Orkney, April '25 - Churchill Barrier #4 (1)

Bar-tailed Godwit (above) and Whimbrel (below) - please click on images to enlarge as it seems Blogger is over-compressing them again!

As mentioned in the last post, a beautifully bird-filled beach was just a couple of minutes from our cottage on Burray. Unromantically known as Churchill Barrier #4 - the beach, and its causeway connecting Burray with South Ronaldsay, were created when Churchill ordered the blocking of between-island U-boat access into the Scapa Flow to protect the British Fleet - I spent plenty of time enjoying the birds here during our stay.

Ringed Plover - several pairs on territory were joined by dozens of migrants along the strandline

Relatively undisturbed and blessed with mounds of decaying seaweed and organic marine material and protected from brisk westerly winds (when it was very much at its best), it was a magnet for hungry passerines. Wagtails often numbered around 20, with White (above and below) generally outnumbering Pied, and a maximimum of 14 of the former on my last visit.

Wheatears were likewise ubiquitous, with up to eight feeding a little further up the shoreline:

Waders, meanwhile, were also abundant, with up to fifty Ringed Plovers, 80 Turnstones, 12 Purple Sandpipers, 30 Redshanks, the odd Dunlin, Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit and Sanderling, and on the last evening, a fresh-in Whimbrel (my first of the year).

Orkney, April '25 - one

The Gill's Bay - St. Margaret's Hope ferry arriving at the latter on South Ronaldsay 

 After a great sixth School of Birding (see last post), I was joined by the Mrs up in the Highlands, where we had a relaxed afternoon down our favourite valley of Strathdearn before heading further north the following day. A rare, non-family, out-and-out holiday, we were excited to be exploring Orkney for the first time.

Gannet flying over old military stations

We're both fascinated by neolithic and ancient cultures and for the sheer variety, quality and complexity of sites, Orkney is unarguably second to none in the British Isles, arguably in Northern and Western Europe, and arguably even throughout the whole of Europe. Yep, it's that exciting and important, and if you've any interest in such things, we recommend you prioritise a visit, pronto.... 

Plenty of Puffins in Scapa Flow from the ferry 

Unfortunately the better half was sick throughout the whole trip, but she soldiered on admirably (as always) and we managed to soak up all the main sites and locations we'd planned on. We also had a very lovely, cosy air BnB on Sanday, which was a great base, as well as an ideal sick bay.

Long-tailed Ducks in the bay by our cottage. Be warned - there's more of these to come.....

We'd six days and nights on the islands, and drove to Gill's Bay on the north coast (just west of John-o'-Groats) to catch the ferry over to St. Margaret's Hope, on South Ronaldsay - an hour's pleasant journey (proceeded by a decent birding session near the ferry terminal, which included a surprise immature White-tailed Eagle hunting the coastline).

Once docked at The Hope, it was an all of 15 minute drive to our accommodation (via the causeway connecting South Ron and Burray) - although ferries are needed to reach the northern islands, the great thing about most of the southern islands is their connectivity by causeways. For example, a drive to A & E in Kirkwall late on the first night (all was fine, thanks for asking!) took us across four islands - but only took 16 minutes....

Of the islands generally? Birdwise - resolutely not a priority, but an enjoyable side hustle (of course) - pleasantly surprised: it wasn't the time of year to be sniffing around suitable cover for land-based migrants (and there's a lot of cover compared to, say, Shetland), but the landscapes and coastlines held an abundance of visitors and breeders.

On the water, every cove and bay held multiple Great Northern Divers and unavoidable gatherings of Long-tailed Ducks, as well as Red-breasted Mergansers, Eiders, a few Scoters, Goldeneyes, Black Guillemots, auks and other expected fare; Long-tailed Ducks were particularly entertaining, often in the throes of displaying and courting (see later posts).

Hen Harriers - pleasingly ubiquitous, cropping up pretty much anywhere (this one over our accommodation) 

On the land, it was great to see so many breeding (and passage) waders - particularly Curlews, which were absolutely ubiquitous wherever we wandered, but also Redshanks, Snipe, Oystercatchers and Lapwings. 

We'd heard it was good for Hen Harriers and Short-eared Owls, and were not disappointed - we didn't go out of our way to look (for another trip), but had great views of both daily, over and beside the car or while enjoying ancient monuments.

A pair of Common Cranes - conveniently five minutes away when we visited Scara Brae 

Conditions were a little suppressive for long-distance arrivals but we did had small numbers of Wheatears, Sand Martins and Willow Warblers; the strandlines, however, were full of passerines, and I enjoyed the unromantically-named Churchill Barrier #4 (two minutes from the cottage) on various occasions. 

The food-filled banks of seaweed attracted excellent numbers of pipits and wagtails, with e.g. a maximum of 14 White Wagtails on one occasion (and lots more besides) - if there hasn't been mega-rare Anthus or Motacilla here, I'll swim back to the mainland next time....

Great Northern Divers were by far the commonest diver, present in most inlets, bays and coves in all states of moult 

Freshwater lochs likewise held plenty of interest, with Echna loch (again just a few minutes away) hosting dabbling and diving ducks, and plenty of Long-tailed Ducks commuting over the road from the bay.

 

 

The latter species was even more approachable at the slightly surreal location of the Peedie Sea, which is basically a boating lake bang in the middle of Kirkwall - surrounded by busy roads, shops and people - where they were happy to carry on as if they were in a far-flung corner of the Baltic....

(Plenty more to follow!)

School of Birding (April '25) - Class Six dismissed!

STOP PRESS - Due to a cancellation, we have two places up for grabs on our November School of Birding! Email me at nazemark-at-yahoo.com (replacing -at- with @) to book your place..... 

White-tailed Eagle, Lochindorb

At the end of March I was back up in Scotland for our sixth School of Birding, which began on the 1st April and ended on the 7th. Based at the Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown-on-Spey as ever, Simon and I couldn't quite believe the extended forecast - sunshine all week?! - but that's exactly what came to pass...

A lovely team (of course - as usual!) were blessed with blue skies throughout, and we could count the clouds we encountered throughout the whole week on one hand - while we usually have a certain amount of decent weather, class six were subject to an unprecendented treat. All of our outdoor sessions were thus a relaxed pleasure, and it was hard to force ourselves back in time for classroom sessions and dinner...

Red Kite, Osprey

The birds? Excellent, as always. All our key spring target species - Crested Tits, Golden and White-tailed Eagles, Slavonian Grebes, Black Grouse, seaducks, Black-throated Divers, Goshawks, Merlins, Crossbills, etc - were enjoyed (and mostly at prolonged, close quarters), and everyone went home suitably fulfilled and hopefully armed with a great many more skills with which to enjoy their birding journeys.

Bar-tailed Godwits, nest-building Crested Tit

Big thanks to Zeiss Birding for their continued support - once again, our class enjoyed unlimited access to a range of brilliant binoculars, 'scopes and thermal imagers, and appreciated their goodie bags, as well as exclusive discounts on all the above. 

Goosander, Wheatear

Berlin, March '25 - extras

Goshawks may have hogged the spotlight, but there were other birds - and indeed other joys to behold - during the week in Berlin.

While most of our time was focused on Tiergarten - a few minutes from our accommodation and centre of our attentions for locating (and enjoying) Goshawks and their territories - we mixed it up, with an afternoon wandering other urban parks (including the highly recommended Old St Mathew's Cemetery), and an excellent day's relaxed birding on Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island) in the south-western borderland of the city.

Other species included Hawfinches, Lesser Spotted, Middle Spotted (top two photos), Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Firecrests (above), Jays, Common Buzzards, Sparrowhawks (in a distinct minority!), the commoner tits, Short-toed Treecreepers, Nuthatches (below), the first arriving Chiffchaffs and various other standard woodland fare, with Mandarins, Grey Herons and Cormorants on the wooded ponds.

Up in the blue skies above the city, Russian White-fronted Geese, Common Cranes and Great Egrets migrated in flocks, while Red Squirrels (below and further down) were abundant and tame, which is of course ideal for a certain large Accipiter bringing up its chicks.....

Great night here in #Berlin with my brothers Rich and Mitch - by beautiful coincidence, the brilliant Patrick Franke was giving a talk and we got to evangelise birds over beers late into the night with him and the wonderful Manuel Tacke. The Venn diagram was on fire! #Eurobirders

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— Mark the Birder (@markthebirder.bsky.social) 19 March 2025 at 08:58

We also explored our neighbourhood and found great places to eat and hang out, and had a couple of very fun nights out (thanks to my old friend and resident Berlin connoisseur Michel).

 

Raven (above) and Short-toed Treecreeper (below), both ubiquitous in Tiergarten and beyond

Arrived in #Berlin in time for an afternoon run around Tiergarten and to the Brandenburg Gate....

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— Mark the Birder (@markthebirder.bsky.social) 16 March 2025 at 20:18

I also squeezed in a couple of runs, as I try to do on any trips I'm lucky enough to take - both in Tiergarten, and both under the blue skies we came to expect throughout our stay.

Carpenter Bee sp. - quite a beauty!

Hawfinch - well spread throughout wooded habitats (but still somehow evaded a decent photo)

Cute Goshawk buffet

Cranes migrating over the city centre

Green Woodpecker 

White-fronted Geese (above) and Great Egrets (below) migrating over the city