Wednesday 4 October 2023

Cruise to the Balearics

 Back in August 2023 Sue and I embarked on a cruise from Tilbury Docks in Essex, sailing to Portugal, Spain and the Balearic Isles in the Mediterranean Sea. We set sail on the evening of  12th of August, returning to Tilbury on the 26th; we were going to be visiting 5 ports, so there was going to be a lot of relaxing sea days. Our first 3 days would be at sea as we travelled to Portugal for Porto, going through the western approaches towards the Bay of Biscay. Great, Cory's and Manx Shearwater were noted along with Fulmar and Gannet. I've been across Biscay a few times but this time I was really disappointed with the amount of cetaceans we were encountering - or the lack of them! We were seeing  plenty of Common Dolphin and Striped Dolphin, but no large Whales and also not that many sea birds either.


Great Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

Manx Shearwater

Common Dolphin

Striped Dolphin

Striped Dolphin

Striped Dolphin

Common Dolphin

I never took my camera camera onshore at all, so I can't share any images of the beautiful places we docked at (sorry!!) 
After visiting Porto, which is an amazing city, we were again at sea for three days, in the Atlantic ocean where Cory's Shearwater and Gannet were encountered, through the Straits of Gibraltar and on into the Mediterranean Sea. (This was now 17th August)  Had a nice surprise early in the day with a Turtle Dove flying around the ship and also two Swift flying south - and my best views of a Loggerhead Turtle.

 
Loggerhead Turtle

I was standing on a viewing point right at the front of the ship, when shortly before lunch, I picked up a small dinghy in my binoculars way off in the distance which I thought was a fishing boat - but 20 minutes later as we got closer to it, I realised it was full of people who seemed to be waving for help. 
The Captain sailed by the dinghy - but only in order to be able to circle the ship around and pick them up for safety; they were all brought on board and taken in until we arrived in Palma de Majorca the following day.

Migrants waiting to be taken onboard



After half an hour, the people were all safely aboard and the dinghy was cut adrift

18th August - spent a nice day in Majorca where we did a trip to Soller; stopped off enroute at a mirador in Son Marroig where we had really good views of two Peregrine being mobbed by a couple of Ravens.
The following day saw us in Ibiza - where it was ridiculously hot - we had a quick walk around the port before returning to the ship with it's aircon  I set up shop in the shade on deck seven, just scanning the marina   There were lots of Yellow-legged Gulls but I did pick out two or three Audouin's Gulls, which were very nice to see.
 
Audouin's Gull

Audouin's Gull

We left Ibiza, back across The Med, which again produced very few sea birds - Cory's Shearwater being the only bird of note - but we did see plenty of Common Dolphin as we headed to our next port of call which was Cadiz. 
21st in Cadiz - and again it was extremely hot - BUT - the hopper bus was right outside the port, so we decided to 'hop on!'  It turned out to be a great way to see Cadiz - and we even had Monk Parakeet in the trees around the botanical gardens. 

Another sea day - but much more productive - and probably the biggest surprise of the trip was about to present itself........... We were in the Atlantic, heading for Vigo; again, Cory's Shearwater; ten Common Tern heading South; a Sunfish; lots of Common Dolphin and...... when somebody shouted 'shark!' I wasn't expecting the fish below!

Hammerhead Shark

Hammerhead Shark

Our final port of Call was Vigo in the north of Spain. Once again a lovely place but unfortunately it was way too hot to be able to enjoy it, so once again, back to the ship and the shade of deck 7 to scan the marina. There were lots of Yellow-legged Gulls and some swift over the city - and a very confiding Mediterranean Gull

Med Gull

Med Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

Med Gull

Leaving Vigo, and another three sea days travelling back across the Bay of Biscay which gave us Finn Whale, Sperm Whale and Sei Whale - sadly all distant for images. Again, Biscay was almost devoid of birds and it wasn't until the 25th August, when we had just gone through the western approaches, we started seeing quite a few more seabirds  - one Cory's Shearwater took a liking to the ship, landing on the stern on deck eight - but then couldn't take flight again. With the help of Abigail and Amy from the ORCA conservation team, we did our good deed for the day, safely returning the bird back to the sea where it belongs, which is wandering around the Atlantic Ocean.

A confused Cory's Shearwater on deck 8


In the English Channel on our final sea day heading for Tilbury we had a decent encounter with a Minke Whale.

Breaching Minke Whale




BIG splash

This was just a short posting from my most recent trip; I've just had an operation on my ankle so will be grounded for a bit - but I'm pretty sure I have some local stuff to post 
As always, thanks for stopping by - until the next time!!



Monday 29 May 2023

Whoops!! from 2022

Just sorting through a few images and forgot about these from last year. First was a Nightjar found on 5th September at Cossington Meadows - a fairly local reserve to where I live; the bird was found by a local dogwalker who takes an interest in the wildlife.


Nightjar

Nightjar


Second was on 26th September last year, when a Common Nighthawk was found at Wantage in Oxfordshire. After a phone call to a birding buddy Chris Hubbard, the pair of us set off and 90 minutes later, we were viewing said bird along with about 100 others!

Common Nighthawk

Common Nighthawk

Common Nighthawk


How I missed posting on this I'll never know!! 

We returned from Shetland in early October, when a good mate (John Judge) found a Blackburnian Warbler on Bryher which is one of The Scilly Isles - at a place called Popplestone Fields. It was a week before we could arrange a daytrip to The Scilly Isles but on 17th October, we made the trip over to see this stunning American vagrant.


Blackburnian Warbler


Blackburnian Warbler


Blackburnian Warbler


As always - thanks for stopping by; now I'm sorting through a few images again, I'll hopefully be doing another post soon





















 

Tuesday 14 February 2023

Shetland 2022

 Well,  it's only been three months from when we went on our yearly pilgrimage to the Shetland Islands so I think I've been quite quick with this post .........not!! Same mottley crew as last year in the guise of Dave Gray, Andy Smith and me...  We decided to tery driving to Aberdeen and taking our own (Dave's) car across on the ferry - which worked out very well for us - sailing on 30th Sept on the MV Hjaltland arriving in Lerwick the next morning. I would like to say I had a good nights sleep - but I'd be lying thanks to my two cabin buddies who could win prizes for snoring!!  Never again ! - I shall be having my own cabin next time ......

We stayed at a lovely cottage called The Glebe, Garderhouse - again on the west side of the mainland which was our home for the next 10 days.

Hilswick was our first port of call, for a Great Grey Shrike subspecies Homeyeri (probably will be a potential split in the future so it was an 'insurance tick')  On the way out, Arctic Redpoll was reported (Hornemanni) which had been elusive but eventually showed well and we had views down to a few feet away.

Arctic Redpoll

Arriving at our cottage mid afternoon, birds of note in the bay were Dunlin, RB Merganser, lots of Widgeon, Teal, Redshank, Turnstone and Great Black-backed Gulls.

3rd October we decided on a trip to Unst - the most northern isle of Great Britain - in search of Ortolan Bunting but we didn't see it - we did have two otters though at the Gutcher Ferry!
Long-tailed Duck, Black Guillemot, Razorbill, Whooper Swan and Ringed Plover were noted.
The next few days were spent seeing Pechora Pipit, Wood Warbler and just a couple of Yellow-browed Warbler.
With strong westerly winds for quite a few days, I think everyone was hopefully expecting some American migrants - and sure enough, on the 6th October, a Myrtle Warbler (Yellow-rumped Warbler) was found at Ellister, and it was rather a confiding bird.

Myrtle Warbler


On 7th October, a first for Britain was found by the non-birding partner of our good friend Paul Baker whilst she was enjoying a stroll at Scousborough Bay; after alerting Paul about this 'strange' bird, she sent him an image from her phone, Paul realised (after ruling out Little Bittern) that she had found a Least Bittern from America..... and the rest, as they say, is history!!  The bird was in thick grass and could hardly be seen but it soon became apparent that the bird was exhausted and it w as decided that it needed to be taken into care - which is what happened; sadly, the bird never survived the night. 
Apparently, a healthy specimen would weigh about 86 grams but this poor mite only weighed 50grams...

Least Bittern

Least Bittern


After seeing this amazing bird, we went on to Whiteness Voe where we saw Slavonian Grebe, Red-throated Diver and Great Norther Diver along with two more otters at play.

Otters at play

Red-throated Diver


In the following days, the usual suspects were about - although we did find a group of Common Seal at Catfirth (and they're not as common as their name implies! - the Grey Seal is far more prevalent)

Hauled-out Common Seal


We spent our last couple of days birding the mainland and saw Pale Bellied Brent Goose at Buravoe, 
Oystercatcher, Ruff, Pink-footed Goose, Chiffchaff and Snipe were also noted during the day.
We went to Clickimin Loch at Lerwick on a couple of occasions to try and find a White's Thrush which had taken up residence near the school; we had missed out on it on a couple of visits but finally nailed it on our last day.  Blackcap and Redwing were also seen.
Andy had gone out walking so Dave and I decided to go to Bigton in search of a second Myrtle Warbler which had unbelievably been found by the same birder the day after he found the first one! ....How lucky can  you get!! Incidentally - Dave and I were the only two birders there!! - but that's how Shetland is. This bird was also very confiding.
Our final foray was for a Dusky Warbler at Ocraquoy.....

White's Thrush


Myrtle Warbler

Myrtle Warble

Myrtle Warbler


Dusky Warbler


Dusky Warbler

Below are a just few images of other birds seen......

Hooded Crow


Black Guillemot



Red-breasted Merganser

Glossy Ibis

Rock Dove

Rock Pipit

Black Guillemot


Wood Warbler

Red Grouse

Lapwing

Golden Plover

Pheasant

Hooded Crow

Herring Gull

Ringed Plover

Long-tailed Duck

Curlew


As always, thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy looking at my images from Shetland 2022

I have a few images from recent twitches and local stuff which I hope to post shortly but until then, take care.