Kindrogan Field Course

Leaving Beaver Creek Lodge in Speyside on 8 June, I took the train south to Pitlochry for an annual undergraduate field course in Environmental Biology based at Kindrogan Field Centre in Perthshire. After many early morning outings at 03:00 am, long walks to the study sites, and sampling of several malts on the final evening, I've uploaded a trip list to my main site here: Kindrogan 2012 Birding Trip Report. Highlights this year included a male Pied Flycatcher which sang continously all week from the oaks in the centre car park, and two different Quails singing in Strathardle on 12 June. Other interesting species included Goosander, Red Grouse, Osprey, Woodcock, Tree Pipit, Dipper, Redstart, Ring Ouzel, Lesser Redpoll and Common Crossbill. Lots of sound recordings were made and I'll post some in due course, particularly the different song types making up the repertoire of the Pied Flycatcher.

Re-stock on Kindrogan Hill supporting Tree Pipit and Willow Warbler

Larch plantation - typically quiet with just Goldcrest, Coal Tit and Treecreeper

Long-range view towards Pitlochry

Glen Brerachan

View of Strathardle from Creag na Cuinneige with Straloch in the foreground

Strathardle

Conifer plantations

Vegetation analysis on Kindrogan Hill

Dew or raindrops on a spider's web

View of the lower east slope of Kindrogan Hill from Creag na Cuinneige

Handa

Most of the week 1-8 June was spent relaxing around the Aviemore and Abernethy area but one day we made a trip up to the far north-west of Scotland to Handa island. On the drive to Scourie, we found breeding Greenshank on a brief stop, followed by several Twite in breeding plumage around Tarbet where we took a small boat across to the island. Our main reason for visiting was to observe the breeding skuas, as well as the seabird colonies including Kittiwake, Guillemot, Razorbill and Puffin.

Arctic Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus) resting on heather moorland.

One of the white-sand beaches with Arctic Terns breeding on the rocky islets

Despite the wind, I made some sound recordings

Cliff wall crammed with auks on every ledge

Speyside Honeymoon

The morning after our wedding on 31 May we left Lochside House Hotel at Loch o' th' Lowes in Ayshire (where we woke up to the sounds of Snipe and Redshank), and headed north to the Highlands for our honeymoon. Since we would be travelling half way around the globe in the coming month I thought at least we should spend some time in our own country. I say that, but in reality I had an undergrad field course near Pitlochry from the 8-15 June, so we relaxed at the luxurious Beaver Creek Lodge near Aviemore before departing for something more adventurous around the world later in June. 

The highlights included Slavonian Grebe, Crested Tit, Scottish/Parrot Crossbill, Snow Bunting, Dotterel, and Goldeneye with broods of young.

Scots Pine woodland at Abernethy where we searched for Crested Tits and Scottish/Parrot Crossbills

Streaks of sunlight over Loch Morlich and Abernethy Forest on the climb up Cairn Gorm

Walkers silhouetted on Cairn Gorm

One of three female Eurasian Dotterel (Charadrius morinellus) on the Cairn Gorm plateau

Pairing Up

Well, I got married recently in Scotland so that explains why things have been quiet! After a honeymoon in the Highlands, follow by the annual field course at Kindrogan Field Centre in Perthshire, we are now off on our adventure to see the Kagu (Rhynochetos jubatus) on New Caledonia, via Thailand and Australia. Updates to follow...

Spring Bird Sounds from Brent Reservoir

Last weekend I was out before sunrise at Brent Reservoir in North London making sound recordings of as many species as possible. Listen to this file on SoundCloud which is a composite mix I've created from the better cuts from the morning. Species featured include Great Crested Grebe, Common Tern, Reed Warbler, Tufted Duck, Lesser Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Moorhen and Mute Swan.

Stonechat Song

 European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) singing at La Janda, Andalucía, Spain

Territorial song uttered from telegraph wire in a largely treeless landscape.

Costa de la Luz

In late March I was away on another university field course trip based around Zahara de los Atunes on the Costa de la Luz in Cadiz province in south-west Spain. Much of the time was spent around Zahara, Barbate and the Valle de Ojén in the Parque Natural de Los Alcornocales.  The Levante was particularly strong this time, at times even gale force. My three highlights (of the many) were Little Swift, Black-winged Kite and Marsh Sandpiper... and of course, the northward migration across the Straits from the African Continent.


A full trip list with sound recordings and photographs can be found on the main site here:

www.fssbirding.org.uk/costadelaluz2012trip.htm

Blackbird vocalisations

Last weekend I was up in Ayrshire and early on Sunday morning I surveyed Dean Castle Country Park for Nuthatches. Later on I made some recordings of a confiding male Blackbird (Turdus merula) who wasn't keen to fly around too much as a pair of Sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus) were displaying over his territory. The female hawk was also regularly coming down and flying through the sub-canopy. The diagram below shows a summary of some of the calls and song recorded - click for bigger images.



This is the classic song of a Blackbird and my favourite sound of early spring. Although it is most often uttered from a high, prominent perch, this male was singing about three metres up in thick woodland.


This high-pitched alarm call is often referred to as the 'hawk alarm call' and these down-slurred, pure-tone notes between 9 and 7 kHz were produced in response to the Sparrowhawks.


Another alarm call is the low-pitched "chook-chook-chook" sound. This male produced it on the ground when a dog passed by on a nearby path.


Still on the ground, the same male began singing this unusual song. While it resembled sub-song in structure (and with some similarities to a Song Thrush), it was uttered at loud volume on the open woodland floor before gradually changing back into standard song.

Ayrshire Bird Report 2010

The Ayrshire Bird Report 2010 is now available at £5.00 from Dr R Vernon (29 Knoll Park, Ayr KA7 4RH). Cheques should be made payable to Ayrshire Bird Report. Please enclose £1.00 extra for p&p. It will also be available at SOC Ayrshire and RSPB Central Ayrshire group meetings, and Lochwinnoch RSPB nature reserve.

Contents:
Editorial (Fraser Simpson)
The Rise, Fall and Disappearance of Ayrshire’s Stonechats (Angus Hogg)
Kestrel in Ayrshire 2010 (Gordon Riddle)
Sparrowhawk Breeding Details 2010 (Ian Todd)
River Ayr Dippers - Breeding Details 2009/2010 (Ian Todd)
Chronological Summary (Angus Hogg)
Systematic List (compiled by Fraser Simpson)
Recent Rarities in Ayrshire (Angus Hogg, Jason McManus & Dick Vernon)
Checklist of Ayrshire Birds (compiled by Angus Hogg & Fraser Simpson)

Details: 124pp including: 8 full-colour inner pages with 13 photographs; 18 black & white artwork pieces; 11 black & white photos.

Thanks to Iain Leach for this year's cover photograph.

Song Thrush Song

Song Thrush singing at dusk in Stanmore Common, north London.

Shorter edit:



Longer edit:

Summerland Key Sounds

Here are a couple of clips of sound recordings made last December in Florida.

Late Winter Bird Sounds on Hampstead Heath

First, a Carrion Crow calls, but I would probably define this as singing in the biological sense as this bird was part of a pair which appeared to be defending their territory from a neighbouring pair.

Next, a Chaffinch in full song; just one week ago many individuals (most likely 1st-year males) were singing plastic songs, not yet fully crystallised into full song.

Many Nuthatches were singing on the Heath but here is the typical call from a foraging bird, possibly used for contact; this and most other Nuthatches were paired and on territory.

Wrens sing all through the winter though the bird in this recording is uttering a shorter version of the typical song, lacking the terminal trill.

Nearby a particularly vocal Magpie was uttering some loud, harsh calls. I initially hoped it may have been in response to a Tawny Owl but it turned out that a Grey Squirrel was very close to the nest site, currently in construction.

Next, a Great Tit sings it simple song of two sets of double notes at 6.4 and 3.8 kHz. A different bird can be heard responding in the background, exhibiting matched counter singing with the same song type at a slightly lower pitch. Another Great Tit recording then follows with a completely different song type.

Finally, another winter singer, the European Robin closes this recording with a wistful delivery of melancholic notes.

Through all of this is the constant noise pollution from distant traffic, overhead planes, and “come on clever doggy, such a good doggy, chasing the squirrels”.

Birds & Other Wildlife of the West Coast

I was pleased to have one my drawings (Dunlin) used on the cover of the conference programme/booking form for the 2012 Scottish Birdwatchers' Conference. This is organised by the SOC, BTO Scotland and Argyll Bird Club and takes place on 17 March in Oban at the Corran Halls. The theme this year is Birds & Other Wildlife of the West Coast.

More information can be found here:

www.the-soc.org.uk/conferences.htm

www.the-soc.org.uk/docs/spring-conference-2012.pdf

A day-and-a-half camel ride to Rainham

Last weeked we saw nearly 70 species at Rainham Marshes RSPB reserve on the Thames, including Bearded Tit, Avocet, Caspian Gull, Water Pipit, Little Egret, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit and Peregrine. That was the good part. The bad part? It was nearly a day-and-a-half camel ride from north London via London Underground tubes and overground rail to get there. Well, it actually took three hours (quicker on return) even though its only 22 miles as the Common Yellowthroat flies. Why? Tube lines out of action, late trains, the usual story. We heard that a coach group from Wolverhampton had traveled to the reserve in the same time! Next time I'll go by bike - should be there in half the time.

Willow Tit drawing

Did a final drawing for the Ayrshire Bird Report last night. The Willow Tit (Poecile montanus) is one of Ayrshire's rarest breeding species but it can still be found at a few sites in the county despite the downward trend in the national population.

Crystalline

I like to cycle in the snow whenever I can (a rare event in London) and a trip to Brent Reservoir yesterday found it almost frozen over. A few patches of water remained, each populated by a distinctive collection of birds. There was the Coot/Gadwall covert in the Woodfield Park corner, a game of Mute Swans on the south side of Cool Oak Bridge, and a posse of Canada Geese and more coots on the north side. Meanwhile, Moorhens were skating everywhere. Most of the interesting wildfowl had departed with just a few Gadwall, Shoveler, Wigeon and Teal remaining. Lapwing, Fieldfare and Redwing were on the move overhead while both a Green and Common Sandpiper were on the outlet behind the dam. When there is snow on the ground every bird looks even better due to the reflected light on their undersides - even Wood Pigeons!