Lashings of larus

News today from south – Dumfries hosted the world’s first ever Naughty Seagull Conference. Attended by vote-hungry politicians, Sunday car-washers, people who don’t like seagulls honking from rooftops, and shopkeepers from Aberdeen (more of which anon). Yep, it seems that urban gulls have become a bit of a problem, like urban foxes but without the [...]

Badlands

You can tell there’s about as much chance of a final Spring rarity turning up here as Turkey’s likely to make it to the finals of Euro 2008. (err… that might yet happen…) Anyway, you can tell it’s pretty unlikely. It’s the little clues that give it away. The bitterly cold northerly wind. The lack [...]

Captain Calamity

A really snorty north-westerly tonight, the sort that sneaks up on you here in a Shetland summer, and catches you unawares and unprepared. Remember my pallets? The ones I spent a long Saturday ferrying here from Lerwick a few weeks ago, to be turned into windproof fencing? Yes, them. The ones that were still stacked [...]

Hooded Merganser

What took you so long?
Some well overdue news breaking… Hooded Merganser finally makes it onto the British list. Quite why this particular duck spent so long in limbo is hard to know, as if ever a Nearctic duck was going to be wild, one in the Western Isles in November, arriving at the same time as [...]

Citril Finch

Phew. When I said that it felt so good and promising, I had no idea it would be quite this good or promising. Got home last night to check the internet and see to my horror that Fair Isle had done it again – the first latterday British record of Citril Finch. Ouch.
Then of course [...]

Told you so

I said there’d be something good here today, and sure enough, there was. Not a BB rarity, but frankly they’re funky enough to be in the same league. Yes, BM was reacting to the weather conditions as a dedicated local birder should – by heading to the shop to buy some potting compost. Who said luck [...]

Perfect conditions

It’s just fabulous weather out there. Briskish south-easterlies during the day, easing off this evening, rain showers… something good this way comes, I can tell.
Two Red-backed Shrikes here this morning, male and female. Presumably JLI’s birds hanging around.
Gotta go – have work to do to prepare for tomorrow. It’s gonna be a big day at [...]

Got the blues(throat)

It’s looking promising here. Intriguingly, I hear the punkbirders are ‘doing’ Foula at the moment. No news from there, which means one of three things – either it’s a crock of shit and they’re seeing bugger all; or they’re seeing plenty, but can’t find any way of telling the outside world just how good it [...]

Been and gone

As suddenly as it began, the fall’s over. Last 48 hours have had nothing new here, just the remanants and tatters of what was around on Friday circulating around the patch (apart from the Marsh Warbler, which remains st.ubbornly wedded and embedded to the same patch of rosa rugosa).
A couple of Swifts moved through in [...]