 1985–88, and down another 63% between the latter and that in 1998–2002, an overall reduction of 83% between the first and third surveys (Mitchell et al. 2004). There was a further decrease in numbers, but only by 10% since the previous survey, according to a census undertaken in 2015/16 for Scottish Natural Heritage (Swann 2018, 2018; note that these two surveys form the basis of the counts for Caithness given in the fourth national seabird survey, Burnell et al. 2023). As part of a wider project to monitor the numbers of seabirds breeding in Caithness (Sellers 2020, Oksien & Sellers 2023), since 2005 we have undertaken a series of annual counts at selected Herring Gull colonies in the area, including those on the coast, and the more recently established ones in urban areas. We summarise here the results obtained which show that the coastal-nesting component of the population appears to have stabilised or be close to stabilising, whilst urban colonies have shown significant growth.
Material and methods
Coastal populations of Herring Gulls breeding in Caithness were monitored at eleven sites distributed as shown in Figure 1. They were
Figure 1. Distribution of Herring Gull monitoring sites in Caithness. (Coastal sites numbered as shown in Table 1).
Unusual attachment of a Lesser Whitethroat nest utilising Bramble spines
The Lesser Whitethroat Curruca curruca has been studied in the Ayrshire and Clyde recording areas since 1983 (Byars 2010). Lesser Whitethroats nests are difficult to find in dense scrub. In 40 years observation, I have only studied ten nests in any detail. I tend to watch adults undertake feeding forays to the nest from a safe distance, ensuring disturbance is kept to a minimum. Once the brood has successfully fledged, I attempt to locate the nest, taking details for the BTO Nest Record Scheme.
On 21 June 2021, I successfully located a Lesser Whitethroat nest in my study site at Ardeer, Stevenston, Ayrshire. The pair had successfully fledged three young, but, despite watching the adults bringing food over ten days, I could not see the nest in an area of extremely dense scrub. Using garden secateurs, I cut a pathway and came across the nest, perfectly hidden when viewed from above by overhanging Gorse Ulex europeus sprays. Pulling back the gorse, I measured the nest at 66.5 cm from the ground. Normally, Lesser Whitethroat nests are located under 1 m height in Bramble Rubus spp., then Gorse in preferential order (pers. obs.). Cramp 1992 states that “nest sites are in bushes and small trees, and occasionally perennial herbs, especially those with thorns, facilitating attachment”. Simms (1985) states that “the nest is sometimes suspended in the manner of a Reed or Marsh Warbler”. This nest was attached to four Bramble stems of varying widths, lying horizontally, and intersecting at the nest base. I thought this was unusual, as Lesser Whitethroat nests tend to have three anchor points on the nest rim, with nesting material such as dried grass stems wrapped around the Bramble stems as anchor points, which are normally vertical. So how was the nest secured where there were no anchor points around the rim? When I tried to remove the nest, I noticed the nest base was securely attached like Velcro to tiny hook shaped spines (1–5 mm) in length. These ran longitudinally along the thickest of the Bramble stems and can be clearly seen in the photograph. This was the first time I had seen a Lesser Whitethroat nest attached by only the base.
References
Byars, T. 2010. The status and distribution of the Lesser Whitethroat in Clyde and Ayrshire from 1983 to 2005. Scottish Birds 30: 316–325. Cramp, S. (ed.) 1992. The Birds of the Western Palearctic, vol 6: 439–459. OUP, Oxford. Simms, E. 1985. British Warblers, pp. 93–101. Collins, London.
Tom Byars, Saltcoats, Ayrshire. Email: tombyars@btinternet.com
Revised ms accepted January 2024
Plate 174. Lesser Whitethroat nest, Ardeer, Stevenston, North Ayrshire, 21 June 2021. © Tom Byars
Strictly Come Eagles - Hamza Yassin at the Moffat Eagle Festival, 6–8 September 2024
Following a series of groundbreaking translocations of free-flying young Golden Eagles over the winter months, there are now around 47 Golden Eagles soaring in southern Scottish skies - the highest number recorded there in the last three centuries. Under a research licence from NatureScot, the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project team successfully caught, transported and released eight free flying (sub-adult) Golden Eagles from the Outer Hebrides between 2023 and 2024, bringing the total number of sub-adult birds released to 15. The birds were released almost immediately on arrival in a secret location in the southern uplands of Scotland.
The news comes as the project announced Hamza Yassin, wildlife cameraman, presenter, author of Be a Birder, and winner of Strictly Come
Dancing 2022 as the keynote speaker for the 2024 Moffat Eagle Festival. Speaking about his involvement, Hamza said: “Golden Eagles are my absolutely favourite bird of prey, so it is a real privilege to headline the prestigious Moffat Eagle Festival in the UK’s first official Eagle Town and to support the fantastic work of the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project. It’s truly wonderful to hear that there are new record numbers of Golden Eagles soaring in southern Scottish skies thanks to the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project. My hope is that soon these majestic birds will be seen right across the UK.”
Speaking about this success, Dr Cat Barlow, Project Manager for the project said: “This novel approach is proving to be a groundbreaking technique for global raptor conservation management, and we look forward to
Plate 175. Golden Eagle, Borders, April 2019. © Phil Wilkinson
hole, and also free of draughts, so the detachable backs of the boxes were individually sealed with a foam gasket. Many hundreds of nest records have been recorded over the years and entered into BTO data banks. This project is continued by his successors in the NSRG.
He bought himself a caravan, and started to venture into Europe. After a wheel came off the caravan on the French side of the Pyrenees, he changed this for a time-expired ambulance which he converted into a camper van. This led to numerous expeditions for bird photography, particularly to Portugal where he obtained a magical series of pictures of Purple Herons at a reed-bed nest. There were also expeditions within Scotland, photographing eagles and Peregrines in Argyll and Red-throated Divers in Shetland, all at their nests in the days before permits were required.
Apart from the nature side of his activities, he was a very sociable man, keen on Scottish country dancing and the Lockerbie branch of the Speakers Club which he attended for fifty years and to which his final contribution was made just a few weeks before his death. In old age, his mobility was restricted, but the bird study continued. A fellow bird ringer came regularly to put up mist nets in the garden. His bedroom was the ringing hut, and he was the scribe to record the details. Sitting in his chair, he was only a few feet from his bird feeders, also attended by a succession of Red Squirrels. He was also taken on car-based bird watching expeditions, even visiting Norfolk during his final summer. He died in Dumfries infirmary after a three day illness, and is buried in the cemetery adjacent to Applegarth church.
Edmund Fellowes
Do UK birds have local accents? A query
The bird song theme of the 2023 SOC Annual Conference reminded me of something I noticed a number of years ago. At one time I worked in Speyside for the RSPB for six months from March to August, followed by another six months some 500 miles south at The Lodge in Sandy, Bedfordshire.
Each year, I noticed the differences in the calls/songs of the crossbills and Chaffinches I had been hearing in the north from those I heard in the south. As we now know, the question of crossbill calls is a vexed one. At the time, however, I assumed that what I heard in the north was the Scottish Crossbill, a resident breeder in Badenoch and Strathspey. Today, I can be rather more sure it was the Common Crossbill I was meeting in Bedfordshire. In fact, the question of Scottish Crossbill calls is so complex that since March 2022 the Scottish Birds Records Committee will no longer consider records of this species until this issue is resolved.
For several days each year in the south, I was also puzzled by other strange calls/songs until eventually spotting that they came from the local Chaffinches - it is far too long ago to try to describe what were the differences between the northern and southern bird calls!
Recently, I have learned that Chaffinches do indeed have local accents. My question is this: has any SOC member who has lived or worked in the north for a long spell and then moved hundreds of miles south in the UK also noticed differences in the calls and songs not just of Chaffinches but of any other of our common resident bird species? Just like its human inhabitants, might there also be variations between the north and south or the east and west of Scotland?
It may appear strange that there can be regional accents when birds are so mobile, but many species will never move very far from their natal
References
Club Constitutions, 1936–2015 (SOC 1/12/16).
Syllabus of Lectures/Meeting Programmes, 1947–2014 (SOC 1/7/4/1).
Council agendas, minutes and papers, 1984–99 (SOC 1/1/2/7).
Jubilee Committee papers, 1984–87 (SOC 1/11/3/1).
Management Committee minutes and papers, 1996–2016 (SOC 1/3/1/2).
Letter from Dougal Andrew to Ian Andrews, 28 August 2003 (SOC 1/12/1/16).
Information from Ian Andrews.
Michael Hughes, SOC Archivist
Increasing Scotland’s Capercaillie population
It is believed there are only around 500 of these ground-nesting birds left in the wild in the UK, and their decline has been partly blamed on predators such as Pine Marten - itself a protected species - eating their eggs and chicks. A study has shown that putting down food near bird eggs to draw away predators increases their chances of survival, leading to hopes that the tactic can be used to save the Capercaillie from potential extinction in Scotland.
Researchers seeking a non-lethal way to stop predators from targeting Capercaillie placed 720 artificial nests filled with chicken eggs throughout the Cairngorms. They then left deer meat near half of the nests to see if this would discourage predators from foraging further. The study showed putting meat down close to nests containing eggs increased their chances of survival by 83%, suggesting diversionary feeding could ultimately prove to be a significant contributor to saving the species.
The results have already encouraged organisations such as Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) and the Royal Society for the Protections of Birds (RSPB) Scotland to deploy the tactic in bird breeding areas to deter predators. Jack Bamber, a researcher from the University of Aberdeen who led the study, explained: “A major obstacle in effective conservation management is the problem of recovering predators eating endangered prey. This challenge is becoming
commonplace in the era of ecosystem restoration. In Scotland, the much-celebrated recovery of the Pine Marten, a nest predator, and the conservation of one of its potential prey, the Capercaillie, epitomise this issue. There are often calls for lethal predator control, which isn’t desirable for protected species, so alternative conservation interventions are needed.
Diversionary feeding, a non-lethal intervention strategy, is a potential solution to this conflict, but direct evidence that it leads to significant reductions in nest depredation pressure was lacking. Our idea was to fill the bellies of Pine Martens and other predators, like Badgers, in Capercaillie strongholds, predicting that once full of free food they would no longer search for eggs.”
Richard Mason, site manager at RSPB Scotland Abernethy Forest, added: “It is the first time this method has been trialled directly to alleviate ground nest predation and the results showed that diversionary feeding, deployed specifically during the breeding season, increased the chance of a nest surviving by 83% compared to the nests without carrion available. This suggests that reducing nest predation pressure through diversionary feeding could contribute to more successful Capercaillie breeding.
Importantly, diversionary feeding of Pine Martens and Badgers at key times of the year can achieve positive conservation outcomes
BOOK REVIEWS
The book reviews published in Scottish Birds reflect the views of the named reviewers and not those of the SOC.
The Migration Ecology of Birds
Second edition. Ian Newton. Academic Press, London. 2024. ISBN 978-0-12-823751-9. Hardback 707 pages, 200 two-tone b/w illustrations, 2-tone tables, £135.00.
The preface to the first edition states that this book is aimed at research students but written in a style also readily accessible to a wider readership. As with that edition, this second edition coming 16 years later equally accomplishes that aim. Advances in knowledge and techniques necessitated not only the first edition being extensively revised but the addition of three new chapters. Drawing on over 3,000 cited references, expertly summarised and synthesised with the author’s remarkable skill and knowledge, its 700 pages are packed with examples and interpretations that will leave you fascinated, intrigued, and better informed. There are five major sections (Migratory processes; Timing and control; Largescale movement patterns; Evolution of movement patterns; Migration systems and population control). Each section receives a brief summary and is clearly subdivided into logical chapters, each of which is further subdivided into ‘bite-size’ pieces with the use of sub-headings and many figures and tables. An introductory section includes descriptions of methods used for studying bird migration. It is here that you see how new technologies and access to remotely sensed data have transformed our capacity to study and better understand bird migration, hence the need for this updated edition. Be warned - you may dip into this superb, bench-mark book to answer a specific question but then get happily distracted by so many other facets of bird migration ecology...
John Calladine
Editor’s note: The publisher Elsevier (an imprint of Academic Press) made only a PDF version of this new edition available for our review. Rosie
Filipiak, our librarian, has downloaded the PDF onto a CD/DVD and this is now on our shelves and will be available to borrow and consult for research purposes from the SOC Library in the same way as the library’s hardback copy of the first edition. The hardback of the new edition is of course available from the usual sources at the rrp £135, but various online booksellers are offering the hardback version for around £100.
The Osprey
Tim Mackrill, 2024. Bloomsbury Publishing, London. ISBN 978 1 4729 19908 hardback, ISBN 978 1 4729 92611 paperback, 304 pages, 150 colour photographs, £60.00 (hb), £35.00 (pb).
This is a book to cherish as many of us have grown up through the period of no breeding birds to currently 380+ pairs in Britain. There is so much information packed in here taking you to nearly every country in the world where this bird is found. The pictures are superb thanks to especially John Wright and the cover by John Davis. Tim has done a cracking job having had so much experience from the introductions at Rutland Water to working with the ‘King of Ospreys’, Roy Dennis. The chapters cover migration, breeding, wintering, and even our relationship with these birds and the persecution which led to their extinction as a breeder in this country until the natural recolonization from the first acknowledged breeding birds at Loch Garten in 1954. There is even a selected viewing site guide for the UK plus a few feeding fish farms for you to view them, but they could turn up at any fish farm these days as the population has expanded. As White-tailed Eagle is mentioned as one of the predators of Osprey, it will be interesting to see if this becomes an issue as the eagle’s population expands like the similar Bald Eagle which is expanding and now reducing the Ospreys in Maine, USA. There is plenty of information on satellite tracking with one diagram showing how the birds even manage to escape
RINGERS' ROUNDUP
Thank you very much to the many ringers, ringing groups, birders and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) who provided the information for this latest round up. Thanks also to the many bird watchers and folk who take the time and trouble to read rings in the field or find dead ringed birds and report them.
If you have any interesting ringing recoveries, articles, wee stories, project updates or requests for information which you would like to be included in the next issue, please email to Raymond Duncan at: rduncan393@outlook.com
For lots more exciting facts, figures, numbers and movements log on to: http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/ringing/publications/online-ringing-reports
Interesting Ringing Movements
Chk = chick, Juv = juvenile, Im = Immature, Ad = adult, Unk = unknown, M = male, F =female, Dead = dead, Sghtd = ring(s) read in field, Rtpd = retrapped
Isle of May Blackbirds
Every year October is traditionally the big month for thrushes on the Isle of May. Predominantly good numbers of Blackbirds are recorded moving through the island, sometimes in their thousands. October 2023 was no exception with almost 400 Blackbirds ringed in the last two weeks of October, most from 22nd until 29th. Four foreign-ringed Blackbirds (controls) from across the North Sea during this period, with three of them on three consecutive days, gives us some indication of their origins and previous migratory journeys. Always very useful and exciting.
7393357 AdM 17/09/22 Vestfold, Norway
Rtpd 08/10/23 Isle of May 830 km SW, 386 days
A619734 JuvM 04/10/23 Turku-Pori, Finland
Rtpd 26/10/23 Isle of May 1,500 km SW, 22 days
An astonishing effort of 1,493 km over 22 days! (68 km per day)
7673813 JuvF 06/09/23 Rogaland, Norway
Rtpd 27/10/23 Isle of May
606 km SW, 51 days
7995217 AdF 23/03/23 Helgoland, GERMANY
Rtpd 28/10/23 Isle of May
698 km NW, 219 days
David Grieve (IOMBOT Ringing Secretary)
And probably another Scandinavian Blackbird wintering in different parts of the UK in different winters:
LJ50127 JuvF 20/01/17 Birdbrook, Essex, England
Rtpd 26/11/23 Scoughall, Lothian 489 km NNW, 2,501 days
Bar-tailed Godwit
DE63893 Juv 07/09/23 Clocheen Marsh, Cork
Rtpd 15/05/24 Gott Bay, Isle of Tiree, Argyll 564 km N, 249 days
A wandering juvenile. It was the only one ringed at Clocheen Marsh, Cork that autumn.
Blackcap
AXX5529 JuvF 06/09/23 Kinneil, Firth of Forth Rtpd 05/04/24 Littlesea, Weymouth, Dorset 605 km N, 212 days
Returning north in spring.
Chiffchaff
NPL697 Juv 24/06/23 Hadfast, Cousland, Lothian Rtpd 06/10/23 Trunvel, Finisterre, France 896 km S, 104 days
LBL127 Juv 18/07/20 River Almond, Edinburgh Airport, Lothian Rtpd 05/11/22 Mars-Ouest, St-Philbert-deGrand-Lieu, France 987 km S, 840 days
PEA895 Juv 02/09/23 Kinneil, Falkirk, Upper Forth Rtpd 19/12/23 Punta Blanca, Ceuta, North Africa (Spanish colony) (also rtpd 2/1/24) 2,240 km S, 108 days
Some interesting Chiffchaff movements, including Clyde RG’s first in Africa.
Plate 205. King Eider, 1cy male, Port Seton, Lothian, 25 October 2021. After its arrival at Scoughall, the bird was relocated at Port Seton by Stephen Welch, but it didn’t stay. What looks like a rather uniform, sooty grey-brown plumage at a distance is actually finely patterned on the chest and flanks with darker mantle/wings; obvious pale eye ring; the bill is grey and the dull pink bill plate is poorly developed. © Phil Dean
The changing plumage of a young male King Eider in Lothian, 2021–23
I.J. ANDREWS
A first-calendar-year (first-winter) King Eider was found by Keith Gillon and Colin Davison at Scoughall, east Lothian, on 23 October 2021. The following series of photographs illustrates its transformation through the
seasons over following two years. During this time, it was often seen at the Esk mouth and off the seawall at Musselburgh where it provided many photographic opportunities.
(Overleaf) Plate 206. King Eider, 2cy male, Musselburgh, Lothian, 22 April 2022. Over the winter of 2021/22, the bird remained distant, but it developed a white lower chest and a brighter, larger, pink bill. On 1 January, it became a 2cy male. On 22 April, the bill is bright pinkish red contrasting with an orange plate (with a distinct forehead bulge); a mottled white flank patch also developed. © Ian Andrews. Plate 207. King Eider, 2cy male, Musselburgh, Lothian, 9 June 2022. The crown and nape are much greyer; the bill has lost its brightness and there is less of a forehead bulge; the flank patch is larger and cleaner. © Ian Andrews. Plate 208. King Eider, 2cy male, Musselburgh, Lothian, 20 June 2022. The white chest and throat are now mottled (and boundaries becoming diffuse); the crown and nape are becoming browner with just grey flecks remaining. © Stuart Gillies. Plate 209. King Eider, 2cy male, Musselburgh, Lothian, 8 July 2022. By early July, the bird in now in 2cy eclipse plumage. The breast has become brown with white streaks and the head has lost the grey wash. Note the lack of ‘sails’ and long curved tertials that it acquired a year later (Plate 215a). © Ian Andrews. Plate 210. King Eider, 2cy male, Musselburgh, Lothian, 8 July 2022.The primaries are all intact but looking pale and some very worn. Some of the tail feathers are particularly pale and frayed, with the central and outer pairs much darker and fresher. © Ian Andrews. Plate 211. King Eider, 2cy male, Musselburgh, Lothian, 1 August 2022. On 18 July, just 14 days before this photo was taken, the primaries were still intact. Now, the old primaries have been dropped and the new ones are already growing, albeit still in pin. © Ian Andrews. Plate 212. King Eider, 2cy male, Musselburgh, Lothian, 6 August 2022. Five days later and the primaries have grown significantly, with the sheaths lost on the outer primaries; the white axillaries are also significantly longer. Still flightless, it is now looking at its most drab and uniform brown. © Ian Andrews. Plate 213. King Eider, 2cy male, Musselburgh, Lothian, 22 August 2022. It has regrown its primaries, and the tertials were now long and curved. © Ian Andrews
Fife Ness Seawatching Project - changing the status of our scarcer seabirds
K.D. SHAW, J. WILSON & M. WARE
Introduction and history
Fife Ness, the most easterly point of mainland Fife, has long been associated with the study of birds and particularly bird migration (Lauder, 2020). Since the 1960s, seawatching has been an integral part of these studies. The only records of Black-browed Albatross from Fife Ness date from August 1969 and August 1972 (Smout, 1986). Fife Ness was a popular watchpoint in the 1970s and 1980s and the first records of Cory’s Shearwater and Great Shearwater for the headland were during this period; the first record of Cory’s was of two birds on 28 August 1984 (although it is worth noting that Miss E.V. Baxter saw two Cory’s Shearwaters, on different dates, en route to the Isle of May in September and November 1957!) and of Great on 29 August 1976 (Smout, 1986).
The Fife Ness seawatching hide was opened in 1998 and there followed a productive period until the mid-2000s. During this period the record day count of Balearic Shearwater (three) was achieved
(2024)
on 14 September 2002. Thereafter, several key observers left the area and the records show seawatching was not so intense through the rest of this decade and the next (Lauder, 2020). 2020 was an excellent year for rare birds in mainland Fife and it kick-started the latest, Golden Age of seawatching at the Ness. The creation of the Fife Bird News WhatsApp group and the organisation of day counts also played a part in this (Shaw, 2022), resulting in a longer, more intense seawatching season and the changing of the status of several species, including Grey Phalarope (Shaw, 2022) and White-billed Diver (Shaw & Sparshott, 2023). Inevitably, this also leads to the recording of new species such as a Fea’s-type Petrel (Wilson, 2022). By the autumns of 2022 and 2023, the hide would be regularly occupied all day in the right conditions for seawatching, with up to eighteen observers present in and around the hide. Counting and documentation of records improved substantially. In this paper we present the results of 70 years of seawatching at Fife Ness.
Plate 218. Eider, Fife Ness, Fife, November 2009. © John Anderson
Bufflehead, Sand Loch, Collieston, 24–26 March 2024 - first NorthEast Scotland record
P. CROCKETT
I was unaware that there had been a drake Bufflehead seen briefly in Clyde a few days before this particular evening, although I had noted previously that one had been seen in Ireland during the early part of the year. Suffice to say the species was nowhere near my mind when I decided to go for an early evening walk, before dark set in, around the village on a relatively calm Sunday night. As I approached the southern limit of the village at just before 18:30 hrs, I decided to take the cliff top route, thinking it best to check the whole circuit of the Sand Loch, and this route allowed me to do so. The Sand Loch is a small, relatively shallow loch, embedded in the northern edge of Forvie NNR and to the SW of Collieston village. It sometimes hosts small numbers of Red-breasted Merganser, and during this winter it had seen regular Longtailed Ducks settle on it. More occasionally, grebes can be found here - indeed, earlier in the winter a Red-necked Grebe was a standout visitor, still a local rarity.
44:3 (2024)
The evening light was fading rapidly as I reached the southern edge of the loch. I gave it a quick scan and noted a smaller roosting shape, with its head tucked in, in amongst about ten Tufted Duck in the centre of the loch. The flanks looked extensively white, and although at some range still, I could see what looked like a bright white nape. Bufflehead went through my mind, but I just assumed it would take on a more common identity as I approached closer. I looked again after about 80 metres further walk and again saw what still appeared to be a fully, clean white nape, and indeed clean white flanks with, even in the poor light, rather glossy, dark upperparts on what was a very small duck. Its head was still tucked in, the light was fading fast, but this still looked like a drake Bufflehead!
I urged caution to myself - though there were local birders living close by who I would need to contact before dark came, I had concerns that I was not seeing the full picture with the bird’s head tucked in and that I could conceivably be
Plate 223. Bufflehead, Sand Loch, Collieston, North-East Scotland, 26 March 2024. © Ron Macdonald
Photo S P © T
Plate 233. A Ring-necked Duck has been a frequent winter visitor to the north side of Glasgow. It rarely stays long in one location, visiting inland waters such as Bingham’s Pond, Victoria Park and Mugdock Loch. This last winter was no exception and the local Grapevine confirmed sightings of it at the usual haunts. Then one dreich Sunday in March - a day I had decided to give over to indoor activities - the Grapevine reported a sighting in a new location: the Milngavie Community Centre pond.
The Community Centre is just a five minute walk from my home, so I put on rain gear and went to see. When I arrived at the pond there were no other humans in sight but the normal occupants of the pond, Mallards, were much in evidence. Also, I could make out a group of ‘Tufties’ near the least accessible part of the pond. And then two people arrived to feed the ducks. The Mallards took immediate advantage and the group of ‘Tufties’ swam across to join them, passing within a few metres of me. There, towards the rear of the group and looking slightly bemused, was the Ring-necked Duck. I had an extender on the camera, but on this occasion it really was surplus to requirements.
John Chapman, Milngavie, Glasgow. Email: Johnchapman2111@gmail.com
Equipment used: Canon EOS R6 camera, Canon RF 100–500mm lens + RF 1.4x extender, 1/1,250 second, ISO 12,800. f10.
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